NORFOLK NAVAL SHIPYARD, Portsmouth, Va. –
At the end of October, Navy Nuclear Regional Maintenance Department (NRMD), located at Naval Station Norfolk, celebrated its accomplishments from July through September. On the final day of the week, NRMD held an awards ceremony to recognize teams that played a part in NRMD’s success.
Some of NRMD’s successes included supporting USS John Stennis (CVN 74) with an emergent pump relocation and ship out during inclement weather, completing all assigned Intermediate Maintenance Availabilities on-time for the year and supporting the Fleet as needed to name a few.
“We [NRMD] have the mindset that people come first. It takes people to get the job done,” said NRMD Radiological Control Supervisor Peter Tidwell. “By recognizing our people, they will pour back into the effort they are giving you.”
“One of our accomplishments is that we passed all of our drills which plays an important role in allowing us to continue to do our job and complete our mission,” said Tidwell. “One reason we achieved this is that we don’t train our people to pass the drills; instead, we invest and develop our people so that passing drills is automatic.”
Unlike the submarines and aircraft carriers located at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), the carriers and submarines that NRMD service are still active in the Fleet and have to be ready to deploy when needed.
“We support the Fleet,” said NRMD’s Repair Coordinator Electricians Mate Nuclear First Class Skylar Martinez. “When a submarine or carrier can’t do a particular maintenance action, we support them. Ships need to be out to sea completing the U.S. Navy’s mission.”
This mindset has enabled NRMD to meet its mission of finishing projects on time and under budget. This is all because the men and women - Sailors, civilians and contractors - are NRMD’s primary objective.
“When you see new people engaged that means that your experienced crew is passing down their skills and knowledge to help develop the next group coming up,” said Tidwell.
NRMD will continue with the mentality of people first. It knows that it is the people who meet the mission head on and who make NRMD a successful part of NNSY.