Lt. Genevieve Danes, a native of Toledo, Ohio, serves aboard USS Fitzgerald, a U.S. Navy warship operating out of San Diego, California, and participating in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in and around the Hawaiian Islands. Danes graduated from Maumee Valley Country Day School in 2012. As well as graduating from Ohio State University in 2015 with a bachelors degree in International Relations and Spanish
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those found in Toledo.
“I’ve learned to treat everybody with the same level of respect and be inclusive with everybody's opinion,” said Danes. "I went to a private school but had people from different walks of life come together working on the same goals."
Danes joined the Navy four years ago. Today, Danes serves as a surface warfare officer.
“I joined the Navy for future opportunities such as the GI bill and follow-on job opportunities,” said Danes.
As the world’s largest international maritime exercise, approximately 29 nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, over 150 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2024. This exercise provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring safety at sea and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2024 marks the 29th exercise in a series that began in 1971.
The theme of RIMPAC 2024 is “Partners: Integrated and Prepared.” The participating nations and forces exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of maritime forces. These capabilities range from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting. The relevant, realistic training program includes, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, as well as amphibious, counter-piracy, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal and diving and salvage operations.
Danes plays an important role in the exercise.
“This is my first RIMPAC and we're currently in the shore phase of this exercise and my primary goal is to assist in navigating the waters with foreign nations,” said Danes. "We're going to be coordinating live fire exercises, anti-submarine exercises and air defense exercises."
Danes serves a Navy that operates far forward, around the world and around the clock, promoting the nation's prosperity and security.
“If not me then who, I get to meet and interact with people who without the Navy I would have never interacted with,” said Danes. "I get to be a part of the preparation for potential future conflicts that the U.S. Navy may be a part of."
Danes is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.
“My executive officer on my first ship, Cmdr. Richard Ray, had an excellent balance of being both an incredible person and surface warfare officer,” added Danes.
Hosted by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, RIMPAC 2024 will be led by Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, Vice Adm. John Wade, who will serve as Combined Task Force (CTF) commander. For the first time in RIMPAC history, a member of the Chilean Navy, Commodore Alberto Guerrero, will serve as deputy commander of the CTF. Rear Adm. Kazushi Yokota of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force will serve as vice commander. Other key leaders of the multinational force will include Commodore Kristjan Monaghan of Canada, who will command the maritime component, and Air Commodore Louise Desjardins of Australia, who will command the air component.
During RIMPAC, a network of capable, adaptive partners train and operate together in order to strengthen their collective forces and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. RIMPAC 2024 contributes to the increased interoperability, resiliency and agility needed by the Joint and Combined Force to deter and defeat aggression by major powers across all domains and levels of conflict. #iHeartRadio @iHeartRadio