The guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton (FFG 40) flew both the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) pennant and the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) pennant June 2 for the first time in over three years.
Halyburton earned the right to fly the SWO pennant by meeting the requirement of 80 percent of its officers, including 100 percent of those who have served in the ship for 18 months or longer, qualified as SWO’s. The criteria for flying the ESWS pennant is that all petty officers onboard must have qualified as ESWS or for those with less than 30 months time served onboard to be enrolled in the ESWS program and actively pursuing their qualification. In total, six officers completed their SWO qualifications and 76 Sailors earned their ESWS pins during Halyburton’s final deployment.
The ESWS designation is awarded to Sailors demonstrating subject-matter familiarity in shipboard systems, warfare areas and military knowledge. Each of Halyburton’s ESWS qualified sailors completed a rigorous training program that culminating in an oral examination board administered by senior members of the ship’s chief petty officer’s mess.
Halyburton just returned from a five month deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility conducting counter illicit trafficking in support of Operation Martillo.
Operation Martillo targets illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus, and is an international, interagency operation which includes the participation of 14 countries committed to a regional approach against transnational criminal organizations moving illicit cargo.
[mappress] Press Release, June 18, 2014; Image: US Navy