Navy Officer Lt. Mitchell Kallek, an assistant engineer from Armada, Mich., is serving aboard the USS Charlotte (SSN 766), a Los Angeles class submarine based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii protecting and defending America on the world’s oceans. Submariners are some of the most highly trained and skilled people in the Navy. The highly technical training ensures each crew operates, maintains, and repairs every system or piece of equipment on board. Regardless of their specialty, every submariner must learn how every system on the submarine works and how to respond in emergencies. “The best part is the quality of people I work with, both enlisted and officers,” said Kallek. “On submarines, we work so closely together that you develop a strong trust between each other, so I know my sailors can get any job done I ask of them. I trust them with my life.” Relying on its technological superiority, speed, endurance, mobility, stealth, and payload afforded by nuclear power, the Charlotte retains its preeminence and lethality in the undersea battlespace. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Rebecca Ives/Released.)
