America’s Navy is coming home to Milwaukee in 2016, one of 15 cities selected to host a Navy Week, one of the Navy’s signature outreach programs.
Milwaukee Navy Week is scheduled for July 4-10, coincident with Summerfest, and is designed to give area residents an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people and its importance to national security and prosperity. The Navy plans to include the following elements in the week-long celebration:
- Navy divers and Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams
- Sailors from USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world
- Navy Band musical performances
- Senior Navy leaders, who will engage with local corporate, civic, government and education leaders
- Navy simulator(s) and other interactive displays
- Visits to area schools
- Community service projects
- Visits with local veterans
Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s signature outreach effort into areas of the country which do not have a significant Navy presence, with 181 Navy Weeks being held in 68 different U.S. cities.
"Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand that their Navy protects and defends America on the world’s oceans, that their Navy is deployed around the world around the clock and is ready to defend America at all times," said John Wallach, Deputy Director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach, which plans and executes the Navy Week program. "Because the Navy is concentrated primarily on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. That’s where the Navy Week program comes in."
Navy Weeks focus a variety of outreach assets, equipment and personnel on a single city for a week-long series of engagements with key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the market.
"During a Navy Week, 75-100 outreach events are coordinated with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city," said Lt. Cmdr. Brett Dawson, Navy Office of Community Outreach Event Planning Department. "We bring in as much of the Navy as we can. The Blue Angels, the Navy Parachute Team, bands, divers, Seabees, EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) teams, crews of ships and submarines that are named after a city or state or have a tie to the area, hometown Sailors, medical personnel, environmental displays, USS Constitution Sailors and equipment, and Navy recruiting assets all have participated in the Navy Week program."
