TodayPa. woman is ship's chief of weapons
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ABOARD THE USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL - The USS Winston S. Churchill approached the “enemy” ship with orders to fire the big guns.
As the artillery pounded the target, the USS LaSalle finally toppled over. While only a test exercise, it was one that new weapons chief Lt. Christine Komoroski treated like the real thing.
“We came up at a range of 2,000 yards and fired 20 rounds of five-inch ammunition,” she recalls of the April exercise off the coast of Virginia. “Our ship actually put the finishing rounds in her. The (LaSalle) went over on its side and actually keeled over at that point.”
The endless training exercises are designed to keep the sailors sharp and prepared for any kind of actual attack. A week after they sunk the LaSalle, the crew of the Winston S. Churchill sailed into the Gulf of Mexico to test fire Tomahawk missiles.
“We always need to think ahead and prepare for actual scenarios,” says Komoroski, a native of Greensburg, Pa.
The crew is preparing for its next deployment in support of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Officers are tight-lipped about the when and where details of the deployment.
Weapons chief
The 29-year-old Komoroski boarded the Winston S. Churchill in September for a three-year tour as weapons chief. She is in charge of 45 sailors and various weaponry that includes torpedoes and anti-submarine warfare.
“The things this ship can do are fascinating,” she says. “It's exciting and challenging and just an honor to be part of that area of naval warfare.”
A 2000 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Komoroski went on to earn her master's degree in information technology management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
She did her first tour as a gunnery officer aboard the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit that did a tour in the Middle East.
The crew of the Winston S. Churchill includes about a dozen sailors from Pennsylvania. Most have relocated to the Norfolk area to spend as much time with their families as possible in between their time at sea.
Petty Officer 1st Class Lee Moore hails from Bloomsburg and has 14 years in the Navy. Aboard the Winston S. Churchill for the past four years, Moore, 33, works with combat systems software.
“I was signed up to go to Penn State and I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to do,” he recalls. “I've had a lot of fun with (the Navy) and I've learned a lot more skills than I would have working at one job. You don't get stale.”
Moore - who previously served aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Yorktown - is married and has five children between 13 and 19. All part of the plan, he says, explaining that he can retire with 20 years of service and receive a pension equal to half of his base pay.
“I'll be retiring at 40 and I'll be able to get a second job,” he says. “By the time I retire the kids will all be over 18 and out of the house.”
Moore concedes that his family has paid a price for his career choice.
“It's actually difficult for them because I am gone so much,” he says. “That kind of comes with the job.”
Time apart
Komoroski met her future husband, Tom Brashear, while both attended the Naval Postgraduate School. He is an officer aboard the USS Arleigh Burke.
They are preparing for another long separation.
“It is a challenge,” Komoroski says. “We both keep the perspective that the time we spend apart now is only temporary. We understand each other's jobs and that makes it easier because we understand each other's situation.”
She marvels at how Navy couples survived in the past without cell phones and e-mail. The couple hopes to line up their careers and perhaps serve together in the future.
As for her career, Komoroski is undecided.
“I plan on finishing up this tour and deciding what I want to do at that point,” she says. “That's what's great about the Navy. Three years from now, I could find myself living in Hawaii or Europe. Some people might find that a bit unsettling, but I think it's exciting.
“I have found it very rewarding and it's definitely one of the most exciting things I could be doing.”
