Source: United States Navy
Colorado Springs Navy Week brings Sailors from across the fleet to the area to emphasize the importance of the Navy to Colorado Springs, the state of Colorado, and the nation.
More than 50 Sailors will participate in education and community outreach events throughout the city.
Participating Navy organizations include Navy Band Southwest, USS Constitution, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Navy Talent Acquisition Group Rocky Mountain, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three, Navy History and Heritage Command, nuclear-power Virginia-class guided-missile submarine USS Colorado (SSN 788), and the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19).
The Navy’s senior executive is Vice Adm. John Fuller, Naval Inspector General. Fuller received his commission from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the Naval Academy, a Master of Science in Management from the Naval Post Graduate School and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the College of Naval Command and Staff at the Naval War College. He is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI Fellow. During Colorado Springs Navy Week, he will be participating in community engagements, meeting with local organizations, higher education, local business, civic, and government leaders.
Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public a firsthand look at why the Navy matters to cities like Colorado Springs.
“Sailors are the reason America’s Navy is the most powerful in the world,” said NAVCO’s director, Cmdr. Julie Holland. “We are thrilled to bring your Navy Warfighters to (Colorado Springs). At Navy Weeks, Americans will connect with Sailors who have strong character, competence, and dedication to the mission, and who continue a nearly 250-year tradition of decisive power from seabed to cyberspace.”
Throughout the week, Sailors are participating in various community events across the area, including engaging with students across multiple high schools and at the Pikes Peak Boys & Girls Club, volunteering through Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, and publicly visible at the Space Discovery Center, and US Olympic and Paralympic Museum. Residents will also enjoy free live music by Navy Band Southwest at venues throughout the week.
Colorado Springs Navy Week is one of 15 Navy Weeks in 2024, which brings a variety of assets, equipment, and personnel to a single city for a weeklong series of engagements designed to bring America’s Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 130 million people — about half the U.S. population.
Media organizations wishing to cover Colorado Springs Navy Week events should contact Ensign Lamar Badger at (901) 229-5709 or erick.l.badger.mil@us.navy.mil