A newly painted gold anchor hangs from aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, March 20, 2024. (Jennessa Davey/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan recently donned anchors of gold — two 30-ton ornaments that signify achievement in reenlisting or otherwise retaining a significant number of its sailors.
At least 500 of the carrier’s approximately 5,000 crew members reenlisted during fiscal 2023, Chief Petty Officer Mona Morris, career counselor aboard the Ronald Reagan, told Stars and Stripes during an interview on the carrier Thursday.
That helped the carrier earn a Retention Excellence Award on Feb. 27, according to a Ronald Reagan spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Phil Chitty.
With the award comes the privilege of applying a coat of gold paint to the carrier’s massive anchors, a job that took about 12 hours and 10 sailors, including Ronald Reagan commander Capt. Daryle Cardone, executive officer Capt. Harry Evans III and Command Master Chief Tychicious Turner.
Gold anchors showcase to any other naval vessels that the carrier has earned the retention award, said Lt. Jesse Crider, head of the carrier’s deck department. “You could liken it to winning a gold medal,” he said.
Capt. Daryle Cardone, commander of the USS Ronald Reagan, and Capt. Harry Evans III, executive officer, help paint one the carrier’s anchors gold at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, March 15, 2024. (Evan Mueller/U.S. Navy)
Cardone credited the ship’s “deck plate leaders,” or supervisors, with helping achieve the award.
“It is their jobs as front-line supervisors to train, mentor and advocate for our most junior Sailors so they can become the best versions of themselves,” he said by email Wednesday. “Bravo Zulu to them, and to all of our departmental, and divisional career counselors for their continued dedication to the professional development of our warfighters.”
To qualify for the award, the Ronald Reagan reported every reenlistment, commissioning and action enhancing retention to its Navy type command, or administrative unit, Morris said.
“It’s definitely not something that one person can do,” she said. “It takes a village.”
Recruiting and retention have become more difficult in recent years, as quality-of-life issues are of growing concern for all service members.
The overall well-being of U.S. sailors has continued to slowly improve, but levels of severe and extreme stress plague a third of the force, according to an annual Navy survey released Feb. 15. These “challenges exacerbate Fleet manning shortages, putting additional stress on our force, which could have negative effects on readiness and potentially impact future retention, in an environment where retention is ever important,” the survey states.
The most mentioned factors for staying in were job security, availability of billets in desirable locations, salary, retirement benefits and the ability to balance work with personal life.
The Ronald Reagan — the Navy’s only carrier stationed overseas — has been at Yokosuka since 2015. It is expected to return this year to the United States, with the USS George Washington taking its place.
