Navy secretary makes a rare visit to Sasebo

[unhappycamper]

Navy secretary makes a rare visit to Sasebo
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, September 26, 2008

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter met with hundreds of sailors here Wednesday, telling them the forward-deployed 7th Fleet plays an important role in the region.

Winter traveled from South Korea, stopping at Sasebo on his way to Naval Air Facility Atsugi. And he was to attend Thursday’s scheduled arrival of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka Naval Base.

From a mixed crowd of officers and enlisted sailors, the secretary fielded questions on the U.S. economy, Russian aggression and the Navy’s littoral combat ship program.

Winter said he made the visit to "get a firsthand sense of what is happening in Sasebo," and he spent about an hour with the Navy servicemembers.

"You are the best indicators of what America stands for and represents," he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57655