The USS Emory S. Land was recently presented with the Significant Group Achievement award by The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission for outstanding volunteer service.

Forty-two sailors from the Bremerton-based submarine tender completed a variety of projects at Fort Flagler State Park. The sailors picked up litter and debris from the beach, removed branches and downed trees from several miles of trail, scraped paint from the exterior of one of the buildings and worked at the retreat center taping, scraping caulking and painting the interior of the former bachelor officers’ quarters.

Academy graduates four from Kitsap

Navy Ensign Bradford Stieger, son of Navy Lt. Cmdr. and Mrs. David Stieger of Bremerton; Navy Ensign Gerald Vineyard, son of Lynn and Michael Vineyard of Bremerton; Navy Ensign Andrew Bingham, son of Sharman and David Bingham of Bainbridge Island; and Navy Ensign Schuyler Boone, son of Robin Boone of Bainbridge Island, recently graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. and became commissioned officers in the United States Navy.

All four individuals successfully completed four years of intensive academic, physical and professional military training, resulting in bachelor of science degrees. The mission of the United States Naval Academy is to develop its midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to prepare combat leaders of character for the Navy and Marine Corps.

Brown makes Malaysia visit

Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Brown, son of Douglas Brown of Bremerton, and his fellow shipmates assigned to the guided-missile frigate USS Curts made a five-day port visit to Lumut, Malaysia while on a scheduled deployment as part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.

The port visit gave Brown’s unit a chance to participate in a community relations project. Some sailors aided in the preservation of Pusat Jagaan Warga Tua School. The school caters to special-needs students from age 3 to 34 and teaches them life skills and independent living.

Brown’s unit also interacted with the Royal Malaysian Navy with friendly matches of both soccer and volleyball. A small series of naval exercises were conducted in port and underway to help build the cohesiveness of the Malaysian and U.S. Navy. Exchanges of both officer and enlisted personnel between the United States and Malay ships also were done to give sailors the chance to experience the customs and culture of a foreign ship while underway.

Guided-missile frigates like Curts are anti-submarine warfare combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys.

Brown is a 1994 graduate of Central Kitsap High School. He joined the Navy in February 1998.