Bradley County native Maurice Washington achieves Chief Petty Officer rank in Elite Submarine Force
The United States Submarine Force prides itself on being the Silent Service. With the capability to operate beneath the waves, undetectable, submarines are a vital part of the nation’s national defense strategy. One of Bradley County’s own has been serving in the shadowed submarine force for almost 8 years.
Maurice Deante’ Washington was born January 3, 1994, in the rural town of Warren, Arkansas. He attributes a lot of his success in the United States Navy to the work ethic he learned while being raised in Bradley County, Arkansas. While he lived in the town of Banks, he graduated with honors from Warren High School in 2012. While attending Warren High School, he was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Lumberjacks’ Soccer inaugural season. After graduation, he went on to attend Tuskegee University before joining the Navy as a Nuclear Electronics Technician on April 25, 2016.
His career in the Navy has been highly successful. His first duty station was Charleston, South Carolina, where he graduated from one of the most rigorous academic programs in the United States Military: Naval Nuclear Power School. From there, he went on to graduate from Naval Nuclear Prototype Training Unit and was hand-selected to remain as an instructor there. Upon a successful instructor tour, he immediately reported to an under-construction fast-attack submarine being built in Newport News, Virginia: The USS Massachusetts, whose patch is featured on the 2023 Naval Academy football team uniform in their Army vs Navy game.
While at the MASSACHUSETTS, he worked side by side with engineers to perform several once-in-a-lifetime tests for the submarine. Additionally, he deployed with the USS NEW HAMPSHIRE on her 2019-2020 European Command deployment and performed several missions vital to national security.
In September 2023, Maurice was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E7) at less than 8 years. The average time to make this rank is about 12 years. He attributes his ability to making Chief so early to several mentors he had in the Navy and the resilience and work ethic he saw every day from the people of Bradley County.
The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the Navy is a special one; Chiefs are expected to be the subject matter experts in their field, and they are usually the highest-ranking individual within their job onboard. They are hand-selected and go through an initiation process that lasts several weeks to make sure that they can perform as a Chief is expected to. They additionally get a new set of uniforms and are expected to be the example as senior enlisted leaders.
In December of 2023, Chief Washington will be reporting to the USS MISSISSIPPI in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He will be the leader of Reactor Control Division. Reactor Control Division is a division of 15 Sailors who oversee controlling the Nuclear Reactor, its instrumentation, and control systems. They are trained and have the expertise to troubleshoot equipment down to the smallest component on complex circuit cards.
Chief Washington was selected as the 2023 Submarine Squadron 8 Sailor of the Year. He has earned several personal and unit awards, including the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and the Navy Unit Commendation.