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A West Babylon native and his submarine crew just received a significant honor for their performance in a battle competition.
Cmdr. Michael McGuire and the Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) were presented the Submarine Squadron 15 Battle Effectiveness award on Feb. 26.
According to DVIDS, the “Battle E” award is presented annually to the submarine crew who “demonstrated the highest level of battle readiness during the evaluation year.”
The Battle E competition is conducted in an effort to strengthen individual command performance, overall force readiness, and to recognize outstanding performance.
This includes readiness in the fields of engineering, weapons, strategic, navigation/operations, communications/cyber, supply, personnel, medical and repair.
Capt. Bret Grabbe presented Mcguire and his crew with the award at a ceremony held at Naval Base Guam.
“We are humbled to represent warfighting excellence for Squadron 15,” said McGuire. “This crew will continue to provide the United States with the competitive advantage necessary to meet our adversaries within the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Key West also earned awards for medical excellence, supply readiness, weapons readiness, and navigation excellence.
“The Key West is a family,” said McGuire. “This year we have grown together which enabled us to better serve our country as one of our nation’s most lethal warships at the tip of the spear.”
Top: Capt. Bret Grabbe (left) presents the “Battle E” award to Cmdr. Michael McGuire (right), photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Kelsey Hockenberger.
