Butler native takes to skies to patrol seas
OAK HARBOR, Wash. — Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Maringo, a native of Butler, joined the Navy for educational opportunities and travel.
Now, seven years later, Maringo serves as a naval aircrewman with the “The Grey Knights” of Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron 46, working with the Navy's cutting-edge maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.
“Being at a deployable command, everything is fast-paced and mission-oriented,” said Maringo. “Everything ties back into what you're going to do tomorrow.”
Maringo, a 2012 graduate of Knoch High School, with VP-46, a high-tech maritime patrol and reconnaissance squadron, is tasked with monitoring the world's oceans in the state-of-the-art P-8A Poseidon aircraft.
“I am basically responsible for tracking submarines,” said Maringo.
Maringo is also currently enrolled at Columbia College with an associate degree in accounting while seeking a bachelor's degree.
Maringo credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Butler.
“Playing sports growing up in Butler, I learned how to work well with others,” said Maringo. “In the Navy you deal with a lot of different people or new people every day, so it's a lesson I use every day.”
Maringo's squadron's primary mission is to conduct maritime patrol and reconnaissance, as well as long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence -gathering missions. The squadron deploys around the world to monitor the world's oceans wherever it is needed.
The P-8A Poseidon, the Navy's newest maritime, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, is a replacement for the legacy P-3C “Orion.”
“Working with the P-8 is something that not a lot of people get to do every day,” said Maringo.
Serving in the Navy means Maringo is part of a world that is taking on new importance in America's focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that the United States is a maritime nation, and that the nation's prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world's oceans.
More than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world's population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community and career, Maringo is most proud of earning a Navy Achievement Medal for intelligence work in Japan.
“I got a really great sense of job satisfaction,” said Maringo. “I got to pump out products every day that were needed.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy's most relied upon assets, Maringo and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes contributing to the Navy the nation needs.
“Serving in the Navy means I get to do something selfless every day,” said Maringo.
