North Carolina Submariner Connects Fleet to Foundry

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rachel Ditto, a native of Garner, North Carolina, and a missile technician on the ballistic missile submarine USS Louisiana (SSBN 743), had the opportunity to represent her team and foster valuable knowledge transfer across the armed services during her participation in a training event held in Sunnyvale, California, May 18-22.
Ditto was one of a handful of high-achieving Sailors hand selected to participate in Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Reverse Strategic Weapons System (SWS) Week.
PAE SSP’s Reverse SWS Week serves as a powerful realization of the Chief of Naval Operations’ priority to strengthen the vital connection between the foundry and the fleet. By bringing the warfighter directly to the industrial base, PAE SSP ensures that the comprehensive modernization occurring across the entire sea-based leg of the nuclear triad is not just a theoretical concept, but a tangible, collaborative effort between the Navy’s acquisition community and the final end-users. Reverse SWS Week provided junior Sailors with exposure to the broader strategic deterrence community and the systems they operate. This experience supplemented their technical knowledge with new perspectives and demonstrated how their daily duties align with the global strategic mission.
Ditto comes from a family tradition of naval service and was inspired by her brother to join the Navy, continuing her family’s legacy of defending the nation. Ditto also found opportunity through the flexibility the Navy provides when it comes to choosing a rate or enlisted occupation.
“The Navy just has a lot more flexibility,” Ditto said. As part of her Navy journey, Ditto had the opportunity to work in several different areas before deciding to put roots down in the submarine world.
"I really like that the submarine missile tech community is small,” said Ditto. “There’s a lot of people you can talk to, and it makes it feel more like home. We take great pride in knowing that we are keeping our loved ones safe.”
For Ditto, a highlight of PAE SSP’s Reverse SWS Week was bringing together missile technicians from across the submarine force, strengthening the community even further. She valued her interactions with the teams behind-the-scenes of the weapons system, and putting faces to names that she'd only ever communicated with virtually.
"It gives us a clearer understanding of what we do on the boat and why we do it,” said Ditto.
At this year’s Reverse SWS Week, Sailors discussed the needs, challenges, and opportunities related to the Trident II D5LE system deployed on today’s Ohio-class SSBNs and engaged with members of the future Columbia-class USS District of Columbia’s pre-commissioning unit (PCU).
Senior Chief Adrian Rowe, the SWS master chief for PCU District of Columbia, and Petty Officer 1st Class Austin Baker, the missile division lead petty officer,represented the Sailorswith PCU District of Columbia tasked with moving the first-in-class Columbia-class SSBN toward its operational state.
The PCU District of Columbia team brought an experienced eye to the week’s engagements with industry, but their interactions with the junior Sailors participating in Reverse SWS Week were equally valuable, providing insight into the future platform that will support the current and future weapons systems.
For Ditto, the chance to interact with Rowe and Baker gave her a preview of what her future might look like.
“You get to see that you are really a part of something bigger,” said Rowe. “I hope these Sailors who have come down here see the really critical role they fill, and that they walk away knowing that the Columbia-class is the future; it’s not an abstraction. It’s here, it’s going to be manned, and these Sailors are the Sailors who are going to be leading that effort for the future. I want them to recognize that they are going to be a part of that and how important they are to this.”
In addition to learning opportunities provided by PAE SSP’s program management office flight systems detachment in Sunnyvale (SPF(S)) and its on-site industry partner, Sailors were hosted by Defense Threat Reduction Agency Global Threat Reduction Directorate , and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as part of a targeted knowledge transfer opportunity.
Whether observing the production of launch tubes or sharing insights with Air Force and national laboratory counterparts, these cross-domain interactions underscore the massive, unified effort required to maintain and upgrade the nation's strategic deterrence capabilities.
“I felt like it brought a clearer understanding of what we missile technicians do,” said Ditto “It was good to see the Air Force point of view and get their perspective on how they execute their mission.”
Lt. Cmdr. Wyatt Middleton, officer-in-charge (OIC) for SPF(S), aimed to provide Sailors anexpanded appreciation for their roles as missile technicians in sea-based strategic deterrence, and for government-industry partnership that supports them.
“PAE SSP specializes in cradle-to-grave management of every aspect of this weapons system, and our industry partners are with us all the way fromthedesignthroughto development, production,anddeployment,” Middleton told the Sailors.