Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Clumns
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Biography: Aaron Hanania
      • Steve Metsch
      • Steve Neuhaus
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics
    • Two Guys on Politics
    • Hanania on Tiktok
  • News Wire
  • Toggle search form
  • Police Blotter
    Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run accident
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities Events
  • Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge
    Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt breaking news
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule Chicago
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN Blogger
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Threatening FEMA Employees and Law Enforcement Officers Crime
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago Bridgeview
  • OFPD Trustee DJ Jeffers, COmmissioner Mohammed Jaber, Events and Safety Coordinator Betsy Dine and McDonalds Manager Doug Kwiatkowski join about 100 kids who participated at the Frozen with a Firefighter event Wednesday, July 9, 2025
    Frozen with an Orland Firefighter at McDonald’s Events
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Chicago dad’s court victory brought kidnapped daughter home Dads' Rights
  • Congresswoman Robin Kelly official photo
    Leading members of State’s Gun Violence Prevention Community endorse Robin Kelly for U.S. Senate elections
  • IAM Union Logo
    IAM Union Members at Arrow Gear Ratify Strong Contract After 9 Weeks on Strike Business
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Seven Individuals Charged in Drug and Firearm Investigation Centered on South Side of Chicago Chicago
  • Donna Miller
    Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller Launches Congressional Campaign Chicago
  • Mohammed Jaber
    Mohammed Jaber takes Oath of Office for Orland Fire Commission Fire
  • The Orland Fire District responded at 6:51 pm to reports of  smoke coming out of the eves of a four unit townhome in the 10500 block of Illinois Court in the Eagle Ridge subdivision on Saturday August 10th, 2024. 
    Orland Fire District reports several 4th of July fires but no injuries accident

Chicago Sailor Serves Aboard a Floating Airport at Sea

Posted on May 8, 2019May 8, 2019 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Chicago Sailor Serves Aboard a Floating Airport at Sea
SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  

Chicago Sailor Serves Aboard a Floating Airport at Sea

By Kayla Turnbow

Navy Office of Community Outreach

A Chicago native and 2016 Marine Leadership Academy graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Adoni Hughes. Photo By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Miller
Petty Officer 2nd Class Adoni Hughes. Photo By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Miller

Petty Officer 2nd Class Adoni Hughes is an aviation ordnanceman aboard the carrier stationed in Newport News, Virginia. As a Navy aviation ordnanceman, Hughes is responsible for building naval weapons and ammunitions.

Hughes credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned growing up in Chicago.

“My hometown taught me to treat people how you want to be treated,” said Hughes. “It shows people that you don’t forget where you come from.”

Named in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly 1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 256 feet wide.

Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.

George Washington is currently undergoing a four-year refueling complex overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding, a process that includes refueling the ship’s nuclear reactors and modernizing more than 2,300 compartments and hundreds of systems. The carrier is expected to leave the shipyard in 2021 and return to Yokosuka, Japan, as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.

A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, according to Navy officials, 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.

Hughes is playing an important part in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.

“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”

Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community and career, Hughes is most proud of being meritoriously promoted to second classs petty officer.

“It was a stepping stone for my career,” said Hughes. “I didn’t expect it and it came out of nowhere. It shows that people saw my hard work.”

Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard the carrier. Approximately 3,200 men and women make up the ship’s crew, which keeps all parts of the aircraft carrier running smoothly — this includes everything from washing dishes and preparing meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors. Another 2,500 men and women form the air wing responsible for flying and maintaining the aircraft aboard the ship.

“Our ship’s motto is the Spirit of Freedom, and this motto is evidenced daily in the actions and character of our sailors,” said Capt. Glenn Jamison, commanding officer of George Washington. “The work they are involved in today is difficult, but is vital to national security, to our maritime strategy, and to our ability to provide compassion and aid when and where needed. I am continually impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise demonstrated by the each and every sailor who serves aboard George Washington.”

George Washington, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is designed for a 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.

All of this makes the George Washington a self-contained mobile airport and strike platform, and often the first response to a global crisis because of a carrier’s ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans.

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Hughes and other George Washington sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.

“Serving in the Navy gives me more value,” added Hughes. “I am doing something more with my time.”

newswire info
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run - July 12, 2025
  • Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities - July 12, 2025
  • Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt - July 12, 2025
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  
 
 
 
           
Chicago, Government, News, Veterans, Veterans Column Tags:active duty, Adoni Hughes, ammunition, Military, Newport Newsnaval weapons, U.S. Marine, U.S. Navy, veteran

Post navigation

Previous Post: Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast: Pritzker’s “unFair Tax”
Next Post: Landscape Structures Provide Function and Beauty

Related Posts

  • Budget-minded Bridgeview News
  • Bill Lipinski and Ray Hanania video podcast 11-14-24 on Youtube
    Video Podcast: Two Guys on Politics: JFK, Ukraine and ICC Arrest Warrants for Putin and Netanyahu Bill Lipinski
  • Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle hosts 8th Annual Juneteenth celebration at Sand Ridge Nature Center 
    President Preckwinkle kicks-off 8th Annual Juneteenth Celebration at Sand Ridge Nature Center  News
  • Congressman Sean Casten
    Rep. Casten Votes to Establish Process for Confiscating Russian Oligarchs’ Assets, Funding Ukraine Reconstruction Federal
  • Senior homecare dominik-lange-VUOiQW4OeLI-unsplash
    A bipartisan fix for America’s looming homecare crisis Baby Boomers
  • On 11/28/21, Kinara N. Allmon was charged with one count of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm, a Class 1 Felony while in a parking lot near the Orland Park Mall. Photo courtesy of the Orland Park Police
    Orland Park Police arrest woman who fired gun at Orland Mall parking lot Crime

More Related Articles

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas Property Tax info Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas posts First Installment property tax bills on website Chicago
Home Security camera. Photo by Joe Gadd on Unsplash Orland Park Police Implement New Orland Park Neighborhood Watch Program Crime
3rd Congressional District Congresswoman Marie Newman Newman claims victory over Lipinski in 3rd Congressional District breaking news
IRS warns public about scammers. How to report telephone scams. Photo courtesy of the iRS US Justice Department convicts Indian-based IRS scammer Business
David Moore Talks w Germaine Light. Photo courtesy of David Moore Moore endorsed for Secretary of State by U.S. Rep. Davis and former Alderman Simpson elections
Early voting in Lyons News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID
Subscribe to Ray Hanania's column graphic

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN
    July 12, 2025
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Chicago parents and other community leaders must work together to make sure this summer isn’t deadly for our children
    July 3, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    How Technology Changed the Cook County Treasurer’s Office
    June 27, 2025
  • Attorneys Jeffery Leving Arthur Kallow
    Honoring Fathers: A Father’s Day Reflection
    June 13, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Understanding Cook County Property Taxes: A Guide for Homeowners
    June 13, 2025
  • 06-04-25 Two Guys on Politics Background Zoom LOGO with images
    Two Guys on Politics Podcast on Elon Musk, Trump’s Parade, LA Riots, and Middle East ban
    June 12, 2025
  • NEWS
  • Police Blotter
    Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run
    July 12, 2025
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities
    July 12, 2025
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • SPORTS
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule
    July 12, 2025
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago
    July 12, 2025
  • NEWS RELEASES
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities
    July 12, 2025
  • Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge
    Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt
    July 12, 2025
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO RAY HANANIA'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS


Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Categories

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme