You may see a damage controlman donned in gritty red coveralls tinkering with firefighting equipment, or running through the passage ways to answer the call of an actual casualty. Either way, when it comes down to maintaining every single piece of DC equipment on board, these engineering aficionados need your help.

Across every platform throughout the fleet, engineering rates call upon the assistance of divisional damage control petty officers (DCPOs). DCPOs, regardless of rank or rate, help the DCs maintain firefighting and damage control equipment.

"Every single department has to have DCPOs," said Damage Controlman 1st Class Harry L. Bensinger Jr., the leading petty officer (LPO) of the DCPO shop on board. "We're a nuclear aircraft carrier, and there's way too much for one department to handle, so the [damage control assistant] has to delegate it out to every department."

DCPOs are qualified Sailors from each department on board who conduct the DC maintenance for their department. Maintenance can include periodic checks, of things such as fire stations, fire extinguishers, hatches, and scuttles to make sure they work in an emergency.

Reading a 15-20 page maintenance requirement card (MRC) and applying it to maintenance of DC equipment may seem like a daunting task even to the most experienced Sailor. Learning DC skills can be extremely challenging, especially for Sailors whose expertise is in a different field, said Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Mark Gauthia, the leading petty officer (LPO) for Combat System department's DCPO division.

The Navy developed the DCPO step course, available through Navy eLearning on Navy Knowledge Online (NKO), for Sailors who do not have formal damage control training so they can learn the complexities of DC maintenance.

"[DCPOs] have to get the proper qualifications, go through the DCPO step course, and do either the DCPO QA or the Craftsman QA," said Bensinger. "[We] need them to get qualified."

Sailors have different reasons for stepping up and doing what's needed to help the ship, said Gauthia. Some Sailors volunteer as a way to foster an environment of improvement amongst their departments.

"I'm a DCPO because of my old division officer," said Machinist's Mate 1st Class Robert Beard, a work center supervisor for Weapons department's DCPO division. "He checked on board and one of the first things he did was look at the work center and say it wasn't in the best shape. Having worked with him on my previous ship, the first thing he said was 'Hey, I want him working on it. I want him in charge.'"

For the larger departments aboard, LPOs assigned to the DCPO divisions have a different challenge than just learning the maintenance aspects.

"I'm the LPO for our DCPO division, so [I'm responsible for] anything with the work center, all of the administration, making sure everything gets done from the [work center planned maintenance system] on the [maintenance material management] side, making sure the technicians have all the tools, parts and materials that [my Sailors] need, to conducting their maintenance efficiently and effectively," said Gauthia.

"I work on TVs, phones, sound-powered interior communications," Gauthia added. "I've been doing that for twelve years. I was put in this spot to learn DC where you give me all these books and say, 'Here, you're in charge and you have to do this effectively.' Most of the time, I'm on the same level with my seaman. A lot of times I have to get them to explain to me what they are doing and then I do my own research to make sure we're doing the job right. It's extremely challenging."

As a forward-deployed warship, TR always needs to be ready for the possibility that she could be attacked.

"You have to think, 'Is something going to happen like the Cole?'" said Bensinger. "What will the ship do if something like the Cole happens to us? We have to be able to respond and I have to know that my ship will be able to take any sort of casualty."

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) was the target of a terrorist attack Oct. 12, 2000, in the Yemeni port of Aden. The crew battled extensive damage for three days. Seventeen Sailors died, and 39 were injured. The tragic bombing forever changed the Navy's force protection posture and reinforced the importance of DC readiness.

"Being a DCPO is important to me because everybody is a firefighter first," said Beard. "If equipment doesn't work, then that defeats the purpose of even having it. One of the big things during general quarters is watertight integrity. If you have a bunch of doors and hatches that don't work or don't seal properly then they're useless. Knowing that if there's a fire near one of my spaces, anyone can grab DC gear and I know it's going to work. I don't have to worry about having any kind of guilt thinking that if something happens the equipment isn't going to work. I know my guys maintain it well. I'm never concerned about it not working."

Join the conversation with TR online at www.facebook.com/USSTheodoreRoosevelt and www.Twitter.com/TheRealCVN71. For more news from USS Theodore Roosevelt, visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn71/.

For more news from USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), visit www.navy.mil/.