Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB) hosted National Night Out (NNO), Oct. 14, at the Downtown Lyceum.

NNO is a community-building program started by the National Association for Town Watches (NATW) in 1983 to bring neighborhoods together and make their communities a safer place to live. A few years later, NATW invited police agencies to get involved as a way for neighborhoods to meet their local law enforcement officers to help strengthen community-police relationships.

"NSGB has participated in NNO for the last 15 Years," said Master-at-Arms 1st Class Eric Wells, NNO event coordinator. "This event is important because it helps the community meet their local first responders and strengthens community relationships."

During the event, NSGB's Security Department, Fire Department, Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay, United States Coast Guard, and other base agencies came together to display different pieces of equipment and information on how the base community can stay safe.

"I feel this event is important," said Wells. "It helps strengthen the relationship between the emergency first responders and the NSGB community and gives everyone a night to have fun. It also allows the different agencies on base to show how they train and conduct business."

Wells added that having the base community interacting with the different agencies on base lets them know that they are here to help keep them safe.

NNO culminated with a military working dog demonstration and four families going home with new bicycles and biking safety gear, which were given away in a prize drawing at the end of the event.

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