For one junior officer assigned to guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61), a Composite Training Unit Exercise is the most strenuous training exercise he has experienced in his Navy career.

"COMPTUEX gives you the opportunity to see things that you're not going to see often," said Ensign Joshua Asaro, Monterey's first lieutenant. "Coming out of COMPTUEX and having this high concentration and focus on training and development really accelerates your progress as a bridge watchstander."

The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group's COMPTUEX, which began March 16, is testing the strike group's ability to effectively perform and respond as an integrated team while deployed together.

Asaro said the exercise is preparing him to be a better officer of the deck, the commanding officer's direct representative and decision-maker in the pilot house. Currently serving on the bridge as a junior officer of the deck, he is one step away from earning his OOD letter, the last major qualification before earning a surface warfare officer designation.

As JOOD, Asaro advises the conning officer, who is responsible for giving orders to drive the ship. The JOOD also directly assists the OOD in all of his or her duties on the bridge.

During COMPTUEX, the ship will conduct many fast-paced, high-speed maneuvers to dodge submarine-launched torpedoes and to evade fast in-shore attack craft. It is this experience that Asaro said separates him from other junior officers not partaking in a COMPTUEX.

"If you were just on the beach, or if your ship was not participating, you would not get this experience," Asaro said. "The formations, dealing with FIAC, and seeing how the strike group integrates-there is no better preparation for that in the real world. COMPTUEX is a great opportunity for that training."

Ike CSG is comprised of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10 staff, Destroyer Squadron 26 staff, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Monterey (CG 61) and the ships assigned to DESRON 26: guided-missile destroyers USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Mason (DDG 87) and USS Nitze (DDG 94).

For more information from USS Monterey (CG 61), visit www.navy.mil/local/cg61

For more news from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), visit www.navy.mil/