Warwick Sailor earns Naval Aviation Observer Wings

Posted 4/1/14

U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist First Class (IS1) Brendan McKenna of Warwick, assigned to NATO Allied Maritime Command, was recently presented with his Naval Aviation Observer wings by Rear Adm. …

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Warwick Sailor earns Naval Aviation Observer Wings

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U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist First Class (IS1) Brendan McKenna of Warwick, assigned to NATO Allied Maritime Command, was recently presented with his Naval Aviation Observer wings by Rear Adm. Elizabeth Train, U.S. Navy Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, during Train ’s visit to Northwood, United Kingdom.

McKenna served as an Airborne Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Operator aboard multiple fixed wing aircraft in support of a Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan between December 2012 and October 2013. During this assignment, he flew 162 combat sorties with more than 750 flight hours.

In so doing, he fulfilled all requirements to qualify as a Naval Aviation Observer, a designation used to identify those Sailors and Marines whose assignments require them to serve as mission flight crew.

McKenna, a 2003 graduate of Bishop Hendricken High School, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2009. After graduating as the honor graduate from advanced, specialized training in both the Intelligence Specialist (IS) “A ” School and OPINTEL “C ” School, he was assigned to Naval Station Newport, R.I. His next assignment was to Fleet Intelligence Adaptive Force (FIAF) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During this assignment, he deployed aboard USS WAYNE E. MEYER (DDG 108) and to Afghanistan, where he fulfilled the requirements to be designated a Naval Aviation Observer.

McKenna joined NATO Allied Maritime Command in January 2014, and he currently serves in the Intelligence Directorate (N2). He is a qualified Enlisted Information Dominance Warfare Specialist (IDW) and Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (SW).

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