Hamburg man serves on Navy warship

Petty Officer 1st Class Jacob Barczyk, a native of Hamburg, is serving aboard USS Jason Dunham, a Navy warship operating out of Mayport, Fla.

The 2015 graduate of Wallkill Valley Regional High School joined the Navy five years ago.

“I joined for an opportunity to get a job where I also learned a skill,” he said. “I wanted to travel at the same time.”

Today, Barczyk relies on skills and values similar to those found in Hamburg to succeed in the military.

“I learned that hard work breeds success. In the Navy, as long as you do what you’re told, you’ll be successful.”

Barczyk said he is most proud of advancing to petty officer first class.

“Even though our advancement quotas are low, it just shows that if you work hard, you can achieve anything.”

Serving in the Navy “is a way for me to give back to the country that provides freedom for so many people,” he noted.

“My parents grew up in a communist country, and that is not a world that I would want to live in.”

Barczyk is grateful to his wife, Kristen, and other family members for helping make a Navy career possible. “She supported me in the beginning by being there for me even when I was in boot camp.

“My dad and my brother were also instrumental in my success in the Navy,” he said. “They told me to never give up.”

Jason Dunham is a guided-missile destroyer that provides a wide range of warfighting capabilities. The destroyer is a multi-mission ship that can operate independently or as part of a larger group of ships at sea. It is equipped with tomahawk missiles, torpedoes, guns and a phalanx close-in weapons system.

More than 300 sailors serve aboard the ship. Their jobs are highly specialized and range from maintaining engines to handling weaponry.

Serving in the Navy means that Barczyk is part of a team that is taking on new importance in the nation’s focus on strengthening alliances, modernizing capabilities, increasing capacities and maintaining military readiness.

“The Navy ensures the freedom of navigation and shows our commitment to the world through our relationship with our allies,” he said.