Travis Weger: Public Affairs Specialist, Western Area Power Administration

Service Branch: U.S. Navy

Years of Service: 2003-2009 active, 2009-current reserve

Would you like to share any details of your military history, awards you may have received or other accomplishments?

I have had a very unique and rewarding military career, performing duties in multiple ways in multiple types of units. Prior to joining the Navy, I was going to school for film and television. Joining the Navy, I qualified for a lot of great jobs but I wanted to do something outside my comfort zone, so I signed up as an E-1 undesignated seaman, which is the Navy’s term for a deck hand. I shipped off to boot camp in December 2003 and was later assigned to the USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) out of Sasebo, Japan.

Upon arriving, we were told that we had a new assignment and that we couldn’t tell our families, and we sailed off not knowing where we were going. A couple days later, we were told that we were headed to the Northern Arabian Gulf to take the 31^st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to Iraq.

On our way to the Gulf, we stopped by Okinawa to pick up the Marines. While tied to the pier, a typhoon came through but since our mission was labeled critical, we stayed tied to the pier and rode it out for 36 hours. We parted five mooring lines, a few Sailors on deck were almost swept overboard and the ship nearly ran aground. It was devastating. Thankfully everyone survived, but the ship was very beat up and we lost a majority of our mooring lines. This was the first six months of my naval career, and a moment that would set the pace for the next 15 years.  

In 2006, the Navy started up a combat command called Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC). I wanted a change of pace from shipboard life, so I volunteered in 2007 to transfer to a “ground and pound” unit, closer to something you would see in the Army or Marines. Since I had years of small boat experience from five deployments on Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) Teams, I was selected to transfer to Naval Special Clearance Team One. I was qualified as a marine mammal handler, training U.S. Navy dolphins and sea lions for underwater mine countermeasure. I operated Mk IV, deep-water mine countermeasure with four Navy dolphins. The unit later decommissioned and I became a plank owner of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit One.

As much fun as I was having on active duty, I knew that I wanted to finish school, so I transferred to the Navy Reserve in 2009. I served in a couple more expeditionary units with the Seabee’s, the Navy construction battalions, before being approached for a new assignment in 2010.

I got a phone call asking if I wanted to try something “new and cool, that the Navy hasn’t done before.” Of course I agreed, and met the team for dinner. This was for Navy Civil Affairs, which is best defined as opening and closing doors, interfacing with the community and non-governmental organizations. We learned how to work with local cultures, setup commerce and open sustainable fisheries and waterways. We went through multiple trainings that can best be described as something you’d see in an action movie. We deployed in 2013, went through almost a year of training, but because of sequestration, were sent home three days before going overseas.

During the deployment, I made Chief Boatswains Mate and earned my expeditionary combat specialist (EXW) warfare device. Making Chief was the mark of my career, as they say that only two percent of all people in the Navy ever make Chief Petty Officer.

The next few years I went to a couple more expeditionary units as a Riverine, which are inland fast attack boat units, as the Leading Chief Petty Officer and another as the Senior Enlisted Leader. I had a great time and worked with great people, but I knew that eventually I wanted to get back to my roots of working in media. I wanted to use what I had learned with my years in the field to help in a new way, telling the Navy’s story.

After almost 13 years of enlisted service, I submit my package to become an Officer. I was one of four people in the country selected to become a Public Affairs Officer in 2016. Currently, I am a Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) serving as the Operations Department head at Navy Public Affairs Support Element West where our team is responsible for rapid deployment of 45 individuals around the globe to tell the Navy’s story. I have dispatched people from Thailand to Oklahoma with more than 1,500 days of support to the fleet in 2018.  

December 8, 2018 marks 15 years in the Navy. Where most people would be winding down for retirement, I feel that my story is just beginning. I am looking forward to leading and helping my Sailors in a new way, and am excited what the next 30 years holds.

Please take a moment to reflect on your thoughts when considering your service uniform.  What does your service uniform represent to you?

Service in uniform represents something bigger than yourself. A lot of people think that the military is simply a fighting force -- it is much more than that. I have performed more good in the world because of my time in uniform than I would have had the opportunity to had I of never joined. If I was to take a step back and look at my uniform and what it represents, I would say that it is years of service, and giving back to those in need.

While in uniform, I have had opportunities to read to and help inner-city children, paint schools, repair churches, provide medical care, rescue fishermen lost at sea, bring food and water to places that were struck by disaster, protect defenseless individuals, stop piracy out at sea, rebuild communities and help rescue lost children. There are areas in the world that most have forgotten about, or places that most have never heard of, and the U.S. military is there to help those individuals.

I firmly believe that everyone in America should serve in one capacity during their lifetime: Peace Corps, Ameri Corps, Teach for America or in the military. Service to others, and service to our country is the backbone of what makes America incredible.  

Teamwork is essential across many contexts in life.  Please share how your service in the military cultivated an appreciation for the value of teamwork.  Do you draw from these experiences, or what similarities exist, when working within teams at the DOE?

The military puts you outside your comfort zone, and throws you into situations with individuals from all walks of life. Teamwork is essential to not just getting your tasks complete, but for emotional support in difficult situations. Prior to the Navy, I used to be a “if you want it done right, do it yourself” person. The Navy helped me realize that by empowering teams, you can get incredible amounts done quicker and more efficient.

Working at WAPA, I am able to draw on my experience from the Navy leading teams through communication plans and our All-Employee Meetings. Our meetings are a huge lift, and would be impossible for one member to complete on their own. A large part of teamwork is also keeping your cool in difficult situations. If the leader, or one of the team members, is stressed out, that can degrade your team. The Navy taught me how to keep a level head during difficult situations, and get tasks done to completion.

Military service can have a profound and lasting impact on those who serve. Your perspective is unique in having seen both the military and the civilian sides of service.  What story could you share of service before self? 

Since I am currently a reservist, I can only perform my Navy Reserve job after normal working hours, typically from 6-10 p.m. As the Operations Department head for my unit, my job is to dispatch from a pool of 45 sailors when a public affairs support request is put out. Serving those 45 people in the hours after work can be extremely difficult and taxing on your personal life, but also very rewarding.

Recently, we had two members that were slated to provide public affairs support during an operation in Guam. There were two members were ready to go, but fell out at the last minute. I enabled my team to find two replacements, which we were able to find four members that could perform the duties at separate times.

What followed next was hurdle after hurdle, and it would have been easy to throw in the towel and say we couldn’t support the operation. However, I knew that if I did not try every avenue to provide support, I would feel like I did a severe disservice to everyone involved. I called around to several commands to find funding available, it was toward the end of the fiscal year and all of the money was gone. I was finally able to secure funding, only to find out that the funding had been lost. Finally, someone came to our rescue and when all was said and done, we had two members on an airplane to Guam. I thought I was out of the weeds, but got a call at 2 a.m. that there was a hurricane about to hit Guam, all military operations had been put on hold, and to recall all members. Unfortunately, two were already in the air, we put the others on hold, but the two on the way ended up riding out the hurricane in a hotel.  

The devastation from the hurricane turned the operation into a humanitarian assistance, disaster response mission. Had my team not put in the extra effort to secure the funding, we would not have had the opportunity to tell the story of the U.S. Navy helping hurricane victims on the island. It was because of the extra service, and exhausting all measures that we had the opportunity to show the good that the U.S. Navy was doing overseas.

What inspired your interest the agency, and how did your prior service prepare you to join the DOE’s workforce?

WAPA takes the power from 56 hydro facilities across the western United States, providing clean federal hydropower for more than 40 million Americans. In our current economy, electricity is a need, just as much as food and water. You don’t realize how much you need it until it is gone. It is this mission that drew me to WAPA.

My time in the service prepared me by putting me in some extreme situations: shooting live rounds out of a vehicle going 100mph, jumping out of helicopters, driving small boats in 20 foot swells in the middle of the ocean, working in negative 50 degree weather where it’s too cold to breathe, to climbing up a 100’ ladder on the side of a ship boarding potentially dangerous vessels. At WAPA, my job allows me to work with line crews in situations that are in pretty extreme weather, that would have been uncomfortable had that not been my life in the Navy. As we say in the military, “embrace the suck,” and for some reason the worse the situation, the more I love it.

My time in the military gives me an opportunity to tell stories that otherwise would not be told.

Your talents contribute to an innovative and vibrant scientific ecosystem important for matters of national security, energy technologies, and economic prosperity.  How does your role, whether directly or indirectly, allow the agency to continue push the frontiers of science?

WAPA fosters an environment of innovation. The last few years we have implemented the Inclusion, Innovation and Technology Summit. I frequently work on communication for the meeting, create content including videos and talking points and communicate to employees in ways that are easy to understand.

We are constantly pushing the frontiers of science at WAPA, and it is this culture that keeps me energized about my work and what we do as an organization.