Dalton resident helps keep Navy planes flying

Published 10:44 pm Sunday, January 24, 2016

Whitfield County is pretty landlocked, but George Tate says growing up here helped prepare him for a career in the U.S. Navy.

“I grew up on a farm. We always repaired our own tractors, so I grew up working in diesel engines, and that’s what I do now,” he said.

Tate, an aviation support equipment technician second class, is deployed aboard the USS John C. Stennis, a nuclear aircraft carrier that left port two weeks ago and won’t return to the United States until August.

“It’s close quarters. It’s hard to describe if you haven’t done it. But it builds a lot of camaraderie,” he said.

Tate, a 2007 graduate of Northwest Whitfield High School, enlisted in the Navy while he was a junior in high school.

“My parents had to sign a waiver for me,” he said.

“I was stationed in Norfolk, Va., from 2007 to 2009. I went to Iraq from 2009 to 2011. Then I was stationed in Florida from 2011 to 2015. I’m currently stationed in Bremerton, Wash.,” he said.

Tate and his team help make sure the planes onboard the aircraft carrier can do their jobs.

“We work on all the gear that tows the aircraft around on the flight deck and the hangar bay,” he said. “I start at 6:30 in the morning. I’m in charge of the diesel shop, and I usually leave around 6:30 at night. But if something breaks down that needs to go up on the flight deck I’m here until it’s fixed, so I usually work a 12- to 16-hour day.”