NAS OCEANA, Va. — As Virginia Beach’s NAS Oceana faced massive snowfall, unsung heroes on the flight line, in the galley, and elsewhere kept the Navy base's mission alive.
Hours after snowflakes began falling last week, the flight line and runways at the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base in Virginia Beach were buried under a blanket of white.
The base’s longest runway, stretching just over two miles long and 200 feet wide, joins three others, totaling an area equivalent to about 111 football fields.
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Commander Matthew Milkowski of the Public Works team was part of the crew clearing the miles of pavement on base, a massive task made manageable with the help of a giant snowblower.
“You can’t have those piles of snow covering up your airfield lighting,” Milkowski said. “Otherwise, we can’t land aircraft. That’s a safety issue, absolutely.”
The Public Works team was part of a larger group of 'mission-essential' personnel working at the base during the February storm, which dumped more than 10 inches of snow over much of Virginia Beach. As crews battled the cold outdoors, the galley was heating up inside. Despite the snow piling up, the need to feed personnel didn’t stop.
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“We don’t get the luxury to close,” said Chief Warrant Officer Misty Cannon, who, alongside Culinary Specialist Gloria Atuguba, worked with a team of nearly 20 sailors and civilians. They spent the storm prepping, cooking and serving meals for mission-essential staff on base.
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The effort extended beyond the kitchen. Base leadership ensured safe lodging for those without barracks rooms.
“We made sure that guys that don’t stay on base, that don’t have barracks rooms, we went ahead and secured barracks rooms for everyone that needed it,” Atuguba added.
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NAS Oceana’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Josh Appezzato, praised the teamwork that kept operations running smoothly.
“It was a huge team lift, with a lot of behind-the-scenes, generally unacknowledged folks coming in and getting the job done,” he said.
The base, in coordination with the city of Virginia Beach, had a plan ready for such an event. Capt. Appezzato says it paid off.
“Ten inches of snow, that is a challenge for us,” the commanding officer noted. “But one that we leaned into, and we’re able to clear the runways and open up ASAP following that snowfall.”
