Anthony Amato, a 2001 Beacon High School graduate, is a submarine chief for the U.S. Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
You’re the command master chief for Squadron 1. What are your duties?
I’m responsible for a staff of about 30 and seven nuclear-powered submarines. My job is to motivate and inspire the chief in each boat and provide training and mentorship. I help get the submarines ready for deployment. Sometimes I’m out at sea for seven to 10 days a month; the next month I may not be home at all. When at sea, I do evaluations and provide feedback to the command team, the triad, the chiefs and the officers. If you want to make a difference and be somewhere that allows you to develop, Pearl Harbor is the place.
Do you like working on submarines?
I grew up in a close-knit Italian family, and the submarine force is a fraternity unlike any other. Every day you go out to sea, you’re dependent on every single person to do the right thing, make the right decisions, to make sure you get home safe. I love that in every port I go to there’s no way I’m not going to know someone I’ve served with on another boat or know through someone else. I love the professionalism and tight-knit dynamic on submarines. We have some phenomenal sailors.
How self-sustained are today’s submarines?
The only reason a submarine has to pull into port is to replenish food; we average about a three-month supply. We make our own oxygen and water and purify our air. The limiting factor is always food; we can stay submerged until we run out. And the food is phenomenal. Everything is fresh because prepackaged food takes up a lot of space. You get fresh bread and meals every day. When the food is good, you look forward to it and it raises the morale. Our crews average 150 sailors. For recreation there’s movies, audiobooks, reading, treadmills, rowing machines, bikes and free weights. People get into workout routines. And people on subs play a lot of cribbage.
What are your memories of Beacon High School?
I made many lifetime friends. I was on the wrestling and soccer teams. We had a pretty bad soccer team but I played with a lot of great guys, good friends, growing up together along the way. I took Dana Cabrera, a friend of mine from Newburgh, to the prom. My brother still lives in Beacon and my wife’s family is from there, so we visit.
Why did you join the Navy?
I’m fourth-generation Navy: My great-grandfather was a boatswain mate, my grandfather was a gunner’s mate during World War II and my father was a hull maintenance technician on an aircraft carrier. I was 17 when I went to boot camp in July 2001, two months before the terrorist attacks. I think 9/11 solidified that I was in the right place, at the right time, doing what I wanted to do. Not everyone had a cellphone; we didn’t know what was going on. They shut down the base, then allowed people from New York to make phone calls. It was a scary moment but, at the end of the day, it was: ‘All right, man, this is why you joined, the possibility of things like this.’”
