Naval Station provides unique experience.

It's known as the "sailor's choice" of Navy installations; a homeport that has service menbets across the country coveting an assignment at one of its commands. Located 40 miles north of Seattle, and offering countless terrestrial and aquatic recreation opportunities within a short drive of its gates, Naval Station Everett lies surrounded by snowcapped peaks, on the northeast shore of Washington State's glacially-carved Puget Sound.

Established in 1994 as the nation's newest and most modern Navy base, NAVSTA Everett, as it is known in military circles, and its satellite facilities hosts 6,310 personnel, and is home to seven warships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and two Coast Guard vessels. More reminiscent of a college campus than a military installation, the homeport is known nationwide for its world-class outdoor activities.

"Two hours by car will take you to three national parks, nine state parks and countless other wilderness sites," says NAVSTA Community Services Director Paul Dessert, who heads up the base's recreational and leisure services programs. "We're also only 45 minutes away from Naval Radio Station (NRS) Jim Creek, an active military communications site that also serves as a 5000-acre wilderness recreation facility for our authorized users."

NRS Jim Creek, operating primarily as a Navy communications installation, lies on the North Western periphery of Washington's Boulder River Wilderness in the Cascade Mountains. Featuring two rainbow trout stocked lakes, and a handful of salmon-inhabited tributaries of the Stillaguamish River, Jim Creek has become one of the west coast's most prized military wilderness recreation sites.

Featuring more than seven miles of trails and various ecosystems, Jim Creek also testifies to the Navy's values of conservation and environmental preservation. "We've managed to preserve one 225-acre forest of old-growth, Sitka Spruce forest here," says Ryan Kimball, site manager for community services. "That particular stand contains some 200-foot, nearly 1700-year old trees that are over 10-feet in diameter." The presence of wildlife such as bald eagles, otters, mule deer, coyotes and others, also acts as a wonderful attraction to parents looking for a "learning" vacation.

Visitors to Jim Creek can select from various accommodations and the area also offers a 50-foot Alpine Tower climbing facility with formal ropes and team-building courses, along with recreational climbing opportunities for casual users.

This ideal site was selected for this past June's Armed Forces Recreation Society (AFRS) board of director's meeting, where attendees learned about NAVSTA Everett's consolidated recreational programs provided by the Navy's Community Services department at the base's main waterfront complex on Port Gardner, Wash., along with a satellite service complex 20-minutes away, near Smokey Point.

Formerly known as the Navy's Morale, Welfare and Recreation department, the Community Services department combines recreational, leisure, family support and life skills, food, business and entertainment programs for military audiences. "We've tried to consolidate a number of these programs and offer them out of our main building, called the Commons, as a convenient, one-stop resource," says Dessert.

The 63,000 square foot, two-story facility contains a full fitness center and gymnasium, a smoke-free bar, a lounge and computer area for enlisted sailors, a large ballroom, a food courtyard with fast food franchises and espresso stand, racquetball and aerobic courts, a theatre and an outdoor programs and ticket-and-tour office.

Additional programs provided by the Community Services department also includes childcare (the base has an on-site care center), a restaurant offering full meal service in the evenings, a fleet-and-family support center offering counseling, parenting and life skills classes, an after-school program, a marina, and a bi-monthly veterinarian clinic. "Our goal is to provide sailors and their families with programs that will enhance their quality of life," says Dessert. "It's the least we can do here on the home front, for the sacrifices our military personnel make each day that they serve this country."

To learn more about Navy Region Northwest's recreational activities, or the region's Community Services department (including NAVSTA Everett facilities and the Jim Creek Recreation Area), visit the region's Community Services website at www.navylifepnw.com.