EVERETT — A Navy command master chief of the Everett-based USS Shoup was fired Monday following an assault charge for grabbing the shirt of a junior sailor who was not wearing the proper uniform.
Command Master Chief Petty Officer Rick A. Helwick, 43, was relieved of duty by Shoup’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Jill Cesari. He had served in the position for more than two years.
A relief command master chief is expected to arrive in November. Helwick was flown off the ship and has been temporarily reassigned to the Everett offices of Destroyer Squadron 9, said Cmdr. Tamsen Reese, a public affairs officer, in a press release.
Helwick’s online biography reports that he was raised on Whidbey Island, enlisted in the Navy in April 1988 and previously served aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and destroyers Stethem, McCampbell, Higgins and Benfold. He has received the Meritorious Service Medal twice, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal twice, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal four times.
The Shoup is an Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer based at Naval Station Everett and currently deployed to the Persian Gulf.
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