By Laura Guido / Whidbey News-Times
OAK HARBOR — A career in the Navy was Capt. Matthew Arny’s plan since first grade.
His father was an F-4 Phantom II pilot. Arny remembers giving a presentation to his first-grade class about how he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps and fly the same aircraft.
“I’ve just always had it in me,” said Arny, sitting at a long wooden desk at Ault Field. A coffee mug printed with the letters “CO,” for commanding officer, was in front of him.
He succeeded Capt. Geoffrey Moore as the base’s skipper last month.
Though he never flew Phantoms, Arny did serve tours as an F-14B and F/A-18F flight officer after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993. The F/A-18F Superhornet served as the basis for the EA-18G Growler.
His career includes more than 3,000 flight hours, sea and shore tours across the globe, and disaster relief operations. During those years, he heard about Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and its “excellent reputation,” he said.
“I know that most people who come here enjoy their time here and a lot of them choose to stay,” Arny said. “So that’s a really good indicator for not only the installation but the community and the area.”
A number of changes are already in motion at the base, such as the transition to the P-8 Poseidon aircraft and related construction projects, as well as new facilities to support operations of the unmanned MQ-4C Triton.
Part of the work Arny is inheriting includes efforts to put a filter on Coupeville’s water system after toxic chemicals from the Navy’s firefighting foam were detected. The base tests wells and provides bottled water to affected areas. He said a priority is to track the water filter project to ensure it’s completed as quickly as possible.
He also said he’ll continue to work with the town with regard to noise generated by Growler landing practices at Outlying Field Coupeville.
The final environmental assessment for adding Growlers to NAS Whidbey is expected to be released in early October, and the Navy’s record of decision should come by early December, according to Navy officials.
This story originally appeared in the Whidbey News-Times, a sibling paper of The Daily Herald.
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