Two Las Vegans help make frigate operate more smoothly

Dick Benoit

Thursday, March 1, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

Two Las Vegas area high school graduates, Adam Peplinski and B.J. Daniel, are now shipmates aboard the Navy frigate USS Rodney M. Davis, a 453-foot combat ship scheduled to deploy from its homeport of Everett, Wash., for three months of counterdrug operations in the Southeast Pacific.

Peplinski, a 1999 Valley High School graduate and son of Leslie Peplinski and Willena Wagner, both of Las Vegas, serves as an information systems technician aboard the warship.

"I handle the ship's messages, operate the ship's computer network and work on the computers," he said.

Daniel, a 1999 Durango High School graduate and son of Jan Daniel of Las Vegas, is a gas turbine engine technician.

"I work a lot of hours maintaining the ship's engineering plant," he said.

During the three-month deployment, Peplinski, Daniel and their shipmates will work closely with Coast Guard air and surface units in an effort to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

Following the counterdrug operations phase of its deployment, the Davis will take part in "Teamwork South," a multinational exercise involving navies from Chile, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

In brief