 Like most ships in the Navy, to maintain their efficiency, they go through a series of certifications. The USS Ashland recently completed the last phase of its amphibious warfare well-decked certification off the coast of Sasebo, Japan. Today we conducted the final portion of our AMW certification. We did several events with the landing craft utility and the landing craft air cushion. This certification included a series of evolution designed to assess an amphibious ship's capability to launch and recover small landing craft vehicles. This certification is important because it allows us to be trained and to show our proficiency with the various vehicles that we operate in our well deck and make sure that our ship is ready to go at a moment's notice.