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Military and veterans events highlight Fleet Week San Diego and Veterans Day weekend

Tours of Navy, Coast Guard ships among free bay front events Veterans Day weekend

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Fleet Week San Diego kicks off Monday with many free activities for active duty military, their families and the public, culminating in the annual Veterans Day Parade. It’s the first time Fleet Week has been held the same week as the Veterans Day weekend.

While the local Fleet Week officially begins Monday with the start of a military and first responders softball tournament, the activity picks up Friday with the opening of the Qualcomm Innovation Zone on the Broadway Pier, and tours of the Navy’s amphibious transport dock San Diego and the Coast Guard cutter Robert Ward.

The Innovation Zone, open to the public Friday and Saturday, will feature interactive augmented and virtual reality demonstrations, in addition to other technology-focused booths. The day before, on student STEM day Thursday, local students will get exclusive access to the displays, which Larry Blumberg, executive director of Fleet Week San Diego, said is a highlight of the week.

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“Over 2,000 students came last year, so we’ve expanded,” he said. “The Qualcomm Innovation Zone alone is worth the trip.”

New this year is a veterans art exhibit, presented in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which Blumberg said helped select and display veteran art at the pier. The exhibit runs Friday through Veterans Day.

According to Blumberg, 20,000 people visited the Broadway Pier during last year’s Fleet Week.

Away from the pier, other Fleet Week activities include a military family tailgate Saturday at SDCCU stadium ahead of the San Diego State University football game against Nevada and a golf tournament for the enlisted at Sycuan Casino Resort on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Fleet Week San Diego is the third and final “fleet week” in Navy Region Southwest — Los Angeles Fleet Week was held at the end of August and San Francisco’s was the second week of October.

Brian O’Rourke, a spokesman for Navy Region Southwest, said the Navy supports the events because it gives sailors the opportunity to interact with the public.

“Our service members engage with the community,” O’Rourke said in an email. “At the same time, local residents can see state-of-the-art capabilities of the sea services up close, touring ships, talking to the troops and participating in interactive demonstrations.”

Each Fleet Week is unique — in Los Angeles, the band Cheap Trick performed. In San Francisco, it was the Navy’s Blue Angels, fresh off their San Diego performance at the Miramar Air Show.

The Veteran’s Day parade begins Monday at 10:00 a.m. at the north end of the Embarcadero and runs south along Harbor Drive for one mile.

In San Diego, country singer Coffey Anderson is scheduled to perform at the pier after the parade.

In front of the USS Midway Museum, the San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace will stage its “Hometown Arlington West” memorial, remembering local service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, something the organization has done since 2003. The memorial includes about 300 tombstones marking the names and hometowns of those killed.

Gil Field, communications director for Veterans for Peace, said that while he understood why the Navy and defense contractors support events such as Fleet Week, it is also important to remember the toll of war.

“It’s an impressive memorial that makes people think,” Field said. “It’s row upon row of service members from San Diego, Chula Vista and National City. There’s no Del Mar, no Rancho Santa Fe — it makes you think.”

Broadway Pier opens to the public 1 p.m. Friday.

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