Reflections on my waypoints at sea

Never in my life did I imagine I would be serving in the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. In fact, I have proof of it.

A few months ago I moved to Florida and during my unpacking I discovered my time capsule. I was about 5 years late in opening it, but it didn’t matter. My original expectations of life: have part time jobs in order to buy savings bonds and then attend UC Davis to study genetics and become an OB/GYN.

That is not at all my life now.

In the spring of 2003 I typed into a google search box “summer”+”leadership program”. The first two hits were those Washington DC fellowships that cost thousands of dollars for a few days on the hill. The third? United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar program.

When I clicked on it I knew absolutely nothing about the US Naval Academy. What I did know is it only cost $300 and my mom could drive me from our home at the time in Dover, Delaware. Mom said yes and I filled out the application. I was accepted and got permission to miss a week of school in order to attend.

My mom parked the car and walked me into the check-in area. As I looked at the schedule in the welcome folder I realized I had completely missed the memo that we would be working out every day. I didn’t bring shoes. And as I looked around I realized there were no other females checking in.

Perfect time kill. “Mom let’s go buy some shoes and come back. Maybe there will be some other girls when we get back!”

My plan worked and when we returned not only did we happen to catch Senator John McCain dropping off his son, there were two other female “campers.” Mom could totally leave me there now, new sneakers in hand.

At the time, I had never heard of a service academy. And I certainly didn’t have any experience with the Navy. Both of my parents were in the Air Force. Though I had always reasoned I would serve in the military, the thought never crossed my mind to consider the Navy. It was that week that hooked me in. I came home with one remaining week of school left and completed my application. I was on fire.

A year later and I showed up for Plebe Summer (the indoctrination military training) as an underdog. I had decided to look into the Navy a bit at that point and had decided that I was going to be a Public Affairs Officer by way of being a Surface Warfare Officer. As the years went by I waffled back and forth, considering the Marine Corps, and Naval Aviation. Had submarines been an option at the time of my graduation from USNA, I’m sure I would have been intrigued. But on May 23, 2008 I commissioned in the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer in the making. Conventional Surface Warfare was the fastest way to hit the fleet at the time. Naval Aviation paths would require years of schooling before going on a deployment, and even longer before you were able to lead Sailors. The Marine Corps required The Basic School followed by specialty schools before you would lead Marines in the fleet. I was done with school after four years earning a Bachelor of Science at USNA - I wanted to get straight to it. And straight to the fleet I went.

I selected my first ship to be the USS Essex (LHD-2) out of Sasebo, Japan. I was assigned (at my request) to serve as a division officer (DIVO) in the Deck Department. Being a Deck DIVO was not a coveted first assignment for many because it involved long hours and very young, often wayward Sailors. Deck Department is where we place undesignated Seamen before they strike (select) a rate (specialty). As a Deck DIVO, you work with a lot of Sailors who are experiencing their first time away from home, working laborious missions for long hours at a time.

I loved it. Boatswains’ Mates are the original rating in the Navy and I was honored to make my way through all the tried and true evolutions they carried out on the ship: anchoring, mooring, underway replenishment, well deck operations, small boat operations, damage control operations, flight operations, search and rescue operations…they literally did it all. My experiences in Deck Department laid the foundation for the rest of my naval career. It was a blessing to serve with those people from all over the world and our country for two years.

We participated in multilateral international exercises regularly during our patrols at sea. About 9 months into my time aboard I had earned my Officer of the Deck (OOD) qualification. Receiving the trust of the Commanding Officer of an amphibious aircraft carrier at the age of 22 never ceases to amaze me today. At that young age, I was standing in place of the CO. During my watches on the bridge I would execute the plan of the day, navigating us through the open ocean, instructing my watch team, and carrying out a litany of special evolutions (anchoring, launch/recovery of aircraft, amphibious operations, etc. etc.) - often simultaneously. And after a year on board, I earned my full Surface Warfare Officer Qualification.

Qualifying as an OOD gave me the trust of my current Commanding Officer. Earning my SWO pin imparted upon me the trust of the Navy as a whole. A qualified SWO pin demonstrates that the person wearing it knows enough about the surface fleet to be able to walk onto any ship and class we have in the Navy and have instant credibility. As a SWO, you have to know and understand how every ship in the Navy functions to achieve our national defense, so you can fight from that ship class if needed.

My second assignment took me to a smaller class of ship, a guided missile destroyer. DDG-111 the USS Spruance was to be the newest in its class. So new in fact, that when I reported to her she was not yet finished with construction. I was therefore embarking on the US Navy’s version of a Start Up enterprise!

I reported aboard as the Damage Control Assistant (DCA), one of two principal assistants to the Chief Engineer (CHENG). I took my job very seriously and being that the ship was still in construction I had the unique opportunity to learn from the ship building experts themselves. As the first DCA for the ship I was responsible for building the foundation of the Spruance’s damage control culture. That’s an incredible feat but fortunately because of the support of my divisional team, we lit the place on fire! Figuratively of course!

Over the next 2 years I was a plank-owning sailor of the USS Spruance. As such, I sailed the USS Spruance away from the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine, commissioned her, and brought her home to San Diego, CA where she is today. I qualified as the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) and stood that position as my primary watch while underway. Being a part of the engineering department was an incredible experience, one I know has shaped me into the woman I am today. I am tremendously grateful for the trust of the Captain and the Sailors on board.

Being at sea is in some ways an understandable continuation of a lifetime of movement. Growing up as a military brat I spent no more than 3 years at a time in one place. In fact, the longest I have ever lived in a place was when I was a midshipman at USNA. My family was the only constant in my life as we moved across Europe and the Middle East in my youth.

In that sense, it is perhaps not such a stretch to understand how the ship became my tether to stability…even as the ships I sailed on took me around the world. No matter where I was, I was still home - amongst my shipmates.

My fondest memories in my professional life have been born at sea. I remember the wee hours of the morning deep in conversation with my fellow watchstanders on the bridge. I recall the wonder of sailing through seas littered with squid boats so bright it looked like daytime. The nights when the sea was calm and the only light came from the moon, the only sound - the wake, while I kept my eyes peeled for sneaky crab pots as we followed the line of the shore. How you can be in the deepest of sleeps and wake up suddenly because the murmur of the ship has gone silent due to an engineering casualty. The sheer majesty of underway replenishment: two ships steaming in parallel seemingly connected - yet the reality of the constant adjustment and calibration that is at play throughout the ship.

Truly magical.

As I walk to the beach nowadays and look out from the shore I remember those moments fondly and am so tremendously grateful that I choose to be a Surface Warfare Officer. For you can never really know the world unless you know its primary element…the sea.

Erica