by Kayla Good,
Navy Office of Community Outreach
(MILLINGTON, Tenn.) – Navy Midshipman Alexander Billies from
San Diego participated in the 2017 spring Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps
(NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the U.S. Navy’s Surface
Warfare Officer (SWO) community.
More than 280 midshipmen at Navy Reserve Officer Training
Corps (NROTC) units around the country have selected to serve in the Navy as
surface warfare officers. Each selecting midshipman is ranked according to his
or her grade point average, aptitude scores, and physical fitness.
“NROTC has taught me leadership in my own life as well as
leading the midshipmen vattalion in various activities,” said Billies. “I have
grown to love working with others and creating new ways of conducting
midshipmen training, through physical and mental activities.”
According to their
rankings, each midshipman provided their preference of ship or homeport to the
junior officer detailer at the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee.
If these preferences were available, they were assigned as requested.
“The SWO ship selection
process means that I can finally join the ranks of unrestricted line officers
that can capably stand guard on the seas,” said Billies. “It is a culmination
of all the long nights and arduous work spent cultivating my officer candidate
résumé. It is a reward that I am able to select a ship that allows me to grow
into a successful naval officer.”
Billies, a 2013 Eastlake High School graduate, has selected
to serve aboard USS Sampson. Billies is majoring in mechanical engineering while
attending Marquette University. Upon graduation, Billies will receive a
commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard Sampson as a surface warfare
officer.
Sampson is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer home-ported in Everett, Washington.
“I am looking forward to stepping on my first ship and being
able to work with the able bodied professionals, with which our Navy is
comprised,” said Billies. “My goal is to support the division I am assigned to
in the best way I can, being a fair yet unyielding leader in the face of hard
work up periods before the crushing months at sea, during deployment.”
The midshipmen’s selection of their ship is not only a
milestone for them but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not
only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Naval career,
but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to
help lead and improve an already great team.
While NROTC units are spread out
across the country and vary in size, they all teach midshipmen the values,
standards, abilities and responsibility that it takes to become a Navy officers
and lead this nations sons and daughters in protecting freedom on the seven
seas.
“The largest personal trait that I bring is humor and the
ability to use it to shape unpleasant situations into smaller, more conquerable
tasks that are easier to deal with,” added Billies. “In terms of professional
traits, I bring a levelheadedness to the table when dealing with the semantics
of personnel and situational management.”