(MILLINGTON, Tenn.) – Navy Midshipman Trevor Penwell, from Westport, Connecticut, participated in the 2019 spring Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community.
“NROTC has benefited me in many ways, personally and professionally, but most critically it has given me many opportunities to learn how to lead,” said Penwell. “It has also provided different types of environments for me to lead in, changing the degree of pressure and responsibility to challenge me. NROTC has also helped me improve my work ethic, which translated into academic success.”
According to their rankings, each midshipman provided a 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 a lot to me,” said Penwell. “It is an opportunity to take a much closer look at what the fleet is comprised of, where it is located, what missions it accomplishes, and what different platforms are like. The chance to take that information and make an educated choice about where I will take my first step towards becoming a Surface Warfare Office is extremely exciting and important to me.”
Penwell, a 2015 Staples High School graduate, has selected to serve aboard USS Mustin. He is majoring in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies at University of Texas Austin. Upon graduation, he will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard Mustin as a surface warfare officer.
Commissioned in 2003, Mustin is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. Guided-missile destroyers are multi-mission surface combatants capable of conducting Anti-Air Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Anti-Surface Warfare.
“There is so much to look forward to, from getting underway, having the Conn for the first time, and learning all the time, but I am mist excited about interacting with and leading sailors,” said Penwell. “As a brand new Ensign, there will be an exceptional amount that sailors will be able to teach me, but I will also have the opportunity to lead them, become better at leading them, and push the division to improve always. Leading sailors is one of the main reasons I wanted to become an officer, and I look forward to the first time on my first ship where I will step in front of sailors and be their leader.”
The midshipmen’s ship selection is not only a major personal milestone but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Navy career, but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to help lead and improve an already great team, according to Navy officials.
"NROTC units across the country instill essential warfighting fundamentals, professional core competencies, and ethics required in a Navy or Marine Corps officer," said Rear Adm. Mike Bernacchi, Commander, Naval Service Training Command, which includes the NROTC Program. "I am enormously proud of our graduating midshipman for completing this demanding program, and look forward to them joining the fleet."
“As a leader, I like to understand how the thing I'm in charge of works,” added Penwell. “In order to do this, I listen to people who know more about it than I do, utilizing their experience to make an educated decision. I fight for the people I'm in charge of, I put my hand in the air when I don't understand something, and I'm constantly driven to improve and learn. I am enthusiastic about Surface Warfare, and I will bring this enthusiasm coupled with my desire to learn to qualify as a SWO, and will listen to my enlisted sailors in an effort to make better decisions. I will bring my desire for them to succeed with me, and will fight to get them what they need to accomplish the mission. “