I’m originally from San Diego. It’s probably unique in a Navy officer to be serving in San Diego and actually be from here. I have family in the Navy, and my mother was also a Navy officer so I grew up around the Navy and the lifestyle. I think it’s just something I always knew I wanted to do.

I wanted to serve my country, serve the community, and I thought being a Navy officer was the best way to do that. I completed my undergraduate education at San Diego State University and applied for Officer Candidate School [OCS] as soon as I graduated, got accepted and went to my first ship right after OCS.

My first ship was USS Tarawa. That was my first taste of Navy life, of the travel, the experience, working within the international community, and I think that fueled my desire to keep going.

I was the navigator with USS Dubuque. Following that tour, I went ashore and spent two years at U.S. PACOM [Pacific Command] in Hawaii, which was a fantastic experience. It was completely joint; I was one of the only Navy officers within the directorate that I was working in. It was quite a broadening experience.

I taught Navy Planning Process and Marine Corps Planning Process at Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Pacific here in San Diego. From there, I went to department head school in Newport, R.I., and then reported to [the littoral combat ship] Coronado as the combat systems officer (CSO).

One of the exciting things about doing a department head tour on the LCS is we are essentially trailblazing. As the first LCS 2 variant [Independence-variant] to deploy in the Seventh Fleet AOR [area of responsibility], we were setting the standards and making the doctrine that other crews will follow.

It was a challenging, exhilarating and certainly pro-
fessionally enhancing experience. As the CSO, I was in
charge of all of the weapon systems — our air defense
system (SeaRAM); the main battery (Mk 110 Gun
Weapon System); and all of the crew-served mounts.
I owned all of the radar systems, Anti-Terrorism/
Force Protection and the IT infrastructure on the ship.
I learned an immense amount because of the scope of
the responsibility I had.

One of the big highlights for me, as CSO, was being the tactical action officer for our Harpoon structural test fire. For about two and a half months prior to that, the big focus of my job was going over firing-point procedures and practicing and learning all of the ins and outs of the Harpoon OTH [over-the-horizon] system installed on an LCS for the very first time. Being the one to organize that and seeing the missile leave the ship was a real exciting experience.

Throughout my career, I have tried to get as much international experience as I could. I pursued a graduate degree in international relations because of my experiences during my division officer tours, where I operated mostly in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. I think that is also one of the reasons I was drawn to this program.

LCS is deployed to the Seventh Fleet AOR and interacts with Pacific nations and operates in those regions to include the South China Sea. There are so many interesting things happening in that part of the world and it has truly been an exciting experience to be part of it.

Following my tour as CSO, I will fleet up to the
Operations Officer position with LCS. I would love to
command an LCS in the future where I hope to con-
tinue to contribute to the success of the program. n