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PACIFIC OCEAN – For most college students, summer means a break from essays, exams, grades and school. However, midshipmen from the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) are continuing their military education in the Midshipmen Summer Cruise Training program.
For midshipmen visiting amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7), the Summer Cruise Training program provides an opportunity to experience life on a ship, the surface community, and the significant roles and responsibilities of the wardroom and crew.
The Navy provides midshipmen with this perspective so they can better choose their career training pipeline as they progress as naval officers.
“This is an opportunity to see how Sailors live,” said Lt. Cmdr. Laura Temperato, Tripoli’s Training officer and midshipmen coordinator.
Temperato added that second class midshipmen, whose running mates are enlisted Sailors, shadow their mentors to see how they live and work on a daily basis. She said the goal of these relationships is to provide the midshipmen with perspective so they can relate to enlisted Sailors as they commission and move up the ranks.
The first class midshipmen shadow junior officers and experience life as an officer aboard the ship.
This year, Tripoli embarked eight students to experience the rigors and rewards of being a Sailor aboard a surface vessel.
Midshipman 1st Class Edward Stevens, a neuroscience student from The Ohio State University said he expects the Summer Cruise Training program to give him a better understanding of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community; one of the communities he could potentially join.
“It’s one thing to hear lieutenants as our advisors tell us that SWO is great,” said Stevens. “It’s another to actually get aboard a ship, put on the coveralls and live it for 30 days. It’s going to be eye opening.”
For the running mates - the midshipmen’s mentors while they are aboard – the program provides a good chance to train the midshipmen.
“This is an opportunity to show future officers how enlisted Sailors live,” said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Jason Lapurga, from San Diego. “It’s also a good opportunity for us to progress as leaders as we train these midshipmen.”
For the midshipmen, personal interaction with the crew highlights the importance of leadership.
“I think all officers should know what it’s like to be an enlisted Sailor so they know who they are leading,” said Midshipman Clayson Bonds, a natural resources conservation and management student at the University of Idaho.
Following the Summer Cruise Training program, these midshipmen will have the necessary training and experiences to make informed decisions about which community they will request to join.
Tripoli is currently underway conducting routine operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet.
| Date Taken: | 05.12.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.12.2022 21:24 |
| Story ID: | 420632 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 171 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USS Tripoli Welcomes Midshipmen for Summer Cruise Program, by PO3 Austyn Riley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
