A crowd of over 150 friends, family and shipmates gathered to celebrate the graduation of 121 Surface Warfare Officers School (SWOS) Basic Division Officer Course (BDOC) San Diego students Aug. 24.

BDOC is a nine-week course designed by SWOS to provide foundational classroom training in division officer fundamentals for prospective surface warfare officers.

The recently commissioned ensigns, from the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and Officer Candidate School, accepted their certificates of completion amidst cheers, air horn blasts and even a guest dressed in an alligator costume during the ceremony attended by distinguished visitors and officers from their assigned ships.

“Thank you for supporting BDOC by being here,” said BDOC Officer-in-Charge Lt. Cmdr. Eric Madonia. “Your attendance is heartwarming and a sweet reflection of support, that you would come out and embrace these ensigns as they took their first steps towards their warships. “To the students, please understand that your professionalism in the fleet is the chief part of our success. Go make us proud.”

During BDOC, students learn the fundamentals of naval engineering, seamanship and shiphandling, navigation, maritime warfare, damage control and division officer fundamentals from experienced instructors, including SWOS Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Robertson and Commander, Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, Rear Adm. David Welch.

USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Commanding Officer Capt. Dave Oden served as guest of honor.

“One day, you’ll head out to the vast ocean, past the sea buoy, and into harm's way, trained and ready to go - ready to execute whatever mission the nation or the world requires,” said Oden. “The Navy trusts junior officers to do so many amazing things: drive a million-dollar warship, lead 20 junior-enlisted Sailors, just days after graduating BDOC and deploy to far-off locations, acting as ambassadors to the United States in countries around the world. The Navy will ask many things of you at a junior level because we believe and know that you can handle it. We trust that your preparation and teamwork will lead us to success.”

Beyond class instruction, BDOC students receive hands-on training in the Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) simulator, at the gun range, in damage control trainers and aboard ships homeported in San Diego.

COVE is virtual-reality technology providing an immersive experience for students to practice the concepts of navigation and shiphandling.

Ensign Adam Osborn was recognized as the Shiphandler of the Class after competing with his peers in COVE. Osborn has orders to report to USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).

“COVE does a great job of preparing Sailors to take the conn of their respective ships by allowing them to experience the handling of their platform in multiple different scenarios,” said Osborn. “My favorite part of COVE was trial-and-error without the stress of taking a less than perfect path. We were able to repeat situations and analyze how one track may have been better than the other.”

Ensign Tim Bowers was named the honor graduate for maintaining the highest GPA. He has orders to report to USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and was presented with a set of binoculars by the San Diego chapter of the Surface Navy Association in recognition of his academic success.

BDOC graduates will report to ships stationed around the world or attend follow-on schools to further develop skills necessary to lead in the surface warfare community and begin the journey towards becoming qualified surface warfare officers.

Headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island, and overseeing nine learning sites worldwide, SWOS readies seabound Sailors to serve on surface combatants as officers, enlisted engineers, and enlisted navigation professionals to fulfill the Navy's mission to maintain global maritime superiority.

For more information about BDOC in San Diego, visit www.netc.navy.mil/centers/swos/sandiego or https://www.facebook.com/BDOCWest/.

For additional information on the Naval Education and Training Command, visit the NETC website at https://www.netc.navy.mil or http://www.navy.mil/local/cnet/. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/netcpao and twitter @netcpao.

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