Sailors deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) took the American College Testing (ACT) exam Thursday, May 4, while in the Arabian Gulf.

The ACT exam has not been administered on any U.S. Navy ship since 2008, but GHWB's administrative department made arrangements so that its Sailors could take the test and gain more opportunities both in and out of the military.

Lawrence Blackmon, intern director at Navy College, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, flew aboard GHWB to administer the test to Sailors

"The request came from the ship's administrative officer (AO) to conduct the ACT's on board, both for Sailors applying for college and those signing up for officer programs like STA-21 or Officer Candidate School," said Blackmon. "When the request first came in, the issue we faced was that these are DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) exams, which were suspended outside of national testing centers in 2008. The AO made some calls and spoke with my chain of command, and we found we were able to do it, as long as I abided by the rules of exams."

Despite the limitations of administering ACT exams on board Navy ships, GHWB's team was determined and found a way.

"Technically, we're not able to take the exam outside authorized testing centers still," said Chief Personnel Specialist Christopher Smith, the Educational Services Office (ESO) leading chief petty officer. "But we were able to fly on one authorized administrator to give the test. We don't normally have someone embarked on board who can administer the tests."

Smith said that more than 100 Sailors signed up for the valuable opportunity, but they were limited to only 99 individual test sheets, so not everyone could take the test.

"NSA Bahrain initially could only provide us with 42 sheets, but being a carrier, we knew we would have more people signing up, so we coordinated with Navy College Norfolk and they supplied us with another 57 sheets," said Smith. "We had someone at our beach detachment give them to a chief who was flying on to the ship. He carried the test sheets with him so we could administer the test to our Sailors. We also had Sailors from USS Philippine Sea fly over to take the tests."

The administration of the ACT on board was a rare opportunity for Sailors, but leadership is hopeful there will be more opportunities like it in the future.

"I think it is very important to start administering these types of examinations as well as others again on board deployed units so our Sailors can continue their education and career progression plans. I am hopeful that with our success and our continual coordination with DANTES that our effort will open that dialogue to re-establish these testing privileges on ships," said Lt. Cmdr. Hair, ship's administrative officer.

USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is deployed in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

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