Semper FO For this semester of Semper Fortis Club, the focus was to prepare the MIDN for summer cruises. Some of the main points we covered were how to properly board and disembark from a vessel, how to properly wear the NWUs, how to behave in the Wardroom (especially when dining), and what to expect while on board by allowing them to ask questions of a panel of our LTs. The objective is to better prepare our Freshman and Sophomore Navy options for their time on Summer Cruise so that they spend more time learning about what their time in the fleet will be like, rather than worrying about how to behave on board. Other activities included a tour of the nuclear reactor at Washington State, a brief with retired Navy SEAL CAPT Pittelkow, and some briefs on the Order of Battle of different countries, specifically the U.K., Russia, Iran, and China. The point of these activities and briefs are to give the MIDN a more complete perspective of the possibilities of service within the Navy, and what kind of forces they can expect to encounter as Officers within the Navy. Future events we plan on implementing for Semper Fo is a training session with the Moscow Fire Department to help MIDN get a head start on Damage Control, and teaching them similar tactics implemented within the Navy, and a training session on the Ropes Course at WSU to improve communication and leadership skills. Midshipman Morris
Semper FO Guest Speakers Captain Pittelkow USN (Ret) SEAL When you are a midshipman you hear a lot about the different communities in the Navy. Like don’t go SWO, avoid the nuke draft, and go aviation cause you get to fly all day, however there is one community you don’t hear about much and that’s NSW (Naval Special Warfare). That is why when Captain Pittelkow came to speak about the NSW community many of us were very intrigued. Captain Pittelkow had an interesting story, having spent seven years in the Marine Corps he did an inter-service transfer to the USN and was ordered to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training; where he graduated at the top of his class of a 130, serving about 23 years in the navy. During lunch that day when he came to visit a few of the midshipman interested in going NSW along with the Officers. During lunch we got to ask all sorts of question, for example: what got you through BUDS, what qualities they look for in a candidate, etc. The thing that stuck out the most is when he told us about a candidate who worked with disabled kids on the weekend and never mentioned it in his interview. When asked about it the candidate said he thought if he mentioned it he thought he wouldn’t be chosen because he was compassionate for other. Captain Pittelkow told us they look for well-rounded people who are compassionate, not just PT studs. Explaining that jumping out of airplanes, doing raids and shooting bad guys is only part of the job and that the movies weren’t a complete representation of what Navy SEAL life is like. For the brief Captain Pittelkow walked through the career of a Navy SEAL and what the qualifications would be like. He told us about his experiences and what we could expect trying to go into the NSW community. You would go in six month intervals of basic training, then training with your unit, then on to your six month deployment. After about ten years in the NSW community you get an administrative job and rank up from there. Overall his brief was informative and covered a lot of information about the NSW community. It was a great honor to have him come to the unit to and take time out of his schedule to better educate us about the NSW community. Midshipman Delmas 32