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Navy Midshipman Thomas Lowerre, of Glen Allen, participated in the 2020 spring Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps ship selection draft as a future member of the Surface Warfare Officer community. Lowerre selected the USS Gravely as the ship aboard which he will serve.
More than 270 midshipmen from NROTC units around the country chose to serve as surface warfare officers. Each selecting midshipmen are ranked according to their grade point average, aptitude scores and physical fitness.
“NROTC has benefited me personally by demonstrating and allowing me to have the opportunity to lead others,” said Lowerre. “It has taught me that the world is not as black and white as we would like it to be. The unit here has given me confidence in what I do daily which has enabled me to mature. This factor has pushed my professional career in a positive direction.”
According to their rankings, each midshipman provided a preference of ship or homeport to the junior officer detailer at the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee. If these preferences were available, they were assigned as requested.
“I am looking forward to learning on my ship most,” said Lowerre. "It is my objective to become a sponge upon my arrival. I also am looking forward to having a professional relationship with the chiefs who are the subject matter experts. I will need them in order to be the best junior officer I can be.”
Lowerre, a 2016 Glen Allen High School graduate, is majoring in biological sciences while attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Upon graduation, Lowerre will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard Gravely as a surface warfare officer.
Gravely is a guided missile destroyer capable of completing diverse missions such as anti-air and anti-submarine warfare. The ship is currently homeported in Norfolk.
“One personal trait that I will bring to the ship is resiliency,” said Lowerre. "When others are tired, stressed or unable to continue with the mission, I will. I like hard work and the culture that gets bred around it. I’m less than one percent of the people that serve in the military and I find it to be my obligation to do so in the maximum capacity.”
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
“To me, the SWO selection process means that we have the opportunity to choose either ship or homeport as our first duty station,” added Lowerre. “Many other branches in the military do not have this choice which is why I find it quite unique for SWOs. Being able to see what ships are available and where enables me as a selectee to have a choice as to where my career begins after college.”
