Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Personnel Command Visit NROTC Atlanta Consortium
22 April 2022
From Petty Officer 1st Class Sean Weir Naval Special Warfare Command
Rear Adm. H.W. Howard, III, commander, Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) and Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, Navy Personnel Command (NPC), visited Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Atlanta Consortium units, Mar. 22 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rear Adm. H.W. Howard, III, commander, Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) and Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, Navy Personnel Command (NPC), visited Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Atlanta Consortium units, Mar. 22 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
The NROTC Atlanta Consortium is comprised of Morehouse College, Georgia State, Spelman College, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Clark Atlanta University.
Master Chief Petty Officer Deryck Dickerson, a Navy SEAL assigned to Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center, and several SEAL officers also accompanied Howard and Holsey on their visit.
While at Morehouse, they spoke with midshipmen about leadership and opportunities to serve within Naval Special Warfare. Howard and Holsey later met with Morehouse College President, Dr. David A. Thomas, Ph.D., to discuss the NROTC program and future engagements with NSW.
Howard said opportunities like this engagement are important to proactively seek out talented and qualified leaders for the NSW community.
“Naval Special Warfare assesses our candidates for cognitive, character and leadership attributes, and Morehouse College’s mission of developing students with ‘disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service’ directly reflects the kind of candidates we are seeking,” said Howard. “We embrace diverse roles, responsibilities, experiences and perspectives to solve hard problems, and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the midshipmen and listen to their unique perspectives as rising naval officers.”
Holsey, a Morehouse College alumnus and Naval Aviator, leads Navy Personnel Command, and is also the Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel. In these roles, he ensures Sailors and their families receive timely and accurate pay, oversees the selection board process, and operates an expansive talent management enterprise focused on providing the exceptional service to the Fleet.
“It was [an] extremely important [visit] for the midshipmen, and I was excited to have Rear Adm. Howard join me on a visit to my alma mater, Morehouse College,” said Holsey. “In an era of strategic competition, our leaders must be able to break down barriers and connect and harness the talents of all willing to serve.”
NSW recently transformed their candidate outreach model and task organization to proactively reach under-represented demographics and geographic areas. In partnership with Navy Recruiting Command, NSW is establishing a new subordinate command, NSW Assessment Command, that sustains and leads candidate assessment programs and proactively engages potential candidates to deepen our forces’ diversity.
“We have several midshipmen striving to become part of the NSW community and getting to talk directly with an experienced operator like Rear Adm. Howard has really inspired them,” said Capt. Patrick V. Foege, NROTC Atlanta Consortium Commanding Officer. “The midshipmen first class of NROTC Atlanta also showed great pride in their colleges and the NROTC unit as they took the admiral on a walking tour of their campus.”
Midshipmen said that they enjoyed hearing from both admirals about the opportunities available to them within the Naval Aviation and Naval Special Warfare communities.
“It’s something special,” said Midshipmen Third Class Paiytin White. “To see and hear from someone as high ranking as Rear Adm. Holsey and to know he started here at Morehouse, for him to bring his counterparts that may not have experience with this type of institution—it is important for us as future officers to understand each other and all the different communities in the Navy / Marines.”
Naval Special Warfare is the nation's premier maritime special operations force, uniquely positioned to extend the fleet's reach and deliver all-domain options for naval and joint force commanders.