From Navy Office of Community Outreach

(MILLINGTON, Tenn.) – Navy Midshipman Samuel Quach, from Sugar Land, Texas, participated in the 2019 spring Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community.

More than 40 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 forced me to address my limiting beliefs and helped me on my path to identify who I was, what I value, and what I stand for,” said Quach. “The program has allowed me to identify and work on my weaknesses.”

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.

“Being able to pick my ship means entry to my next adventure and challenge,” Quach said.

Quach, a 2015 William P. Clements High School graduate, has selected to serve aboard USS New Orleans. Quach is majoring in biology at Univeristy of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation, he will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard New Orleans as a surface warfare officer.

Commissioned in 2007, New Orleans is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock homeported at Naval Base San Diego. Amphibious transport dock ships are warships that embark, transport and land elements of a landing force for a variety of expeditionary warfare missions.

“I am looking forward to being able to meet my division,” Quach said.

The midshipmen’s ship selection is not only a major personal milestone but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Navy career, but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to help lead and improve an already great team, according to Navy officials.

"NROTC units across the country instill essential warfighting fundamentals, professional core competencies, and ethics required in a Navy or Marine Corps officer," said Rear Adm. Mike Bernacchi, Commander, Naval Service Training Command, which includes the NROTC Program. "I am enormously proud of our graduating midshipman for completing this demanding program, and look forward to them joining the fleet."