A 2011 Cane Ridge High School graduate and Nashville, Tennessee, native is currently serving with the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer, charged with leading the bridge watch team and ensuring safety of navigation on one of the Navy’s modern warships.
Ensign Tasia Blue completed the Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) course at Surface Warfare Officers School (SWOS) Aug. 3.
“The JOOD course is extremely vital and beneficial to all future junior officers,” said Blue. “If the goal here was to challenge us mentally, familiarize us with equipment enough to be proficient, and put us in uncomfortable scenarios to build our confidence – consider the job done.”
Graduation from this course will be a new requirement starting in 2019 for SWOs before they report to their initial assignments in the fleet.
“Here at SWOS, we are excited about the new JOOD course as it gives us the opportunity to immerse young officers in ship handling simulators before they set foot on the ship,” said SWOS Comma-nding Officer Capt. Scott Robertson.
“It is an intense four weeks, but the end result is more proficient and confident ship handlers reporting to their first ship. The small student-to-instructor ratio also provides the ability to maximize the reps and sets in our simulators and we can increase the complexity of the scenarios as the students’ ship handling skills develop.”
Blue obtained a bachelor’s degree in business management from Cumberland University in 2015 and was commissioned through Officer Candidate School.
“I joined the Navy to continue to have sense of family and teamwork after finishing college basketball,” said Blue. “I also joined to travel the world and experience different cultures, meet people from other walks of life.”
Blue will soon report to the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, and will serve as the ship’s aviation facility officer.
Blue is the son of Kelsey Blue, who resides in Alexandria, Virginia.
Making up a significant portion of all officers in the Navy, SWOs are found all over the world, aboard every surface combatant in the United States Navy. From navigation and ship handling, to maritime warfare and naval engineering, whether at war or during peace, they regularly deploy across the globe to protect the nation’s interests, promote freedom of trade, and perform humanitarian assistance.
SWOS readies seabound warriors to serve on surface combatants as officers, enlisted engineers and enlisted navigation professionals in order to fulfill the Navy’s mission to maintain global maritime superiority.
