“On the time, I used to be trying into distance studying choices to acquire my grasp’s diploma,” recalled Hester. “Not even a month later, the request for candidates got here out.”
Hester was one among 5 Bundy Students, a program named for Dr. William Bundy, the recently-passed professor who was generally known as a champion of the union between the warfare facilities and naval operators. Hester says that she had restricted publicity to the fleet earlier than attending the Naval Warfare School.
“I had some expertise going out to the ships, nevertheless it was a small view of what being within the fleet is admittedly like,” recalled the King George native. “My important considering solely expanded by engineering, based mostly on my experiences and what I already knew. On the Warfare School, I interfaced, interacted and labored with different members of the service at my similar stage. That was an actual eye-opener for me.”
The setting on the Naval Warfare School is designed to encourage mental curiosity and conversations that minimize throughout disciplines. Hester, who has a background on the technical facet, obtained to trade her data with classmates who had extra expertise on the operational facet. “Everybody goes by their first identify. It’s not your rank that issues, however your concepts,” mentioned Hester. “Everybody wears civilian garments, which additionally helps break the barrier between navy and civilian. In the long run, we have been all there to be taught.”
The Warfare School’s curriculum permits college students to take each core and elective lessons. Hester was one among two Bundy students additionally chosen to take part in a complicated analysis program for wargaming.
“I spent ten months wargaming on the Warfare School, and that’s one thing that has actually benefitted me,” mentioned Hester. “It’s not simply studying it in a ebook or seeing it in a slide presentation, nevertheless it’s considering by these operational eventualities and studying from my navy friends on how they’d struggle tonight.”
The intermingling of technical consultants with operational gurus within the fleet made an enduring influence on Hester.
“A part of DPG is offering an setting to know ideas of employment, do experimentation and make sure that we’re making a functionality for the fleet,” she mentioned. “Understanding what the fleet wants [as far as utility] will help us as engineers make higher selections about what functionality we’re offering and what gaps we’re filling.”
Throughout her core lessons on the faculty, Hester and her classmates reviewed case research from earlier wars specializing in the operational stage, together with understanding theater safety and overseas coverage, management within the occupation of arms and joint navy operations.
“This expertise has made me a greater engineer and gave me a larger understanding of the competitors and threats we’re dealing with,” Hester mirrored. “I didn’t come from an lively obligation background. It was an incredible expertise to be taught alongside my navy classmates what the Navy is doing, in addition to what the Division of Protection is doing as an entire. This expertise shall be one thing I’ll all the time be capable to apply to my Dahlgren profession.”
