Me?
An ENGLISH Major?
 

CHAD O. DORR
Lieutenant, U. S. Navy

USNA Class of 1988
English Major

"What can you do with an English major?" That is a question I have been asked hundreds of times since I selected the major at the end of my plebe year. Sometimes I quip, "I can do anything I want to"; sometimes I say, "The same things that an engineer can do." Most often, though, I go into greater detail: "I can fly multi-million dollar aircraft, or I can go to Nuclear Power School and become a submariner, or I can become a Tactical Action Officer (TAO) on an Aegis Cruiser, or I can become a SEAL, or a Marine infantry officer, or a ...... The fact is, at the Naval Academy you can do ANYTHING with an English major.  As Admiral Larson is fond of saying, "The Navy hires all of its graduates," so you have an outstanding opportunity to study English and pursue the profession of your choice.

The core curriculum at USNA is designed so that all of its graduates will have the technical knowledge required to perform well in any of the warfare specialties. Indeed, if any community would require you to have a technical major, it would be the nuclear power community. But even Nuclear Power School doesn't require "Group I or Il." Each year, English majors are accepted into this highly technical field; and quite often, they out-perform their peers in Orlando. Aviation is another example: In primary flight training, ground school plays only a minor role in the student's overall flight school rank. When the time comes for you to pick jets, props, or helos, you are not selected based upon how well you can design an aircraft, but rather how well you fly the aircraft as determined by your in-flight grades.

I began this letter by answering some of these concerns about studying English because I had these same worries when it was time for me to select my major. The fact is, I was going to be a systems engineer. I liked calculus and chemistry as much as anyone else and throughout plebe year I planned to build robots and rockets until graduation. The class I was enjoying the most, though, was English. During the pre-majors selection briefings, a firstie gave me a piece of advice that I will never forget: "Don't do what you think you should do-- do something you enjoy." After a couple of days, I sat down at the NATS terminal to run MAJOR***. When the "1ST CHOICE" prompt came up, I typed, "ESE" and looked at the blinking cursor. Before I could hit the Return key, the firstie's voice rang loud and clear, "Do something you enjoy." I deleted "ESE," typed "HEG" and Return, and never looked back.

While I was a midshipman, I traveled to England and Ireland on trips directly associated with the English Department. I also went to France with the Cox Fund, which I wouldn't have been able to do (without overloading) if l had been an engineer. Through their example, my professors, spurred me on to participate in the Cultural Affairs Program (CAP) movement orders to Washington, D.C., to see plays and museums. I was even fortunate enough to have the Navy send me to graduate school through VGEP. I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute that I spent as an English major.

If you follow my example, you must enjoy your "four years together by the bay." But you also need to think about how your education is going to prepare you for the fleet. As an English major at the Naval Academy, you will receive one of the most well rounded educations in the country. In addition to the scientific base which qualifies you for the Bachelor of Science degree, you will obviously learn about writing and literature. Reading and writing are mutually beneficial exercises- and you will have three years practicing both. Plus, you will learn a foreign language and study art, music, history, philosophy and architecture, all in the context of the English class. Rather than giving you a formula to fit each different, precise situation, the English degree will teach you how to read a work and apply it in various ways. You will stretch the boundaries of your imagination, expanding your creativity and ingenuity.

You and your classmates will be going to follow-on schools for training in a warfare specialty, but all officers, regardless of designator, must be able to write well. You will have to write legal investigations, awards for your division members, evaluations for your enlisted men; you will probably even write your own fitness report input. With your division, a good eval/award input for one person can motivate all of your troops to work harder for you- the most important quality of a leader. It is no coincidence that (he best leaders tend to he the people who have the best writing ability. As that unknown member of the Class of 1985 told me, and as I am passing down to you, you have to do something that you enjoy. I would love to have every member of your class find the pleasures that I and hundreds of other USNA grads have found on the ground deck of Sampson Hall. Your follow-on schools will teach you the technical aspects of your warfare community. Use this time simply to learn and round out your education. As actor Mark Hamil once explained: "An education is not designed to teach someone to make a living. An education is designed to teach someone to make a life."
 

LT Dorr is a 1988 graduate of USNA. Following graduation, he completed his Master of Arts in English at the University of Maryland, College Park, then reported to flight school in Pensacola, Florida. Upon earning his Wings of Gold as a helicopter pilot, he was assigned to fly the SH-60B SEAHAWK. He returned to the English Department as a faculty member in August 1994.