WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Honorable Nickolas H. Guertin, director of Operational Test and Evaluation for the Department of Defense, started his educational career as an enlisted Sailor in the submarine force. 

“I realized that, for me, I was going to be writing a lot as part of my future profession, whatever it was going to be, and that having a better handle on being able to write would be important to my future,” said Guertin during a sit-down interview in the Pentagon. He also said he needed to work on his math skills, so he took Calculus as well while his ship was undergoing decommissioning. 

When he initially applied to a four-year degree program, “honestly, my high school transcript wasn’t all that great,” he said, “and so I didn’t get accepted into the college of my choice.” Having taken some classes at community college and seeing how they had a pre-established pathway to a four-year degree, Guertin decided he would finish his associate degree at community college. 

As with Guertin’s experience of having a two-year school with an agreement to go into a four-year degree, U.S. Naval Community College also has pre-established pathways to four-year degrees with its partner institutions. USNCC operates in consortium with partner institutions like Arizona State University, Western Governors University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and University of Maryland Global Campus that offer follow-on bachelor’s degrees with little to no loss of credit. In addition to these schools, USNCC also partners with two-year schools like Alexandria Technical & Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, and Tidewater Community College that have agreements with other universities for pathways to four-year degrees with little to no loss of credit. This allows today’s Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen the same opportunity for lifelong learning Guertin experienced when he was younger. 

Part of Guertin’s inspiration to go to college was his father. “He enlisted during the Korean War,” said Guertin. “It was an aspect of his evolution as a person that I held in high esteem, and so I wanted to do that, too.” His other inspiration was to have the practical needs met for employment as he projected himself into a new future. 

“Because I was an older student, sometimes the younger kids would look to some of the older students for a little bit of help,” Guertin said as he recounts positive experiences from his community college days. 

Much like Guertin was able to interact with students of varying backgrounds, the Naval Community College offers degree programs to students E-1 to E-9. This means that lance corporals and third class petty officers are in class with senior chief petty officers and sergeants major, providing a cross-cut of military experience and understanding while discussing naval-relevant topics such as naval ethics and leadership or naval force design. This shared naval experience allows everyone the opportunity to learn from each other in an open-dialogue environment with small class sizes. 

While Guertin had a positive experience in community college, there were challenges he had to overcome as well. “I enlisted in the Carter administration,” he said. “The education benefits weren’t what they are today, so self-funding college was not a straight-forward thing to do.” Halfway through his education, he said he ran out of money and took a job at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where he was able to take his naval experience and apply it to some of the ships he had worked on as a Sailor. This helped him raise the money he needed to get back to school. 

While the academics are still challenging as they were for Guertin, USNCC fully funds its students to take courses. This means that USNCC students will have their tuition, books, and course fees covered so that the students can focus on advancing their education. 

“When, when I was in the fleet, I was very interested in this big, complicated machinery called a submarine and I wanted to learn a lot,” he said. When he was the engineering department log yeoman as a second class petty officer, he self-studied and came to the realization that he could take a shot at qualifying engineering watch supervisor, a senior watchstanding position. “The study skills I got out of just the formal training part before getting to sea, and then the extra effort I did in order to improve my skills, my ability to support the crew in a different leadership position in the powerplant was something else that I think was helpful to being successful when it actually came to going to college.” 

After he finished his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Guertin pursued a Masters of Business Administration. 

“As I progressed as a professional, it became clear that the technical part of it was really only half the problem,” Guertin said. “As a budding acquisition professional, I wanted to be a part of the other half of the conversation.” This let him marry up the technical knowledge of equipment with the people skills of business to become more effective in all aspects of his profession. He said he couldn’t have gotten through all of that without his first successful experience with community college. “I realized I could do it.” 

When asked about Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen attending USNCC, Guertin said, “First of all, the way I went through it was the hard way.” This is because he was attending courses in person at night, doing correspondence courses while at sea, and was self-funding his educational journey which required taking time off to rebuild his finances in the middle. He did join the Navy reserves after his time on active duty, and he said, “The benefits are fantastic!” However, he said, “If that resource is available, and you’re already in uniform, taking advantage of it to prepare yourself for the next phase of your career, it, again, is a no-brainer.” 

USNCC offers several degree options for Sailors and Marines looking to advance their own naval careers. These degrees include embedded professional credentials and the Naval Studies Certificate as the core of each degree program. The Naval Studies Certificate is a five-course, 15-credit program that develops the critical thinking, analytical inquiry, and other 21st-century skills that make for more agile, innovative, and adaptable enlisted leaders. 

Guertin encourages Sailors and Marines to pursue their education because it makes the Department of the Navy stronger. He said, “The nation gets stronger when our Sailors and Marines get stronger – mentally and emotionally.” 

The United States Naval Community College is the official community college for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. To get more information about USNCC, visit www.usncc.edu.