By
Graham Davis
Dorothy
Welzen has served on 24 United States Navy warships in the last
eight years.
She’s been put in harm’s way repeatedly as some of those ships
entered operational areas including The Gulf.
She’s not even a uniformed sailor. Dorothy is a mathematics professor.
Navy News caught up with Professor Welzen when her latest ship,
the USS Port Royal called at Fleet Base East while returning to
Pearl Harbour from The Gulf.
Dorothy is an instructor with NCPACE or Navy Campus Program for
Afloat College Education.
The program sees teachers go aboard US warships to hone the education
skills of sailors so they can go on to, or continue, university
(college) education.
For Dorothy her deployment in Port Royal saw her using the ship’s
classroom to enhance sailors’ skills in college algebra and statistics.
“My stay aboard any one ship ranges from two months or four months,”
she said.
“I have been on 24 ships in the past eight years,” she said.
“I was going on to the (USS) O’Brien when 9-11 took place.
The commanding officer and crew were very comforting.” Dorothy
becomes a member of the Wardroom when she is posted.
She is originally from Arlington Heights in Illinois in the United
States.
