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Marine Corps Systems Command

"Equipping the Warfighter to Win"

Recent graduate program opens world to budding engineers

By Jim Katzaman, MCSC Public Affairs | Marine Corps Systems Command | August 08, 2014

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A future in engineering awaits Alex Solomon, now in the midst of the Naval Acquisition Developmental Program. He will intern for several years, learning firsthand how models and simulations compare to the way actual systems perform in the field.

A future in engineering awaits Alex Solomon, now in the midst of the Naval Acquisition Developmental Program. He will intern for several years, learning firsthand how models and simulations compare to the way actual systems perform in the field. (Photo by Carden Hedelt)


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August 8, 2014 --

Barely a year out of college, Alex Solomon has traveled from coast to coast to see Marines prepare for battle. It’s “almost a Marvel moment”—a comic book adventure come alive—when he sees a sketch leap off the drawing board into a warrior’s hands.

Solomon is an engineer, but not one chained to a desk toiling over blueprints under green eyeshades. This engineer is a recent graduate in Modeling and Simulation with Marine Corps Systems Command. During his two-and-a-half-year-tour he will gain firsthand experience, seeing how Marines and equipment operate, and most importantly, finding out how engineering models relate to the real world.

“Engineers can get lost in the technical world and not see how Marines actually use the equipment we designed,” Solomon said. “Going out to the field—as an engineer, I loved it. You read in a textbook how things work, and you see how equipment is built from scratch. But to see it in the field—to see [the equipment] do what it was designed to do—that’s a ‘We got it!’ moment. It worked!”

Solomon’s enthusiasm and willingness to go cross country to watch Marines trudge in the sand brings a smile to Mike O’Neal’s face. .

“Alex has taken his education and applied it to the Marine Corps and the warfighters,” the Modeling and Simulation team lead said. “He’s like a sponge. He’s able to take in and see what we do. Rather than just observe, he becomes part of the project he’s involved with, which is really rewarding.”

Solomon is one of a cadre of engineers in the Naval Acquisition Developmental Program, also known as NADP, for which the Office of Personnel Management has detailed information. The program aims to bring on the best and brightest young technical minds straight out of college and set them on a path to be the experienced engineers the Marine Corps needs in the future. Headquartered in Quantico, Virginia, MCSC serves as the Department of the Navy’s systems command for Marine Corps ground weapons and information technology systems.

Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Solomon graduated in 2013 from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. With his academic and personal interests, he was determined to be on hand July 8, 2011, for the last launch of the Space Shuttle program. As Atlantis disappeared in the sky, so too did Solomon’s hope to be an astronaut, at least for the foreseeable future until the country returns to human spaceflight.

His feet firmly on the ground, Solomon arrived at MCSC Jan. 13, 2014, for his multi-year developmental tour. After his first year he can go on three-month rotations outside the command. For instance, in March 2015 he might rotate to the Dam Neck Fleet Training Center in Norfolk, Virginia, which supports the Center for Surface Combat Systems headquartered in Dahlgren, Virginia. This rotation would help him see realistic combat training.

He has already taken to the field to see the operating forces in action. One trip took him to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, also known as Twentynine Palms, California, to see the Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

“In the recent graduate program, we have an opportunity to get out with the Marines,” he said. “I got out to Camp Pendleton [California] to watch H-1 [helicopters] fly around and see vehicles drive by. That’s definitely not what I expected. It’s better.”

Just as the recent graduate program helps engineers like Solomon, it has an equally beneficial effect for program managers like O’Neal.

“I’m ecstatic about the quality of recent graduates coming into the Defense Department, not only in their technical prowess but also their maturity level,” O’Neal said. “They are our future. We depend on their development because of the bow wave of retirements coming in the next few years.

“For the organization, the recent graduates give an injection of new blood for those of us not used to new technology,” O’Neal added. “We teach recent graduates, but when we teach them something, we learn our own jobs better. Teaching them keeps us sharp.”

There are many ways to enter the Naval Acquisition Developmental Program. As Solomon found out, it can be a simple matter of who you know.

“I had a connection in college with someone who worked at [Naval Air Systems Command],” he said. “He told me what he did for the government. That got me interested in looking at what’s out there. I looked online for locations – NAVAIR, Cherry Point and others – that had openings for my qualifications.”

Job stability and benefits also were key attractions.

“I’ll graduate from the NADP as a GS-12,” Solomon said. “You start as a GS-7 and progress to a GS-12. You’re guaranteed a GS-12 position in your organization if you wish. There’s no contractual obligation along the way.”

Once in the program, the rewards rest largely on an engineer’s wherewithal and ambition, especially during the three-month job rotations.

“It’s up to the recent graduates to look for activities they can get the most out of for three months,” Solomon said. “There could be a lot of Milestone A and B contract activity in that time. I expect to work for a program that’s at the stage where it’s mapping out its technical requirements for what it needs to do.”

Flexibility throughout the NADP is crucial for success, he explained.

“You can choose to sit behind a desk or be outside all day,” Solomon said. “You can work as an individual or collectively as a group. Ultimately, I’m looking to take as much out of the recent graduate program as possible to enhance my career.”

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