Yorktown, Va. (December 14, 2023) Fourteen graduates of the Tri-Service Optician School’s Class 23010 set their sights on joining the fleet and respective field activities near and far as trained optical laboratory specialists. Their rigorous 24-week training at the school, co-located at the Naval Ophthalmic Readiness Activity (NORA) onboard Naval Weapons Station Yorktown concluded with a graduation attended family members and service members, making this milestone achievement a focal point for many going into the holiday season.



Captain Katharine Shobe, Ph.D, MSC, Commanding Officer of the Naval Medical Leader and Professional Development Command, provided some remarks during the graduation. “TOPS is a relatively small program, graduating about 30 students per year. Even though it is a small program, it’s vital for one of the most important weapons systems in the Navy and Army,” remarked Captain Shobe. “We often loose focus of the most crucial element in our warfighters, which is the human weapons system. We often take for granted our ability to see, and vision is the sense that we depend on most in life,” she continued.

Captain Shobe noted that this particular cohort showed up for training on June 26th this year, as the weather was warm outside. She noted that their 24 weeks of rigorous training also amounted to 150 hours of clinical apprenticeship. Graduates also earned 29 of the 30 credit hours required for an Associates Degree from the Uniformed Services University’s College of Allied Health Sciences. It was noted that many of the graduates looked forward to completing their higher education at their respective duty stations. Those duty stations comprised of points near and far, including Guam, Okinawa, Guantanamo Bay, Camp Lejune, Camp Pendleton, and Cherry Point among other locations where this newest group of opticians received orders to report.

“In short, if our servicemembers cannot see, then they cannot fight. And that brings home the TOPS motto; they will have the sight to fight. It seems so obvious that our warfighters depend on the ability to see to accomplish their mission, once again highlighting the training of our TOPS graduates that will help our servicemembers in the fleet and in the field,” concluded Captain Shobe, to a round of applause.



Commander Christopher DeAngelis, MSC, Director of the Tri-Service Optician School followed with additional remarks. He noted that “I’m continually impressed by the work of our Tri-Service Optician School students, making it one of the best optician specialist training courses in the Department of Defense.” Commander DeAngelis also noted that their training took place at the NORA facility, which is the largest and finest Optical Fabrication Enterprise (OFE) in the United States armed forces. Practical training for this cohort also occurred onboard Fort Eustis, Langley Air Force Base and at Sewells Point in Norfolk where instruction was provided by Civilians, Drill Sergeants, other Sailors, Hospital Corpsman and other specialists in the field.



“As new opticians you are now the most highly trained opticians that our military has to offer. You have the most up to date training available and the curriculum that you received in the past six months should serve as a baseline from here,” concluded Commander DeAngelis. It was also noted that their rigorous curriculum consisted of instruction on ophthalmic dispensing, ophthalmic fabrication and clinical optics, among other subjects which equipped the graduates with the required skillsets to ensure that servicemembers have the sight that they need to operate and win in any domain.

Thereafter, Class 23010, comprised of twelve Navy Hospital Corpsman (NEC L19A) and two Army Optical Laboratory Specialists (MOS 68H) took to the stage and received their training certificates. Several individual graduates were recognized with letters of appreciation and commendation awards, which added to the memorable event that culminated in the minting of 14 of the Navy and Army’s newest opticians.