When Daniel Wise and Marcus Dunlap graduated from Ponte Vedra High School together in 2012, both were standout students and athletes. Now five years later, they are members of the same graduating class again—this time from the United States Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.
Officer Candidate School (OCS) includes a difficult 12-week program involving intense physical training and rigorous academic work in areas such as navigation, U.S. naval history, military ethics and leadership. Wise and Dunlap graduated with a class of 72 men and women on Oct. 6 and were commissioned as naval officers.
Wise is the son of Jennifer and Phil Wise and brother of Rachel Wise of Ponte Vedra. Having served as the Regiment Medical Officer in OCS in charge of all candidates' injury and medical needs on base, he has been designated as a Naval Aviation Officer and has received orders to Washington, D.C., awaiting further orders to Naval Flight School in Pensacola, for two additional years of flight training. Wise previously graduated from Georgia Tech University with a degree in aerospace engineering
Dunlap, who is the son of Holly and David Dunlap and brother of Causey Dunlap of Ponte Vedra, is also a Bucknell University graduate with degrees in East Asian studies (Chinese language) and economics. He has been designated as a Surface Warfare Officer and has received orders to report for duty aboard the USS Germantown—an amphibious assault vessel at Naval Station Sasebo, Japan. The Germantown is a member of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific and is a forward deployed ship used primarily to deliver Marines and equipment to various amphibious landings throughout the Pacific. Following three months on the Germantown, Dunlap will report to Naval Station San Diego, California, for Surface Warfare School. He will then redeploy to the Germantown.
