On July 26, Ithaca High School 1997 graduate and Ithaca native Benjamin Pollock took command of the USS Wyoming, an Ohio-class ballistic-missile Navy submarine, at Naval Station Norfolk.
Pollock is a U.S. Navy commander who has previously served on three other submarines as well as various shore duty commands, according to a recent press release. At his prior duty stations, Pollock’s responsibilities varied from reactor controls to the safe navigation of the ship.
As Pollock tells it, there was no one event that led him to pursue the military; he was simply drawn to it. With his brother being the only other family member in the military, Pollock attributes the start of his journey to a higher calling.
“God was calling me, and I felt somehow, as I would see things from the military, I would see what they were doing, I’d see ads and stuff, and … I just felt like ‘This is where I think I need to be,’” Pollock said.
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