Swicker is in charge of three ships that form an expeditionary action group, whose goal is to help mariners on the coast. His ship, which aims to maintain the law in the area, is manned by 370 people.
"We are working as a coalition with our allies to stop piracy and to prevent international terrorist organizations from bringing their members onto the coast, where they would not be subject to government control," said Swicker, who joined the navy in 1982.
Swicker learned to shoot and sail at an early age from his grandfather, who was a naval officer in World War I and a naval architect.
He majored in biology at Dartmouth, but did not pursue the pre-medicine track that was standard at the time, instead choosing to focus on the areas of biology that related to his love of the ocean.
"I wanted to be a marine biologist," Swicker said. "I realized that it wasn't the science that interested me, it was going to sea -- going to sea is one of those things where if you get 'bit by the bug,' you're in it forever."
As part of his Dartmouth education, Swicker went to the University of California, San Diego. Instead of taking undergraduate courses, however, he took graduate courses in bio-oceanography and attended a professional diving school.
Swicker's passions may be with the sea, but his Dartmouth education left a powerful impact on his job today.
"When I first graduated, I was grumpy because college cost a lot, and I thought it just taught me to drink a lot of beer," Swicker said. "I realized, though, that being in an environment where I didn't have to do anything but learn and read was a very valuable thing."
This broad liberal arts education, Swicker said, allowed him to avoid becoming rigid and to use his own judgment.
Dartmouth professors, whom Swicker described as "really passionate about what they do," have also been role models for him when teaching his own crew.
"When I'm teaching my officers, I try to show them that I really enjoy what I do. I tell them to keep a mental book of all their leaders, to plagiarize all the things they do well and to learn from their mistakes," Swicker said.
Being the captain of the ship, Swicker said, "is kind of like having several hundred teenage sons."
"I'm the military leader, the sheriff, the father, the mentor," Swicker said.
Although the ship's crew members come from diverse backgrounds, Swicker said he expects them to be able to trust each other with their lives. This sort of situation, he said, is similar to freshman Dartmouth Outing Club trips in which students may not become best friends but can cooperate with and talk to each other.
Swicker's command philosophy, he said, is straightforward and only seven words long: "sail fast, shoot straight, speak the truth."
