Photo By Troy Miller | Capt. Diana Dalphonse Becomes Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Supply Officer... read more read more
Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) Supply Officer (Code 500) Capt. Diana Dalphonse was born and spent the first 19 years of her life in what was then the People's Republic of Bulgaria.
“One of the things that actually impacted my life in a small way while living behind the Iron Curtain was the fact that our chocolate wasn’t very good,” said Dalphonse. “There was one store in my hometown of Burgas, a town along the coast of the Black Sea that sold Kinder Eggs. I used to stare into the store’s windows from the streets, with my mouth watering for one of those Kinder Eggs. Unfortunately, this store only took American money, which was very hard to come by.”
Dalphonse continued, “To this day, I always have at least one Kinder Egg in my house, waiting to be eaten. Not only does it soothe my taste buds, but it also reminds me how far I came from growing up in a communist country to now being an American citizen where I am serving the United States as a Captain in the U.S. Navy.”
Wanting to pursue the American dream, she moved to the United States after graduating high school. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Finance at the University of Central Florida, and worked at Disney World and Walmart before deciding to join the U.S. Navy. She continued her college career by earning her Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Kellogg School of Management and a Master of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to join the Navy. I love traveling and experiencing new things,” said Dalphonse. “However, at the time, Bulgaria wouldn’t let women into the military. So I earned my United States citizenship and went to Officer Candidate School to become an officer in the Supply Corps of the U.S. Navy. Unlike enlisted personnel, in order to become an officer, one needs to be an American citizen.”
Dalphonse got her wish and was able to see the world and experience new things. Her operational assignments included Supply Officer aboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74); Supply Officer aboard USS PAUL HAMILTON (DDG 60); Contingency Contracting Officer, Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan, Bagram, Afghanistan; and Food Service Officer and Stock Control Officer aboard USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72).
Ashore, she served as Fleet Supply Operations and Readiness at U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk, VA; Strategy Branch Chief, Strategic Initiatives Group at Joint Staff J4, Washington, DC; Director, Strategic Acquisitions and PBL Center of Excellence, Director, Common Systems Contracting, and Division Head, Organic Inter-Service Support at NAVSUP; Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, PA; Training with Industry Fellow at FedEx World Headquarters, Memphis, TN; and Navy Acquisition Contracting Officer Intern at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD.
Now as the Supply Officer onboard NNSY, Dalphonse will lead the consolidation of all non-nuclear material functions under a single organization to ensure shipyard projects have all needed material available to support the non-stop execution of work.
“I am excited to serve my country as the Supply Officer at NNSY. I know this job offers more than its share of challenges, but I am ready to meet them head on,” said Dalphonse. “I am identifying the areas that would make the most impact and really focusing on root causes. Now is a time to be proactive and not reactive. I am here to advocate for the Code 500 team members to get them the tools and training they need to be more proficient at their job and also to improve the awareness to the whole shipyard of the capabilities Code 500 provides.”
When Dalphonse isn’t in uniform, her hobbies include ones that support her 15-year-old son. She is involved with Boy Scouts of America, and her son’s basketball team and Jiu-Jitsu. She also enjoys hiking and going on adventures such as participating in an African safari in Kenya and hiking Utah’s Mighty Five, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah; Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, Utah; Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah; Capitol Reef National Park, Torrey, Utah; and Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah. To her, this is all about living the American dream.
“The American dream is not an abstract concept or a cliché for me,” said Dalphonse. “I still live it day in and day out and I am honored to join the American Shipyard team and help in getting submarines and aircraft carriers ready for the next fight, so others are given the opportunity to live their own American dream.”
| Date Taken: | 12.01.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.07.2023 07:37 |
| Story ID: | 459344 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 609 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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