How education shaped Michael Elkins’ career of service
The decision began a journey that took him around the world and offered him the opportunity for adventure and to make an impact. Decades later brought him back to the start of the Navy’s training pipeline working for the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC).
Elkins serves as a production line manager for combat systems on NETC’s N3 team. He monitors Sailors from the time they commit to serve through their training and arrival in the fleet, helping remove obstacles that could slow their progress.
A West Palm Beach, Florida, native, Elkins attended boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, in 1998 before reporting to the Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center in Point Loma, California. After completing sonar training, he served at Joint Maritime Facility St. Mawgan in the United Kingdom, returned to Point Loma for advanced training and then reported aboard USS Russell (DDG 59) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
His operational experience aboard Russell prepared him for his next assignment: teaching future leaders in the sonar field.
From 2004 to 2005, Elkins returned to Point Loma as an instructor for the Sonar Supervisor Course. He made chief petty officer there and transferred to Center for Surface Combat Systems Waterfront Detachment San Diego, where he taught Embedded Training Systems and the Combat Systems Operational Sequencing System.
Those assignments gave Elkins experience on both sides of the classroom and showed him what instructors need to turn curriculum into fleet-ready performance.
“I’ve experienced it as a student throughout my career,” Elkins said. “And I know what it’s like for the instructors and what they need to be successful.”
Elkins retired as a senior chief petty officer in 2019 after 22 years in uniform. Shortly after he began his civilian career at NETC where his operational, instructor and personnel experience made the command a natural fit.
At N3, Elkins monitors training paths for Sailors entering combat systems ratings. When a backlog develops at a schoolhouse, he works with learning center leaders to determine whether staffing, classroom space, scheduling or course capacity is causing the delay. Together, they identify practical ways to keep Sailors moving without sacrificing the content or quality of their training.
That work carries added urgency as the Navy brings in more recruits. After exceeding its fiscal year 2025 active-duty enlisted recruiting goal by nearly 3,500, the Navy reached its fiscal year 2026 objective of 45,000 future Sailors in July.
More than 36,500 enlisted Sailors are now in NETC’s training pipeline, nearly 6,000 more than a year earlier.
Elkins supports those efforts through long-range planning, close coordination with learning centers and data tools he develops using Power BI and Excel. The tools help N3 and its partners recognize emerging problems, understand their causes and act before delays grow.
“The end game,” Elkins said, “is the qualified Sailor out there doing their job.”
When Elkins visits learning sites, he talks with junior Sailors about making the most of their time in school. Learn the basics now, he tells them, because arriving in the fleet can feel like “drinking from a fire hose.” He encourages them to pursue qualifications, study their systems and learn from the Sailors ahead of them.
Elkins began his career as a student, became a Sailor and instructor, and now applies those experiences as a Navy civilian. At NETC, his experience continues to serve a larger purpose: helping today’s students become tomorrow’s battle-ready Sailors.
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