Captain Charles E. Dickerson Jr.

Commanding Officer, USNS Mercy

21 July 2022 Captain Charles Dickerson enlisted in the U.S, Navy as an undesignated seaman recruit in 1993.  He shortly thereafter entered the Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST) program and was honorably discharged to the reserves in late 1994, earning a Nurse Candidate NROTC Scholarship. He attended the University of Memphis Loewenberg School of Nursing as an NROTC midshipman, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and was commissioned in December 1999. 

He reported to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in January, 2000 becoming certified as a CCRN. In March 2003 he was deployed to An-Nasiriya, Iraq as an ICU nurse with Fleet Hospital 3.  In December 2003, he reported to Naval Hospital Yokosuka, working as an ICU nurse, case manager and General Surgery Clinic sedation nurse.

In April, 2007 he reported to the US 7^th Fleet command (CTF-70) onboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) as the Ship’s Nurse, earning his Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer (SWMDO) pin.  When CV-63 was slated to be decommissioned, he cross-decked with CTF-70 to the USS George Washington (CVN-73) in 2008 and transitioned the ship to Yokosuka, Japan during its historic move as the first nuclear powered vessel to be homeported in Japan.  After 5 and a half years forward deployed overseas, with multiple sea deployments, he was accepted into DUINS for Nurse Anesthesia at the Uniformed Services University of Health Science in 2009 and graduated with a Master of Science in Anesthesia.

While assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego, he volunteered to be the Anesthesia Officer onboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) until December, 2013.  In 2014 he transferred to Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms and in 2016 he reported to Naval Hospital Rota and became Department Head of the Main Operating room, and competitively selected as Director of Clinical Support Services.  In 2018 he reported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and was hand selected to be Deputy Director for Nursing and Department Chief, Main Operating Room.  On April 1^st 2019 he was deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for its historic circumnavigation change of port cruise that became one of the longest aircraft carrier deployments since the Vietnam War. After returning to Walter Reed in March 2020, he was hand-picked to become the Interim Senior Nurse Executive for the National Capitol Region Market of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), and rapidly conceptualized the NCR Market’s COVID19 contingency staffing expansion plan which became the DHA template for crisis staffing. During that time, he also completed his Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice degree from Missouri State University. He then was selected to be the Executive Officer onboard USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), and executed the 2022 Continuing Promise mission to Central/South America, enabling care delivery to over 14,000 patients.

Capt. Dickerson’s personal awards include four Meritorious Service Medals, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, six Navy Commendation Medals, four Navy Achievement Medals, Humanitarian Service Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Battle “E”, Fleet Marine Force, and Global War on Terrorism Service and Expeditionary Medals. He is the national winner of the 2005 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award for patient centered actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.