United States Navy Capt. David Guluzian, a native of San Marino, assumed command of Amphibious Squadron SIX on July 20, thus earning the nautical title of commodore. The six warships include USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Arlington (LPD 24), USS Whidbey (LSD 41), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) and USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44).
Commodore Guluzian is also the commander of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, consisting of Kearsarge, Arlington, Gunston Hall and the 2/2 Marine Expeditionary Unit. Together, it comprises a total force of three warships, dozens of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, multiple landing craft, and more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group is scheduled to depart on a seven-month deployment in the spring of 2022.
Dave Guluzian attended Carver Elementary School, Huntington Middle School and San Marino High School, where he was a member of the graduating class of 1986. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in physics and was accepted into the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program as a surface warfare officer. He has served on eight different ships in various leadership positions, including command of USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) from August 2008 to August 2010 and command of USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) from June 2017 to November 2018.
While aboard the USS Kearsarge, Guluzian commanded a 68-day disaster relief mission to the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria.
His awards include the Legion of Merit (two awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Navy Commendation Medal (eight awards) and the Navy Achievement Medal (three awards).
Guluzian’s younger brother, Steve, graduated from SMHS in 1988. Steve lives in Irvine, and is a forensic laboratory supervisor with a specialty in DNA evidence for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Commodore Guluzian is the son of the late Kevork Guluzian, a structural steel designer with Joy Manufacturing, and Jeannette Guluzian, a retired schoolteacher of Alegria Place. He currently resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Karen, a high school math teacher at Cape Henry Collegiate School. They have two daughters: Sierra, a college freshman at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and Aleena, a high school sophomore at Cape Henry Collegiate School.
