Blue Angel pilot tells Navy cadets to aim high
CALEXICO — Hoping to further drive home the importance of dedication and teamwork, a Blue Angels Fat Albert pilot on Monday addressed Calexico High School Ninth Grade Academy students, including more than 100 members of the campus’ Navy Cadets Program.
Fifteen-year-old ninth-grader Juan Carlos Castañeda said he found the presentation by Maj. Mark Hamilton, U.S. Marine Corps, inspiring and a prime example of the discipline that Juan Carlos purposefully sought out by joining the Navy Cadets Program.
“It was nice to know how hard he worked to get what he wanted to get,” Juan Carlos said, noting that he too plans to pursue a career in the military.
During his nearly hour-long presentation, Hamilton reassured those present that his intention was not to attempt to recruit students into the Navy, but rather to remind them of the value of a strong work ethic, interpersonal skills and team work.
“My job is to try to inspire you to do whatever you want to the best of your ability,” Hamilton said.
The 39-year-old Becker, Minn. native also told students that the Blue Angels’ performances should be viewed as a clear sign of what can be accomplished with dedicated training and teamwork.
As the Blue Angels flight squadron’s season progresses, the pilots’ precision improves to the point that their wingtips can be as close as four inches from one another during certain aerial maneuvers.
“You can’t do that without a great team, without dedication and commitment,” he said. “That’s what we want not only from our armed forces members, but we want that for the American public.”
The Calexico campus currently is the only Valley site that hosts a Navy Cadet Program, so it was natural for Hamilton to share with students his experiences as a university student with the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and the opportunities and advantages it provided him.
He also emphasized the importance of having students pursue a variety of activities both in and out of school in order to create additional experiences and future options.
“What you need to do is create opportunities,” he said.
“That’s the No. 1 goal.” Although 14-year-old ninth grader Julio Romero said he was still not sure what type of career he wanted to pursue, it was inspiring to hear that Hamilton too came from a small isolated town and was yet able to achieve great success.
“He was trying to tell us that no matter where we come from, we can go high,” Julio said.
As a Navy cadet, Julio said he has also seen firsthand how the campus program can transform a formerly disengaged student into a model of discipline and leadership.
Retired Command Master Chief Theodore Gallinat, U.S. Navy, said the idea to bring the Navy Junior ROTC to the Calexico ninth-grade campus was to instill a sense of self-sufficiency among the participating students.
This year marks the first year of the program’s existence, and plans are already underway for the ninth-grade Navy cadets to reach out to upper-class high school students to attempt to enlist them in the program as well.
“This process it is to really teach them leadership and discipline,” Gallinat said.
Like much of the military’s training, emphasis is placed on a new recruit’s learning the fundamentals before moving on to more technical training and responsibilities, Hamilton said.
“You got to learn how to crawl before you learn how to walk before you learn to run,” he said.