www.flagshipnews.com | The Flagship | Section 1 | Thursday, September 22, 2022 1
IN THIS ISSUE
USS Harry S. Truman returns home from 9-month deployment
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier returned home to Naval Station Norfolk, Sept. 12, 2022, marking the end of their nine-month deployment after operating in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Page A2 VOL. 29, NO. 36, Norfolk, VA | flagshipnews.com
September 22-September 28, 2022
The journey of a patriotic Hispanic-American By Travis Kuykendall
Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. — Heritage lays the foundation of an individual’s unique identity. The values, culture, and traditions that are inherited and what is observed and experienced throughout a lifetime is different for each person. But, there is a common thread that connects groups of people and that may not be truer than for the Hispanic community. Maria Ramirez, a financial analyst at Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, shares how her Hispanic heritage has helped her become an artist, a veteran, and a proud American. In 1972, two year-old Maria Ramirez immigrated to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, with her reporter father, hairstylist mother, and three older brothers. They landed in Chula Vista, a San Diego suburb, where she grew up and attended Samuel F. B. Morse High School. For three years she was enrolled in the school’s aviation technology magnet program and Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps with the aspirations of attending the U.S. Naval Academy before tragedy struck close to home. “I wanted to go into the Naval Academy but during my senior year [my family] found out my dad had cancer so I had to stop doing my extracurricular activities,” said Ramirez. “I wasn’t really focused so I didn’t get my 4.0 [GPA] so instead of going into the Naval Academy I went into the Marine Corps at 17 years old.” Another barrier keeping Ramirez from her goal of attending a service academy was that she was still not a U.S. citizen — a requirement to attend. In 1987, she enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as an aircraft hydraulics mechanic and two months after graduating from Marine Corps recruit training in Parris Island, S.C., where she received recognition as both honor graduate and Molly Marine, she had finally been granted U.S. citizenship. “[During the naturalization ceremony] there were about 500 people there in San Diego but only two of us in uniform,” explained Ramirez. “They had asked me to go first so I was like, ‘ok, yeah’ and I was really honored.” With a dream to work for NASA, Ramirez was led to the mechanical career field in the Marine Corps because of her love of robotics and engineering. It was an area she scored very high on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test. She credits that experience and knowledge to her three older brothers and a big part of the Hispanic culture in Southern California. “My three brothers showed me how to break apart and fix a carburetor, know how to change the oil on a car,” explained Ramirez. “Where I grew up there was a lot of lowriders and car clubs and essentially that is where I learned about hydraulics because my brothers were a part of some of the clubs. They would tell me ‘see this is a parallel, this is a series, here’s the reservoir’ and all that stuff. I was very intrigued.” During her five-year enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps, Ramirez deployed with Marine Observation Squadron 1 (VMO-1) in support of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm before separating in July of 1992. She went on to study electri-
TOP: Pvt. Maria Ramirez, USMC MIDDLE: Blas family day at the beach. Maria Ramirez is in the middle in pink. ABOVE: Custom painting work by Maria Ramirez. (PHOTOS FROM MARIA RAMIREZ)
cal engineering at San Diego State University before enlisting in the U.S. Army as a combat medic in 1994. Not her first military occupational specialty choice but one that afforded her the opportunity to go to
airborne school. “I thought I was going to be a patriot missile crewmember but the recruiter forgot to schedule me for one of the [required] physical exams,” said Ramirez.
“They told me I could pick something else and I saw for combat medic you can go airborne so that’s what drew me to it.” During those five years, first on active duty and then in the U.S. Army Reserves, Ramirez deployed twice to Busan, South Korea. After Ramirez ended her military service, she returned to college to continue studying electrical engineering at San Diego State University while working as a driver, and then night shift supervisor, for an armored transport company. It is her time with the transport company she credits her success later in life of working as a financial analyst. She had married a U.S. Marine and became pregnant with her first child. “When I was pregnant my boss said ‘come [to the office] we’ll show you the receivables, payables, and get you into the database’,” explained Ramirez. “I was starting to get really good with it and that’s where I learned all the financial stuff.” After her marriage to an active duty Marine and starting a family, Ramirez put her schooling on pause. The family PCS’d to Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in central California. It was during that tour that once childhood passions came to life again — engineering and art. “I took on a job that had to do with the [California] Film Commission and I was able to meet Viggo Mortensen while they were filming Durango,” said Ramirez. “They would also film a lot of commercials and it started getting me back into electrical engineering or anything that had to do with creativity.” One day her husband was in the garage practicing painting with an airbrush when he asked her to give it a try. “He put up a stand and a piece of paper and then he gave me the air brush,” explained Ramirez. “I looked at a picture of a werewolf and I just started to draw it and it came out amazing. [My husband] said, ‘oh my gosh, that looks really good’ and so we started doing custom painting for Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts as not a hobby but to sell on eBay for people and it started doing very well.” After working with the California Film Commission, Ramirez became a manager of a Homeowner Association for a wealthy community near NAWS China Lake. Many of the residents held PhD’s and were rocket scientists. One resident she met was the father of Blink-182 front man, Mark Hoppus, who asked her to paint his BMW motorcycle. “After that experience I started to get back into creative work and the end result of art to me is priceless,” expressed Ramirez. “It feels good when someone else looks at it and they enjoy it and see value in it.” With her brothers working on their lowriders, classic cars with hydraulic suspension systems, Ramirez was captivated by the not only the mechanics of lowriders but also the art culture that was connected to it. She became inspired and began to scribble and attempt to draw the murals like the artists she would encounter. “The other side of [the lowrider community] was how incredible the art was,” said Ramirez. “It is just so meticulous and it looked so real. For me when I was younger Turn to Ramirez, Page 3
Top USS George Washington Sailors visit Mount Vernon By Lt.j.g. Caroline Leya
USS George Washington (CVN 73)
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A select number of Sailors assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), along with the ship’s commanding officer Capt. Brent Gaut, participated in a customized tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s family estate, Sept. 14. Among the Sailors chosen for the event were several Spirit of Freedom award winners, as well as various crew members selected as Sailor of the Quarter and Sailor of the Year. The tour route included different stops around the grounds of Mount Vernon, including the special additions of climbing to the top of the main building’s famed cupola, and viewing centuries-old documents belonging to Washington in the private vault of the estate research library. The participants derived meaning from different aspects of the tour, with Interior Communications Specialist 2nd Class Emma Dolata noting that the personal responsibil-
ity and accountability of Washington stood out to her. “He took so much pride and care in his home even after all the big things he did,” she said, touching on the fact that farming and cultivating were near to Washington’s heart. “Anyone could have done it for him but he woke up early each morning to take care of his farm and do rounds on the land.” Gaut was impressed by the work of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, a group of women that saved the estate from falling into ruin in the mid-19th century, and the organization that controls the property to this day. “It’s an extraordinary story, their bravery in purchasing the land to save it, and the work they’ve done to maintain and preserve the President’s home and part of his legacy.” The tour included a meeting with the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association chief executive officer Dr. Douglas Bradburn, who Gaut presented with a flag flown aboard the USS George Washington. Bradburn acknowledged the profound connection between Washington and the ethos of the modern
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United States military. “Washington is the father of the American military….the idea that civilians control the military, that the [United States] military is the highest-educated military in the world, that all comes from George Washington’s vision itself.” “He was ‘first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen’.” USS George Washington is undergoing refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) at Newport News Shipyard. RCOH is a multiyear project performed only once during a carrier’s 50-year service life that includes refueling the ship’s two nuclear reactors, as well as significant repairs, upgrades, and modernization. The USS George Washington motto is “First in war, first in peace.” Sailors assigned to USS George Washington view artifacts from George Washington’s personal collection in the Washington Library at Mount Vernon. (U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 2ND CLASS ROBERT J. STAMER)
Navy and Marine Corps JROTC Academy takes flight
Shoot your shot
The crew of the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) held a decommissioning ceremony onboard Naval Station Norfolk, Sept. 16.
The DON is setting its sights skyhigh through sponsorship of the Academy, established to increase diversity in the field of aviation.
Lance Cpl. Matthew Munger was introduced to shooting when he joined a Rod and Gun Club in high school. From then on, shooting firearms became a regular part of his life and learning a lot from his PMI father.
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