Neuqua students get 'firsthand knowledge' from Navy Vice Admiral
Neuqua Valley High School senior Devin Eubanks is a future Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps member who learned more about the branch of service he's soon to join on Friday when the Vice Admiral in charge of the Navy Reserve Force came to speak at his school.
Vice Adm. Robin R. Braun met with military history students, Naperville school and city leaders and veterans as part of a nationwide tour to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Navy Reserve.
Since being formed by Congress on March 3, 1915, the Navy Reserve has trained civilians to serve as part-time sailors or get called to active duty when needed, Braun said. Reserve members accounted for 84 percent of Navy personnel during World War II, and more recently, 70,000 Navy Reserve sailors have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anywhere there's a Navy submarine or aircraft carrier, there are Navy Reserve members, she said.
"If the nation needs presence, we've got people who are deployed and the Navy Reserve supports all of those operations," Braun said. "Everyone has something different that they bring to the table for the Navy."
Eubanks and future Naval Academy student Carter Edwards were among 10 military history students who got the chance to meet Braun and hear about her journey as a pilot and a leader in the Navy.
Braun has landed planes on aircraft carriers and the icy airstrip at the former Glenview Naval Air Station on the way to a career with 5,800 flight hours. She's served as deputy director of a European planning and operations center in Germany and received awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal.
"It's great to get some firsthand knowledge of the Navy Reserve and everything it's done for us in the past 100 years," Eubanks said.
Braun, who has been in the Navy for 36 years, said she always aspired to follow her father's lead and become a Naval pilot, but the opportunity originally wasn't available to women. As she was finishing college, the Navy opened piloting duties to women, saying the force would accept five women fliers a year.
Braun applied, never really thinking she'd be one of the five. She didn't even know what characteristics the Navy was looking for or how officials would choose the lucky few women who would get their wings.
They chose her.
"I am a great representative of somebody who had a dream and found a way to have that dream but for some reason wasn't afraid of failing," Braun said. "I think sometimes you have to take that risk for that dream you have."
Events like Friday's help build community engagement around Naval service, said Navy Reserve sailor Mike Flynn of Wheaton, who is the Navy's emergency preparedness liaison officer for Illinois.
Braun's visit also helped some students in Tracey Cook's military history class close the year by hearing the perspective of a decorated leader who's made a career out of service to her country. First-person speeches like Braun's help remind students of the freedoms the military protects and the value the armed forces provide, she said.
"I try to get a lot of our veterans and active duty guys into the classroom because it enhances their learning," Cook said. "I'm always looking for ways to help educate our public about what our military does for us."