COVERING WHIDBEY ISLAND’S NAVAL AIR STATION COMMUNITY
CROSSWIND Whidbey
VOLUME 1, NO. 6 | 06 M AY 2011
www.whidbeycrosswind.com
Oak Harbor High School students make impressive mark in area competition
Individual Augmentees help other forces By K ATHY REED
Whidbey Crosswind
Imagine being a nurse specializing in staff education and training. Then imagine being dropped into a trauma ward half a world away dealing with gunshot wounds and injuries from improvised explosive devices. That was what Cmdr. Chris Mannion, Naval Hospital Oak Harbor, encountered
SEE IA | PAGE 5
THIS EDITION The Oak Harbor High School Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps unarmed drill team is shown here in January at Glacier Peak High School. The team recenlty placed fourth out of 12 in a regional competition. PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL THIEL
NJROTC does it again By DENNIS CONNOLLY
Whidbey Crosswind
It’s hard to beat this record. For six years in a row, and 10 out of the last 11 years, Oak Harbor High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, Wildcat Company, has been named a Distinguished Unit with Academic Honors. Being named 10 out of 11 years is a distinct honor and means, among other things, that principal Dwight Lundstrom will be able to make three student nominations from next year’s senior NJROTC students to each military academy — the Naval Academy, West Point and the Air Force Academy. Between them, the academies reserve 20 spots for JROTC students. Being part of a Distinguished Unit with Academic Honors can give students an advantage, although they still have to do well academically.
“We have a good and healthy program and the students take advantage. ” – Mike Black, instructor A nomination from their school’s principal can work to a student’s advantage, and hopefully help them get one of the coveted slots. The OHHS group is part of Area 13, which includes Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and Japan. Only 17 schools in those areas were named Distinguished Units and only nine of those earned academic honors. It illustrates plenty of hard work for Oak Harbor instructors Mike Black and
Bill Thiel, who head up the NJROTC. But Black thinks it’s the students, their teachers and their parents who should get most of the credit. “We get a lot of support from parents and the school, but it’s mainly because of the kids,” Black said. He said Area 13 has a manager that puts the kids through inspection. How the NJROTC unit performs in inspection, along with factors such as how many students are taking honors classes, how many are in student government, how many are team captains, how many work on service programs and others things all figure into the results. “We have a good and healthy program and the students take advantage,” Black said. Oak Harbor has the largest JROTC in the state, at 176, and next year 205 are
SEE NJROTC | PAGE 3
Oak Harbor Navy League meets ....................pg. 2 Navy Wives Club of America looks to future........pg. 6 Military teens sail off on an island adventure ....pg. 7 Some Navy parents choose homeschool ...........pg. 8
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