SAN DIEGO – Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Raul Herrera Garcia, a native of Joplin, Missouri, wanted to see the world.
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| Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Brown |
Now, 15 years later, he serves with the Scorpions of Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM) 49, working with one of the Navy’s most advanced helicopters at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.
Herrera Garcia, a 2004 graduate of Joplin High School, is a aviation machinist's mate with a versatile squadron that’s capable of completing a number of important missions for the Navy with the MH-60R “Seahawk” helicopter.
“We stay busy. I'm a detachment leading petty officer,” said Herrera Garcia. “I work on the rotor head and engine of the helicopter, and I'm in charge of 14 sailors and two aircraft.”
Herrera Garcia credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Joplin.
“You work for what you have," said Herrera Garcia. "Nothing is going to be handed to you.”
Herrera Garcia, a 2004 graduate of Joplin High School, is a aviation machinist's mate with a versatile squadron that’s capable of completing a number of important missions for the Navy with the MH-60R “Seahawk” helicopter.
“We stay busy. I'm a detachment leading petty officer,” said Herrera Garcia. “I work on the rotor head and engine of the helicopter, and I'm in charge of 14 sailors and two aircraft.”
Herrera Garcia credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Joplin.
“You work for what you have," said Herrera Garcia. "Nothing is going to be handed to you.”
HSM 49's primary mission is to conduct sea control operations in open-ocean and coastal environments as an expeditionary unit. This includes hunting for submarines, searching for surface targets over the horizon and conducting search and rescue operations.
According to Navy officials, the MH-60R is the Navy's new primary maritime dominance helicopter. Greatly enhanced over its predecessors, the MH-60R helicopter features a glass cockpit and significant mission system improvements, which give it unmatched capability as an airborne multi-mission naval platform.
As the U.S. Navy's next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface warfare helicopter, the MH-60R "Romeo" is the cornerstone of the Navy's Helicopter Concept of Operations. Anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare are the MH-60R's primary missions. Secondary missions include search and rescue, medical evacuation, vertical replenishment, naval surface fire support, communications relay, command, control, communications, command and control warfare and non-combat operations.
“I've worked on a lot of different aircraft and this is one of the most challenging," said Herrera Garcia. "It takes a lot of work and inspection to make sure a helicopter is ready to fly.”
Serving in the Navy means Herrera Garcia is part of a community that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
America is a maritime nation, and the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Herrera Garcia is most proud of making rank and serving long enough that he is able to retire.
“It will provide financial security for the rest of my life,” said Herrera Garcia.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Herrera Garcia and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes contributing to the Navy the nation needs.
“To be able to protect everybody else's rights and the Constitution, that’s what serving in the Navy is about for me,” said Herrera Garcia.