JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Vice Adm. Sean Regan, right, commander of the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District, saluted Chief Petty Officer and Cadet Ethan Gochu, left, Thursday during a commissioning ceremony for the creation of Hawaii’s first Coast Guard Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps unit, at Kalani High School.
1 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Admiral Sean Regan, right, commander of the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District, saluted Chief Petty Officer and Cadet Ethan Gochu, left, Thursday during a commissioning ceremony for the establishment of Hawaii’s first Coast Guard Junior Unit Training Reserve Officer Corps, at Kalani High School.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM USCG ME3 Adam Atwood, right, helped Cadet Hunter Fahling try on a gold-plated tactical vest used during operations following a commissioning ceremony Thursday at Kalani High School.
2 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM USCG ME3 Adam Atwood, right, helped Cadet Hunter Fahling try on a gold-plated tactical vest used during operations following a commissioning ceremony Thursday at Kalani High School.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Chief Petty Officer and cadet Ethan Gochu disembarked a U.S. Coast Guard vessel at Kalani High School on Thursday. The school’s new Coast Guard JROTC unit is the 14th in the nation and the first in Hawaii.
3 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Petty Officer and Cadet Ethan Gochu disembarked a U.S. Coast Guard ship at Kalani High School on Thursday. The school’s new Coast Guard JROTC unit is the 14th in the nation and the first in Hawaii.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Vice Adm. Sean Regan, right, commander of the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District, saluted Chief Petty Officer and Cadet Ethan Gochu, left, Thursday during a commissioning ceremony for the creation of Hawaii’s first Coast Guard Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps unit, at Kalani High School.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM USCG ME3 Adam Atwood, right, helped Cadet Hunter Fahling try on a gold-plated tactical vest used during operations following a commissioning ceremony Thursday at Kalani High School.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Chief Petty Officer and cadet Ethan Gochu disembarked a U.S. Coast Guard vessel at Kalani High School on Thursday. The school’s new Coast Guard JROTC unit is the 14th in the nation and the first in Hawaii.
Kalani High School has officially activated its newly formed Coast Guard Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program, the first of its kind in Hawaii.
The first class of 25 cadets will officially start next semester. On Thursday, Coast Guardsmen, school families and teachers gathered in the school gym for a kickoff ceremony. Chief Petty Officer Ash Armstrong, who will be the cadets’ instructor, told attendees, “In this program, we not only introduce young men and women to the proud heritage of the U.S. Coast Guard, we also teach them its core principles. that will guide them as future leaders.”
JROTC programs are administered and partially funded by the U.S. Army. They are distinct from the ROTC programs on college campuses, run by active duty members, which train students in military tactics and ultimately commission them as military officers. JROTC instructor roles are filled primarily by military retirees and occasionally by late-career active duty personnel, and are not officially considered a recruiting program.
“It’s about developing character, resilience and a sense of responsibility that extends beyond the classroom,” Armstrong said. “These cadets will learn discipline, teamwork and problem-solving skills that will serve them well whether they pursue a career in the armed forces, higher education or another path.”
Sean Regan, commander of Coast Guard District 14, said the Coast Guard’s small rural JROTC program has a 100% graduation rate and about 27% of graduates go on to pursue a military career. Regan said, “If anyone ever concludes that this generation of men and women are not go-getters, I offer that they come out here and meet these people. They are just fantastic young citizens and rising patriots.”
JROTC programs have been around since 1914, but the Coast Guard didn’t have one of its own until it activated the first one in Florida in 1989. It has only 14 programs nationwide, the newest in Kalani, but in 2024 Congress ordered it opened. at least one in each of the nine active districts.
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The new program in Kalani is the first and so far only in District 14, which includes Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The island communities of District 14 are uniquely dependent on the ocean, and the Coast Guard operates throughout the region in search and rescue missions, safety inspections and fisheries enforcement patrols.
Rochelle Mahoe, state Department of Education superintendent for Kalani High, said that “through the maritime science courses and experiences, our cadets will gain valuable experiential knowledge and open doors to exciting new careers in the maritime industry and beyond.”
Capt. Clay Cromer, head of the Coast Guard JROTC programs, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the program is designed to give students a greater appreciation for the role the ocean plays in their lives.
Cromer said that “from an academic perspective, they will learn not only about our Coast Guard missions and the maritime domain, but also about trade and about environmental management, environmental protection, you know, and being good citizens and just an awareness of how much of our economic supply chain depends on the maritime domain.”
Cadet Arellano Manzi, 14, a freshman at Kalani High who has taken on the role of business manager for the new class of 25 cadets, said he has long had an interest in the military and was drawn to the program because “I thought I could do well. I really wanted to test my strengths to see how I would interact with other people.
Manzi admitted that he still doesn’t feel comfortable being a leader at this point, and volunteered mainly because he thought it would help him to compete in national competitions. But he said he is curious about the opportunities the Coast Guard can offer and is interested in one day pursuing a career as a pilot.
The Coast Guard was historically the smallest U.S. military branch until the creation of the Space Force, which had just over 4,000 service members. But the Space Force’s proposed budget of about $29.4 billion for next fiscal year pales in comparison to the approximately $14.2 billion the Coast Guard is scheduled to receive.
Nevertheless, it has played a central – and growing – role in US Pacific policy. In February 2023, senior Coast Guard commanders said the service plans to triple its deployment to the Pacific in the coming years. But in December, shortcomings in Coast Guardsman retention and recruitment partially forced the service to close several facilities and decommission several ships across the country.
As demand for the Coast Guard’s skills continues unabated, the service has felt the pressure as it struggles for funding and resources. At a congressional hearing in March, Rear Adm. Paul Thomas, the Coast Guard’s deputy commander for mission support, said the service was operating with a shortfall of about 4,800 members, or nearly 10% of its workforce, even as it goes day by day Through. -day missions.
“We are losing our wave power,” Thomas told lawmakers. “If we had to respond to a hurricane, oil spill or crisis at the southwest border, as we have done in the past, you would see some real challenges to our ability to continue our regular missions.”
But in the meantime, the service continues to work. Armstrong said the Coast Guard plays a unique role among military departments because “our immediate mission is related to the community.”
Armstrong is retiring from the Coast Guard and will remain in Kalani as a JROTC instructor following his retirement in early 2025. He has a long history in Hawaii: He first came to the islands after enlisting in the Army and served on Oahu as a cavalry scout before going to college and joining the Coast Guard after graduation, making him an immediate went back to the islands.
Throughout his career in the Coast Guard, Armstrong worked in logistics with assignments both on land and at sea in the Pacific. He said that when the opportunity arose to take on the program at Kalani, just as he was preparing to leave the service, it seemed like the ideal choice for him.
“I enjoy giving instructions. I enjoy teaching,” Armstrong said. “This just happened to make everything fall into place.”
