PENSACOLA OFFICER CANDIDATE SCHOOL CLOSING...
For Pensacola residents accustomed to seeing officer candidates out on the town in their dress white uniforms, an era is ending.
"It is one of those things you don't appreciate until they tell you it's going," said Jack Williams, whose family owns Seville Quarter, a popular block of clubs and restaurants frequented by officer candidates.
"We will miss seeing them walking around downtown and coming in here and checking their hats in our gift shop," he said.
Over the years, he's taken some early morning calls from candidates who forgot to retrieve their hats before leaving his bar. And he's headed off a few fights.
"It's rare that you have to make a call out to the school, but it does happen. They train them to be confident and that comes out some times. Usually it's about a girl or someone looking at a girl," he said.
The closing after 68 years is also the end of an era at the base, where officer candidates run along the streets in their navy blue shorts and white T-shirts, and the sound of drill instructors often drifts into offices.
"Every time we come across people out on the base, they let us know how long they have been supporting the officer candidate program and how sad they are to see it go," said William Brinkmeyer, an officer candidate from the final class.
Flight training at Pensacola Naval Air Station dates to 1914, but those original aviators came as officers from the U.S. Naval Academy. The base began officer training for aviators in 1936. In 1994, the Aviation Officer School was combined to include candidates in other career fields.
"It's been such a visible aspect of the base for such a long time," base historian Hill Goodspeed said.
And Marine drill instructors have always overseen the training.
"Every candidate I've ever talked to always remembers their drill instructor because they are such a dominating presence, a larger-than-life presence," Goodspeed said.
The drill instructor for the school's final class is Gunnery Sgt. Jason Jones, a veteran of two combat tours in Iraq. His gravely voice comes from years of yelling commands.
"You'd be surprised how many people say I have a problem with my voice or something is wrong with the way I speak, but the candidates learn real quick to understand what I'm talking about," said Jones, who stands with perfect posture and gazes with a classic Marine thousand-yard stare.
He was quick to remind students of their place in history as the last of thousands of classes to march on the parade field of Pensacola Naval Air Station.
"Go out with a bang," he told candidates.
William Gum, 25, was teaching high school math and science when he enlisted to become a Navy pilot. He asked to attend officer training in Pensacola before the school closed.
"Pensacola is the place to go if you are a Naval aviator. When I am out there doing drills and the Blue Angels are flying around ... It sounds cheesy, but it makes the hairs on your arms stick up," he said.
He will attend flight school in Pensacola after completing officer training.
The final class will be the 20th to graduate this year. Twenty five of its original 56 candidates dropped out...
As graduation approached, students became more confident in their futures as Navy officers.
"The entire experience is worth too much to give up. We are starting to come together as a class, and it is starting to be fun," said candidate Julie Wonder, 22, a University of Oregon architecture graduate.
Lt. Scott Kykendall, an instructor and Naval aviator, will return to Iraq instead of moving to Rhode Island. He said Pensacola will always be a unique place, especially for aviators starting their Navy careers.
"It's just so motivating in the mornings to run students around these streets and see the history. When you think about the people who have gone through flight training here - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, John McCain. Need I say more?"
Nope, I think that about does it.
Comments
are doing shutting down all these military bases!