BZ to PV2 Cooper Dugan for successfully completing Army Basic Combat Training at Ft. Sill. Private Dugan was a Petty Officer Third Class in the Sea Cadets prior to high school graduation earlier this year. He is now back in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston for Army Combat Medic training. Congratulations, Dugan, and thank you for your service!

Alamo Battalion alumna ​ENS Jeanny Sanger graduated from the US Naval Academy this past May. Upon graduating, she earned a Bachelors of Science in Robotics and Control Engineering, and was commissioned an Ensign in the US Navy. She earned many great opportunities through the Naval Academy to include different sports teams, leadership billets, and summer trainings.

Two of her proudest athletic achievements was finishing a half-Ironman with the Endurance Team her junior year and when her Cycling Team won the conference championships her senior year. She says she learned the most about leadership during her senior year where she was Operations Officer in the fall and Academics Officer in the spring. With both positions, she says the hardest parts are delegating tasks, being proactive, and managing deadlines.

​Her favorite summer trainings were doing Plebe Summer three times (once as a plebe, the second time as a Company Administrative Officer, and the final time as the Regimental Physical Missions Officer) and when she got to travel to Peru and Brazil to explore ancient and modern engineering. Her scariest day was when she interviewed to join the Nuclear Community. The interviews included two technical interviews and a separate interview with the four-star admiral in charge of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. She prepared for months leading up to the interviews and ended up discussing honey-bees for a large portion of the admiral interview. She passed all of her interviews and is now part of the Submarine Warfare Community. She will head down to Charleston for further training before being assigned to a submarine as a division officer.

​ENS Sanger’s consistent hard work and determination has gotten her far – from her early days as a Sea Cadet, to her busy midshipman days, and now as a submarine officer. She owes a lot of her preparation for the Navy to the USNSCC Alamo Battalion. They taught her the naval lingo like what a “bulkhead” was, how to shine shoes, and gave her some of her first leadership opportunities. She is forever grateful of her time with the Sea Cadets. To anyone looking to join the Naval Academy, ENS Sanger’s biggest tip is to focus on the big 3 things that admissions is looking for: academics, athletics, and volunteer work. She is always open to further questions and looks forward to seeing some of Alamo Battalion out in the fleet!

Four Sea Cadets very ably represented the Alamo Battalion at the San Antonio Back2School Expo on August 3, as they told students and their parents about their varying Sea Cadet experiences, how to become a cadet, and how the Sea Cadet Corps is helping them prepare for the future. 

Fall is a great time to join the Sea Cadets. New Cadets will get to know their shipmates, be able to earn their uniforms by completing their Basic Military Readiness Training, and pass their Physical Readiness Tests. By completing these tasks, cadets are eligible to attend Sea Cadet "boot camp" at locations throughout the US. New cadets can participate in drills during the school year, which include September's trip to the National Museum of the Pacific War, October's rifle marksmanship training, Firefighting, camping and more. Anyone who is interested in joining us should review our Join Us page and contact our Public Affairs Officer to arrange a visit.

Many thanks to the Cadets and adult volunteers who helped with the Back2School Expo.

With regret, we have had to change the dates for the September drill due to a change in the availability of museum staff. The new dates are 21-22 September. The plan is to have two large duty vans to transport cadets from the SAMMC visitor center to Fredericksburg. Cadets should plan to meet at the SAMMC visitor center at 0630 on Saturday, 21 September. Cadets will be transported back from the museum to the SAMMC visitor center on Sunday. Details will follow.

We know that changing the date of a drill one month before it happens can be an inconvenience to cadets and their families, and for that we apologize. However, we hope that the cadets who attend the September drill will agree that being able to participate in the living history reenactment was worth the change.

We are proud of all of our cadets when they successfully take on the challenge of Sea Cadet Advanced Training. We are especially proud when one of our cadets is named the Honor Cadet of their training contingent. BZ to Cadet PO3 Paul Conroy, who was named Honor Cadet in Submarine School (Advanced) at Naval Base Kitsap and the Trident Training Facility Bangor, WA. 

Cadets at the two-week training course learned fundamentals of engineering for communication systems, fire control, sonar, hydraulics, air systems, ballast/compensation/trim and drain. They were also able to navigate a simulated submarine, using the same bridge and control room simulators used by US Navy submariners. A highlight of the school was a tour of the USS Pensylvania (SSBN-735), including visits to the missile compartment, missile control center, officers' wardroom, control room, torpedo room and more.

PO3 Conroy thought that Submarine School was the most authentic training he has experienced of the six he has attended. He enjoyed being trained by active-duty sailors using real equipment on an operating Naval base. Unfortunately, most of the training was conducted where cameras are not allowed, so we do not have many photos to share on this post.

However, Submarine School was not PO3 Conroy's only summer training. He also attended a two-week Master-at-Arms school in Riverside, CA, where he was trained by a number of civilian and military police forces, including Marines from the Special Reaction Team at Camp Pendleton. The photos below provide just a taste of the training opportunities available to Sea Cadets.

Bravo Zulu to Cadet Wesley Frederick on his successful completion of Sea Cadet recruit training this summer and promotion to Seaman Apprentice. He is excited to be a Sea Cadet and is committed to honor the memory of his grandfather (photo, right) who passed away only one week prior to Cadet Frederick's training. The photo on the left is of his great uncle, another Navy veteran who was also very ill during the same week.

Cadet Frederick returned from RT with a stronger commitment to his goal of serving in the United States Navy and is eager to experience the challenges of Sea Cadet advanced training.

We are excited about partnering with the National Museum of the Pacific War for our September drill. The museum is a truly moving and informative tribute to the veterans of World War 2 in the Pacific Theater. Our cadets will not only be able to experience the museum as visitors, but they will be staying overnight at the museum and exploring the museum's Pacific Combat Zone.

With school starting again, and the Sea Cadets nearly done with summer training, it is time for drills to start up again. Our first drill will be August 10-11. The POD is available on the Shutterfly site, and on the battalion website homepage. This will be a fun drill, beginning with swim qualifications (and hopefully some waterslide runs). On Sunday we will have a STEELBEACH picnic at the NOSC for cadets, parents and visitors.

There should be a good number of prospective recruits in attendance. This is a great time to join, because recruits will have plenty of time to start their BMR work and earning their uniform before the winter holidays. If you have friends who are interested in becoming a sea cadet, send them to our "Join Us" page for instructions.

We hope to see everyone at drill to catch up with shipmates and exchange their summer sea stories.

Three of the Alamo Battalion's Sea Cadets learned a range of seamanship skills at Texas A&M University in Galveston Texas. The Alamo Battalion's Cadet PO3 Isaac Arredondo, Cadet PO3 Christavella Arredondo and Cadet SN Paola Quintanilla practiced navigation, damage-control and other seamanship skills during a one-week training.

Cadets participated in an advanced shipboard navigation simulator, learning how to navigate a large open ocean vessel.  Cadets also drove high speed vessels in response to emergencies, learned how to plot navigation on charts, and we able to go underway in a merchant marine vessel.

Bravo Zulu, cadets!