Captain’s Column

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the Navy observes National Hispanic Heritage Month. It is a time to acknowledge the vast contributions Americans from Spanish-speaking areas have made for our Navy and the United States. This year’s theme is “Hispanics: One Endless Voice to Enhance our Traditions.”

As of June 2018, approximately 59,000 active duty and Reserve Sailors, and 16,000 civilian employees of Hispanic heritage currently serve in the U.S. Navy. This totals close to 15 percent of today’s Navy. This representation covers every rank and a wide variety of career fields to include pilots, physicians, nuclear engineers, policy makers, boatswains and corpsmen. Hispanic Americans have served in every war of our nation’s great history since the American Civil War. To date, 60 people of Hispanic Heritage have been awarded the Medal of Honor, two of which were members of the Navy and 13 of the USMC.

There are countless stories of dedicated and successful members of the United States Navy. One service member in particular from the Vietnam War is Al Cisneros. I had the honor of meeting Cisneros right here in the Catalina Club at NAS Corpus Christi. He was attending the winging of a friend’s daughter. Cisneros, from Brownsville Texas, joined the Navy in 1968, and as Lt. Cisneros, became a combat fighter pilot with VF-31, flying the F-4J Phantom II.

If you have ever been in the Catalina Club you’ll see a photo near the door to the kitchen that is of ‘Felix the Cat’ of VF-31. Having served in VF-31 a long time ago, I was very interested when I met three gentlemen taking a picture with Felix. Cisneros was one of those gentlemen and it was then I got to know a little bit about him.

His time in the Navy saw him flying missions off USS Saratoga in the Tonkin Gulf. Cisneros would go on to fly 154 combat missions, earning 12 air medals, two specifically for individual action. Additionally, he would earn two Navy Commendations with Combat “V” and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with the Bronze Star. After his operational flying in Vietnam, Cisneros, became a test pilot for the Light Weight Fighter Prototype Research Project, being conducted out of NASA Ames Research Center in Langley, Virginia.

That alone is the makings of an extremely successful time in the Navy, but in 1975, Cisneros then went on to become the first Hispanic pilot to serve with the Blue Angels. He would fly for the Blues for the next two years before departing the “Navy Pattern” and heading off to the airlines where he would amass more than 22,000 flight hours. Today Cisneros is the chief executive officer of Dyno Oil Group, but he still maintains close ties with the Navy and naval aviators.

Cisneros is a prime example of the tremendous contributions members of the Hispanic community have made and continue to make to the Department of Defense and our country as a whole. The Navy of today is strengthened by the diversity of its force and the examples of those who have served before us. I am very lucky to have met Cisneros and his fellow VF-31 service members.

Go Navy!