High school graduation advice from head of San Marcos Academy ROTC

Every May in Hays County and throughout Texas high school and college seniors are filled with excitement and possibly even anxiety about their graduation and next steps. Some are preparing to go to college, some to technical school, some into their career of choice and some have no idea what the next step will be. For all graduating seniors throughout our area, San Marcos Academy ROTC commander, Lt. Colonel, Retired, David Jaillite has some words of wisdom.

LESSON #1 COMMAND AND CONTROL

Jaillite asks graduates to think of your life as driving a car. Making a righthand turn is easy; you can turn into the flow of traffic and really only have to look in one direction. Turning right, or making the easy choice, is the choice many students will make. However, the hard choice, or the left turn, the one where there is traffic coming from all directions and you must cross traffic to make the turn, is the direction that you will eventually end up because while you are in command of your life – God is actually in control.

Entering the armed forces was not Colonel Jaillite’s first choice. However, it was an easy right turn. Jaillite enlisted in the Navy out of high school and was assigned to be a jet engine mechanic. While on deployment in Bermuda working on P3 Orion aircrafts, Jaillite befriended several pilots who wanted to learn more about the aircraft that they were flying. Jaillite taught them the mechanics of the plane’s jet engine and in return they began teaching him the instrumentation on the plane and how to fly. On a flight during a mission, Jaillite was invited to join the pilots in the cockpit and was given the controls of the plane.

“It took 30 seconds from the time they handed me the controls and turned off the autopilot for me to decide that I wanted to be a pilot myself. I could feel everything…the wind over the wings, the power of the engines, everything. It was my next ‘right turn,’” said Jaillite.

But Jaillite needed a college degree to become a pilot. He sought the advice of his commanding officers and was told about the Naval Candidate (Nav-Cav) program, a training program that required two years of college, followed by flight school and then allowed pilots 10 years to complete their degree. allowed. In January 1991 Jaillite completed his next ‘right turn’ and began the program. But God was still in control, slowly making him turn left. By March 1991, Desert Storm was wrapping up and a drawdown of the military began. The Nav-Cav program was canceled and there would be no flight school for Jaillite to attend. Jaillite heard about the Army ROTC program at Stephen F. Austin from a friend.

“I didn’t really want to enter the Army but I still had a goal to become a Commissioned Officer and a pilot. The Army also has pilots and while it wasn’t the Navy, I decided to join,” said Jaillite.

Jaillite completed the Army ROTC program and upon graduation took and passed the pilot aptitude and physical assessment tests. However, God was still making that left turn. When Jaillite received his assignment, he was shocked and a bit disappointed to have received a transportation role, not the pilot assignment he so wanted.

LESSON #2 IMPROVISE, ADAPT AND OVERCOME Six years after Colonel Jaillite entered the army as a commissioned officer in the transportation division, 9/11 happened. Because of his experience and training, Jaillite was deployed to command the transportation battalion in Iraq. When he arrived in Iraq, Jaillite learned that he was in command of over 2,300 troops, mainly truck drivers, and 3,000 vehicles. Their mission was to move troops, equipment, food, water and whatever other supplies were needed across Iraq in convoys in approximately 40 convoys of 20 or more trucks each day. There was no plan when Jaillite arrived for all the logistics that needed to happen. Jaillite and his command had to “improvise, adapt and overcome” the obstacles that they faced every day, including increased enemy fire and IED attacks. Troops pieced together personal protection and armor for their vehicles but Jaillite knew that that it would only be a matter of time that the IEDs would become more sophisticated and go from wire detonated to remote detonated.

LESSON #3 – THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX While worrying about his troops and trying to figure out the best way to keep them safe, Jaillite remembered that the Navy had jamming devices in all Navy planes and wondered why the Army couldn’t put the same devices in Army trucks to stop the IEDs from being detonated. He explained his idea to his commanding officer who then had him explain it to the commanding general. The general thanked him for his idea and not much else was said. Jaillite continued serving and was later sent to Germany on assignment.

When Jaillite was re-deployed to Iraq in 2005, he learned that his idea for installing the Navy aircraft jamming system was being put into action and was known as the Warlock System. It was saving hundreds of soldiers’ lives. In fact, all the 2300 troops under Jaillite’s command while in Iraq made it home. Only 19 Purple Hearts were awarded to these troops, the worst injury being a badly broken jaw. God had finished his left turn. Although Jaillite had made several right turns on his journey, God knew that the path He had Jaillite on would put him in the right place at the right time.

“You might choose the right turn from time to time, but God is always in control. I encourage all graduating seniors to slow down, open their hearts and minds and listen for God. He might just be talking to you and putting you on the path He wants you on,” said Jaillite.