MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – In the Navy, many toss around the word “family” casually.
Divisions become families. Departments become families. Berthing members become families. Co-workers who spend 18 hours a day working together and another six sleeping near each other become family members.
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And just like blood and legal family members, sailors rarely get to choose who their Navy family members are, and often they mirror the same players in a regular family: the serious mother, the doting father, the goofy uncle and the devil-may-care cousin.
Along the way, the Navy put various policies in place to ensure family members don’t serve together, and the reasons are sound: avoidance of favoritism, unnecessary or unintentional perceptions, and, of course, the worst-case scenario: the potential end of a bloodline.
And as sailors will do, they keep their heads down and simply accept these policies as law and move along with their lives.
Thus, when family members do – somehow – manage to find their way to serving at the same command, it’s cause for people to take note, tilt their heads in curiosity and simply try to understand the how and the why.
Enter Senior Chief Aviation Machinist’s Mate Dan Reyes, the power plants and airframes work center leading chief petty officer for Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6, currently deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
By sheer coincidence, Reyes found himself serving for eight days alongside his daughter, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Midshipman 2nd Class Gabriella Reyes, a junior majoring in statistics at Florida State University.
Despite 20 years of active duty service, Senior Chief Reyes found himself surprised and definitely pleased when he learned his daughter would be embarking on the Nimitz for her summer training cruise.
“It’s been a dream come true,” he said. “In my years of service, I would never have imagined I would be deployed with one of my daughters. I’m so happy that I was able to share with her and her fellow midshipmen what we do while deployed.”
During the course of their studies – whether through ROTC or the U.S. Naval Academy – it is traditional for midshipmen to embark on naval vessels during the summer to experience different Navy communities and decide what they want to do after graduation.
For her part, Midshipman Reyes found her time aboard to be multifaceted.
“Coming aboard, I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “The first few days, I felt welcomed by everyone on the ship. I wanted to come here, of course, to see my dad, but I had the goal to learn during my time here as well. Everyone I have come across has helped me with that goal, whether it be sharing their advice on leadership or explaining their roles on the ship.”
For many service members, it can be a cut-and-dried decision to steer their children toward the military to help them gain funds for college, acquire mortgage benefits, and establish a lifestyle of service. In the case of Senior Chief Reyes, this wasn’t necessarily the case, though the outcome was ultimately serendipitous.
“When [my children] graduated from high school, I asked them what they wanted to do,” he said. “I presented the choices, and they wanted to go to college. While in college, they chose Navy ROTC.”
Recognizing the lifestyle can be difficult, Senior Chief Reyes also observed that it wasn’t necessarily a surprise that Midshipman Reyes and her twin sister – also a midshipman – chose the Navy path.
“All they know of me is being a sailor,” he said, noting that his daughters were born after he had joined the Navy. “It’s an honor knowing that my daughters are following my footsteps in the Navy, and they’ll be continuing the defense of freedom and democracy.”
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