Our Honolulu Council is an avid supporter of the Sea Cadets! During the Navy Ball, the Honolulu Council allows Sea Cadets to be present to escort guests, handle registration, and assist where needed. Since Covid-19 did not allow for a Navy Ball to be held this year, the Honolulu Council held a Navy Birthday Essay Contest.
Congratulations Nathaniel Burness, a Sea Cadet in Good Standing, for winning the First Place Prize of a Free Advanced Training!
Just like Nathaniel, we also "believe that the future generations that join our country’s Navy will continue to bring honor to the United States of America through continued traits of valor, heroism, inclusiveness, and diversity."
Read Nathaniel's winning essay below!
Navy's 245th Birthday Essay Contest
By: Nathaniel Burness
Over the 245 years that the Navy has existed, United States sailors have demonstrated
various values and traits that have kept our military force at sea as powerful as it needs to be to
ensure U.S. citizens’ safety throughout the history of our country. Some of these traits are valor,
heroism, inclusiveness, and diversity. In the past, we have at times demonstrated all of these
traits, but there are times when some of these traits could not be attributed to certain people
within the United States Navy. Today, the United States continues to wield the most powerful
Naval Force in history and has allowed us to have an extraordinary number of victories at sea.
Here is how U.S. sailors have demonstrated different traits throughout history, and even learned
from a few mistakes, becoming better sailors because of it.
Victory at sea is always celebrated, and that is because everybody knows that those
involved had valor, and were heroes. Even more impressive is when the men and women
involved come out on top even though they had a disadvantage. This is not a problem our fleet
has today, but that is only because of what people in the past have done to fight for our countries
freedom. A good example of this is John Paul Jones and his crew on the Bonhomme Richard
fighting against the crew of the Serapis. During this fight, John Paul Jones fought hard even
though he knew the British ship had a large advantage, as it had damaged his own ship very
badly early in the battle. He refused to surrender, motivating his crew, and himself, and
managed to outlast his opponent, forcing them to surrender instead. This is a story that many
U.S. sailors know and has motivated generations since then. If we all remember stories like this,
stories of great bravery, valor, honor, and heroism, then we are motivated to do the same as these
past heroes have. This motivation is taught to every sailor, and sea cadet, throughout training
and is encouraged on a daily basis. I imagine that if we continue to invigorate others to be
valorous heroes, we will continue to have victories at sea.
Two other traits that must continue to be carried in the Navy are inclusiveness and
diversity. This is an area in which the Navy has made mistakes in the past. It was very recently,
1862 when African-American men were permitted to enroll in the military, and even more
recently, 1948 when women were allowed to enroll. If the Navy had included others earlier on
in history, many more battles at sea may have been won, and those we already did win, we could
have won with fewer casualties and more ease. Women make up almost 50% of the human
population, meaning if the same amount of women joined the Navy as men, then the Navy’s size
would double. Even today, the Navy doesn’t have the room to include as many women on
submarines as men, simply because they weren’t built as suitable living spaces for two different
genders. If we had been inclusive, to begin with, submarines would have been built with a
gender-inclusive aspect in mind, which would allow an earlier or even immediate transition to
both women and men being allowed on the same submarines. However, nobody can change the
past, and now that the Navy is transitioning into being inclusive and that previous mistakes are
being fixed our future is brighter than ever, and more people are now motivated to join the Navy,
and fight for their country in future battles.
I believe that the future generations that join our country’s Navy will continue to bring
honor to the United States of America through continued traits of valor, heroism, inclusiveness,
and diversity. When I go to school and I talk to others about what they want to do when they
grow up, about 50% of the students say they are interested in joining the military, and many are
interested in joining the Navy in particular. They continue to be motivated and reinforce my
belief that future generations of sailors will truly add to the number of victories we will have at
sea in the future. Many people are passionate about protecting their country, and they all want to
contribute to something greater than themself. Over time the United States Navy has learned
what traits are important to have, and which things they need to fix. After all, what makes us
humans so intelligent is our ability to learn from previous successes and failures, and I think we
are at a point where we have caught those failures and managed to create success, which will
ensure another 245 years of victories at sea for future generations.
Congratulations again, Nathaniel! We look forward to seeing your future accomplishments in the Sea Cadets and beyond!
