Fighting for one’s country is a noble thing to do with one’s life. For those who heed the calling of service, the rest of us owe them more than we can repay. They believe that serving their country in one of the military branches is a duty to be performed by each citizen.
Most people know of someone personally who has gone on to serve their country. And when it’s someone you know, the things that we fight for and defend hit closer to home.
Such is the case with one local man who, after spending his 19 years growing up in Gary, Indiana, decided to enlist in the Navy. And that’s where he’s been for the last three years, posted to the Carrier group for the USS Nimitz.
Based out of California, AN Rashad Jackson works in his squadron’s airframe shop.
“I’m a structural mechanic,” Jackson said. “I like that a lot. I work on the outside of the jet. I take off all the panels, clean and fix them and make sure the panels are completely secure and the jet is ready to fly.”
Jackson explained that he works mainly on F/A-18E Hornets and the jets require periodic maintenance. Jackson and his crew take a certain number of panels off of each jet every 34, 68, and 336 days.
“The higher it gets, the more panels are removed,” explained Jackson.
Besides working on planes, Jackson also likes to work out and recently found an interest in CrossFit.
“After a 12 hour shift, I’ll go to the gym to work out. I’m really getting into CrossFit. I think I’d like to try the CrossFit games, they look pretty fun,” Jackson said.
In his free time, Jackson is studying to take his ASVAB again.
“I’ve been studying for the last three months, so a lot of my spare time is taken up with that. If I do well on it, I want to join the SeaBees,” explained Jackson.
The SeaBees are US Naval Construction Battalions and were initially created as a replacement for civilian construction workers in World War II. Now, the SeaBees, nicknamed for C.B., or Construction Battalions, are both a trained fighting force within the Navy and excel at construction. “We build, we fight” is their motto.
Jackson has family that he visits back in Gary. His mom is a supervisor at the Horseshoe Casino, and he also has a brother and a sister, who just graduated to become an RN in Portage. He tries to come home to see them twice a year, and says that his mom comes to visit him in California as often as she can.
“I miss my family and my girlfriend in LA,” Jackson mused. “I know it’s a surprise, but I miss the weather in Indiana the most. Being here in California, it’s hot all the time. I’m used to the weather being…a little different.”
Many of us don’t leave the area we were born in, and even fewer get the chance to travel. Being based in a carrier group, Jackson has seen quite a few new places.
“Hawaii and Dubai were both pretty cool places to visit. But Dubai is definitely my favorite because the malls there are the biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely an experience that has been awesome so far,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. It has prepared me a lot for life, especially discipline.”
Most of us take for granted our freedoms that we have and tend to forget that there are those of us who fight for those self-same freedoms. Thankfully, there are men and women like Rashad Jackson that allow us to celebrate our lives with our families, especially around the holidays.