Pint-Sized Sailors

The Youth Organization Cultivating our Nation’s Future Heroes

A young boy, wearing a Navy uniform, waits to graduate from a military training with The U.S. Naval Sea Cadets. | Photo by Alicia Gavin

Silence gripped the tree-lined valley enveloped in a thick fog. In the predawn haze, numerous off-white buildings clad in wood siding and capped with emerald tinted steel roofs uniformly pierced through the fog. Each barrack stood in a state of hibernation, the only sound, a hum from their respective power generators.

A quiet U.S. Army National Guard base in the early morning haze. | Photo by Alicia Gavin

Suddenly, a warm yellow light radiated from a window on the top floor of one of the buildings. A silhouetted figure rose from his bed and yawned. A crisp breeze whistled through the crack of his window as he fumbled to get dressed. As other barracks were coming to life, the smell of sizzling bacon filled the air and the rhythmic sounds of an Army unit calling cadence could be heard in the distance. This miniature military metropolis was waking up.

The young man left his cadre (staff cadet) room, tiptoed downstairs, entered into a crowded room filled with bunk beds, took the lid off a garbage can, slammed it against the floor, and shouted “Reveille, Reveille, all hands on deck!”