Military Mondays – The Wednesday Edition

Every Monday, which fell on Wednesday this week(!), we like to introduce you to one of of our local troops. This week, we introduce you to Brian David Calderon, nominated by his parents, Aida and David!

Aida, Brian's mom emailed us with his story:

"From Brian's Freshmen year in high school at Americas, he joined NJROTC and eventually became captain of the Rifle team.  Upon graduation he moved to California to follow his mom and dad.  Disappointed because he had not passed the eye exam portion of his physical and was not accepted to enlist, he moved away from El Paso and left the love of his life, Wendy, back in El Paso.

He started working for Big 5 in Redlands, California,  and every month he would save his money and travel back to El Paso to visit Wendy.  A year later, the family moved back to El Paso.  He transfered with Big 5 to El Paso.  Shortly after returning back to El Paso he ran into his recruiter who said he had been trying to locate him because there was an error on the results of his physical exam and he was elidgable to enlist, so he followed his dream.

He excelled in boot camp, and went through the Dive Motivators program in preparation for the opportunity to go through the BUDS program to become a Navy Seal, his Dream Job.  But before he left for boot camp, he and Wendy found out they were expecting their first child.  So he deferred on going through the BUDS program.

Brian's first assignment was on board the USS Nicholas port out of Norfolk, Va.  Brian immediately joined the VBSS special ops unit and was performing vessel boardings along the horn of Africa.  On April 16th of 2010, their ship came under attack from Pirates off the coast of Somalia.  Brian's VBSS Unit was deployed, and they captured 5 Pirates. They were detained and held on their ship and eventually brought back to the States where there were tried and found guilty of Piracy.

This past June, Brian completed his first 6 year enlistment, and has re-enlisted for another 6 years with hopes of making this his career.  Due to the excellent performance of his job duties as a Engine man and small boat mechanic specialist, he was offered the opportunity to work out of Little Creek, Va., working Maintenance and Logistics for Group II Seal teams.

He recently took and passed his exam for E6 and has set his goals to continue his passion to serve our great country. Brian married Wendy and they now have two beautiful boys, Dorain turning 6 in October, and Sabastian who just turned 3 in July.  They miss their family and friends in El Paso, but are happily married and living in Virginia Beach, Va."

Thank you so much to Aida and David for sharing their son's story with us!  We also want to thank David for his service to our country.  We are greatful, and our prayers go out to the entire Calderon family.

If you would like to nominate your military man or woman, here's where you do it!