Virgin Islanders lined King Street and Hospital Street on Tuesday morning in Christiansted to honor the territory’s military veterans and service members. Across the water, St. Thomas’s Veterans Day parade wended along the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, followed by a joint ceremony with St. John honoring the islands’ veterans and service members.
On St. Croix, the Central High School Caribs Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps led the procession through downtown Christiansted to the D. C. Canegata Recreational Complex. They were joined by the St. Croix Educational Complex Barracudas Marching Band, the Advent V.I. Pulse Drum Corps, local Girl Scouts and more.
“The kids love it,” said Maj. Fernando Webster, former director of the Veterans Affairs Office and JROTC instructor at Central High School. “They want to get out, they want to march. They practice and practice and practice — they want to come out and put it to use.”
Webster said JROTC is about so much more than training the territory’s youth for a possible future in the military.
“It is life skills — teaching them life skills, teaching them conflict resolution, anger management… first aid, drill and ceremonies,” he said. “Yes, we do teach some military subjects, but it’s not to indoctrinate them to go into the military. Though if you don’t have the wherewithal to go to college, the military is not a bad fallback program.”
Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Tesania Stevens and Cadet 1st Lieutenant Tymai Garcia said the program has also taught them about leadership and discipline.
“Not even just in school, but in your personal life,” Stevens said. “Like when you want to go to work and have discipline, being on time, not being crazy with your money spending — because we learn about finances and everything.”
Stevens and Webster both said it was important for Virgin Islanders to honor Armed Forces veterans.
“It’s good to remember the fallen soldiers and it’s nice to remember people who fought for our country and serve our country currently,” said Stevens.
