William Floyd School District: William Floyd NJROTC Offering Exciting New Opportunities This School Year

Press release from the William Floyd School District:

2022-01-21

The William Floyd High School Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) program has many exciting events planned for the remainder of the school year. Under the leadership of Commander Christian Gaskill, USN, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, who served 21 years on active duty before retiring in 2019, and recently-appointed naval science instructor Chief Petty Officer Tao Chen, who recently retired in July 2021 from United States Navy also after 21 years of active duty service, the cadets are eager to participate in community service projects, go on field trips to military installations and compete against other NJROTC units all around the northeast.

Students who participate in the NJROTC program have a tremendous opportunity to learn valuable life skills including, the value of citizenship, service and personal responsibility. “We do this at William Floyd by offering a challenging course of classroom instruction and activities as well as a variety of after-school activities such as drill team, academic team, physical fitness team and community service,” Commander Gaskill said.

Commander Gaskill added that as naval science instructors, they are “dedicated to maintaining a program that will enhance the academic and personal growth of every cadet and create opportunities for the development of leadership, character, self-confidence, self-discipline, personal achievement and teamwork.”

As for activities, Commander Gaskill says that NJROTC is planning to be involved in as many as possible. “One of the activities that Cadets enjoy the most is competing in NJROTC drill meets against other NJROTC Units in the northeast area.” This year William Floyd NJROTC is scheduled to compete in Bethel, CT, Freeport, NY, and Passaic, NJ.

This year NJROTC is adding orienteering training to its calendar. Commander Gaskill will form an orienteering team to participate in competitions across the region. Orienteering teams race to complete a trail using a terrain map and compass to navigate from point to point. “The cadets are excited to try this new event to the NJROTC program,” Commander Gaskill added.

A focus on health and physical fitness has been implemented as well. This year, cadets were issued Physical Training Uniforms (PTUs) and will wear them each Friday and participate in various strength, flexibility and cardio exercises as well as team-building activities that challenge them physically during class. Lastly, during the second semester, NJROTC is excited to be introducing a drone-flying team. The drone team will learn to pilot drones and will compete against other NJROTC units in piloting the drones through obstacle courses.

As far as goals for this year, Commander Gaskill mentioned earning the Distinguished Unit designation for the northeast area; an honor reserved for the top 20% of the 61 NJROTC units in the area. “We are also striving to complete more than 2000 hours of community service during the school year,” said Commander Gaskill.

Commander Gaskill and Chief Chen are always looking for new students to join his NJROTC unit. William Floyd NJROTC will be doing middle school visits in the winter to help increase awareness of everything the program offers to rising ninth graders. Commander Gaskill added, “Although NJROTC is designed to be a four-year program, students can benefit no matter when they begin the NJROTC program. At this point in the school year, however, we can no longer accept any new students. But all William Floyd students are encouraged to see if they can fit it into their schedule next year!”

About the William Floyd High School NJROTC Naval Science Instructors

Commander Gaskill

Commander Christian Gaskill, USN, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, served 21 years on active duty before retiring in 2019. His assignments at sea included service as the electrical officer on the USS Inchon stationed in Ingleside, Texas, and as the navigator aboard the USS O’Kane based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His assignments ashore included duty at Headquarters, Navy Reserve Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia and tours of duty at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., in the Manpower, Training, and Education Enterprise and on the staff of the Director of Navy Warfare Systems. His command tours were at Navy Operational Support Center Anchorage, Alaska, and Navy Recruiting District, New York. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Commander Gaskill is in the midst of his third year leading William Floyd NJROTC program as the senior naval science instructor.

Chief Petty Officer Chen

Chief Petty Officer Tao Chen recently retired in July 2021 from United States Navy after 21 years of active duty service. During his career, he has completed multiple deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to the North Arabian Gulf, Mediterranean Ocean and the Horn of Africa. In his most recent assignment, he served as the Deputy Director of Communications for a Special Operations Task Force in charge of Joint Service Members from the United States Army, Marine Corps and Air Force providing communications capabilities in support of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) missions spanning across three continents. Chief Chen’s operational assignments include the Aegis guided-missile Cruiser USS Normandy CG-60, Special Boat Team TWENTY, Tactical Communications Command TWO and SEAL Team TEN. His shore assignments include three tours at Navy Recruiting District New York. He is a Dean’s List graduate from the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy. Chief Chen joined the William Floyd NJROTC as a naval science instructor in July 2021.

Please see photos from the Pass-in-Review and a drill meet practice below!

This press release was produced by the William Floyd School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.