Local girl enters Navy
Pinnacle staff report
Patricia Floch of Hollister left this week for the Great Lakes
region to undergo basic training for the U.S. Navy.
Floch, 17, is the daughter of Mike and Elaine Floch of
Hollister.
Local girl enters Navy
Pinnacle staff report
Patricia Floch of Hollister left this week for the Great Lakes region to undergo basic training for the U.S. Navy.
Floch, 17, is the daughter of Mike and Elaine Floch of Hollister.
“It’s what I really want to do,” Floch said. “The Navy gives me the job that I wanted.”
After completing basic training, Floch will report to Pensacola, Fla., where she will enter aviation school to study aeronautical engineering.
The June graduate of San Benito High School said much of her interest in the Navy came as the result of participating in the school’s now-closed Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program.
“That kind of gave me a little background,” she said, noting that there is not a strong military tradition in her family.
While Floch has signed a contract for an eight-year commitment, she expects to make the Navy her career for the next 20 years. At the end of her first hitch, she qualifies for $90,000 in college funding.
Floch singled out SBHS counselor Jim Caffeiro as especially helpful. “He set up interviews for me, and the Navy’s the one that suited me best,” she said. But she said many of her teachers supported her ambition when she shared it with them.
She acknowledged the current tense global situation, but said her family has been supportive.
“They’re proud that I have a path to go on and that I know what I want to do with my life,” she said.
