Reader News: Sailor with family ties to Spicer, Minn., serves where future Navy warfighters train – West Central Tribune

BILOXI, Mississippi – The U.S. Navy’s fellow aerographists are among the best trained in the world, and they begin their training at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Petty Officer 1st Class Wyatt Bricker joined the Navy nine years ago. He is working on an associate degree in business administration at Southern New Hampshire University and is expected to graduate in 2026.

Bricker’s parents live in Spicer, Minnesota.

“I joined the Navy for this adventure,” Bricker said. “I was the latest in a long line of American service members, going back to my great-grandfather. Each generation in my family has produced a multitude of sailors, soldiers, Marines and airmen.”

The skills and values ​​needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those at Spicer.

Contributed / Zenon Perez, Navy Office of Community Outreach

“The lessons that have helped me succeed in service were taught to me by my boyhood scout master, Mr. Jake Richter,” Bricker said. “As a young man, he taught me the values ​​of hard work and honesty, and I have done my best to live by those principles. You get out what you put in.”

The Friends of the Naval Aerograph are experts in meteorology and oceanography and provide environmental information in support of Navy missions. They collect, record and analyze weather and oceanographic information.

An electronics technician currently stationed at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Keesler, Bricker serves as an instructor in developing aerograph friends.

Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Keesler is a training command under the Naval Education and Training Command, the largest shore command in the Navy with more than 24,000 military and staff personnel at more than 624 subordinate activities, locations, talent acquisition groups, stations and detachments across the whole world.

With 90% of global trade traveling by sea and access to the Internet dependent on the security of undersea fiber-optic cables, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity of the United States is directly tied to recruiting and retaining talented people from across the empire. fabric of America.

Bricker has many opportunities to achieve achievements during military service.

“The day I was promoted to petty officer first class was one of the proudest days of my life, second only to my wedding day,” Bricker said. “When I came here, I never thought I would go beyond being a sailor, and then I moved up. I’m further along than I thought I would make it.”

Bricker is grateful to others for helping make a career in the Navy possible.

“I would like to send a shout-out to my parents and younger sister, who are all veterans and have completed their military service,” Bricker added. “I want to thank you for everything you do for me. ”