For the juniors in Ms. Martinez’ fourth period and generally everyone, it can be tricky to figure out what you’re going to do after high school. And that’s where Captain Todd Severance came into the play.

Todd Severance, a Navy veteran and current Reserves member, came and spoke to the class.  Captain Severance started off with a presentation since the day he was guest speaking (Friday September 3rd) happened to overlap with the last day of World War II.

Captain Severance was a fighter pilot for the Navy, landing jets on gigantic aircraft carriers out at sea. He joined the Navy because he had both come from an army family, and the idea of traveling sold it. Severance gave no unreal expectations about the Navy to the class; he explained about the work load saying, “ Things don’t just show up on the tarmac with 12,000 pounds of fuel ready to go.”

As a part of his training he also had to endure ‘survival training’ where they put the solders into scenarios that could possibly happen, like being lost in the woods or being captured by enemy soldiers. When asked about the scariest moment of his career, he made a joke I was not allowed to publish, and then talked about how he almost had a collision in mid air, and how he narrowly avoided it. “They never saw me, they only heard me.”

His advice to all who are interested in the military is, “The sky’s the limit.”  Severance talked about how much things had changed since he first joined, how many more young women are joining and how the past 24-years has made an incredible transformation.

Mrs. Martinez says that Captain Severance was routed to Phoenix and he drove to Tucson specifically to talk to her class, he gave up his free time to help inspire the next generation of kids in and out of the Navy.