By Jim Newell
Review Editor
Ethan Cleveland, a sophomore at Lake Orion High School, was promoted to the rank of chief petty officer in the Naval Sea Cadets Corp during a ceremony at the Orion Veterans Memorial on May 19.
For Ethan, the promotion was the culmination years of hard work and dedication to the Naval Sea Cadets, a non-profit organization for boys and girls, aimed at developing strong leadership skills, teamwork and self-confidence with a hands-on approach to learning about the military.
“I feel really good about it. I’ve put a lot of hard work into it. It’s been four years since I’ve joined and it’s something I’ve been waiting for the whole time,” Ethan said.
“Chief Petty Officer is a pretty prestigious level. It’s the highest you can go in the Sea Cadets and it’s similar to an Eagle Scout. Out of the 13,000 kids across the country, only about one percent make it to chief petty officer,” said Ensign Grant Cleveland, a Marine veteran, and Ethan’s father.
The Sea Cadets is a national organization with about 13,000 youth participating across the country.
The Anchor Division, to which Ethan belongs, consists of Sea Cadets in the metro Detroit area. The cadets meet every other week at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township.
“As an organization, we were formed and chartered by congress back in the 1950s and it’s been ongoing since then,” Grant said. “We meet usually two Saturdays out of the month. And in the summertime the kids go to advanced trainings. They’re basically like summer camps that take place on military installations.”
Ethan and his older brother, Wyatt, a senior at Lake Orion High School, joined Sea Cadets together. Wyatt has previously earned his rank of chief petty officer and pinned a button on Ethan’s collar during the promotion ceremony.
“At first I didn’t even think it was something that I would want to do. But it was something I really ended up loving,” Ethan said. “I do spend quite a bit of time outside of our monthly drills (working on Sea Cadets), like doing paperwork. Just for this rank I’ve had to do six assignments, each one taking roughly two hours. I spend a lot of time outside of drill planning events, helping setup classroom stuff with my commanding officer. So, it’s not just something I do once a month, it’s an ongoing thing.”
After high school, Ethan plans on enlisting in the Marine Corp. “Hopefully as an officer,” he said.
Ethan already has leadership experience as Petty Office 1st Class with Anchor Division, and has led other cadets and worked with the adult officers.
“My position before my promotion was as the leading petty officer. Besides my brother, I was the highest-ranking cadet. I was sort of a link between the adult volunteers and the cadets,” Ethan said.
“I got my sons involved in the program so that we could spend some more quality time together and it just kind of exploded from there. We’ve been doing it for about five years and it’s been a great opportunity,” Grant said.
The Anchor Division has about 20 cadets ranging from age 11 until they graduate from high school, and the division hopes to get more kids involved in the future, Grant said.
“Typically, what we’ll do is invite them to come and meet us for a weekend and see if they like the program. After that, they would sign the paperwork with their parents,” Grant said.
Lieutenant JG Amy Keating is the commanding officer of Anchor Division.
“I usually recommend kids coming and doing a shadow drill and seeing if this is something, they want to be a part of. We do like to have a commitment from our young people. The morals of the Sea Cadets are honor, courage and commitment,” Keating said. “We do a little interview with the recruit to see if this is this is the right fit for them.”
Cadets also must maintain a “C average” grade point in their school work.
“The great thing about the program is that their leadership education in the Sea Cadets spills over into their everyday life and into their schoolwork,” Keating said. “These young people are absolutely phenomenal. I love them like my own children.”
For more information on the Sea Cadets program, including learning how to join, go to https://anchordivision.wixsite.com/anchor.