Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Caleb Kissner, Navy Office of Community Outreach
SAN DIEGO - Airman Gabriel White, a native of Summerville, serves the U.S. Navy assigned to USS Theodore Roosevelt, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier operating out of San Diego, California.
White graduated from Berkeley High School in 2021.
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those found in Summerville.
“Playing high school baseball back home taught me discipline and character,” White said. “Having jobs in different fields taught me how to adapt and get comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s especially helpful coming straight out of boot camp because I’m now on a carrier with 5,000 people. Knowing how to adapt to this new lifestyle has helped me not be nervous or afraid to fail. When we were learning the ship, a lot of people were scared to walk around or scared to mess up and do the wrong thing. But losing and failing are more beneficial than not trying at all because even when you fail, you’ve learned something.”
White joined the Navy six months ago. Today, White serves as an undesignated sailor in the Airman Professional Apprenticeship Career Track (A/PACT) program.
“I was inspired to join the Navy by my family, specifically my grandfather, Lt. Harley Perry, who raised me,” White said. “He was in the Navy for 26 years, enlisted and then commissioned. He served on submarines. I saw the great impact it had on myself and my family.”
Aircraft carriers are the centerpiece of America’s naval forces. For more than 100 years, they have projected power, sustained sea control, bolstered deterrence, provided humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and maintained enduring commitments worldwide.
Among the largest warships in the world, Theodore Roosevelt is longer than three football fields at 1,092 feet. The ship is 252 feet wide and weighs more than 100,000 tons. More than 5,000 sailors serve aboard these self-contained mobile airports.
“This aircraft carrier is one of the most powerful warships in the world, but it is our sailors that give the U.S. Navy our warfighting advantage,” said Capt. Will Mathis, commanding officer of Theodore Roosevelt. “For over 250 years, sailors have built the foundation of our readiness and resolve, enabled us to keep America safe and ensured the U.S. Navy remains the strongest and most capable maritime force in the world.”
According to Navy officials, aircraft carriers are versatile and have unique mission capabilities that make them a more strategic asset for the Navy than fixed-site bases. They are often the first response in a global crisis because of their ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans. In addition, no other weapon system can deploy and operate forward with a full-sized aircraft carrier’s speed, endurance, agility and combat capability of its air wing.
White has many opportunities to achieve accomplishments during military service.
“I am proud to be a go-to guy for my chain of command and that they trust me with tasks to make operations smoother,” White said. “I haven’t been here long enough to get Sailor of the Quarter, but it makes me feel good to know I was able to step into that role for them, being a junior sailor. They trust me with naval operations, and it makes me feel good that they look at me that way.”
This year, the Navy is commemorating its contribution to the nation’s defense as the United States celebrates 250 years of independence. According to Navy officials, for more than 250 years, the Navy has sailed the globe defending freedom and protecting prosperity.
With 90% of global commerce traveling by sea and access to the internet relying on the security of undersea fiber-optic cables, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity of the United States is directly linked to recruiting and retaining talented people from across the rich fabric of America.
“Serving not only provides freedom to the people I love but also fuels me with purpose day in and day out,” White said.
White is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.
“I want to thank my amazing family for the way they raised me and support me,” White said. “I couldn’t be more thankful. My grandparents raised me and my sister after our parents died when we were young. They sacrificed a lot. Raising my parents and then raising us was kind of like restarting for them.