Texas Border Business
By Lt. Courtney Prizer, Navy Office of Community Outreach
Hawaii – A 2017 Juarez-Lincoln High School graduate and Mission, Texas, native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the guided-missile destroyer, USS Halsey. Petty Officer 3rd Class Elpidio Garcia Garcia isa Navy fire controlman AEGIS aboard the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer operating out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
Garcia Garcia credits success in the Navy to the
Halsey measures approximately 500 feet and is powered by four gas turbines that allow the destroyer to achieve more than 30 mph in open seas. Approximately 30 officers and 300 enlisted men and women make up the ship’s highly specialized company that keep the
As a Navy fire control man AEGIS, Garcia Garcia is responsible for maintaining, operating, and troubleshooting a specialized radar system onboard the ship. According to Navy officials, destroyers are tactical multi-mission surface combatants capable of conducting anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, as well as humanitarian assistance. Destroyers provide the required warfighting expertise and operational flexibility to execute any tasking overseas. Garcia Garcia is serving in a part of the world taking on a new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances, and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
