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Virginia Beach native serving with elite Navy fighter squadron

Posted at 4:12 PM, Jun 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-05 00:19:04-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A Virginia Beach native is serving with a fighter squadron that flies one of the world’s most advanced warplanes.

Photo provided by the U.S. Navy.

“I have learned discipline,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jasmine Jennings, who serves as a logistics specialist with the Golden Dragons of VFA 192, and is also a 2011 Bayside High School graduate.

Stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Jennings helps support the U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron that flies the F/A 18 Super Hornet, which takes off from and lands on Navy aircraft carriers at sea, and is capable of conducting air-to-air combat as well as striking targets on land.

“Strike Fighter Wing, U. S. Pacific Fleet, based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, is the heart of Naval Aviation,” said Capt. James S. Bates, Deputy Commodore, Strike Fighter Wing, U.S. Pacific. “The sailors assigned to SFWP always exceed expectations and produce amazing results through team work and dedication to their department, squadron, the U.S. Navy and their family. Naval Aviation is a challenging occupation, but our sailors work day in and day out to provide fully mission capable aircraft and fully qualified aircrew to ensure leadership is able to answer national level tasking. I am humbled to be able to lead the sailors of SFWP and I am proud to call Lemoore my home.”

According to the Navy, operating from sea aboard aircraft carriers, the Super Hornet gives the Navy the power to protect America’s interests anywhere, at any time. The versatile jet has the ability to destroy targets located hundreds of miles inland, without the need to get another country’s permission to operate within its borders.

Part of Jennings job makes her responsible for supplying the command and making sure everyone has what they need to do their job, something she take very seriously, knowing how important being a part of a military unit is. She may know this better than most after growing up with parents that served in the Navy.

“My parents were in the Navy,” said Jennings. “I saw how they took care of their family, and I wanted to be able to do that as well. I wanted to have that kind of foundation.”

Though her family instilled in her the values that have led her toward a career in the military, she is not looking back, but forward, at what she can do to extend a legacy and be part of one of the world’s most powerful fighting force.

“Serving in the Navy means knowing that I am protecting my country,” Jennings said. “Someone can look up to me, and I can pass this on to my children. I am being a role model for the next generation.”