Severna Park Native Serves With The Next Generation Of U.S. Naval Aviation Warfighters

Ensign Kaleigh Molinari, a Severna Park native and 2017 Archbishop Spalding High School graduate, joined the Navy about a year ago because she wanted to do something fun and interesting.

Blocks checked.

Molinari now serves as a student pilot with Training Squadron 27, a primary flight training squadron, located at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas.

“I enjoy being around dynamic people,” Molinari said. “Growing up, I learned that people will help you if you help them.”

The air training program Molinari is going through focuses on modern aircraft, and after completion of the program, naval aviators earn their “Wings of Gold.”

“Maintaining the world’s best Navy is an investment in the security and prosperity of the United States, as well as the stability of our world,” said U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations. “The U.S. Navy, forward deployed and integrated with all elements of national power, deters conflict, strengthens our alliances and partnerships, and guarantees free and open access to the world’s oceans. As the United States responds to the security environment through integrated deterrence, our Navy must continue to deploy forward and campaign with a ready, capable, combat-credible fleet.”

With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to ready sailors and a strong Navy.

“The Navy is important to national security because of power projection,” Molinari said. “My proudest accomplishment is getting to flight school and staying in flight school.”