Like father, like daughter: Together in the military

RIO RANCHO – To be honest, a lot of us have been sworn at by our fathers, but how many have been sworn-in by our fathers?

Cleveland High School junior Celestina Chaparro had that unique opportunity on the afternoon of March 1, and now she’s a proud member of the New Mexico National Guard.

Mario Chaparro is the commander of the NMNG’s recruiting battalion.

“We talked to kids, the parents; they pose this question to you: ‘Is it that great? Would you put your son, your daughter, into the military?’ And most of the time, it’s, ‘Yeah.’

“I’d say this is a great organization, takes care of people, gives you opportunities, access to things you’d never have,” he explained, apparently a great salesman as well as dad. “This is something she wanted to do; she grew up around it,” he added.

No, Celestina’s not done with her studies at CHS.

“She’ll still be in high school; she’ll do her weekend drills, which is to prepare her for basic training,” and learning basic soldier skills, Mario said. “After the school year, she’ll go to basic training. Come back, finish her senior year in high school. Then, next summer, she’ll do her AIT – her advanced individual training.”

Born in Mexico, raised in El Paso and living in Las Cruces before a move to Rio Rancho about four years ago, Mario Chaparro said he didn’t have to twist Celestina’s arm for her to follow in his bootsteps.

“I never pushed military on any of my kids,” he added, although Celestina is his youngest.

He enlisted in 1997 in El Paso and went to active duty: “I was a paratrooper; I jumped out of planes. That’s all I wanted to do,” he said, “so I joined airborne infantry.” He had 21 successful jumps.

“Serving the Guard has provided me with a great career, just as it will for Celestina,” he said. “She’ll get to serve our state, stay here and gain valuable training, education and experience, just like I did.

“People join for different reasons. … I gave me discipline,” he said. “Our state has a partnership with Costa Rica; I got the opportunity to work out of the U.S. embassy in Costa Rica; working in that environment was very eye-opening.”

Celestina, a former Storm cheerleader who participates in JROTC at CHS, eyes a medical career following college, possibly in ultrasound “or something to do with babies.”

She enlisted as a human resources specialist in the Guard.

“I really needed a lot more structure, something to hold me together,” Celestina said of her decision to enlist. “Something to, like, make me get up in the morning, and ‘OK, you have to do this,’ kinda push myself to do it on my own.”

Her dad, she said, “is really hard-working. He’s good at time management, which is something I want to get better with..”