Dear ANSO Familia,
Today begins our month long Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) Celebration. The theme this year is “Esperanza. A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope.”
The Association of Naval Services Officers comprises men and women from all of our Sea Services, the majority of which are Hispanic/Latino. This month, let us be deliberate as we celebrate the many contributions Latinos and Hispanics have made to our extraordinary world and our country. Our ancestors and our parents have done much, and we must continue their legacy.
Each of us carries within us hopes of a better tomorrow, of a brighter future, of equality, joy, and happiness. It is what I learned from life. To hope for better things to come and do all we can to turn those hopes into reality.
As an organization, ANSO is here to ensure that we don’t just hope but that we achieve. A good friend of mine said, “La Esperanza es el combustible para llegar al Destino.” “hope is the fuel that propels us to our destiny.” Life is our ship. Every ship needs a Captain, a Master, and Commander. We are the Masters of our lives. And I know from experience that every Captain needs a good Navigator. ANSO is here to be your navigator. Let us move forward together to make our hopes our reality.
Let us then celebrate our heritage, propelled by the hope that our actions and work together will continue to ensure our community is respected. We will strive to make sure our contributions are valued and our people trusted and uplifted, and that we will always be able to reach our highest potential. That our representation at the highest ranks will be equal to or greater than our representation within the junior ranks so that our young service members can look up with not just the hope but the certainty that one day they too can make it.
To that end, I want to share with all of our members the new ANSO strategy. Please read it. A huge thank you to Tico Valenzuela for making this real, to Blanca, Rolando and Jaime for all their work on the content, and to everyone else who was involved. ANSO is great because of you!
And lastly, to celebrate our heritage this month, every week, we will share with you a short interview with an ANSO role model and Hispanic star! Our first video interview is with our very own LCDR Eric Driggs, USCGR, Coast Guard Representative, ANSO Board of Directors. Thanks Eric for a great first interview!
Additional HHM Related Sites for Events and Information:
National Hispanic Heritage Month Web Portal – This Web portal is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
National Archives and Records Administration HHM Page
National Endowment for the Humanities HHM Page
National Park Service HHM Page
Smithsonian Education HHM Page
Adelante con ANSO! Un fuerte abrazo, CAPTAIN Roy Love, USN (Ret) Presidente, ANSO president@ansomil.org
