Former Valencia resident Bruce Morales was recently sworn in as a Midshipman in the U. S. Naval Reserve at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in New York.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is a federal service academy that educates and graduates licensed Merchant Marine officers, military officials said in a news release. The USMMA is one of five federal service academies but is the only academy where students train on commercial vessels traveling around the globe.
As part of his four-year education, Morales was nominated to the elite federal service academy by former Rep. Steve Knight and will now spend one year training as a cadet aboard ocean-going vessels, according to a news release. If he were to graduate, Morales will earn both a bachelor of science degree and a Merchant Marine Officer license, and incur an obligation to serve the country as an active or reserve officer in the U.S. armed forces.
