Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Stanton | 250725-N-UF592-1021 MILLINGTON, Tenn. (July 25, 2025) Rear Adm. James Waters,...... read more read more
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As his 17-year-old son raised his right hand and took the oath of enlistment, retired Navy Chief Manuel Galleguillos said he felt a rush of pride he wasn’t quite prepared for.
“It was overwhelming,” Manuel said. “I didn’t expect to have those feelings. I thought I was prepared to see it happen ... but it was just this overwhelming feeling of joy, of pride … just seeing him follow in my footsteps.”
Manuel, a civilian contractor serving as the system manager for the Salesforce platform at Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, spent 21 years in the Navy, first as an aviation boatswain’s mate (fuel) and later as a Navy counselor. According to Manuel, watching his son, Alonso Galleguillos Jr., take his own first steps in the Navy was a moment that brought his career and his family’s legacy full circle.
“I’m proud to be part of the big chain before me,” said Alonso. “The Navy has always been something I looked up to as a really cool thing my dad was part of.”
Military service runs deep in the Galleguillos family. Manuel’s brother served in the U.S. Army, his grandfather in the Chilean Marine Corps, and his father in the Chilean Navy.
“He knows what the Navy provided for our family, and he wants to be able to not only better himself through what the Navy offers, but also have a sense of service to our country,” Manuel said.
Alonso said his commitment to serve was shaped by the Navy’s positive impact on his father’s life and the stability it provided their family — opportunities he hopes to pursue himself.
According to Manuel, he couldn’t have been more proud of what his son said.
“It really floored me,” Manuel said. “He’s 17, and he’s already thinking about his future, about stability, and about serving because of what the Navy did for our family.”
Alonso enlisted as a cyber warfare technician. According to him, this rate greatly reflects his passion for technology.
“Cyber related things have been all I wanted to learn and focus on in high school because the world is changing and the need for these cybersecurity jobs are more prevalent than ever,” said Alonso.
Manuel hopes to give his son guidance; to help him navigate both the successes and challenges of this new chapter in his life.
"As a dad, we want to protect our kids from the outside world, but the role of a parent is to prepare them for it,” said Manuel. “I'm trying to get him ready not just for the good stuff, but for the tough stuff too — the things that might not go his way. That’s what I’m really trying to share with him."
Equipped with the knowledge passed down by his father, and even those before him, Alonso is scheduled to ship out for boot camp July 30, 2026, becoming the next link in the family chain.
Navy Recruiting Command consists of a command headquarters, two Navy Recruiting Regions, and 26 Navy Talent Acquisition Groups that serve more than 1,000 recruiting stations across the world.
For more news from Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, go to http://www.cnrc.navy.mil. Follow Navy Recruiting on X[Twitter] (@USNRecruiter), Instagram (@USNRecruiter), and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CommanderNavyRecruitingCommand/).
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2025 14:00 |
| Story ID: | 549859 |
| Location: | MILLINGTON, TENNESSEE, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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