Photo By Austen McClain | Sgt. Kade Prentice, an Aviation Support Equipment instructor and course supervisor...... read more read more
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Sgt. Kade Prentice walked into a Portland, Oregon, recruiting office looking for a fresh start. Six years later, he stands at the head of a classroom at Naval Air Station North Island, in the same schoolhouse where he himself trained as a young Marine. Today he teaches the next generation of technicians who keep Navy and Marine Corps aviation in the fight.
Prentice is an instructor and course supervisor at Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU) North Island, a subordinate unit of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT) and a learning center of Naval Education and Training Command (NETC). In fiscal year (FY) 2025, he was named CNATT Domain’s Junior Instructor of the Year. The award caps a career that began in NETC’s training pipeline, took him from a Marine aviation logistics squadron to a deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and brought him back to the schoolhouse where his own technical training began.
Prentice grew up in Happy Valley, Oregon, and graduated from Clackamas High School. He started college, but the math on a four-year degree did not add up.
“I realized what continuing my education would cost, and I had always wanted to serve,” he said. “I figured this was a good time to join the military and keep working on my education while I was in.”
His path to the recruiting office took longer than most, but the calculus was simple.
“It was either take out the loans to finish my four-year degree or find a way to start my life,” Prentice said. “Looking back on it, it felt like a no-brainer.”
In December 2019, he reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. After boot camp came Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton, California; the Aviation Support Equipment “A” school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida; and the “C” school at CNATTU North Island, the same courses he now teaches. In February 2021, with the NETC pipeline behind him, he checked in to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26 (MALS-26) at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, where he advanced to work center supervisor and earned qualifications as a production controller and full-systems collateral duty inspector.
In December 2022, Prentice joined the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and deployed aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) and the amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19). He served first as a work center supervisor aboard Bataan before taking over as the support equipment noncommissioned officer in charge aboard Mesa Verde. The Marine Corps promoted him to sergeant in January 2024.
Prentice credited the technical foundation he built in NETC schoolhouses with preparing him for the demands of deployment. His operational experience later inspired him to return to the classroom as an instructor.
“Serving in these high-tempo operational environments highlighted the critical need for expertly trained Marines,” Prentice said. “Which ultimately inspired my transition from the fleet to the classroom in August 2024.”
That August, Prentice executed orders to CNATTU North Island, the same schoolhouse he had passed through as a student four years earlier. Within months he was selected as a course supervisor, and by the end of the fiscal year he had earned Junior Instructor of the Quarter and, ultimately, FY 2025 Junior Instructor of the Year for the CNATT Domain.
The hardest part of being a Marine, he said, was never the technical material.
“I was an awkward kid growing up. It was hard to stand in front of people and tell them what needed to be done,” Prentice said. “I was not a leader before I joined, but I have grown into the role exponentially.”
“We as Marines are constantly told we have to hold a higher standard, and it gets ingrained into you. We are all individuals in the Marine Corps, but we all hold the title of Marine, and that is what binds us together. You just have to figure out what works for you in order to exemplify the title that you have earned.” — Sgt. Kade Prentice
Prentice sees his job as building both the technical foundation and the confidence that makes it useful in the fleet. He recalled one junior Marine who arrived eager but was hesitant during practical applications. With extra time on the systems and targeted coaching, the change was hard to miss.
“The initial awkwardness completely faded, replaced by a quiet, grounded confidence,” Prentice said. “By the end of the course, not only had they mastered the technical expertise required for the fleet, but they were actively stepping up to assist their peers.”
Winning Junior Instructor of the Year was the proudest moment of his career so far. It was also a reminder that the work he saw as routine was preparing Marines for the fleet.
“Maybe what I feel is just a normal day is a lot more than that,” Prentice said.
Prentice is about a year out from finishing a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and he is weighing reenlistment, an officer package, or a transition to the civilian sector. He said NETC has given him the tools to succeed in any of those paths.
“I have had a lot more days where I am so glad that I did this,” he said, “than days where I am not.”
NETC’s mission is to recruit, train, and deliver those who serve our nation, taking them from street to fleet by transforming civilians into highly skilled, operational, and battle-ready warfighters. For more stories about how NETC prepares Sailors and Marines for success in the fleet, follow @NETC_HQ on Instagram or visit https://www.netc.navy.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2026 12:25 |
| Story ID: | 565603 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | HAPPY VALLEY, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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