Wyatt Hill takes to the skies in flight officer training
Ensign Wyatt Hill, after receiving his Naval officer commission, holds his great grandfather's sword along with his nieces Sophia, left, and Emery Hill.
Hill in dress uniform representing the Naval Academy Trap & Skeet team.
Hill in weapons training at the Naval Academy.
Since his graduation from the Naval Academy and commissioning in the US Navy, Saratoga High School graduate Wyatt Hill has been spending time in the air learning to command naval flights. Hill hopes to be in the back seat of an F-18 as a Naval Flight Leader (NFL) by the end of his training. Currently, the 23-year old, is completing his time in the T-6 Texan II, a single prop, low altitude plane used for primary and intermediate Naval Flight Officer (NFO) training.
When asked why he joined the Navy, Hill replied, "It was just a desire to serve. My country has done a lot for me and I might as well give back," adding, "I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life. (The Navy) gave me a direction. They gave me a purpose."
Hill signed up for the Navy just 15 days after his 18th birthday and was indoctrinated into the academy in July 2010. Hill graduated from the Naval Academy and received his commission as an officer on May 23, 2014.
During his time at the academy Hill decided he wanted to be a leader, something he proved by becoming captain of the trap and skeet team. Hill said the desire to be a leader comes from his will to be a better person and to help others better themselves. In his short time in the Navy Hill said he has met many people with the same goal.
"I've met a lot of people in the military that say, 'We need good officers. We need people that are going to take this country in the right direction,' and that was my goal" Hill said.
Now that he is finishing training in a prop aircraft he will move the T-45 Goshawk, a single engine jet aircraft used by the Navy for undergraduate jet pilot training. All of his initial training has been based out of Pensacola, Fla. After the T-45 Hill will move on to training in F-18s. Hill said he hopes to complete his training and move to fleet based operation in about two years.
Most likely Hill will be deployed to an aircraft carrier, something he said he looks forward to. He has spent time on smaller ships and thinks the relative comfort of a carrier, with a crew size larger than the population of Saratoga, will suit him.
"I'm really looking forward to what I have in the future for me, being in the F-18s and being out in the fleet and doing my job for the country," Hill said looking optimistically into the future.
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