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Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Page: 5A
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN – Standing on a ladder, Angelica Martinez
sprays rubbing alcohol on the tail of a S-3B Viking, an anti-submarine
aircraft; and she wipes it clean, with pride and attention to detail like
someone polishing a piece of furniture that’s been in the family for
generations.
“After we inspect our aircraft, we make sure we clean them,” Martinez
says. “We make sure there isn’t dust inside or corrosion.”
Martinez, 19, who was born in El Salvador and raised in Guatemala, was sent
to Los Angeles when she was 13 to live with her two sisters.
“My dad wanted me to study and have a second language and have better
opportunities,” she says. “So he sent me to live with my sisters.”
Martinez is a plane captain. “We launch the birds,” she says. “We do all
the signals, and we start the engines for the pilots.”
She joined the Navy for the challenge. “My friend tried to join the Navy
and he couldn’t,” she says. “I told him, you can make it. I’m going to make
it. So I went and took the test and passed the test. But I said, `Nah, I’m not
going to join.”’
Then one of her friends joined the Navy.
“She came back and told me it’s not that hard; it’s easy,” Martinez says.
“So I said, if she can do it, I can do it, too.”
Martinez has been aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln since it deployed in July.
She misses her family, still living in El Salvador.