Mission oriented: De La Garza's roots run deep in FCHS JROTC program

Franklin County High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor Marjorie De La Garza, a retired Army sergeant first class, said being part of something special at her alma mater is beyond words.

“I love doing this in giving back to the community that gave so much to me, De La Garza said of her involvement with the program, which won its first-ever state drill team championship in December.

“We had everything we needed when I was growing up here, but didn’t have a lot of the luxuries that some families had. This community — the church and my teachers — helped to raise me.

“My dad was an eighth grade drop-out, but was the smartest man I knew. He could do or fix anything, and made that choice to leave school to help his family. My mom graduated from high school, but did not go to college.

“Both of them were great with their hands and taught me so much about life that I still rely on, but the teachers at FCHS educated me on the life skills necessary to make it.”

De La Garza said she believes in the concept of it taking a village to raise a child, and she feels blessed that her village during those formative years was a place like Franklin County.

“This place is my family’s home and I am so thankful that my husband, who was from Texas, felt right at home here, too,” she added.

A 1995 FCHS graduate, De La Garza said she had no idea as to what she wanted to do with her life after graduation — until a chance meeting during her senior year and the start of the JROTC program locally.

“It opened my eyes to what the Army was all about,” she noted. “I think there was a misconception I had about it in thinking the Army was not a professional service.

“I realized that you could do things in the Army — like normal, every-day jobs — but doing so in serving my country.”

The day before she graduated, De La Garza joined the Army as a medical laboratory technician — a career path that sent her to medic and lab schools.

“I got stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and that’s where I met my husband, Art, and went back to school to specialize in cytology,” she went on to say.

“(The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America) hit right as I began my cytology career, and, for 15 years during the War on Terrorism, I served on active duty, but never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. My husband deployed a couple of times and I was a single mom for a little while then.”

Incidentally, De La Garza had spent five years in the service prior to the events of Sept. 11.

Later on, both she and her husband re-enlisted for what is referred to as “indefinite status,” where there was no official end date to their military careers.

“At any point — after that kind of re-enlistment — you could apply for either retirement if you met the qualifications or you could ETS, which means get out,” she continued.

“My husband left the military after 20 years and I continued on for three more years. We had a baby born 10 months before he retired and he was a “house daddy” for a few years. Once I retired, we were able to come home.”

De La Garza said coming home to Mississippi was — at best — an accidental happening because they were not sure where they were going to live after their military involvement.

“My mom had gotten sick and we had come home to visit her after she had a round of chemotherapy,” she noted. “Art stumbled upon a house locally and told me, ‘Margie ... you’ve got to come see this.’

“We were thinking that even if we didn’t find a job right away, we would be OK with our retirement and living in Franklin County.”

In a subsequent conversation with Sgt. Jones, then-JROTC instructor at FCHS, De La Garza learned he was planning to retire around 2017 and she said her desire was to be involved with a program that had given so much to her.

“He told me that he would keep the seat hot for me,” she said.

“I got to spend two months exclusively with my mom before she passed away and then started substituting at the school.

“That would continue for two years as I was waiting for the JROTC job to open up. When Sgt. Jones left, I fell right into the position.”

De La Garza said she is firmly convinced that God put her where He wanted her to be in every step of her career.

“I never understood why I never deployed, but would have been away when my dad passed away,” she continued. “Had I gone to Hawaii, I would not have been here when my mom got sick.

“Also, if I hadn’t retired when I did, I would have missed that time with my mom before she passed. And when we stumbled onto the house locally, it was something that fell into our laps and there was nothing I would have changed about it.”

De La Garza said her tenure with the JROTC program alongside retired Col. Lynn Pippen, a fellow instructor in the FC JROTC outreach, has lead to a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the students in her charge grow to become outstanding men and women.

“At the same time, it can be a little bit intimidating because we’ve reached a peak — with the state drill championship — but you have to always look for ways to make things better,” she said.

“We have a great group of kids and have reached a place where they want to be part of something special ... I love watching our kids bring their JROTC culture to the campus — being polite and looking to take action rather than being told to do something.”

De La Garza said she takes pride in the way her students carry themselves at school and in the community — demonstrating character, leadership, integrity and honor in all they do.

“Our school has a lot of great kids and those involved in JROTC are truly some of the best-of-the-best and are a joy to be around,” she added.

Now, with less than three months before the FCHS JROTC drill team travels to Daytona Beach, Fla., to represent the Magnolia State and take part in national competition, De La Garza said a great deal of attention is being directed to polishing her squad’s routines.

“These kids have worked so hard and overcome every obstacle that has come their way, and winning a state title helped them elevate their heads a little higher,” she pointed out.

“Now, the emphasis is taking what we have learned along the way and finding the means to make what we do better. Our cadets are committed to doing their best and being their best in whatever they attempt and that makes them winners.

“The colonel calls me a control freak, but I have learned to take a step back in allowing the students to take ownership in this program ... the same way we did when I was a student in high school.

“The reality is the JROTC program is theirs ... it’s not mine or the colonel’s. Ownership is the key component of our students’ success.”