Sea Cadet band leads the way: Redwood City-based corps perform at Fleet Week

That attitude might sound surprising coming out of a 14-year-old’s mouth, but it’s — pardon the expression — “uniform” among the 30 members of the nation’s first and only Sea Cadet band. Based at American Legion Post 105 in Redwood City, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Band of the West attracts young musicians with an awe-inspiring dedication to their mission of honoring veterans, military personnel and their families.

Most Saturday mornings, these young people put in three-plus hours under the baton of Band Officer John Evans rehearsing a repertoire ranging from marches to medleys, training to pull off 15 to 20 performances a year. Nearly all of the students go through basic training at the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton in Oceanside or the Army’s Camp Parks in Dublin, getting up in the morning for calisthenics just like adult recruits. The cadets can sign up for advanced, optional training in technical and career fields such as seamanship, scuba diving, martial arts, aviation, cooking, engineering and more, if they want to earn rank and move up.

Because of their level of musicianship and unique status as America’s only Sea Cadet band, the Band of the West gets invited — and invited back — to venues such as the recent Navy Seal Foundation golf tournament at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay. In 2011, the band played for the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and will once again perform during Fleet Week in San Francisco Oct. 10 and 11.

Evans, who retired in June as Half Moon Bay High School’s band director, said music classes usually attract students who want to be there. But the Sea Cadet training — and wearing a uniform — kicks the commitment level up a notch.

“Once they put on the uniform, it’s a whole higher maturity level,” he said, “how to respond and to take care of business. Once they sit down at rehearsal, they are ready to go and I don’t need to prod them.”

The band had originally formed as the Peninsula Boy Scout Band but a retired Navy captain, Timothy Cogan, happened to hear them and suggested that they become a Sea Cadet band, according to LTJG Jo-Anne Dao, NSCC. The Sea Cadet Corps is a national organization chartered by Congress and receives grant funding to support its various training and leadership programs. Since the Boy Scout band played patriotic music and honored veterans, it seemed a natural fit, Dao said, but parents and adult leaders wondered how young people would respond to military-style training.

“We never expected the kids to embrace the program the way they did,” said Dao, whose son, James, plays the saxophone. “Once these kids got into the training, it really took off. They join because of the band and they stay because of the Sea Cadets.”

Parents had to take the program seriously too. Adult volunteers have to do training to participate, and both she and her husband, Jeff, have earned the rank of junior grade lieutenant. Like the band members, the San Mateo couple wears “the uniform” too.

Jeancarlo Segovia, an El Camino High School junior, has played tuba in the band for about a year and enjoyed the rigors of boot camp at Camp Parks. He aspires to earning a music degree in college and possibly playing in the U.S. Navy Band.

“I like how the military works,” he said, “the most fast, efficient way.”

Nonetheless, band director Evans said the band is about training, not recruitment. It offers the cadets once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as one they had in July playing with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C.

“I wish more young people knew about it because the opportunities are fantastic,” he said.

Lilli Hirth, 13, recalls the “awesome” experience of playing at the World War II memorial in the nation’s capital. As a snare drummer, she likes being able to “help the band keep the beat” and says her Sea Cadet experience has made her a better member of the Burlingame High School Band too.

Instructor Marco Suarez of Castro Valley says the Sea Cadet band gives his 12-year-old daughter Lindsey a way to contribute to the community through music. She plays the trumpet and several other instruments, including the piano.

A native of Bolivia who works as a banquet server, Suarez said the Sea Cadet program opens opportunities to his daughter that she wouldn’t otherwise have. He wants his children to demonstrate pride in being Americans, and band members get to meet “admirals instead of spending time at the mall,” he added. “They get to meet all sorts of people.”

The Sea Cadet band is open to musicians in grades six to 12 and participation annually costs about $200, plus a uniform deposit. American Legion Post 105 in Redwood City and San Mateo Post 53 American Veterans provide vital sponsorship. Go to www.seacadetsbotw.com for more information.