By Dorian Martin ’06

Gunnery Sergeant Desiree Ornelaz credits one of her drill instructors for being instrumental in helping her gain self-confidence when she was a 17-year-old U.S. Marine Corps recruit. Now as a cadet training officer for Texas A&M University’s Corps of Cadets, she is in a similar role working with the Corps’ 170-member 1st Brigade. 

Ornelaz’s watchful eye and guidance helps these Aggies remain on track while in college. “My main job in the Corps of Cadets is to look after the students on a daily basis in every aspect of their experience, from academics to leadership and training,” she said. “It’s a lot of work but the reward is watching them start as freshman in the Corps and then graduate and get their military commission or a great well-respected job in the civilian sector.”

In return, the cadets have given her a sense of belonging and assistance deciphering the various Aggie traditions since she joined the university in 2016. “The best thing that I’ve learned about Texas A&M is the desire that most students have just to be good on their own,” she said. “They want to be here—and they love being an Aggie. And that’s something you can’t teach.”

Semper Fi

One of four children, Ornelaz spent her teenage years living with her paternal grandparents in California. Struggling academically in high school, she increasingly found herself drawn to a military career where she could “shoot guns and play in the dirt.” That led her to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps the week after high school graduation. “I was looking for structure, discipline and something new,” she said. “I heard that joining the Marines was the hardest thing I was going to do in my life – and I wanted the challenge.”

The shy, passive and insecure teenager met her match. In boot camp, she faced increasingly difficult tests that forced her to grow mentally, emotionally and physically—including the Confidence Course, a demanding series of 15 obstacles with names such as the “Stairway to Heaven,” “Tough One” and “Slide for Life.” “It definitely gave me a sense of confidence within myself. I did things I didn’t think I had the ability to do,” she said. “My life started when I joined the Marine Corps because it birthed a new person with confidence, values and morals.”

She credits much of her transformation to a female drill instructor who saw her potential, served as a role model and offered motherly tough love. “I wasn’t very good at anything and I was slow in boot camp. She stayed on me hard; every day she made me do push-ups and stayed on me about every little mistake,” Ornelaz said. “At the end, I could tell she saw more in me than I saw in myself. During the last week of boot camp, I thanked her for pushing me further than I thought I could go and staying on me—and I told her that I’m going to come back here and take her job one day.” 

But her first assignment took her into supply administration, which involved a desk job far away from the guns and dirt. After a promotion to corporal, Ornelaz decided to fulfill that promise of becoming a drill instructor--but was initially unable to complete the training. Assigned again to a desk job working with supplies, she committed to training during her off-hours--and succeeded in completing Drill Instructor School a year later. “I reached out to my former drill instructor and she said, ‘That’s awesome. I always knew you could do it and I’m so proud of you,” said Ornelaz, who spent four years training recruits.

Ultimately, Ornelaz served 20 years in the Marine Corps, including deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.  She also was assigned to a Marine Expedition Unit, which toured the Pacific—including Okinawa and Australia--on military exercises and provided humanitarian assistance to Japan after a typhoon.

At Home in Aggieland

Thanks to a tip from a colleague, Ornelaz heard about an open position with Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets. Hired in 2016, she found that her role working with cadets fits like a glove. “The job I do here aligns with my experiences in the Marine Corps—but I’m a lot more the mom than the drill instructor,” she said. “The work we do is the same every year; the difference is the cadets. Every year it’s like starting all over because we have to teach the rising cadets what they did not learn the year prior. I find it very rewarding.”

Now comfortably settled in Aggieland, Ornelaz regularly finds time to swim, watch movies—especially comedies—and explore new flavors while cooking. She also is connecting more closely with family members, especially her adult daughter, who lives in South Carolina. 

The cadet training officer also is enjoying introducing her family to Texas A&M --including taking her sister to the Texas A&M-LSU football game that went into seven overtimes. “She was saying, ‘This is crazy. This is the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.’ Everybody was hugging and singing the War Hymn,” she said, adding that she feels at home on the campus. “The students let me be part of it, even though I’m not an Aggie. I don’t have a ring; I didn’t go to school here, but they still bring me in. That means a lot to me.”