HONOLULU, Hawaii -- HONOLULU - The old adage, "You're not lost if you don't care where you're going," has never really seemed to fit with the Marine Corps, where knowing your way from point A to point B can be the difference between life or death.
The stakes weren't quite as high at Aliamanu Middle School in Honolulu Feb. 21, but the students in Mr. Alan Takehara's eighth grade geography class definitely learned the difference between North, South, East and West, thanks to an MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Marine who gave a Land Navigation class there as part of the base's Adopt-A-School program.
Staff Sgt. Jesus Lora, Public Affairs operations/training chief, Headquarters Bn., MCB Hawaii, and a native of Bridgeport, Calif., descended upon the class with maps, protractors and compasses while decked in cammies and donning full-face paint.
"Whoa!" gasped Antonea Payan, a 13-year-old Aliamanu student from Sacramento, Calif., when Lora took center stage. "Cool."
That kind of reaction was exactly what Takehara, said he wanted.
"The staff sergeant really got the children's attention right off the bat, and he kept their attention throughout the class," said Takehara, a native of Wahiawa, Hawaii.
"That's not always easy to do as a guest speaker, but the Marines don't seem to have a problem. The kids really listen to them, and when they're listening, they're learning."
And there was definitely plenty of learning going on during the hour-long class.
"The kids were amazing," said Lora, a former Security Forces Marine. "Most of them had never been exposed to land navigation before, but within an hour they were using lensatic compasses and correctly finding locations using eight-digit grid coordinates. I was pretty impressed."
But not as impressed, it seems, as the students were with Lora.
"Having a real-life Marine teach us land navigation was great," said Shantae Thornton, a 13-year-old Aliamanu student from Long Beach, Calif. "He was giving us hands-on training, not just book-type stuff, and it was really interesting.
"I learned how to use a compass and find my way on a map. I learned how not to get lost," said Thornton.
"I might want to join the Marines some day now," added Lante Vance, a 13-year-old Aliamanu student from St. Louis. "Everybody knows how tough Marines are, but now I know they are smart too."
That is something Takehara said he has known for a long time.
"The Marines from the base at Kaneohe Bay having been helping us out for many years," said Takehara. "And there is a reason we keep asking them back - the Marines know what they are talking about. Land navigation isn't just something Marines talk about, they actually live it."
Kaori Hubbard, a 13-year-old Aliamanu student from Yokohama, Japan, said she couldn't agree more.
"They teach us through real-life situations, not just from books," said Hubbard.
"Everybody pays attention in class when the Marines come. Maybe the kids are a little scared of Marines and that's why they listen so good, but I don't know. I thought he was nice."