On Thursday August 24th the Assistant Secretary of the Army, The Honorable Ms. Debra Wada, came to visit McKinley High School and our “Tiger” Battalion. Her job description reads like an encyclopedia so we asked her to tell us in simple terms what her job is.

She said “I am responsible for all of the soldiers in the Army,” This includes active duty, national guard, and the reserve, as well as Army civilians. We currently have about 300,000 Army civilians that work for the Army.”
Wada was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and went to Kapalama Elementary in her early life. Afterwards, she moved on to St. Andrew’s Priory, which was an all-girls school at the time. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Drake University in Iowa after that. She arrived at Capitol Hill in 1987, and was a member of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the National Park Service, for a short time. Wada previously served as Deputy Staff Director before attaining her current position.
Wada wanted to see the Tiger JROTC program because the Army may be looking at closing some JROTC programs but she believes JROTC helps to give students the tools and skills they need to survive.

“We need to make investments for our young men and women so that they have the skills necessary for them to succeed in life,” Wada said. “You guys got great teamwork here, great leadership, and you’re doing a lot of good things. So I was glad that I came to visit.”