A missed baseball game six years ago changed Stone Turbeville’s young life — and he wasn’t even the kid who missed practice.
A teammate’s mom had texted the team’s group chat saying her son couldn’t make that Saturday’s game, because he’d “be at the shooting range for target practice with the Sea Cadets.”
Stone’s dad, Scott Turbeville, wanted to know about the Sea Cadets. He learned it’s the U.S. Navy’s youth development program. (They’re not technically allowed to call it a military recruitment program, and there is absolutely no requirement or expectation that cadets will join or serve in any branch of the U.S. armed forces.)
Six years later, Stone Turbeville is now 17 and is about a month away from finalizing his pilot’s license and from being certified as a master scuba diver, having already completed his open water, advanced and rescue certifications. Once he finishes his Nitrox training, he’ll achieve the master scuba diver certification.
But Stone’s passion lies in height, not depth. And he has no plans to stop with his private pilot’s license or a single-engine plane.
“I’m applying to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis for college because I want to be a fighter pilot,” he told the Keys Weekly last week while climbing into the cockpit of one of the aircraft he flies during his training.
Stone, a junior at the Basilica High School, also works in the summer and during school breaks at Key West Aircraft Maintenance, which is located at Key West International Airport.
“I’ve learned a ton from (company owner) RJ Laskey,” Stone said. “He’s a master mechanic, and he works on all the commercial planes that use the airport as well.”
Stone is chief of his Florida Keys Sea Cadets unit and recently was accepted into the naval academy’s week-long summer program, which gives high school applicants a taste of life there before they are accepted and sign their contract for service.
“I don’t think they go as hard on us as they do on the plebes during that first summer, but they really want you to know how it feels to be there,” Stone said smiling.
He credits the Sea Cadets — and his family’s relocation to Key West from South Carolina — for his career goals.
“When we first moved down here, I’d see the fighter jets flying over U.S. 1 near Boca Chica, doing their training and touch-and-go landings, and I was hooked,” he said. “We couldn’t watch that every day in Charleston.
“Once I found out that Sea Cadets will pay for things like dive classes and flying lessons, training and certifications, I couldn’t believe it,” Stone said. “Plus, our unit meets monthly for various types of drills, community service projects and more.”
As a Florida Keys Sea Cadet chief, Stone spent two weeks in Pearl Harbor, living aboard the USS Missouri and working on F-18s, his dad said.
Stone’s dad, Scott, is the unit’s civilian leader, who works closely with local Navy officers, who volunteer to help with various skills and drills.
“The things the Sea Cadets put in front of me ended up being perfect for me. I’m very fortunate and very grateful,” Stone said, closing the nose cowling of the plane he was working on and heading back to work during his spring break.
