Richard Holt

Ensign Richard Holt graduated from Boys Ranch High School 13 years ago this May.

“The last two weeks before graduation were tough,” he said. “I was anxious about stepping out into the world. No one in my family had graduated from high school and it was quite an event. This chapter of my life was almost over and two weeks later I was going into the Navy.”

During his two years at Boys Ranch, Richard played percussion in the band, participated in football, theater arts, speech and debate, enjoyed the chapel program, showed pigs in the FFA program and earned the opportunity to compete at state as a member of the FFA Chapter Conducting leadership team.

Richard appreciates the opportunities available at Boys Ranch that he couldn’t get at home. “It’s really all I needed,” he said. After graduation Richard felt he was ready to begin a new stage in his life. “I felt prepared when I left. I had a plan,” he said. “Boot camp was really easy for me. I had already lived in a structure environment.”

Following boot camp, Richard entered the Navy’s nuclear power school, followed by his assignment to the oldest nuclear submarine in the fleet. Richard spent six years working on submarines. “I had a blast,” he said. “On a submarine, your whole life shifts to an 18 our clock. As soon as they close the hatch it’s a completely different world. You go from being at work to survival. It’s unnatural. All the elements are against you.”

Richard learned to fly small airplanes while he was stationed in Washington. “In 2003 I earned my private pilot’s license.” Then he decided he wanted to become an officer and applied to the seaman to admiral program. “I got selected on my first try.” He attended officer candidate school in Rhode Island and moved to College Station, Texas, to study for a Master’s degree at Texas A&M. He graduated three years later with a Master’s in music composition. He was then commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and he entered flight school in January 2007. “I’m training to fly either the E-2 Hawkeye or a Super Hornet.”

Music has always been one of Richard’s many passions. He wrote a composition at Texas A&M titled “Fallujah,” to commemorate the soldiers who fought in the battle. “But the hardest part about being a composer is to find people to play your music.”

He contacted John Williams, his band director in high school, to ask if he would consider having the Boys Ranch band perform his composition. “He agreed to do it and I kept pestering him. I sent the music to him in September 2007.”

On May 6, 2008, during a special gathering at Boys Ranch, the Boys Ranch High School band performed “Fallujah.”

“This is a piece that’s never been performed live,” Mr. Williams announced to the audience. “It is dedicated to those who fought bravely in the fight for freedom.”

“It made it that much more special to have my alma mater commission the piece,” Richard said. “Boys Ranch is my home. When people ask me where I’m from, I say Boys Ranch. The Ranch saved me.”

Richard’s goal now is to continue to serve his country until retirement. He is married and has two boys -- a 4-year-old and a 7-month-old. “I believe we’ve got a good thing going here in the United States and I’d like to keep it that way for my children and my children’s children.”