{"id":238683,"date":"2016-10-19T06:06:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=238683"},"modified":"2016-10-19T06:06:05","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:06:05","slug":"coloma-new-dolphin-battalion-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/coloma-new-dolphin-battalion-commander\/","title":{"rendered":"Coloma is new Dolphin Battalion commander"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cadet<\/a>
Cadet Command Sgt. Maj. John Benig, left, passes the battalion flag to new battalion commander, Chekaina Coloma. (Mackenzie Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cadet Lt. Col. Chekaina Coloma was appointed the Dolphin Battalion\u2019s new commander during a ceremony last Friday at the Marianas High School campus. She succeeds last school year\u2019s battalion commander, C\/Lt. Col Mary Grace Tiglao. <\/p>\n

The ceremony was led by C\/Capt. Maya David, who acknowledged the entire Dolphin Battalion and mentioned that Coloma\u2019s patriotism, valor, fidelity was the reason she got appointed as the new battalion commander. <\/p>\n

Coloma was then promoted to cadet lieutenant colonel alongside C\/Maj. Kaela Valencia who is the newly appointed battalion executive officer.<\/p>\n

Present during the change of command ceremony was Coloma\u2019s mother, Valencia\u2019s parents, and the Dolphin Battalion staff.<\/p>\n

Coloma gave remarks to the people who supported her and her old battalion commander. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to take a moment and thank my old [battalion commander], Mary Grace Tiglao, even though she is not here,\u201d said Coloma. \u201cI started out in this program as a simple private like most of you guys right now. I climbed my way to the top and here I am now. I believe some of you guys have the potential to be standing here someday.\u201d <\/p>\n

To improve the drill competitors for this year\u2019s Drill Competition is one of Coloma\u2019s priorities this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do plan on going into the Army, it\u2019s really for sure because I also plan on taking up nursing but I also want to be a psychologist as well, but I\u2019m leaning more into the Army,\u201d said Coloma.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways stay true to yourself,\u201d were the words of wisdom from Senior Army instructor Lt. Col. Ramon Ichihara to Coloma. \u201cCarpe diem. Set the example at all times, and always take the hard right over the easy wrong,\u201d added Army instructor Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Crolla to Coloma. <\/p>\n

Her parents, Arnel and Rowena Coloma, said, \u201cWe\u2019re both very grateful and very happy about our daughter\u2019s achievement. We always knew she was capable of being a leader. When we found out that her former [battalion commander] was passing down her title to her, we were really proud of her.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI chose Chekaina to be the next battalion commander because of her hard work and enthusiasm she exhibited during her time as a member of my staff,\u201d said last year\u2019s battalion commander, Tiglao. \u201cI believe in all of you to continue to lead the Dolphin Battalion to greater heights.\u201d <\/p>\n

A small gathering was done shortly after the change of command ceremony to celebrate the new battalion commander and her staff. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cadet Lt. Col. Chekaina Coloma was appointed the Dolphin Battalion\u2019s new commander during a ceremony…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[46,8210,13840,13841],"class_list":["post-238683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-ceremony","tag-dolphin-battalion","tag-kaela-valencia","tag-maya-david"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}