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    Candidate Marshall Andrews is seen in the front/right, where he is assisting the Marine Corps Drill Instructors with leading junior class students during “Fast Cruise.” “Fast Cruise” is conducted to test an indoctrination candidate’s ability to

Local graduate in command school

Wimberley High School graduate Marshall Andrews has chosen to take a path from college to the military as he makes his way through Officer Candidate School.

Officer Candidate School is a 13-week course that prepares college graduates to become naval officers.

Andrews grew up his entire life in Wimberley going through Wimberley ISD from kindergarten through 12th grade. He graduated from Wimberley High School in 2014 and was a member of the 2011 State Championship football team. He was a multi-sport athlete, but he also impressed off the field.

“Marshall was a really good kid,” Coach Josh De-Marco said. “He worked really hard, and it turned out football-wise he was a really good football player. But he was a better person than he was a football player. He is an all around good young man… I’m very proud of the path he is on, and I’m excited to see all of the things he is going to do.”

Marshall received a degree in Manufacturing and Engineering from Texas State University.

“I was looking at what my options were after that,” Andrews said. “Ultimately (I was looking for) what was going to set me up for success.”

Andrews has a family history of military service. He wanted to “give back to this country that has given to me,” he said.

He chose the Officer Candidate School in New Port, Rhode Island. It is billed as a grueling 13-week course meant to provide candidates with a working knowledge of the Navy.

“OCS is extremely demanding; morally, mentally, and physically,” the website for the school said. “Your personal Honor, Courage, and Commitment will be tested at OCS and you will be challenged to live up to the highest standards of these values.”

It is a challenge that Andrews is excited about.

“The training is broken in to three phases,” Andrew said. “The candidate phase is to develop military bearings and physical aspects. Then into the officer candidate phase where they focus on (things like the) study of naval history, weapons… Then in the applied leadership phase we will take control of the squadron and use the tools we have gathered and lead the squadron through our last phase.”

He has already learned a lot in the few weeks he has been at the school.

“The biggest thing I’ve taken away is discipline,” Andrews said. “Discipline is freedom in your life. It is the discipline to get up every morning early and win every small battle in front of you. Tackle that small objective.”

As a man whose family has a strong military history, Andrews already had a respect and reverence for the armed forces. Still, there are moments where that reverence resonates.

“I was doing colors raising and lowering the flags... It was one of my first times to do it, and seeing that sunset and taps playing over the intercom, it was humbling to me to watch the flag come down that evening. It put it in perspective.”

Andrews is training to be a surface warfare officer, which specializes in caring for the nuclear reactor that powers an aircraft carrier. First he will have to do a tour aboard a ship and the entire process is expected to take four or five years.

Beyond the service and the training, the Navy offers one thing that has drawn small town kids for generations.

“I want to see a lot of the world,” Andrews said. “I spent my whole life in Wimberley, and I love it. But it’s a small town. I want to see what else this beautiful world has to offer… I want to develop myself as a leader and become the best man I possibly can be. I want to keep my country safe, keep my family safe and make sure they are supported.”

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054