Each year, two midshipmen from the Brazilian Naval School, Escola Naval, in Rio de Janeiro visit the U.S. Naval Academy for a two week internship where they are each paired with a midshipman sponsor and attend various academy events.
Midshipmen 1st Class Joao Celso Silva De Deus and Gabriel Wailante Pereira arrived at the academy Jan. 30 and immediately immersed themselves in academy life by attending the Memorial Ball in Dahlgren Hall that night.
‘‘It was fantastic,” said Celso. ‘‘The music was different from Brazil. Brazil has different kinds of songs, but it was also fantastic. People here dance more than they dance in Brazil, but differently.”
Once they began attending classes, Celso pointed out that there were other noticeable differences as well.
‘‘In Brazil, we have lots of formations during the day. Here, they have more periods where they can do physical education and classes,” he said. ‘‘They can choose subjects that they want to take depending on their major. In Brazil that doesn’t exist. All the fourth years have classes that they have to take.”
The Brazilian Escola Naval also offers a limited number of majors, focusing mainly on engineering and weapons systems, but despite the differences Celso said a lot of things are similar as well.
‘‘The routine is almost the same as ours in Brazil,” said Celso. ‘‘It’s been very fascinating to see the Academy, the infrastructure and the life of midshipmen here.”
Celso, who is studying electronics engineering, will be entering the Brazilian navy with a service specialty of fleet service, which allows him the option of choosing among specific communities such as surface warfare, naval aviation, hydrography, special warfare or submarines. After training and a trip around the world, he will then become an ensign and will choose his specialty during his first or second year as an officer.
Wailante will enter the Brazilian Marine Corps and will be in command of a marine platoon upon graduation. His major is in mechanics engineering.
While at the Naval Academy, they attended practicums in their fields, Celso attending a surface warfare officer (SWO) practicum and Wailante a Marine Corps practicum.
‘‘It was very interesting and very similar to our training in Brazil,” said Wailante.
For Celso the most interesting part of the SWO practicum was the ship simulator.
‘‘In Brazil, we have a simulator too, but it’s not like that one,” he said. ‘‘In that one, it really seems like you’re inside a ship.”
Celso and Wailante will return to Brazil Feb. 12, taking with them their experiences at the Naval Academy to share with their fellow midshipmen.
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