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The Oiler Battalion was born on August 20, 1995. The beginning was shaky, because the new cadets were unsure of how the program worked, and the instructors were trying to balance administrative duties with motivational operations. The first meeting that started everything rolling was held the second day of school between four cadets eager to receive positions on teams, and SFC Rivera. Day by day more cadets joined the meetings, leaders emerged and a Battalion Staff was formed
The initial staff of the battalion consisted of the following; David Payton, Alex Batista, Juan Guadiana, Hea Jin, Rayna Childs, Rickey Miller, and Marcus James. Soon there were color guard and drill team meetings (soon afterwards other teams emerged) and the Oiler Battalion began to evolve into the nearly-complete leadership training organization it is today.
As with all success stories, the high quality Pearland JROTC program that exists now required several years of preparation even before the actual launch of the program in 1995. This preparation to create the Oiler Battalion at Pearland High School in Pearland, TX emerged in 1993 from a vision Mr. Greg Smith the principal had to develop Leadership in the student body and improve the quality of patriotic citizenship on the campus. Mr. Smith, having heard and seen first hand the value of the JROTC Program while serving as Principal at Galveston High School, investigated, obtained approval and implemented the JROTC program in Oiler country.
Ceasing the opportunity to hire experienced professional military leaders, improve upon the student body leadership, and reach out to those students at RISK, Mr. Smith hired Maj (Ret) James Adams as the Senior Army Instructor after interviewing several quality candidates to run and oversee the program.
Maj James Adams and Mr. Smith quickly sought to interview and hire an experienced Non-Commissioned Officer to fill the associate position . After interviewing several quality applicants SFC(Ret) Gabriel Rivera Jr. was hired to fill the position as an assistant to the Senior Army Instructor. Together Maj Adams and SFC Rivera took the initiative only weeks before the 95-96 school year to gather resources, order supplies, organize class rooms, staff offices, and implement the Program of Instruction for the start of the first school year.
With an ambitious work ethic, high expectations and a zest for positive results the program started with approximate 185 anxious students ready to benefit from the value of a military experience. The program with its objective to motivate young people to become better citizens, wearing brand new properly fitted Army uniforms in a high state of military bearing, won the hearts of students, parents, teachers, and staff.
Mr. Smith's first request was to have a professional and patriotic Color Guard team post the colors to open the PTA student orientation which SFC Rivera delivered with zealous results. The Oiler Battalion has improved in all phases with continued high praise from all who are in the program and those who view its impact on campus. Today after many rigorous hours of work and several trophies to show for it, the Oiler Battalion has established itself as a quality and competitive unit destined to be crowned an honor unit with distinction.
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