Socorro’s native son promoted in U.S. Navy

Stephen Vaiza, a 1999 Socorro High School graduate, reached a major milestone this year in his 22-year U.S. Navy career with a promotion to Senior Chief Petty Officer, a rank achieved by just 2.5% of Navy personnel.

Vaiza joined the Navy in 2003. He entered the Navy through the delayed entry program, and five months later, in August, he shipped out to Great Lakes for boot camp.

Since then, Vaiza has served on three aircraft carriers and completed seven deployments. He began as an aircraft director aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN 71, later serving on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN 69, where he survived a harrowing wire snap accident in 2015.

When aircraft land on a carrier they are stopped by utilizing a tail hook attachment on the back end of the aircraft which hooks onto a wire cable that stops them.

“That particular day with this particular aircraft, it didn’t do that, and the aircraft took the wire all the way out and it snapped,” he said.

The snapped cable hit Vaiza twice, injured seven sailors total, and because of the seriousness of the injuries, Vaiza and another sailor were flown off the ship by helicopter and taken to a hospital on shore. Thankfully no one lost their life that day, said Vaiza.

“A month later, I forced myself back onto the flight deck. I couldn’t let fear keep me from doing my job,” he said.

Vaiza was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 2021 and now, just three years later, to Senior Chief — a progression that typically takes five to seven years.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d make it this fast,” he said.

According to Vaiza, Senior Chief Petty Officers are chosen by a designated board of Master Chiefs that look at all eligible members’ records, as well as submitted information that may not appear on their electronic record. Once a quota is reached for the selected members, the board’s decisions are presented to the government and to Congress for final approval.

“If it gets signed, it is advertised on what we call a NAVADMIN coms, so it’s a message from big Navy reporting that you are selected for that next pay grade,” he said.

He remembered avoiding his sailors the day the decision would be handed down, in case he wasn’t selected. When his name was announced over the ship’s intercom, his junior sailors ran to him in excitement.

“It still feels surreal,” said Vaiza.

As a Senior Chief, Vaiza now oversees 160 sailors and helps train newly appointed chiefs.

“It’s about the sailors,” he said. “They’re what keep me going. I could’ve retired two years ago, but I’m doing another eight years just for them.”

He credits his wife, Lisa, with much of his success. The couple met through mutual friends from rival hometowns — Socorro and Belen — and have been married 21 years.

“She’s been my rock through everything. I couldn’t have done any of this without her,” he said.

Now stationed aboard the USS George H.W. Bush in Virginia Beach, Vaiza and Lisa share their life with their “fur baby,” a Maltese named Milo.

Vaiza hopes to achieve the rank of Master Chief before retiring at 30 years of service.

“That’s the goal,” he said. “It’s been an incredible ride.”