Manny Sanchez: From Small-Town Texas to Naval Aviation Leadership

Manny Sanchez grew up in Beeville, Texas, a small community about 15 miles from where he lives today. During his childhood, Beeville was home to Naval Air Station Chase Field, where pilots trained and earned their “Wings of Gold” for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The base gave the town a unique atmosphere where military families, discipline, and service were part of everyday life.

Too young for formal employment, Manny would jump into a truck with neighborhood friends and work in the fields, earning 75 cents to a dollar for every bucket of squash he filled. “It was like a competition,” Manny says.

What he remembers most now are the jets flying overhead during those days, never in his wildest dreams imagining he would one day join the U.S. Navy, let alone become part of naval aviation.

For Manny, visiting friends who lived on the naval base left a lasting impression. Their families’ connection to the Navy gave him a glimpse of what he deemed “good living.” At home, life looked different. His family worked hard and lived simply. “We didn’t have much,” Manny recalls, reflecting on those early years. “But what we did have was faith, discipline, and respect for each other. Those strong values made me who I am today.”

These formative experiences taught him lessons that still guide him today: character matters more than circumstance, and integrity isn’t optional. A particularly important influence was Manny’s stepfather, whom he has always considered his father. He instilled in Manny the belief that character matters far more than anything you own, and if there’s something you want, you’ve got to work for it.

Looking back, Manny doesn’t view his early years as a disadvantage — he sees them as formative, giving him resilience and perspective that would prove invaluable later in life. “What I didn’t know I didn’t have, I didn’t miss,” he says. “Those tough times growing up shaped my perspective more than anything else in my life.”

Manny was the first in his family to join the military. At age 19, he was already married and working construction by day and as a security guard by night. While he loved the hard work of construction, he looked around at his co-workers who had been there for decades and wondered whether this was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

His decision to join the Navy was shaped by someone who recognized his potential early. At church, he met Mr. Cook, a Navy Senior Chief who worked as an aviation electronics technician. Mr. Cook regularly encouraged Manny to consider joining the Navy.

The idea stuck. Manny decided to pursue the same path as his mentor and train as an aviation electronics technician. But when he went through the physical examination and entry process, things didn’t unfold exactly as he expected. He found out he was color blind, which disqualified him from working with electrical systems. Instead, he was assigned as an Aviation Maintenance Administrationman.

Manny began his enlisted career washing and servicing aircraft, with his main job as a logs and records keeper. Around 2002, his Maintenance Material Control Officer (MMCO) sat him down and said, “I think you need to put in for a commission.” Though he never thought he would become an officer, Manny applied and was selected on his first attempt.

The MMCO role became his specialty. “I found it as the most rewarding and best job because you have a lot of contact with those young Sailors and Marines,” he explains. Working in the nucleus of the maintenance department, he ensured aircraft were ready for daily missions.

As he worked his way up, eventually Manny became the Commanding Officer of the F/A-18 maintenance schoolhouse (Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit). The position gave him oversight of 140 staff members and throughput of over 5,000 students annually.

“Being the CO, I really felt like I was the dean of the school,” he says. “It was such a privilege to talk to Sailors and Marines daily.” He considers this his most fulfilling role in the Navy, particularly because it allowed him to pay it forward to the next generation, just as his mentors had done for him.

Finishing his 33-year Navy career at this schoolhouse, still happily married to his wife, Laura, who had been with him from the beginning, and watching his Sailors, Marines, and three children succeed in their own lives, gave him confidence that “the Navy is definitely in good hands.”

Manny’s approach to leadership was shaped over decades of watching the leaders around him, both the ones he wanted to emulate and the ones he didn’t. “It’s good to have both good and bad leaders because you’re going to figure out what to take with you,” he reflects.

One moment in particular stayed with him. Early in his career, a Chief handed him a headset and trusted him to cover maintenance control while he stepped away, despite Manny being the youngest enlisted Sailor there. Later, the Chief told Manny he was the only one he trusted to do it.

“That was one of the biggest inspirations I’ve ever felt,” Manny says.

At the core of his philosophy is a simple principle: leadership starts with people. “We all love to lead, but what makes the most difference is when you love the people you lead,” says Manny. In the Navy, he emphasized getting to know his Sailors’ and Marines’ likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses, and especially their families, because “their families are a huge impact to our mission readiness.”

His Navy service taught Manny that leadership isn’t just about authority — it’s about service and making sure the people around you have the tools, confidence, and support they need to succeed.

Throughout his career, he practiced what he calls “the Manny Trifecta” — talk to three Sailors or Marines, ask at least three questions, and spend more than three minutes in each conversation.

“I had great mentors who built me up and motivated me — and I love doing that for Sailors,” he says. “The Navy gave me incredible opportunities and incredible mentors — things I never imagined when I first enlisted.”

Manny considers his biggest accomplishment to be all about people. “My top one is watching my Sailors and Marines promote, earn awards and even commission. Some of them are doing the jobs that I held,” he says. He takes pride in seeing former Sailors now in leadership positions.

His second major accomplishment was winning the Commander Naval Air Forces Battle “E” (Battle Efficiency) Award multiple times. A year-long competition, Battle “E” is an annual U.S. Navy honor that recognizes ships, submarines, aviation, and shore units that demonstrate peak combat readiness and superior performance.

As an MMCO with an F/A-18 squadron, his team won back-to-back Battle E awards in 2005 and 2006. When he moved to a helicopter squadron, they achieved the same feat — back-to-back Battle E awards.

He attributes this success to teamwork, which he believes is so crucial, he kept an acronym on his maintenance control wall that read: Together Everyone Achieves More. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit,” Manny says.

As an enlisted sailor working as a recruiter in Houston, Manny’s commanding officer told him he should try out for the Blue Angels. He applied and interviewed but wasn’t selected.

The interviewer later explained that they knew Manny would make Chief Petty Officer and would have to be transferred early, which proved correct. Two years later, he made Chief. In a coincidence that illustrates how small the world can be, the same Blue Angels interviewer later swore Manny in as a commissioned officer on foreign soil in Japan.

Years later, Manny joined the Blue Angels as the Maintenance Officer, leading the entire maintenance department, and making a significant change to the enlistment ceremony tradition.

Previously, the maintenance officer would swear in new recruits by a spare aircraft on the side, out of sight. Manny moved the ceremony to show center with a microphone, in front of thousands of people.

“These kids are proud of what they’re doing, and the parents, I’m sure, are even prouder,” he says. He hoped it would also motivate others in the crowd to join. Recruiters reported being bombarded and running out of promotional materials because so many people came to congratulate the new Sailors Manny had just enlisted.

Growing up in Texas, Manny always wanted to be a Texas Longhorn or an A&M Aggie. Two years before he retired from the Navy, he applied to the School of Engineering at Texas A&M at College Station, was accepted, and graduated in 2021 with a Master of Engineering in Technical Management.

He often shares this story with Sailors and Marines to illustrate an important lesson he learned: “The Aggies and Longhorns didn’t work out for me when I was a young man, and the Blue Angels didn’t work out the first time. But it’s never too late to become what you could have been,” he says. “If something doesn’t work out now, maybe there’s something bigger and better in store for you down the road.”

Before joining the U.S. Navy, Manny was a semi-professional magician and juggler, performing at birthday parties on weekends. He continued performing magic as a young Sailor, volunteering to do magic shows at squadron children’s Christmas parties. He still considers himself a semi-professional magician juggler and does occasionally show his skills at team gatherings.

After retiring in 2023, Manny spent two or three months at home before joining 2 Circle. Mark Williams, a Vice President at 2 Circle who had worked with Manny in the Navy, called to tell him about the company. While he hadn’t planned to return to work immediately, his wife was concerned he might become depressed after doing the same thing for over 30 years.

He joined without hesitation because 2 Circle “aligned with who I am at core, a leader committed to building people and strengthening squadrons to be even better,” says Manny. Most importantly, he was able to stay connected to naval aviation maintenance after 33 years in the field.

Having risen from E1 to E7 as enlisted and then O1 to O5 as an officer, finishing as a Commanding Officer, he wanted to continue serving the Navy and Marine Corps at the highest level. “2 Circle gives me the platform to translate real world leadership, operational maintenance excellence and mission readiness into impactful strategies that help naval squadrons,” he says.

The transition was natural. “I feel like I’m still part of the team,” he says, noting that when he walks into squadrons, he sees former Sailors in leadership roles he once held, and “they’re doing a tenfold better job than I did, which makes me super happy.”

As part of 2 Circle’s System Effectiveness team, Manny works directly with maintenance leadership to improve squadron lethality, communication, mission execution, and technician proficiency. The team delivers training, provides strategic maintenance guidance, and mentors squadron ground officers who may be new to their positions. “We help the squadrons align their people, their process, and purpose,” Manny explains.

Drawing from his experience leading high-performance aviation teams, Manny focuses on meaningful relationships and genuine service. When squadrons see him, his boss Kris, and colleagues, Jeff and Tom walking in, they recognize them as subject matter experts who have been there and done that, which makes squadrons especially receptive to their service and guidance.

Manny’s team monitors aircraft systems alongside aircrew performance, marrying the data together. They produce reports they call “CARFAX” that provide the complete history of an aircraft’s system performance. When a squadron is identified to receive an aircraft two to three months in the future, his team can provide the CARFAX so the squadron knows which systems they’ll likely need to troubleshoot and fix when it arrives.

For Manny, the value of that work goes beyond the data itself. It’s about giving squadrons the clarity and confidence to operate at a higher level.

That focus is a big part of what drew him to 2 Circle — along with its culture and purpose. “2 Circle isn’t just focused on metrics, it’s focused on people,” he says. The company thrives on values of leadership, credibility, and respect — its core values. “We believe leadership is an influence with genuine service and there’s just a shared commitment to excellence and integrity,” says Manny.

The company’s support for families particularly stands out to Manny. In recent weeks, his wife went through health issues, and he took a few weeks off. “From the CEO down to my director, they’ve been nothing but supportive,” he reports.

The opportunity to make a tangible impact is also fulfilling. Manny’s team works primarily with Air Eing Maintenance officers assigned to aircraft carriers, who oversee nine squadrons. He held that job himself. “To watch those Air Wing Maintenance Officers and squadron leaders grow in confidence, and to see their teams improve through their performance because of the products and services we provide is incredibly rewarding,” he says.

Manny plans to continue expanding 2 Circle’s impact. While his group mainly focuses on F/A-18s, they’re working to expand to other aircraft types and developing innovative programs to support defense organizations, with plans to begin supporting Marine F-35s in Arizona.

His long-term goal remains to shape the next generation of leaders. “I love developing leaders who walk in every day with competence, courage, but most importantly of good moral character,” he says.

Eventually, Manny envisions walking off into the sunset to start RVing with his wife and spending time with his grandchildren. But for now, he continues to serve, carrying forward the lessons learned over his 33 years of naval service.

This story was written by Sarah Ludwig Rausch, a writer, editor, and storyteller.