Up From the Ranks and Still Climbing : Brig. Gen. Daniel Hernandez. California National Guard, Los Alamitos

Thirty-two years ago, Brig. Gen. Daniel J. Hernandez balked at the opportunity to earn his commission. It was fear, he said, that he wasn’t officer material.

His fear, to say the least, was unfounded.

Today, Hernandez is the highest-ranking Latino in the California Army National Guard and commanding general of the huge 40th Infantry Division, headquartered at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Slated for another star and a promotion to major general, Hernandez, 57, personifies the term “up from the ranks.” He began as a private in the Guard’s 40th Division in 1949, and nine years later reached the highest noncommissioned rank possible at that time, first sergeant, prompting his commanding officer to suggest that he go to officers’ candidate school.

“I just didn’t think I had the ability,” Hernandez remembered. “But when I got there, I realized that I was competitive and I had more talent than I was willing to recognize.”

But others saw his talent, and eventually Hernandez did, too. His later accomplishments in the Guard represented “the impossible dream come true,” he said.

“What it says is that the system works and if you do what you have to do and make the necessary commitments, it can happen,” he said. “That’s what is so great about the U.S.A. It can happen and you’re limited only by how much you are willing to put out.”

Based on his accomplishments, it’s clear that Hernandez was willing to put out quite a bit of effort. His hard work was rewarded on what he said were his two greatest days--the day in 1959 when his wife, Dorothy, pinned on his second lieutenant bars, and the day in 1987 when he received the star that tells the world he is a brigadier general. In 1990, he was named commander of the 40th.

But he quickly added that those were his “greatest military days” and do not rate with his “greatest family days”--the day of his wedding, and the days when his five sons, Michael, Matthew, Mark, Daniel and Richard, were born.

Like other citizen soldiers who train one weekend a month and an annual two-week summer stint, Hernandez’s job is not full time. He is paid for 164 days a year. His division has nearly 15,000 soldiers and is spread throughout California. It also includes tank battalions from Nevada and Arizona.

Hernandez’s family roots are in central Mexico. In 1923, his parents emigrated to to El Paso, and, nine years later, they moved to California. They settled in Pasadena, where Hernandez was born and raised.

He attended Pasadena schools and earned a bachelor of science degree from the State University of New York.

It was those studies that got him to where he is today, and he stresses that anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps would be well-advised to take a similar route.

“Education is the core to our survival. . . . There are so many people with college educations now that employers very seldom have to take someone without a degree,” he said. With education, hard work and a little luck, “you can accomplish whatever you want.”