INSTRUCTOR RETURNS FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE HIGHLAND TEACHER PRESENTS STUDENT MESSAGE ON NUKES.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Highland High School Air Force Junior ROTC instructor Conrad Hernandez recently returned from Russia where he presented a student-researched paper on nuclear weapons and non-proliferation.

Highlights of the trip for the retired Air Force major included a stop in Yekaterinburg, where the last czar and his family were executed in 1918, and a visit to Moscow's Red Square, site during the Cold War of May Day military parades that displayed the mighty Soviet arsenal.

Hernandez noted the square's vast expanse flanked by the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral was now filled with people like him -- tourists.

``No more parades of surface-to-air missiles, tanks and troops,'' Hernandez said.

The trip to Russia came about after Hernandez and four Highland Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students presented the paper about peaceful uses of nuclear energy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in April.

Highland is one of 10 schools in the U.S. involved in the Critical Issues Forum program at the institute as are 10 schools from Russia.

``We do a project every year on non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction,'' Hernandez said. ``One of the ideas is to get youngsters interested in and knowledgeable about non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.''

The coordinator for the Russian teachers invited the Highland group to a similar conference in Novouralsk, which is a center of the nuclear industry in the Urals and used to carry out weapons grade uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons in the Soviet era.

The four students, Christopher Downey, Brian Long, Kristine Montano and Bryan Pulicari, could not go because they graduated in June.

Hernandez planned to take along two other students but they did not have the funds to make the $2,500 trip.

Hernandez paid his own way and went with teachers and students from three other schools, arriving in Moscow Nov. 3 and returning to Palmdale on Nov. 12.

The journey included a 26-hour train ride from Moscow to Yekaterinburg, about 700 miles east of Moscow, and then a two-hour bus ride to Novouralsk.

Novouralsk is a closed city, meaning travel there is restricted because of the city's nuclear industry, and permission for Hernandez and others to enter was secured by the host of the conference, the Nuclear Cities Education Information Center.

Hernandez familiarized Russian students about where he was from.

``I told them about Palmdale, the city where the space shuttle was built. They were like, `That's neat.' I told them I had seen the shuttle and they said, `That's got to be cool,''' Hernandez said.

Hernandez said he talked about peace from the perspective of someone in the military.

``As individuals, most military people want peace. As long as there is cooperation and collaboration with issues like weapons of mass destruction there can be a lot of good results for all sides involved,'' Hernandez said.

In Moscow, Hernandez saw not only McDonalds and an IKEA furniture store but American-made vehicles like Fords, Chevrolets, Hummers, and stretch limousines.

``The people were wonderful, warm and friendly. The countryside was beautiful. It had been snowing,'' Hernandez said.

Hernandez returned with emblematic souvenirs, including Russian nesting dolls and a fur hat. He also found a pair of Soviet navigator wings at a swap meet in Moscow, similar to the U.S. Air Force navigator badge he wears.

Highland's Junior ROTC program was formed in 1994 and has 155 students enrolled. Hernandez, a resident of Palmdale, is a senior aerospace science instructor in the program.

He retired from the Air Force in 1994 after serving 17 years.

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(1 -- 2) Highland High School Air Force Junior ROTC instructor Major Conrad Hernandez displays some of the souvenirs he brought back from a visit to Russia, including a Soviet military crest, above left.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer