The Operator Painting

Cali Jade was born to parents Keith and Samantha on Aug 4, 2008, at Camp Pendleton hospital in Oceanside, California. Her father Keith was one of the plank holder 0372 CSO/Raider's with 1st Raider bn, B Co, MSOT 8123 at the time. Cali spent the next 8 years living the life of a Raider family until her dad moved on to civilian life in Sept of 2015. Cali had always shown an above average interest in drawing but around the age of 5 her mom, dad, and preschool teachers noticed her focus on, and products of art were considerably more "stand out" than her peers. She continued this trend from that age to present day. She has self-taught herself pencil sketch art, alcohol markers, acrylics, watercolors, and digital paint. When her father left the community, he had moved on to be a partner in the military training company Asymmetric Solutions. This is where her art was noticed by one of the Air Force Colonels attending training in 2022. Appreciating her quality of work, he asked her dad if she would be interested in designing a t-shirt for their unit. This is where the transition to military art began. Since that time, she has done unit specific drawing for each unit that has attended training at Asymmetric Solutions and adopted the signature line "Raider Blood" due to her birth into the community. Today she continues to hone her art skills while simultaneously focusing on early entry into dual enrollment college studies in the hopes of being ahead of the game when finishing high school.

The Operator painting highlights the southern cross which the Raiders used to navigate the ocean at night. The skull represents a symbol of peace during the day, deadly at night. SOF used the skull throughout Iraq and Afghanistan to instill fear in the hearts of their enemies. Cali's art resonates among the SOF and Marine Special Operations Community.