Gil Hernandez was born in El Paso, TX in 1968 to an unwed mother.  After struggling to make ends meet, Gil and his family moved in with their grandmother in 1981.  Soon thereafter, Gil's grandmother lost her job and their home.  Now homeless at the age of 12, Gil and his family took refuge at the El Paso Salvation Army homeless shelter.  Gil was separated from his family and was placed in the vagrant, men’s section because of his age.

During this nearly one-year period while at the Salvation Army Shelter, a blessing came upon him.  Gil encountered one of the men at the shelter reading a Bible at his bunk.  Martin was a very quiet, African-American man who often kept to himself.  Playing devil’s advocate, Gil approached Martin with a question:  “Why would God allow the misery of poverty?”  Realizing what Gil was doing, Martin interrupted him.  After a short pause, Martin said these words to Gil:  “God has given you everything you need to succeed in life.  He has given you two eyes to see, two ears to hear, a healthy body, and most importantly, He has given you a mind to think.  All you have to do is go out and do it.”  Those simple words provided Gil the direction and foundation for his being - Gil's life was forever changed. 

While living at the shelter, Gil missed nearly the entire eighth grade.  With this new- found perspective, Gil chose to work diligently in school and explore opportunities that would enable him to go to college.  Gil took advantage of a program offered by the U.S. Navy called Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST).  BOOST is an educational program designed to help economically disadvantaged men and women gain an additional educational lift in order to meet the academic requirements of an NROTC scholarship or appointment to the Naval Academy. 

From BOOST, Gil received an NROTC scholarship and attended Texas Tech University majoring in Business Administration along with Naval Science.   Upon graduation in 1991, Gil was commissioned as a U.S. Naval Officer.  After brief training in San Diego, CA, Gil was stationed in Sasebo, Japan on the amphibious assault ship USS DUBUQUE.  While serving in Japan, Gil earned his Surface Warfare Qualification and negotiated international naval exercises with the Thai and Malaysian Navies. 

Upon returning to the United States in 1995, Gil accepted orders to Naval Station, Ingleside on the Mine Counter Measure (MCM) ship USS DEXTROUS as the Operations Officer.  Gil was fortunate enough to meet his future wife Anissa Rivera, a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, shortly after he arrived in Corpus Christi.  In 1996, Gil deployed to the Persian Gulf where he coordinated the underwater mine clearing verification in the waters off the coast of Iraq and Kuwait.  He also negotiated and coordinated naval exercises with the Kuwaiti, French, and Saudi Arabian Navies. 

He also gained extensive knowledge on ship and port protection. Gil received the Naval Achievement Medal for his accomplishments in the Persian Gulf.

For the last ten years, Gil has worked for the Coca-Cola North America and is now the National Account representative for South Texas.  He is responsible for all of Coca-Cola’s national accounts south of San Antonio and Houston.  Gil has also been instrumental in the continued growth of the Nueces County Republican National Hispanic Assembly (RNHA) serving as chairman. 

Gil and Anissa were married in 1997 and now have two sons, Marcus and Adan, and one daughter, Carissa.