Andrea Tinajero wasn't even alive when most of today's U.S. military veterans were serving their country, but that doesn't keep the 15-year-old from serving them.

She is the breath behind the trumpet playing taps during memorial services for Ventura veterans.

A year ago, Andrea joined the 1st Memorial Honors Detail of Ventura, part of the 1st United States Volunteers. Honors Detail volunteers provide full military honors at graveside and chapel funerals.

After reading a newspaper article mentioning that the local U.S. Volunteers played a recorded version of taps, Andrea offered to do it live.

"They put their whole heart and effort into the military," said Andrea, who lives in Santa Paula. "I didn't think it was fair a person wouldn't donate 53 seconds of their life to play taps, those last 21 notes."

The offer from Andrea, then 14, bowled over Chief Warrant Officer Carl Wade, who organizes the detail.

"When she volunteered, I was just overcome," Wade said.

But he wondered what she would wear to the services and asked Andrea's older sister.

"Her sister didn't hesitate. She said, 'She'll wear her uniform.' I said, 'What uniform would that be?'"

It turned out Andrea belonged to the Ventura Military Explorers and the Ventura County Young Marines. She'd joined as early as possible, at age 12, following in the footsteps of older brother Rafael Tinajero, now 16.

The two have always been close. "We were raised almost as if we were twins," Andrea said.

On a recent Saturday, Andrea, Rafael and a handful of other Young Marines worked security at Ventura College during the Ventura Seaside Basketball Tournament.

In the youth military organizations, Andrea said, "We did really interesting events that kids don't get to do. We got an opportunity to be around Marines. I learned I was interested in veterans."

She also learned she was passionate about flying during her first flight with the Young Eagles at age 12.

"After that, I knew I wanted to be a pilot," Andrea said, so she joined Civil Air Patrol.

When she saw a boy play trumpet in Ventura Military Explorers, she got inspired to learn herself. Unable to afford private music lessons, Andrea and Rafael joined the mariachi band at Inlakech Cultural Arts Center in Oxnard.

"We really liked playing with them," she said.

Always one on the lookout to try something new, last year Andrea ran for Miss Teen Ventura County.

"I wanted to see what it was like modeling," she said simply. "It was really strange; they expect you to smile all the time."

Some peers think Andrea's myriad extracurricular activities are strange. She sometimes gets teased at Ventura High School for her military gait or sitting up so straight, but her mother, Adela Morales, always valued education. That helps Andrea shake off peer pressure.

Morales, a single parent and Mexican immigrant, never got the education she always wanted, Andrea said. Morales and her four children live in Santa Paula, but Andrea and Rafael attend high school in Ventura.

"She's the one that has opened our horizons," Andrea said. "She knows the only way you can understand something is if you experience it."

That is precisely what her children are doing.