Destiny

    I should start this entry with the earliest years that I can remember. I was born in the city of Helena Montana and, at the age of five, moved with my parents to Hamilton Montana. These two cities help me remember the chronology of my early life. Music is also a good way to jog the memory. REO Speedwagon; "Time for me to fly".

    Some of my very earliest memories are of flying a kite near our home. The field that my father and I flew this kite in was very large and still exists to this day. The day was cool, overcast and windy. The wind was good for flying the kite, however, I remember distinctly letting go of the kite string and watching it flutter about before crashing into the ground. That was the last time I ever flew a kite. My father pinned that kite on my bedroom wall. I do believe this memory is so vivid because it was pinned to my wall and I saw it everyday in its wrecked state. It was like a test of what activities would interest me. It wasn't that I had no interest in the kite, I just had no experience. This is what my relationship with my father would be in the future. 

    My father had a friend who was a pilot. I remember going up in a Cessna single engine plane with my father and his friend. I remember looking between the two front seats, from the backseat, and seeing all the instruments and I couldn't see over those instruments. I actually slept most of the flight. There was one moment that Del, the pilot, asked me to look out of the window. As I sat up to look out the window, Del banked the craft to that side, giving my a bit of a fright and an incredible view of the snowy landscape below. After that, I fell back asleep. I don't know if, like the kite, the flight was just to see what I would enjoy, because that was the one and only time I flew with them.

     When I grew older, I had an interest in NASA's space shuttle program. I had a poster of the Enterprise on the wall above my bed. I remember the early '80s marked by the election of Reagan and the launch of the space shuttle. It was the beginning of a thrilling decade. I remember a balsa wood and paper model P-51 Mustang that my father had built. We just painted it blue when he set it on fire and took photos of the burning model. Again, the photos of the burning model aides my memory because I got to see it over and over in those photos. I did like building models, just never had another balsa wood model again. My model building included lots of cars. I even had to build a model of a '58 Chevy Corvette for my principal as a punishment for something I did in school. My mom's friend thought that was an odd form of punishment, but I didn't mind building the model. 

    I built a model UH-1 Huey that my 2nd cousin, Karl, had bought me. I can't remember what ever happened to that model. Having model helicopters as well as toy helicopters became something enjoyable. As a young man, I also liked playing with GI Joes. I would go over to a friend's house and we played war all the time. He even constructed a commercial airplane for our Joes. The plane was built on a length of 2x4 with a cardboard shell that we could open up and position our Joes inside the aircraft. We were always modifying this plane to make it more badass, with bigger engines and weapons. This was about the time a new kid moved to town just down the street from me. Shannon, was his name and his grandmother worked at Hill AFB and with NASA. Hello. Aviation buff, big time. He had all these styrofoam planes that we could manipulate the fight surfaces to make them loop or bank left or right. They were the funnest things to play with when I visited. He later acquired a gas helicopter. It wasn't a remote control so much as it just lifted off and autorotated back to earth. We played with that helicopter for hours. 

    I started to really have an affinity for aviation. There was a P-51 that would come to the Hamilton airport nearly every summer and it would fly right over my house when it came to town. I would jump on my bike and head out to the airport to see this stunning machine. It was the size of the propeller that sticks in my mind, it was huge. 

    When I graduated Hamilton High, I put into motion the plan to leave Montana. That plan centered on my enlistment into the US Navy. My high ASVAB score allowed me to choose any job, or rate, that I wanted in the Navy. I chose to be an undesignated airman. Undesignated because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in aviation. Later I chose powerplant technician working on turbine engines. I also cross-rated later on in my career to airframe mechanic, working on the airframe and flight controls. I had a 3-year break in my naval service where I worked on helicopters for a man named Ron Garlick. His AH-1 Cobras were the things of legend and appeared in the tv series "Pensacola, Wings of Gold'. His helicopters were used in numerous other movies. It was the only time I ever got to ride in a Cobra helicopter and it was amazing. 

    Looking back on the kite, the plane ride, the toys and eventually into Naval Aviation, it seems little things led to bigger things. I was successful in aviation until my cancer ended my career. I couldn't see myself pursuing any other career. 

    I think that while reading this you can see how the consistency of aviation in my formative years led to a career in aviation. If there is anyone trying to figure out careers for themselves, just look for the little things that remain consistent in your life. Aviation became such a part of me that I even recall a friend of my mother's who was in aviation and he had this wooden propeller clock and I have always wanted to have a clock just like his. You feel it, just like it were always a part of you because it is highly likely that it has been part of your life. It is our destiny.