I know I'm a few days early but after seeing the Academy's graduation on the news and those F-16 Thunderbird's I couldn't resist. I have served three F-16 squadrons as a Munitions Systems Specialist (or Ammo troop for short) at Hill AFB Utah with the title of honor grad and nominated for Airman of the year. There is no more amazing power and beautiful sound than a Fighter jet, whether at idle or full after-burn. I dream of sitting in one again. They are amazingly smaller than a Geo Metro on the inside but much better built :p and have more switches and knobs than a recording studio. Those beasts are so loud that you need ear protection even while at idle. I am fortunate enough to have been in a Black Hawk Helicopter, even a foot ball field sized C-5 plane in one of the photos below. Been up close and personal with a B-52 bomber, F-15 fighters, A-6 intruder tank killers, SR-21 Blackbird, F-4 Phantoms, AWAC spy planes, and so many others. I have built up sidewinder missiles, Cluster bombs, bunker busters, laser guided bombs, trained on Nuclear weapons (never seen one in Utah) and so much firepower that would take me forever to list.
I am a very patriotic man and see every military member, enlistee or family of the military as my brothers and people I will always respect. It truly is a brotherhood and that is why we moved to the Springs. I wish I could still be a service member to this day. I would love to do the work I used to do, preferably as a civilian for the sole reason of being able to stay with family. My career field at the time was sending us to Korea for a year straight and at the time we were serving 6 month rotations in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many other crazy places even way back then. I hated the idea of coming home to see my son a year older than the last time I saw him. He was one of the main reasons I gave it all up. There just isn't many bomb building jobs in the civilian world and after many construction jobs, I landed here - this time as my next favorite job... A Farmer.
I was one of the few lucky ones that ended up staying state side somehow. I joined just after Desert Storm in the Air Force and served under President Clinton. Diana lived a long time military life with her father that served in the Air Force also way longer than me as a two star general. He was the man in charge of the whole base in Warner Robins Georgia and also served as a Fighter Pilot. My late Grandfather also served in the Air Force and my father is a Vietnam Veteran as a helicopter gunner in the Army. The military life is just in our blood. I hope my son doesn't have to lead this hard life especially in the state our country is in but I will respect what the military can teach him should he decide to serve this great nation. No matter who is in charge or the state of our country, this will always be a great nation created by the people who fight to preserve it. We give our deepest respect to warriors past and present. Never loose the spirit. Once you have served, you never can. It's just in your blood. God bless America and the sacrifices of all citizens past. Only in this country could I have had such an amazing experience at such a young age of 19.
Click the photos below for a larger photo gallery and please watch for the captions at the bottom. Happy Memorial Day ! I don't get to talk about it much so please excuse the short novel. I'm going to leave out the gory details no one likes to talk about anyway. Hard to believe we're both farmers now living a simpler and still hard life but not as hard as serving the country in the most dangerous way.
~Ken~
I am a very patriotic man and see every military member, enlistee or family of the military as my brothers and people I will always respect. It truly is a brotherhood and that is why we moved to the Springs. I wish I could still be a service member to this day. I would love to do the work I used to do, preferably as a civilian for the sole reason of being able to stay with family. My career field at the time was sending us to Korea for a year straight and at the time we were serving 6 month rotations in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many other crazy places even way back then. I hated the idea of coming home to see my son a year older than the last time I saw him. He was one of the main reasons I gave it all up. There just isn't many bomb building jobs in the civilian world and after many construction jobs, I landed here - this time as my next favorite job... A Farmer.
I was one of the few lucky ones that ended up staying state side somehow. I joined just after Desert Storm in the Air Force and served under President Clinton. Diana lived a long time military life with her father that served in the Air Force also way longer than me as a two star general. He was the man in charge of the whole base in Warner Robins Georgia and also served as a Fighter Pilot. My late Grandfather also served in the Air Force and my father is a Vietnam Veteran as a helicopter gunner in the Army. The military life is just in our blood. I hope my son doesn't have to lead this hard life especially in the state our country is in but I will respect what the military can teach him should he decide to serve this great nation. No matter who is in charge or the state of our country, this will always be a great nation created by the people who fight to preserve it. We give our deepest respect to warriors past and present. Never loose the spirit. Once you have served, you never can. It's just in your blood. God bless America and the sacrifices of all citizens past. Only in this country could I have had such an amazing experience at such a young age of 19.
Click the photos below for a larger photo gallery and please watch for the captions at the bottom. Happy Memorial Day ! I don't get to talk about it much so please excuse the short novel. I'm going to leave out the gory details no one likes to talk about anyway. Hard to believe we're both farmers now living a simpler and still hard life but not as hard as serving the country in the most dangerous way.
~Ken~
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