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An Introduction of Sorts

When I was eleven years old I made the mental decision to join the United States Air Force after witnessing the events that took place on September 11th, 2001. When the time came to actually ship out following my eighteenth birthday, I left my hometown of Belleville, Michigan, kissed my family goodbye, and I hit the ground running into societal chaos to find out more about this unscripted, unfair, and yet ever-so-intriguing phenomena we call life. In the military I served as a police officer, both overseas and stateside, for six years. Throughout that time, I spent many nights on numerous installations guarding and preventing unauthorized access to aircraft to include Air Force One, B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, Boeing E-3 Sentry, KC-10, KC-135, C-17, C-130, fighter jets such as the F-15, F-16, and the F-22 Raptor, in addition to overseeing security on reaper and predator drones… to name a few.
           I have been absolutely enamored by airplanes since the beginning of my Air Force career, but until the end of my enlistment my experience had been strictly on a security and operational mission standpoint. I made the decision to separate from the military where I went back home to obtain my degree through Eastern Michigan University’s Aviation Program. After guarding aircraft and utilizing them as various means of transportation over the years, I decided I needed one more thing out of my aviation experience: to fly them.

Current and Future Goals

           I am a senior at Eastern and will be graduating with my degree in April of this year. I am currently majoring in Aviation Management Technology (after transferring out of the flight program due to some unfortunate Veterans Affairs/university and funding issues). I have been flying off and on over the years, and have had some conflicting feelings on where I want to end up in this world, both physically and mentally. I have evolved so much as a person and I have come to realize over the years that most of our doubts, setbacks, and hindrances, originate in our minds. Physically indurate hurdles are out there, of course, but often times the struggle that exists and degrades us, takes place as a result of the limitations we place on ourselves mentally. As unorthodox as it sounds, conquering that mental game and all it encompasses is one of the reasons I have decided to go back into the Air Force as a pilot. When the official time comes, I will be joining with the intent of flying the Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk. Subsequently, upon completion of my second run in the military, I plan to utilize my knowledge and skills to fly medical evacuation flights for hospitals or companies in need of those services.

Career Development Discussion Topics

           In case it was not obvious, I am slightly biased toward all things military. Aside from the preexisting curriculum regarding guest speakers, I would not mind learning more about other military branches and avenues of flight training, Additionally, it may be beneficial to expand our knowledge of different flying options aside from the more popular airline and cargo routes, such as UAV’s or helicopters.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 15, 2018 at 6:56 AM

    Theresa,

    First of all I want to say thank you for your service in the military. It definitely takes the right mindset and drive to become someone that protects our country and I have to say that's awesome! What was your favorite aircraft that you got access to get information from? Also what made ya want to get into the Pave Hawk? I'd like to learn a little bit more of these aircraft's from ya sometime!

    Bill

    ReplyDelete

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