My accomplishments during my 11-year military career earned
me 29 commendations, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the
Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Humanitarian Service
Medal. When I left the military, I was one of the most highly decorated in the
command.
My commander and supervisor loved it when I put on my dress blues and participated
in the various parades and celebrations on base, especially Memorial Day and the
4th of July. I met a few presidents, including George W. Bush and
Bill Clinton, and a few generals, including Colin Powell and H. Norman
Schwarzkopf, that way. And let me tell you, it was truly great to have presidents
and generals shake my hand and meant it.
With Memorial Day right around the corner, it’s a good time
to look back and reflect. I served my country in foreign lands and during
several tours of duty in combat zones, including two combat tours in Iraq. I
flew on 32 combat missions from the opening days of the war to its end. In that
time, there was never a day I didn’t look death in the face. Never a day I didn’t face AAA, SAMs and more as we flew our missions.
Because of that service, I will always know that when the
darkest of hours arrives I will not hesitate. When asked, I answered. When
called, I went. When death stared up from the void, I did not fear. I gave
because it was my duty and because I felt it was the right thing to do.
I write about some of my experiences in my military memoir,
Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the
Gulf War, which was featured in a full-page review in the Journal of Electronic
Defense and on NPR. Though a memoir, the book is largely a tribute to the men
and woman I served with.
If you read Stormjammers and I hope you
do, I hope the book opens a window for you as big as the original experiences
did for me. After combat, the world never seemed quite the same. The return to
normalcy was a strange experience, never quite accomplished. I don’t, in fact, think
I ever slowed down or ever quite touched the earth after those experiences. For
it was afterward that everything in this world changed—that everything in this
world became so clear. And afterward that I set my sights on the future and
never looked back.
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