Aviation Love
Everyone has some small or large interest in aviation, whether its working on them, flying them or just simply enjoys watching them. My aviation journey started when I was in High School when I wanted to go to school to become a pilot. That randomly faded away, and once I graduated High School I was a little lost with going to Bakersfield Community College not knowing what I wanted to do. As time went on I decided to join the United States Navy, a family friend was a Navy Recruited and helped me out A lot. I was not a mechanical person, I didn't grow up working on cars or really have the desire to. That did not come until later in life. So, I took the ASVAB and scored really high in mechanical comprehension which was a surprise to myself and my family. After that, I was off to Military Entrance Processing Station or MEPS and I received two job offers as a Damage Controlmen (DC) or Aviation Structural Mechanic (AM). Of course I chose AM and this started my aviation journey.
After I graduated from Basic Training at the glorious Naval Station Great Lakes in 2010 I was off to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida for my AM training. This was the first time I was really away from home and on my own... well kind of on my own. We were not given much freedom while we were in school, just enough to taste it to keep us mostly sane. This was probably the best time for Aviation lovers because this was the home base of the US Navy and Marine corps. flight demonstration team The Blue Angels. Every day while I was in school after lunch break everyone would be outside and this was around the time for the Blue Angles to practice. They would buzz the roof tops of the school house, it was the best thing about being in Pensacola. After graduating from Pensacola, I was off to Naval Air Station Point Mugu, CA where I was apart of Fleet Readiness Center South West (FRCSW). Fun fact, this is where I met my wife 😄. While I was stationed at Point Mugu I was apart of the back shops and I worked mainly on E2C2 Hawkeye with the occasional parts from C2 Greyhounds, C-130 Hercules and the S-2 tracker. I was also deployed twice, once on the USS Ronald Reagan CVN 76 and once on the USS John C. Stennis CVN 74. While I was deployed I was still working in the back shops on parts from F/A-18 E/F/C/D, E2C2 Hawkeyes, EA-6B Prowler, and the MH-60.
After my time was up at FRCSW Det Point Mugu, I received new orders to FRCNW Whidbey Island, Washington. I had the opportunity to go to Advance Composite school and later on Level 2 composite school to work on at that time the new F/A-18 Growler which replaced the EA-6B Prowler. Washington state was a great time in my life, my wife and I got together, I bought my first house, my brother got married, I found my love for the outdoors and I met some amazing people. Back to airplanes! I spent most of my time working on the under wing boat fairings. They always needing some sort of fixing because of the radar equipment that was housed inside would always leak and cause delamination's composite structure. There was one specific part that would always need some attention and the Level 1 Civilians we worked with were the lucky ones to perform the repairs. It was the lower engine cowlings, this is the part where what we called them "turkey feathers" would be. Its where the exhaust nozzle would lay on the cowlings and the titanium "turkey feather" would chafe and sharpen. Well, every new person (ME) would see oooh shiney, and have the urge to touch it and slide their fingers across the edge. That was a nice CLEAN cut and hurt for a few weeks after. After three years of being stationed at Whidbey Island, my time in the service was up. I got out, sold our house and moved to Battle Creek, Michigan.
I originally did not want to continue my career in aviation, I was done with it after being in the military. It was all I really knew, however, it was calling me back. My girlfriend at the time (now wife 😃) started a new job at our local aviation company and was selling me on it. So, I finally applied, was hired and continued my career in Aviation. Today, I still work for the same aviation company working on large cabin business jets. It was quite the change going from fighter jets and radar jamming aircraft to business jets. Going from "get it in the air" to "it has to look pretty" was a struggle but you get used to it. I do not plan on leaving aviation, it seems that I enjoy it too much.
