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Just like cars, I have a thing for aircraft. Big ones, little ones, fast ones and not so fast ones. Even those craft so ugly they don't really fly, but the earth actually repulses them! I've had this itch since being a young boy who really wanted to be an astronaut. Some of my earliest memories involved the US space program moon mission efforts during the early 1970's. Such events helped spawn boyish ideas of how I could join this elite club of individuals...these cowboys of the sky.
First - I should offer apologies to my parents. They were so great - buying me frivilous things like model aircraft, which I'd eagerly built, such as a classic Revell 1:72 scale B-52 Stratofortress bomber! I recall the many hours building it, and always using extra glue to hold the critical, load bearing pieces in place. After several maiden flights, I promptly prepared it for duty over Vietnam.
In the Midwest during the '70's (hell - probably most places in the US during the time), this entailed strapping bottle rockets - of various sizes and capabilities - onto the wing hard points for daylight NVC strafing attacks. After each hop failed to cure the Charlie curse (and each mission always left portions of mom's backyard flowers in tatters...) - I figured it was time for the Daisy Cutters (MOAB's)! I'd bomb those suckers back into the Stone Ages! All together now - chant Go USA!!!
Unfortunately the ordnance team didn't properly rig the bomb release mechanisms, and as such the multiple M-80's explosives (ahem) removed or otherwise liberated the wings from the fuselage shortly after the sortie got airborne. Note to all young, aspiring aviators....never hold large, plastic models with any type of lit explosives attached to them - especially if the fuse doesn't allow sufficient time to launch the aircraft to a safe distance!!! 
Despite these initial setbacks, my love for aviation was as strong as ever. But where the potential loss of an eye (or two) didn't faze me - unfortunately the crappy financial events of the mid-1970's did! The time was similar, though nowhere near as bad as today's economic crisis of 2008-2010. Between the Arab Oil ban and the Soviet grain embargo, and some incredibly stupid strategic planning on the part of the UAW (local 1309) - this downturn cost my father his job at International Harvester, and wiped out the college funds for my brother and I.
However I was very fortunate to have a full-blown aerospace course in high school. We even had one of the first dedicated simulators - and not desktop PC based, but a Cessna 172 cockpit with a variety of difficulty levels (IFR, VFR, adverse weather, jet stream, micro bursts, etc). That and my one-year aerospace course - helped give me a well-rounded understanding of what pilots, air traffic controllers and ground maintenance crews already knew.
Enter the US Military option. I scored high enough to pick my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Pilots have to be officers (read college), so I picked aviation and air traffic control. Initially working on air traffic control radars and navigational aids, I wound up becoming an avionics technician, or officially an Aviation Electrician's Mate A1. After two years of training on A-4 Skyhawks, OV-10 Broncos, UH-1N Hueys and AH-1J Cobras - I was ready for the Fleet! Which is sorta what happened. Though assigned to MCAS Camp Pendleton, my billet found me assigned to the newly formed squadron of HMT-303 at MCAS Pendleton. Crap....no deployments, no West Pak, etc!
Of course there was a bright side to be had by being locked state-side. I was able to meet this really great lady, who have been my trusted co-pilot for the last several years (ok - decades at this point)! I know that finding her was worth every missed "float" with the other Fleet Marines!
After the Marines - there was a short period of time I worked for two small Southern California FBO's (California Aviation @ El Monte, and Liberty Aviation @ Fullerton airport). But these were merely place holders for my time with McDonnell Douglas, which I joined in 1990, and remained at July 7th, 1997.
Training and working in the aerospace community during those nearly 13 years was a great opportunity and an experience I'll always cherish!
