Subscribe
It’s 1953, Columbus Air Force Base pilot training graduation, and after months of extensive training and dedication, then 2nd Lt. Charles Carter Jr. proudly pinned on his brand new silver wings as an F-86 Sabre pilot for the very first time. He then went on to lead a 28-year career, retiring as major.
Fifty-five years later, his daughter, U.S. Air Force Maj. Jennifer Carter, 32nd Air Refueling Squadron chief of tactics, also experienced the same sense of perseverance and pride when she too graduated pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base in 2008.
Now, one year after his death, Jennifer is again following in her late father’s footsteps and promoting to major.
“I’ll be able to use his oak leaf clusters with my service dress and I’m really happy about that,” Jennifer said proudly.
When Jennifer was selected to promote to major while deployed overseas, she thought about her family and how influential her father had been to her career. She decided she would return home to the San Francisco Bay Area to include her family in the promotion ceremony, to see her ailing grandfather and honor her late father’s memory.
From a young age, Jennifer wanted to be a pilot and experience the same things that her father spoke about in his stories and began working towards that goal when she was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Jennifer lost her father in February 2017 after a 4-year battle with cancer, but before he passed, he was able to see his daughter succeed.
“Growing up, he would always tell stories about what it was like when he was pilot,” said Jennifer. “He was really proud of me when I made instructor pilot and was always the biggest supporter of me being a pilot and being in the Air Force. I chose the Air Force because of him.”
Before he was diagnosed with cancer, Charles shared with her one of his most fond memories from his pilot training days back in the fifties.
“Flying among a sky littered with towering cumulus clouds, he had rigged up his radio to pick up a nearby station playing Mozart,” said Jennifer Carter when recollecting her father’s story. “He flew loops, barrel rolls, and anything he could think up just along the surface of those clouds, while one of his favorite classical pieces played over the radio. It was near sunset and the sky almost looked painted, with reds, oranges, and blues.”
It was the stories like these that influenced her and later helped propel her in her career goals.
“I imagine him now, skimming the surface of those clouds, conducting his own beautiful concerto in the vast blue skies,” said Jennifer.
Jennifer said he was instrumental in inspiring and shaping her into the person and pilot that she is today, giving advice and encouragement when her training was difficult.
“The confidence I have in you is overwhelming but more importantly, I know that you have confidence in yourself,” Charles said in a letter to his daughter during her basic training. “Remember the goal, keep your eye on the ball, one step at a time.”
While going through some of her husband’s old things, Jennifer’s mother recently found his bronze oak leaf clusters from his old uniform- the mark of an Air Force major.
“It means so much to me,” said Jennifer. “To make major and to have my dad’s oak leaf clusters and to do it at home where he was, will just make it feel more like he is there even though he can’t be.
One year after her father’s passing, Jennifer returned to her hometown for her mother and brother to pin those same oak leaf clusters to her shoulders.
“My dad was always the one that I would talk to about the Air Force and flying,” said Jennifer. “He was always interested in it and he actually knew what I was talking about. I flew the T6 Texan II in pilot training and he flew the T6 Texan I.
“I am so very happy and proud of your performance,” her father said in another letter. “As it gets tougher you must concentrate all the more on your goal. Your life stands to be defined and defined as few have had the opportunity to be, in the next four years. You will taste the undefinable thrill that so very, very, very few human beings taste.
She credits the similarities in their careers with strengthening the bond she had with her father and helping drive her to where she is today, said Jennifer. Now that she has made major, Jennifer intends to focus on flying and plans to instruct at the school house where she hopes to also mold and influence new generations of pilots like her father did for her.
“If there is one thing I love more than flying, it is teaching flying,” said Jennifer. “It’s important to me because I’ve had certain instructors who were so instrumental to getting me to where I am, so I want to be able to offer that to other people. I want to give meaningful instruction and help produce amazing pilots.”
| Date Taken: | 02.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2018 09:27 |
| Story ID: | 265819 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Like father, like daughter: Second generation pilot, by SSgt Jessica Blair, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT