WEBVTT

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(suspenseful music)

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- When I was a kid

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I remember my dad would take it

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to the Shaw Air Force Base Air Show.

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And this is embarrassing
to say as an army guy,

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but when I saw the F-16s,

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I really wanted to fly those.

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But once I ended up going to the Citadel,

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I wanted to do something
in business or accounting.

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So, the army or military
was the last thing

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on my mind once I graduated.

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I originally enlisted in 2005,

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as a Zero Nine Sierra, which
was an officer candidate.

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So I basically after graduating

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from college I went
straight to basic training,

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after a four year break as a civilian,

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and then enlisted just
to end up going to OCS.

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And quite honestly,

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as an accountant

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for four or five years that I did,

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I had some exciting hobbies.

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I liked to race cars on the
weekend at a local track,

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and do a lot of hunting and
fishing, stuff like that.

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And I started thinking,

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wouldn't it be nice if
I could get that fixed

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by doing a job,

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instead of having a job

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and then having to go outside of that

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to get that same kinda
of rush or excitement.

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So, I think that's what
initially led me into aviation.

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Well, I've stayed with
this as long as I have.

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You're now 11 and a half in a
few months before I graduated,

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and I figured that would be a Special Ops,

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and then it would be over rather quickly.

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So I didn't feel like it was a huge need

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to join at that time.

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In 2003, when we did the invasion in Iraq,

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I started seeing a lot of
my classmates go overseas.

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And quite honestly,

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I felt like I was an
able bodied individual

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and I could at least do something.

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So that's what kinda sparked, I guess,

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that got me to join.

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Just recently is actually,

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just have switched to
adding another aircraft.

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So, drill up in Greenville.

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That's where my unit is currently.

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And I do construct pilot
duties for them up there.

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Of my full time job is,

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back at MacIntyre.

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Doing the same thing just
in a different aircraft.

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I've been a technician out for 10 years.

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And during that, until just recently,

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they were both identical.

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The guys that flied the
Lakota up in Greenville,

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they're all extremely seasoned aviators.

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So they've kinda taken
me under their wing.

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But I enjoy it.

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I didn't remember what it
was like to be a student.

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'Cause it had been a long time since I got

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out of flight school.

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So last year, going through
the qualification course,

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and then going through
the progression cycles

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that we have aviators,

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it was a kind of a more
of a scene aviator was,

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I think it was good for me.

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It helps me relate to the guys
that I'm still training now

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in the Black Hawk.

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And like I said, those guys in the Upstate

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have just done a fantastic
job of welcoming me there

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and helping me out,

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and teach me how to fly that aircraft.

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And if I can get to this,

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I can think of States out of,

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we've done several air shows.

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MacIntyre's had them
since I've been there,

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and I think one in 2000.

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Excuse me, one in 2009.

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And the one just recently,

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I think we were deployed when
that happened, I think 2017.

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But we gotta be a part of those.

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But we have a pretty
robust State side mission

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being a utility aircraft.

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We have a hoist program.

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We were very active in the floods of 2015.

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All the fires from Myrtle Beach back in 05

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when I first got in,

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to just recently,

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the Pinnacle Mountain
fires were constantly,

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send an assets to help out with those.

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So, I think one of my
commanders said it best,

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several years ago,

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any one of these events
will probably, in any unit,

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would make a career for somebody.

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We're very lucky in South Carolina

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that we have extremely
well maintained aircraft,

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and great personnel.

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And we really gotta do a lot,

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especially in the past
years that I've been there.

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Aviation is a hot commodity right now.

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It's kinda ebbs and flows
concern in the knee.

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Some years we don't send,

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maybe a handful of guys to fly school.

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And some years we need a lot of people.

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And I think we're at that
time right now where,

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it's one of those surges.

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Thank God it was when I got in.

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As well, but we have a lot of experience,

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and we can do a lot of interesting stuff.

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It's a great job.

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I love it.

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It just opens up a ton
of opportunities for you.

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(suspenseful music)