Fighting Aardvarks and Eagles: Building a Multi-role Fighter Pilot One Mission at a Time

Born on an US Air Force Base in the 1960s during the middle of the Vietnam War, a set of circumstances combined to create a young man with an internal desire and drive for a singular goal - to fly. He didn’t know exactly where that desire came from, but it was no doubt influenced by the signs around him as his father introduced him to the sight of jet fighters in the form of a mobile over his bed, and the sound of freedom at air shows as a lad. The story begins with the author’s first realization that he wanted to fly, and to live in Colorado - a place he had never been - inspired by his father’s Air Force service and his love for aircraft and travels. These experiences led the author to follow a path leading from specialization to broad experiences that created a truly unique aviation career.

A unique insight into a young high-school graduate who moves to the USAF Academy and learns to be an Air Force officer and a pilot. It explores the development of a fighter pilot in the world’s best Air Force at the peak of its powers, flying missions in Operation DESERT STORM, followed by 10 years of deployments for Operation SOUTHERN WATCH over Iraq, and then living in the aftermath of 9-11 and the changing world of the Global War on Terror. It follows him as he discovers what is it like to serve in the USAF for a 30-year span that moved from the relative security of the Cold War to the insecurity created by vacuums of political power that continue today. The reader experiences a USAF career by riding along with the author and his family through 19 home moves all over the world, discovering what is it like to progress from combat pilot to leading major organizational change as the US military began to refocus in a new age of politics, fragile peace, and uncertain economic future.