Fort Rucker, AL

We are at the Engineer Beach Campground at Fort Rucker, Alabama for a couple of days. I was stationed here at Fort Rucker back in 1970-1971 before going to Vietnam. Fort Rucker is the home of Army Aviation. Anyone in the US Army that has anything to do with flying will at some point in their military career come to Fort Rucker. To most of us it is known as Mother Rucker. This place brings back a lot of memories for me, some good, some bad. I was stationed here when I first met my late wife Barb. No she didn't live around here. She lived in California, I was at home on leave in California when I met her. I went to Helicopter Maintenance School here and to Flight Operations School here back in 1970-1971. After I finished my schooling I was assigned here and worked at one of the many airfields here. I left here in July 1971 for Vietnam. I came back here in 1990 to attend Non-Commissioned Officers Academy. While I was here in 1990, the US Army National Guard and Reserves were activated to active duty for Desert Shield. That's when I decided to find a different career. Twenty years in the military with a tour in Vietnam I felt was enough time that I gave to my country. I wasn't going to war again. It was time for someone much younger than me to have Fun, Travel & Adventure with the Army. I went back to collage to earn a degree to get a real job. I earned a degree in Avionics Engineering from Oklahoma State University and in 1995 I was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Transportation Systems Specialists.