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Rutgers Law School pays tribute to students who are veterans, including two scholars from the  Newark campus, Dashay Carter, a native Newarker and former Army Reservist, and Zach Fini, a Navy veteran who served 10 years in active duty, including deployment in the Middle East.

Carter, a first-year student, spent seven years as an Army Reserve aviation operations specialist, acting as a communications liaison between aircraft and base and later as a human resources specialist. 

“I learned mental toughness in the Army—everything is a mental game, even carrying an 80-pound bag up a hike during the rain,” she says. “Once you get the mindset that you can do something, you can do it.”  

Carter, who earned a masters of Public Administration at RU-N, has an extensive career in Newark that began in 2012 when she worked as South Ward Coordinator for Ras Baraka’s mayoral campaign. Today, she is Chief of Human Resources at the Newark Housing Authority.

Once she begins her law career, she wants to continue giving back to the city. ” I want to be an example for kids growing up like I did,” she says. “It’s important for kids in Newark to see successful attorneys who look like them, are from an urban area like Newark, and maybe weren’t raised in the best home environment. It says to them, if I can do it, you can do it.”

Fini, who grew up in Skillman, New Jersey, had childhood dreams of flying a plane. After graduating from Northern Michigan University, he was commissioned as an officer in the Navy and was soon flying in the backseat of an EA-18G Growler aircraft, managing the weapons systems, and working to disrupt or suppress enemy radars and communications. “Basically, what I tell people is that I was Goose in Top Gun,” he quips.

He applied to Rutgers-Law near the end of his active-duty career, where he served on the USS Dwight Eisenhower in 2016. He’s considering corporate and sports law but is keeping an open mind and trying to learn as much as he can without the fear of failure that can keep students from success. “Going from college to flight school, I was terrified of failing,” he says. “I learned over the years that the only way to improve at something is to fail over and over again—otherwise, you don’t learn. This has really changed my mindset and made me realize that it’s really not the end of the world if something doesn’t go your way.”

To learn more about their stories, go here. 

By Deanna Bonn BCTG

John Prigmore was named as the Veteran of the Year during The Celebration of Freedom Salute to Veterans event held on Friday, November 11th at the First Christian Church in El Dorado.

“This is a very special award that recognizes not only a veteran but a member of the community who has given back and continues to give back in so many different ways,” said Chris Karn, Managing Partner for Carlson & Kirby-Morris Funeral Homes.

Prigmore enlisted in the Navy Air Corp after the bombing at Pearl Harbor with the stipulation that he be able to finish high school. He graduated in 1944 and departed for basic pre-flight and flight school training. After the war ended in 1945, he attended Kansas State University on the GI Bill to study Architecture. In 1952, he returned to El Dorado to start his own business.

“I had planned on a career in flying but I also enjoyed architecture so that’s what I ended up doing,” he said.

“In fact, we’re in one of my projects right now,” Prigmore said as he looked around the sanctuary of the church.

Over the years he has been civically involved in the Jaycees and Rotary. He is a member of the Methodist church and has been a Boy Scout leader, a coach and held various positions on advisory boards and he was one of the original members of the Red Devils Cooking Group.

“This caught me completely flat-footed. It was a complete surprise,” said Prigmore.

“It’s always an honor to present the Veteran of the Year on behalf of Carlson & Kirby-Morris Funeral Home and the entire community,” said Karn.

A FLIGHT school based at Bournemouth Airport for more than 20 years has ceased trading. 

Bournemouth Commercial Flight Training Centre, in Aviation Park West, has stopped all lessons and flights. 

Once one of the south’s biggest flight schools, BCFT has been based at Bournemouth Airport since 2002. 

The website for BCFT says the flight school is “renowned in the aviation industry” and its students train both from Bournemouth Airport and in Florida with partners Florida Institute of Technology. 

BCFT planes are under cover (Image: Daily Echo)

We are told by staff at BCFT the company ceased trading on September 15. We’ve attempted to contact BCFT’s management team for a comment but have had no response. 

Steve Gill, managing director at Bournemouth Airport, said: “BCFT have been a long-standing tenant of the airport and while their contribution was a relatively small part of the business, we are of course saddened by the news that they have ceased trading and hope that something may emerge in their place in the future. 

“Generally, however Bournemouth Airport continues to see overall sustained growth. We are expecting to have achieved 95 per cent of our pre-covid passenger numbers this year and only this week Ryanair has confirmed that they will be retaining an aircraft at Bournemouth this winter, with 40 flights a week in their winter schedule including new flights to Venice and Lanzarote.” 

BCFT recently changed its name on Companies House to The Silver How Ltd in late October. No extra information is provided. 

The flight school’s sole director remains in place. 

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – As part of our Studio10 Top Gun Halloween special, we wanted to showcase different elements of the local aviation industry.

General Manager Quinton Dupper and Operations Manager Emma Elliott from Redcel Aviation joind us on the show to talk about their flight school.

They say:

Whether you’re learning to fly for pleasure or for a career as a pilot, Redcel Aviation has the tools, knowledge and programs available to help you achieve your goals. We offer 3 clear training pathways that ensure that you reach your ultimate goals in aviation. Our aircraft have the equipment and performance ability to offer you the experiences you need to be the best pilot possible. Our highly trained instructors have the essential qualifications and skillsets required to help you become a master of the skies.

To learn more about Redcel Aviation watch the interview and/or visit their website: https://www.flyredcel.com/

—

Download the FOX10 Weather App. Get life-saving severe weather warnings and alerts for your location no matter where you are. Available free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Copyright 2022 WALA. All rights reserved.

Kevin Damask, Columbus Journal

When 21-year-old Rick Berry dropped out of college in 1965, he knew that, without his student deferment, he had a strong chance of being drafted into the Vietnam War.

After hearing about the U.S. Army’s warrant officer program that trains recruits to fly Huey helicopters, Berry decided to make the best of his shrunken academic prospects, revisit his childhood affinity for aviation, and enlist.

“It’s extremely hard for me to believe I ever looked that young,” said Berry, 78, looking at a picture of himself in his warrant officer uniform, digitally framed at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum’s touch table.

Rick Berry’s graduation portrait from the U.S. Army warrant officer program in 1965, provided by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, Richard “Rick” Berry was stationed in Vietnam with the U.S. Army in 1967 and 1968. He moved to Madison in 1995 to work at the Wisconsin Wetlands Restoration Program after eventually going back to the University of Connecticut in 1970.

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Berry volunteers at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, 30 W. Mifflin St., on Capitol Square. He gives tours to some of the 80,000 visitors who come to the museum each year, helps with oral research and shares his experiences.

And now, those experiences are tangible: Berry’s mother compiled a scrapbook of her son’s time in Vietnam, framing several photos Berry sent home during his time there.

The scrapbook and several other of his pictures are featured as part of the museum’s Vietnam exhibit, “Souvenirs of Service: The Things They Kept.”

Rick Berry’s mother compiled a scrapbook of her son’s time in Vietnam, framing several photos he sent home during his time there. The scrapbook and several other of his pictures are featured as part of the museum’s Vietnam exhibit, “Souvenirs of Service: The Things They Kept.”

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

The scrapbook will be open to the public for the duration of the exhibit, according to Jennifer Stevens, Veterans Museum representative.

After enlisting, Berry was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for basic training and Fort Wolters, Texas, to complete his Warrant Rotary Wing Aviation Course. From there, he completed advanced training at Fort Rucker in Alabama, before being deployed to Ankei, Vietnam, as a member of the A Company, 1st Cavalry Division, U.S. Army.

Berry would be there for the next year.

Vietnam, 1967-68

“You receive about 210 hours of student pilot flight time in flight school, very excellent training,” said Berry, “Most of us kind of figured we’re decent pilots when we left flight school. (Then) you arrive in Vietnam. Everybody else thought you were dangerous.”

Rick Berry is seen piloting a Huey helicopter in 1967 while in Vietnam.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

In his first month, Berry accumulated 229 hours of flight time with 1,122 landings — flying about 4½ hours per day, landing at least four times per hour.

Berry was adopted into the Army’s comradery swiftly, often doing less-than-glamorous work like working in the rear of the helicopter instead of in the cockpit, because it helped him see the “why’s” behind even the most meticulous of mission requests.

“They would ask us to do things that were maybe difficult, but it was never something stupid,” he said. “It was never something that either the aircraft or the pilots were not capable of doing. It might be difficult to do, but you could trust that what they were asking you to do needed to be done.”

The most dangerous of missions were the emergency re-supplies.

Emergency re-supply missions would be executed exclusively at night since the unit in need would need the cargo before the next morning. More often than not, Berry would be delivering ammunition, meaning the landing zone he was headed toward had made contact with the enemy recently, giving them a higher likelihood of being shot at if spotted.

From there, Berry would help transport those wounded or killed in action back to base.

Typically sent to the boondocks, getting a visual of activity on the ground was nearly impossible since there were no lights on the ground and any helicopter light Berry could turn on would be the fastest way to tell the enemy where the landing zone was.

Having to be in and out in about 15 seconds, a lights-out approach was taken for these deliveries; meaning a single trooper would be waiting to flash a red light from the landing zone. Once the red light was spotted, Berry and his co-pilot would land using a series of methods that allowed them to land safely while practically nosediving first.

On the ground, the trooper and warrant officer in the rear quickly unloaded the cargo and got the injured or dead on board.

Other than that red light, Berry was flying in total darkness.

Band of brothers

Flying together for hours at a time and eating and sleeping beside one another, Berry forged an irreplaceable bond with his comrades.

“It’s almost difficult to articulate how close that relationship is,” he said.

Spending his day to day with those in his unit, Berry’s nights consisted of poker games and beer, as well as dabbling as a door gunner on his days off.

Rick Berry captures a fellow Huey helicopter in its formation from 1967.

RICK BERRY

This was a particularly dangerous hobby, given that door gunners were tasked with firing at the enemy from above and only had a life expectancy of two weeks.

Pilots would find a tired crew chief or a gunner and offer them an extra day off by taking the gunner’s spot, Berry told the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center.

“Majority of flying was really fun, some of it (not at all), but the majority was really fun,” Berry said. “We were people in our early 20s, flying in close formations and so forth, it was really cool.”

Berry also got to spend a short time with his lifelong best friend, Tim Wilson. Having grown up together, Wilson followed Berry through the warrant officer program 10 months later and also belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division.

Rick Berry also got to spend a short time with his lifelong best friend, Tim Wilson. Having grown up together, Wilson followed Berry through the warrant officer program 10 months later and also belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division.

RICK BERRY

“I flew a Huey down to where his unit was located; we spent a wonderful day together,” said Berry, smiling at the thought. “The two of us got in a helicopter he flew … Just two buddies, no military mission.”

After leaving Vietnam in May of 1968, Berry requested to be stationed in Germany, where he’d soon meet his wife, Sandy.

Moving forward

Berry and his wife met at the officers’ club in Luxembourg, where she worked at the Department of the Army as a recreation director. Falling madly in love, the two would be married by the end of the next year.

“Flying was no longer very important to me, without question,” Berry said, chuckling, 53 years later. “She had no interest in an Army career. I was kind of ambivalent about it, but she wanted nothing to do with an Army career.”

Berry left the Army in December of 1969 and relocated to the U.S. with his wife, planning to attend a commercial flight school in Florida to which he had been accepted.

But after visiting a friend of a friend who recommended going back to school first, Berry decided to give college another try.

With the discipline and responsibility he got from his time with the Army, Berry was able to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in zoology and ecology from the University of Connecticut.

No longer wanting to explore the world of commercial flying, Berry went to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before eventually ending up at the Wetlands Restoration Program in Wisconsin.

“What did Yogi Berra say, ‘You come to a fork in the road, take it’? That’s what I did,” Berry said. “That guy knew what he was talking about.”

Despite never piloting again after leaving the Army, Berry remembers his time in the Army fondly.

“My military service is a watershed event for me, it made a man out of me, made me a better citizen,” he said. “Just a really good experience from the standpoint of growing.”

Looking back, Berry says the bond he experienced with his fellow servicemen was one he wishes everyone had the privilege of experiencing for its depth alone.

Rick Berry, a Vietnam veteran and volunteer at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, gives tours to some of the 80,000 visitors who come to the museum each year, helps with oral research and shares his experiences.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Fond of the Veterans Museum, he wants to encourage people not affiliated with the military to visit and volunteer. He hopes they get an understanding of not just the sacrifices that military service demands, but also the bonds service members form.

Berry is still in contact with many of those with whom he served.

“Someone becomes ill or ends up in the hospital, we let each other know,” he said.

GALLERY: Veterans Day celebrated Thursday at Baraboo High School

Guest speaker Maj. John Langeberg, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years, speaks in front of students and local veterans Thursday during Baraboo High School’s Veterans Day ceremony. The school invited military veterans to attend the assembly and stand for recognition when the band played the music of their branch of service. Speakers included Langeberg and Army pilot Capt. Brandon Scott. “Veterans Day is not about one person. It’s not about me. It’s about these gentlemen, ladies. It’s about my son in Saudi Arabia right now in the U.S. Air Force. It’s about millions of soldiers … It’s about sacrifice,” Langeberg said.

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Guest speaker Capt. Brandon Scott, who served in the U.S. Army as a pilot, shakes the hand of World War II veteran John Geoghegan Thursday during the Veterans Day ceremony at Baraboo High School. Geoghegan served in the Army infantry from 1942-46. “I feel badly for the people that we lost,” Geoghegan said afterwards. “I had people that were closer than you and I are right now that were killed. Why wasn’t it me? Why was it them? And if you don’t believe in the Almighty, that’ll make a believer of you.”

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Norma Sophie of Baraboo, center, stands Thursday during the Veterans Day ceremony at Baraboo High School, along with other people who have family or friends who served in the military. Sophie said she attends the ceremony every year because she has many family members and friends who served, including her husband, who died last year. “I liked it,” she said of the ceremony. “It was excellent. It was really, really good … This was done so right.”

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Veterans Day at BHS

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Veterans Day at BHS

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Veterans Day at BHS

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Veterans Day at BHS

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Kevin Damask, Columbus Journal

When 21-year-old Rick Berry dropped out of college in 1965, he knew that, without his student deferment, he had a strong chance of being drafted into the Vietnam War.

After hearing about the U.S. Army’s warrant officer program that trains recruits to fly Huey helicopters, Berry decided to make the best of his shrunken academic prospects, revisit his childhood affinity for aviation, and enlist.

“It’s extremely hard for me to believe I ever looked that young,” said Berry, 78, looking at a picture of himself in his warrant officer uniform, digitally framed at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum’s touch table.

Rick Berry’s graduation portrait from the U.S. Army warrant officer program in 1965, provided by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, Richard “Rick” Berry was stationed in Vietnam with the U.S. Army in 1967 and 1968. He moved to Madison in 1995 to work at the Wisconsin Wetlands Restoration Program after eventually going back to the University of Connecticut in 1970.

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Berry volunteers at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, 30 W. Mifflin St., on Capitol Square. He gives tours to some of the 80,000 visitors who come to the museum each year, helps with oral research and shares his experiences.

And now, those experiences are tangible: Berry’s mother compiled a scrapbook of her son’s time in Vietnam, framing several photos Berry sent home during his time there.

The scrapbook and several other of his pictures are featured as part of the museum’s Vietnam exhibit, “Souvenirs of Service: The Things They Kept.”

Rick Berry’s mother compiled a scrapbook of her son’s time in Vietnam, framing several photos he sent home during his time there. The scrapbook and several other of his pictures are featured as part of the museum’s Vietnam exhibit, “Souvenirs of Service: The Things They Kept.”

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

The scrapbook will be open to the public for the duration of the exhibit, according to Jennifer Stevens, Veterans Museum representative.

After enlisting, Berry was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for basic training and Fort Wolters, Texas, to complete his Warrant Rotary Wing Aviation Course. From there, he completed advanced training at Fort Rucker in Alabama, before being deployed to Ankei, Vietnam, as a member of the A Company, 1st Cavalry Division, U.S. Army.

Berry would be there for the next year.

Vietnam, 1967-68

“You receive about 210 hours of student pilot flight time in flight school, very excellent training,” said Berry, “Most of us kind of figured we’re decent pilots when we left flight school. (Then) you arrive in Vietnam. Everybody else thought you were dangerous.”

Rick Berry is seen piloting a Huey helicopter in 1967 while in Vietnam.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

In his first month, Berry accumulated 229 hours of flight time with 1,122 landings — flying about 4½ hours per day, landing at least four times per hour.

Berry was adopted into the Army’s comradery swiftly, often doing less-than-glamorous work like working in the rear of the helicopter instead of in the cockpit, because it helped him see the “why’s” behind even the most meticulous of mission requests.

“They would ask us to do things that were maybe difficult, but it was never something stupid,” he said. “It was never something that either the aircraft or the pilots were not capable of doing. It might be difficult to do, but you could trust that what they were asking you to do needed to be done.”

The most dangerous of missions were the emergency re-supplies.

Emergency re-supply missions would be executed exclusively at night since the unit in need would need the cargo before the next morning. More often than not, Berry would be delivering ammunition, meaning the landing zone he was headed toward had made contact with the enemy recently, giving them a higher likelihood of being shot at if spotted.

From there, Berry would help transport those wounded or killed in action back to base.

Typically sent to the boondocks, getting a visual of activity on the ground was nearly impossible since there were no lights on the ground and any helicopter light Berry could turn on would be the fastest way to tell the enemy where the landing zone was.

Having to be in and out in about 15 seconds, a lights-out approach was taken for these deliveries; meaning a single trooper would be waiting to flash a red light from the landing zone. Once the red light was spotted, Berry and his co-pilot would land using a series of methods that allowed them to land safely while practically nosediving first.

On the ground, the trooper and warrant officer in the rear quickly unloaded the cargo and got the injured or dead on board.

Other than that red light, Berry was flying in total darkness.

Band of brothers

Flying together for hours at a time and eating and sleeping beside one another, Berry forged an irreplaceable bond with his comrades.

“It’s almost difficult to articulate how close that relationship is,” he said.

Spending his day to day with those in his unit, Berry’s nights consisted of poker games and beer, as well as dabbling as a door gunner on his days off.

Rick Berry captures a fellow Huey helicopter in its formation from 1967.

RICK BERRY

This was a particularly dangerous hobby, given that door gunners were tasked with firing at the enemy from above and only had a life expectancy of two weeks.

Pilots would find a tired crew chief or a gunner and offer them an extra day off by taking the gunner’s spot, Berry told the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center.

“Majority of flying was really fun, some of it (not at all), but the majority was really fun,” Berry said. “We were people in our early 20s, flying in close formations and so forth, it was really cool.”

Berry also got to spend a short time with his lifelong best friend, Tim Wilson. Having grown up together, Wilson followed Berry through the warrant officer program 10 months later and also belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division.

Rick Berry also got to spend a short time with his lifelong best friend, Tim Wilson. Having grown up together, Wilson followed Berry through the warrant officer program 10 months later and also belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division.

RICK BERRY

“I flew a Huey down to where his unit was located; we spent a wonderful day together,” said Berry, smiling at the thought. “The two of us got in a helicopter he flew … Just two buddies, no military mission.”

After leaving Vietnam in May of 1968, Berry requested to be stationed in Germany, where he’d soon meet his wife, Sandy.

Moving forward

Berry and his wife met at the officers’ club in Luxembourg, where she worked at the Department of the Army as a recreation director. Falling madly in love, the two would be married by the end of the next year.

“Flying was no longer very important to me, without question,” Berry said, chuckling, 53 years later. “She had no interest in an Army career. I was kind of ambivalent about it, but she wanted nothing to do with an Army career.”

Berry left the Army in December of 1969 and relocated to the U.S. with his wife, planning to attend a commercial flight school in Florida to which he had been accepted.

But after visiting a friend of a friend who recommended going back to school first, Berry decided to give college another try.

With the discipline and responsibility he got from his time with the Army, Berry was able to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in zoology and ecology from the University of Connecticut.

No longer wanting to explore the world of commercial flying, Berry went to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before eventually ending up at the Wetlands Restoration Program in Wisconsin.

“What did Yogi Berra say, ‘You come to a fork in the road, take it’? That’s what I did,” Berry said. “That guy knew what he was talking about.”

Despite never piloting again after leaving the Army, Berry remembers his time in the Army fondly.

“My military service is a watershed event for me, it made a man out of me, made me a better citizen,” he said. “Just a really good experience from the standpoint of growing.”

Looking back, Berry says the bond he experienced with his fellow servicemen was one he wishes everyone had the privilege of experiencing for its depth alone.

Rick Berry, a Vietnam veteran and volunteer at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, gives tours to some of the 80,000 visitors who come to the museum each year, helps with oral research and shares his experiences.

AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Fond of the Veterans Museum, he wants to encourage people not affiliated with the military to visit and volunteer. He hopes they get an understanding of not just the sacrifices that military service demands, but also the bonds service members form.

Berry is still in contact with many of those with whom he served.

“Someone becomes ill or ends up in the hospital, we let each other know,” he said.

GALLERY: Veterans Day celebrated Thursday at Baraboo High School

Guest speaker Maj. John Langeberg, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years, speaks in front of students and local veterans Thursday during Baraboo High School’s Veterans Day ceremony. The school invited military veterans to attend the assembly and stand for recognition when the band played the music of their branch of service. Speakers included Langeberg and Army pilot Capt. Brandon Scott. “Veterans Day is not about one person. It’s not about me. It’s about these gentlemen, ladies. It’s about my son in Saudi Arabia right now in the U.S. Air Force. It’s about millions of soldiers … It’s about sacrifice,” Langeberg said.

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Guest speaker Capt. Brandon Scott, who served in the U.S. Army as a pilot, shakes the hand of World War II veteran John Geoghegan Thursday during the Veterans Day ceremony at Baraboo High School. Geoghegan served in the Army infantry from 1942-46. “I feel badly for the people that we lost,” Geoghegan said afterwards. “I had people that were closer than you and I are right now that were killed. Why wasn’t it me? Why was it them? And if you don’t believe in the Almighty, that’ll make a believer of you.”

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Norma Sophie of Baraboo, center, stands Thursday during the Veterans Day ceremony at Baraboo High School, along with other people who have family or friends who served in the military. Sophie said she attends the ceremony every year because she has many family members and friends who served, including her husband, who died last year. “I liked it,” she said of the ceremony. “It was excellent. It was really, really good … This was done so right.”

SUSAN ENDRES/News Republic

Veterans Day at BHS

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Veterans Day at BHS

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Veterans Day at BHS

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Len Kauffman liked flying but hated being shot at. In Vietnam, it was tough to avoid it.

While Vietnam veteran Len Kauffman wouldn’t call his 1968 U.S. Army tour in Vietnam enjoyable, he formed special bonds with his fellow soldiers that will last his lifetime.
Raised on a farm about 3 miles west of Lebanon, Kauffman attended Oregon State University before joining its ROTC program.

“Most of my ROTC buddies back then went to Vietnam, and we have kind of a kinship that’s quite precious now,” he said, adding that the bond was formed between himself and fellow pilots, crew chiefs, gunners and maintenance guys.

The 24-year Tualatin resident compared his experience to the 2001 “Band of Brothers ” television miniseries.”

“‘Band of Brothers’ pretty much defines how we felt as a family,” he said. “We lived together. We ate together. We flew together. We died together. You know, it was a really close-knit family. That was quite, quite meaningful, I think, to all of us.”

Last Memorial Day, Kauffman was the honored veteran at the annual Memorial Day observance sponsored by the Tualatin chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, held at Winona Cemetery. He talked about that bonding experience there as well.

Trained to fly helicopters at Fort Wolters in Texas and Fort Rucker in Alabama, Kauffman said he felt he was quite well prepared by the time he made it to flight school. That included preparing him and other pilots for the jungles of Vietnam by spending the last couple weeks of the flight training school at Fort Rucker, living in the woods with his fellow pilots, flying like they were on actual missions.

Kauffman would end up stationed in Duc Pho, Vietnam, flying in the 174th Assault Helicopter Company.

“I flew the Huey, the UH-1 Huey,” he said. “The Huey was a real workhorse. It’s a single rotor with a tail rotor and was used for all the combat assaults and extractions and medevac and gunships, and just on and on.”

While the UH-1 wasn’t extremely fast, it was a “good lifting machine,” Kauffman recalled.

Kauffman loved helicopters, but he didn’t like being shot at. Missions sometimes started as non-hostile, then quickly turned into hostile ones.

“I had my co-pilot hit one time, and my gunner was hit one time,” said Kauffman. “Luckily, I was never hit, even though a bullet came close one time.”

At times, Kauffman would fly night missions, dropping flares to light the ground so people below could see what was happening.

“We did search and rescue for whatever — downed helicopters at night — I was dropping flares to find them,” he said.

By the time Kauffman’s tour of duty was complete, he had logged 1,100 hours of flight time, flying anywhere from eight to 14 hours in a typical day.

When Kauffman returned from Vietnam in January 1969, he returned to Fort Wolters as a basic flight training instructor, training students who would soon be in Vietnam. He later joined the Oregon Army National Guard and flew Hueys there for another year.

In December of this year, he will celebrate 50 years as a pilot.

Kauffman also returned to Oregon State University to study for a master’s degree in education. He remembers some anti-war protests at the time, recalling how some of the students there were picking on the ROTC students, something that “really made me angry.”

He went on to serve as a wrestling coach at Oregon State and taught for 14 years at Portland State University before flying for American Airlines for 14 years.

Kauffman was a longtime member of the West Coast Ravens, an Oregon club that flies Oregon RV aircraft built from kits. He recently retired from the club.
“I just didn’t want to do it too long and make mistakes, but I did it for, I don’t know, 15, 16 years,” said Kauffman. “You buy the kit, and I had mine flying in 5 ½ years.”

Editor’s note: This story appears in 2022 Salute to Veterans, a special publication in print and online by Pamplin Media Group to celebrate the stories of veterans.

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Angela Bassett gave a rousing speech about female empowerment at the Glamour Women of the Year event on Tuesday night.

The “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” star, who was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the event, reflected on the courageous women, on screen and off, who have impacted her life.

“We are underestimated like Rosa Parks, who was presumed to be meek and mild, voiceless,” she said. “But on one December evening in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks said that, ‘When that White driver stepped back toward us … I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night.’ Her refusal to give up her seat on the bus that day historically boosted the fight for civil rights for Black people in this country.”

Bassett played Parks, a woman she called “the mother of the freedom movement,” in the 2002 TV movie, “The Rosa Parks Story.”

She went on to discuss the historic accomplishments of pilot Bessie Coleman.

“We are fearless like Bessie Coleman, a manicurist in a local Chicago barber shop who wanted to learn to fly but was turned down by flight schools in our country,” she said. “She didn’t give up. She learned instead to speak French, attended a flight school in France, and, in 1921, she went on to become the first Black and Native American woman pilot. Brave Bessie, as she became known, built a successful business doing aerial shows, in a plane she owned, around this country, a country that tried to deny her dream.”

Bassett had her breakout performance as Tina Turner in the 1993 film, “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” so it was only fitting she made mention of the music icon.

“We are resilient like Tina Turner, who gave up everything she’d worked for, except her name, to gain freedom from abuse,” she said. “She started over, reimagining her career as a rock ‘n’ roll artist, a genre that no Black woman had successfully charted. Tina Turner went on to become one of the most admired and successful artists around the world, earning an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on her own merit.”

Bassett also spoke about her own mother.

“We are resourceful like my mother, Betty Jane, who was a single mom raising her daughters to be women of purpose and pride who could stand on their own,” she said. “She often struggled to make ends meet, making a way out of no way, like we women do from time to time, but she always made sure we had exactly what we needed.”

Other honorees at the event included, Aurora James, HAIM, Jennifer Hudson, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts and Shannon Watts, who are each featured on digital covers of Glamour this month.

Bassett concluded her speech with a rousing call to action.

“The legacies of these women and so many more are what keep me going when the deck seems stacked against me. Against us. And as I stand here tonight, I challenge us all to think about what our contributions to pushing humanity forward will be. What will you do to make sure that future generations of girls and women exist in a world that is one of equality and equity? And when you’re told that you can’t, or you won’t, that it’s impossible, when doubt or fear begins to take hold of your spirit, let determination cover your body like a quilt on a winter night. And press forward. The world needs you, quite possibly more than ever before. The world has always needed us.”

FLYING’s Flight School Guide, which launched in June, is a tool to help students find a flight school, aviation college, or university that’s right for them.

Each student has a vision of what that school should be like. For some, that means a large university with Division I football games to attend on the weekends, but for others, the right track is an accelerated program leading to a career in as little as 12 months.

For those interested in the more accelerated route, FLYING researched flight schools across the country, breaking each program down to provide a look into the overall experience.

To help you make an informed decision on which flight school may be the right fit for you, FLYING gathered information and ranked each program in four categories:

●     Career Partnerships

●     Value

●     Fleet

●     Facilities/Location

After a thorough research process, FLYING determined the top flight schools to consider when choosing where to pursue a professional career as a pilot. They include: 

ATP Flight School

Founded by airline pilots more than 35 years ago, ATP Flight School is the largest flight training establishment in the U.S. ATP’s nationwide network of 71 training centers located in 31 states allows for more efficient scheduling and examiner availability. The Airline Career Pilot Program is one of the fastest ways to become a professional pilot, in just seven months.

ATP is dedicated to creating an efficient path to becoming an airline pilot. With accelerated programs, affordable tuition, and airline partnerships, it has become one of the leading flight training centers in the nation.

Points Earned

10 out of 10 in Industry Partners

9 out of 10 in Value

8 out of 10 in Fleet

10 out of 10 in Facilities and Location

Overall: 37 out of a possible 40 points

Aeroguard Flight Training

Located in Arizona, Florida, and Texas, Aeroguard Flight Training has four locations across three states that offer an accelerated flight training program with connections to multiple airlines. Partnering with many airlines opens up opportunities for students to start on their career path early. Students can also pursue a bachelor’s degree in aviation, thanks to the flight school’s affiliate partnership with Liberty University, while flight training at Aeroguard.

Points Earned

9 out of 10 in Industry Partners

9 out of 10 in Value

9 out of 10 in Fleet

8 out of 10 in Facilities and Location

Overall: 35 out of a possible 40 points

Spartan College

Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has four campuses—Tulsa, Oklahoma; Broomfield, Colorado; Inglewood, California; and Riverside, California—offering several Associate of Applied Science aviation-focused degree programs. The college has been around since the 1920s and has trained more than 100,000 pilots.

Spartan College is dedicated to training pilots efficiently and investing in their success. A 17-month professional pilot program makes Spartan stand out, and with tons of industry connections, students can ease up the pipeline to the airlines.

Points Earned

9 out of 10 in Industry Partners

8 out of 10 in Value

7 out of 10 in Fleet

9 out of 10 in Facilities and Location

Overall: 33 out of a possible 40 points in colleges

Blue Line Aviation

Located in Smithfield, North Carolina, Blue Line Aviation’s 50,000-square-foot headquarters with state-of-the-art facilities bring the flight school to a new level. Blue Line Aviation would be the perfect fit for student pilots looking to be immersed in training from day one. The short, accelerated training schedule gives life to a new career in months instead of years.

Points Earned

5 out of 10 in Industry Partners

9 out of 10 in Value

9 out of 10 in Fleet

10 out of 10 in Facilities and Location

Overall: 33 out of a possible 40 points

Check out all the flight schools and their scores in FLYING’s Flight School Guide.

KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) – The newest lecturer for aviation science at Central Texas A&M is telling her story of how she went from educator to aviator, and now has found her to combine her passions into one.

Angie Griffin spent the majority of her adult career as an educator, a career most who know her assumed she would always pursue.

“I taught STEM, I was principal for three small school district so I was kind of a superintendent or director,” says Griffin.

But in her 40s she took a trip to Alaska with her parents where she went dogsledding. In order to get to the mountain for the dogsledding, she had to take a trip in the helicopter. It’s a moment she says she will never forget.

“When the helicopter lifted off the ground it was like fireworks. It was like everything went into this brilliant color,” Griffin explains.

She said in that moment, it was a feeling she wanting to experience everyday. So, after spending her entire adult life as an educator, she quit her job and started flight school at the age of 40. The only female future flier in her class.

“I really didn’t feel any barrier or any difference at all, we were just people passionately excited about helicopters,” Griffin says.

Her grandchildren call her “Grangie” but in the sky she known as a Whirly Girl. Whirly Girls international is a non-profit for female licensed helicopter pilots, a community of women supporting each other in this commonly male dominated field.

Now, she is taking her first passion and her new passion to guide her students to new heights. She says she enjoys working with the younger future pilots because she feels as if she can really mentor them.

“To know that they are getting a quality education and to know that I am helping them better their life and their mind and to think about things in a different way. It’s equally as exciting, honestly,” Griffin says with a smile.

And she is always reminding everyone that it’s never too late to take a leap of faith.

“Follow your passion, because it will lead you to places you can’t even imagine,” Griffin says.

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