Jess Alonzo,jr.:  

Hey Gang, I hope everything is going well with everyone. I myself, am doing fine. Well where do I start. After high school I went to good ol' Gav Tech for two years, played a little football. We won our championship in 1986. I am also one of the 35 yr. reunion members that celebrate for Gavilan winning there National Title in 1973. After being undecided about what to with my life I decided to go into the Army. There I became what I thought was one of the coolest jobs to do. I was a helicopter crewchief mechanic. I was second in my class out of twelve. My Army career started in New Jersey for basic training. There I went on to Virginia for my advanced training. I ended up in Texas were my short career in the service ended (86'to 90'). Along the way I earned numerous awards and badges. One of the coolest parts was when the movie "Firebirds" was made. It was shot out of our unit. It starred Nicholas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sean Young (I tried to get a part as an extra) but to no avail. Upon my release date of the Army at the time I was a Specialist 4 occupying a Staff Seargent slot as an assistant phase leader. Thats where the helicopters come in for a major overhaul ( every 250 hrs.). I also got some stick time at flying these helicopters, but only simulation. When I was being recruited to re-up I wanted to be at least a Staff Seargent occupying a Seargent First Class position because we were so under staff. So after weeks of negotiations it did not work out, so I left and got out as a seargent. But, of course one year later I was called back for the first gulf war in Saudia Arabia (1991). I had to return to my unit in Texas and wait to see if we were going to deploy. It never happened. U...Expand for more