Mark Daniels:  

I did not graduate John Burroughs Sr. High School until four years after the Class. I was bored, according to what school counselors told my mother, and as far as I'm concerned, this was true. I worked night shift at a 7-11 for a while, but after being robbed at gunpoint three times, I had my fill and joined the Army. The Army put me through G.E.D., then High School Diploma training at Pasadena City College, and my test scores were high -- apparently so high that it was clear I had been listening to what I was taught in school...I just hadn't been doing my homework. Apparently John Burroughs agreed and were kind enough to send me my High School Diploma in addition to the one I received earlier from the college.. In other words, I learned one heck a lot while at John Burroughs and it shaped my life. I entered the Army on November 17, 1977, under the Delayed Entry Program, and flew out from Los Angeles on my favorite airplane, a Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, on December 8, 1977. I arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, in the afternoon of the same day, and was transported to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina for "Basic Combat Training." There I learned the skills of a Infantryman before being sent to "Advanced Individual Training" at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, after graduating Basic in Spring, 1978. There I learned the skills of a 67U Medium Helicopter Repairman (Boeing-Vertol CH-47A/B/C Medium Lift Helicopters)and met my wife, whom I married before leaving for Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, and my unit, Company A, 159th Aviation Battalion, Assault Support Helicopters, 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles," Air Assault. There life opened up for me as I was free to hitch rides on Army aircraft and helicopters at Campbell Army Air Field and meet Aviators and Astronauts passing through. Among the Astronauts, Dave Walker and Jon McBride, who flew escort on the some of the initial Shuttle flights, then later flew in Space on the Shuttle. In addition, I met a beautiful lady and a Navy Astronaut whose name I cannot recall, but her name -- under all that flowing hair -- was Judith Resnik, who would eventually become the second U.S. woman in Space and I believe the fourth woman overall, but whom would tragically die on the Challenger when it exploded over Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the Kennedy Space Center, some eight years later, on her second flight. She and the person with her were passing through Ft. Campbell, which she explained to me was a half-way point between Edwards AFB, California, in the west, and the Kennedy Space Center in the east. Then she boarded the T-38 with that Navy pilot and flew off to her destiny. One of my flights included going airborne in a Bell UH-1 Huey with the "City Slickers" of the Army National Guard. They were down at Ft. Campbell with the "Mad Dogs," also from Illinois, named for a pilot killed on an I.P. range at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, who was described as "red faced and wild eyed" whenever he got drunk. We went out onto the range at Ft. Campbell to perform "Nap-of-the-Earth" training, in which we fly low level, just above the top of trees and other obstacles over a tactical or field environment. Unfortunately, one of our pilots was the only man to see high tension lines in front of us and the only one to pull us up and over them in time. He commented to the other pilot that he had seen the light glimmer off of them at the last moment. It no doubt saved our lives. (To Be Continued) -- U.S. Army Veteran, 1977 - 1986. -- Basic Combat Training (BCT), Ft. Jackson, SC. -- Advanced Individual Training (AIT), Ft. Eustis, VA (67U Medium Helicopter Repairman, CH-47 A/B/C Chinook helicopters). -- Company A, 5th Trans Bn, 101st Airborne Division (AASLT), Ft. Campbell, KY. -- Company A, 159th Aviation Battalion (Assault Support Helicopters -- ASH), 101st Avn Grp, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault AASLT), Ft. Campbell, KY, CH-47 B/C Mechanic. -- Headquarters Company...Expand for more