Kenneth Mooney:  

Life After leaving good old Forest Park High School, I kept working at S. S. Kresge warehouse, as I did while a Senior. That is until November 1970, when I joined the U. S. Air Force. I have finally realized that the time I spent in the U. S. Air Force changed me for the better. It made me come to the inescapable fact that what happens to a person is almost entirely of one's own choosing. I even suggest to people that it would be a good experience for their children or grandchildren to be in the military for at least one enlistment period. There is a bond amongst us U. S. Veterans. Very close to a Brotherhood. And it crosses the lines. Whether you were Air Force, Army, Marine, Coast Guard, Navy, peace time or war time, we'll stand together. I have been thinking about buying a Harley to ride in Veteran's funeral processions as a way to show my respect for them as people and as fellow Veteran's. My Dad is one of a only few (last count was 38) living Pearl Harbor Survivors still with us in Georgia. The U. S. Air Force is now very hard to get into and should be. It has the most technical and life advancing environment of any of the military forces. In my opinion. And the best food, pay, accomodations, and safety in a war time environment. The jobs that you are trained for are also very translatable to the civilian job market, in most cases. I did my tour entirely stateside and really wished I could have gone overseas to see the other side of the horizon. After my tour was up I goofed around at some really meaningless jobs until I had profound thoughts about my future. I never had to flip burgers though. Thank God for that. I got into the Atlanta Area Technical School's Aviation Training course and finished in June, 1979. In August 1979, after obtaining my Federal Aviation Administration Airframe and Powerplant licenses (A&P, now called an AMT, for Aviation Maintenance Technician), I got a job with Hawaiian Aircargo Services here in Atlanta. I worked there for about a month before I was interviewed and hired by Republic Airlines on 24 Sep 1979 (Republic was formed by a merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways in June 1979), which later turned into Northwest Airlines, via acquisition. I also helped my manager from Hawaiian and several certified Atlanta Tech classmates and friends get jobs there as well. One of them told me that without my help he might have never attained his dream of working for an airline. I was glad I could help him and the others. They are still the best friends I have ever had. I worked for Northwest for 23 years and 4 months. I decided not to pursue my job up in Minneapolis or Detroit when the Maintenance Hangar in Atlanta was closed on 26 Dec 2002 and everyone had to relocate or take the station lay-off, as I did. I am now retired, almost regretfully. I had the opportunity to travel a great deal during my tenure with the airlines. I would fly somewhere at the drop of a hat or even a hint. Lunch in Florida? Did it all the time. Some of the places I've visited makes many people envious. How about all over Australia? Four times! I've even been to Hobart, Tasmania. Hawaii? Been there 5 times. Canada? I know lots of people there, too. Mexico, Grand Cayman Islands and New Zealand as well. I have actually been to the almost exact opposite point on Earth from Atlanta. That would be Perth, Western Australia. The exact spot is in the Indian Ocean 1125 miles West of Perth. I don't know how many times I've flown across this country but I am always ready to do it again. Here is something weird. I ran into a woman I know from Jonesboro, GA. in Sydney, Australia. Talk about a small world! I'm surprised that I didn't run into someone I went to school with in one of those faraway places. Maybe next time. One of the highlights of my travels was being able to go up to the flight deck of any company aircraft and sit there almost anytime I wanted to. On my first return trip from Australia I was in the cockpit of that big new Boeing 747-400 for over 2 hours and got to see the curvature of the Earth from 41,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. It was awe inspiring and I will remember that for the rest of my life. Flying across the Pacific has another bonus. THE STARS. The first time I saw stars in that large a number I was flying home from from Hawaii. Leaving Australia, the stars are visible for so much more time that I started to notice star lanes and I finally noticed the Magellanic Clouds, which can be seen at or South of the equator. They are the closest Galaxies to our own. They appear almost fluffy, which is why, I would imagine, they were thought of as clouds. I noticed, while in Cairns, Queensland, that the Orion Constellation was very nearly on the northern horizon. Here we look a little south to see it as it lies directly on the ecliptic, or the imaginary disk that most of the planets travel on while doing their orbits, as we observe them from Earth. apparently I was the only person on all of those flights, that I knew of , that was looking out of the window with binoculars. Some of the other passengers might have thought that I was weird. But they are the ones that missed a tremendous view. The term "awe inspiring" once again comes to mind. It is my blessing that I can still be "awe struck". So many people are jaded and don't realize or particularly care about special events when they happen. I pity those people. Another weird thing about traveling back from Australia is that there are 2 sunrises and sunsets for the same day. You get up in the morning in Sydney, ...Expand for more