Dean Jones:  

or a few months in 1980. After Intel School, I was assigned to 2/17 Air Cav at Fort Campbell, Ky as an Intel Analyst. During that period of time, I decided to tackle flight school and in July of 1982 I went to Fort Rucker, Alabama and graduated as a brand new Warrant Officer in June of 1983. I went from there to Hanau, Germany from 1983 to 1987 and was assigned originally to A Company, 503rd Aviation Battalion of the 3 Armored Division which later morphed into the 189th General Support Aviation Company. Our call sign was the Ghostriders. Some where around the 1984/85 time frame, I divorced wife #1. Thanks to the Graham/Rudman bill I was one of 2500 folks 'unofficially' RIF'd in 1987. I went from there back to Fort Rucker where I worked for the Civilian Contractor teaching Initial Entry Rotary Wing fledglings in the different phases of flight school from the Primary Phase to Basic Combat Skills to Night Vision Goggle Systems. I was there from 1987 until 2005 during which time I met and divorced wife #2 and got my Associates, Bachelors and Law Degree. During this period, at various times, I was in A Company 1/131st Aviation Battalion in the Alabama Army National Guard. I most recently Began work with a Private Contractor in Afghanistan from January of 2006 until the present time. That at times can be rather exciting. Well the intro to this secton said I'm supposed to discuss "From boot camp to tropical tours of duty to long hours spent waiting for action, your military service helps make you who you are." All I have to say about that is this. The 2 way range is not all that it is cracked up to be and when the first bullet snaps past your head, your whole perspective on life changes completely. I will say that nothing on earth is more exhilarating than participating in, and successfully executing a finely tuned, choreographed, and rehearsed, assault onto an objective maximizing the use of ground coordinated forces in conjuction with available air assets.