Risk Management Magazine

I was headed home from a 15-month-long deployment when I boarded a plane in Stuttgart, Germany. I sat impatiently on the plane, my mind filled with thoughts of seeing my family and friends once again. The trip from Germany was long, but it passed quickly as I thought about home. In all that excitement, not once did I imagine what was in store when we landed stateside.

Before becoming an aviator, I served as a flight engineer on a CH-47D Chinook. Our mission that summer day was a simple, routine night vision goggle flight with a couple of very experienced pilots on the controls.

I love to fish, especially for inshore saltwater species. However, being an active-duty Soldier creates geographic challenges that limit my fishing opportunities to just a few days each year — if I’m lucky. Fortunately, an abundance of angling videos allows me to fish vicariously through those who post their catches on the internet or social media.