Page 9 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt, April 2019

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PiLoT (from Page 4) all the pilots he met about their
career path.
The maintainer spent five years
on active duty before transitioning to the Arizona Air National Guard as an F-16 crew chief before making the move to F-35 crew chief for the Air Force Reserve.
Throughout his military career, Martin worked toward earning his college degree and pursued his civilian pilot career.
One of the pilots Martin met was Lt. Col. David Salisbury, an F-16 instructor pilot at the time who currently serves as the AFRC Force Generation Center deputy chief of the Security Cooperation and Exer- cise Division, Robins AFB, Georgia.
Salisbury took an interest in Martin after hearing he was cur- rently pursuing flying outside of the military.
“At one point during his flight training, Martin’s flight gear was stolen out of his car,” Salisbury said. “I loaned him some of my flight equipment so he could continue his training. Since I also have my civilian pilot instructor license, I went flying with him and shared some of the lessons I have learned along the way.”
By the end of 2017, Martin had earned his bachelor’s degree, in- strument pilot rating, commercial
pilot license and Certified Flight Instructor’s license. He worked as a civilian flight instructor in the mornings, a crew chief in the evenings and flew on the weekends.
After working as a flight instruc- tor for 11 months, he had logged 350 hours as an instructor pilot and more than 600 total flying hours, all while maintaining his Air Reserve technician job as a crew chief.
“I recently returned from a non- flying assignment, and now that Martin is a civilian flight instruc- tor, he was able to return the favor and help me get my flying currency back after three years of not flying,” Salisbury said. “It was great to see everything come full circle.”
Once Martin completed all of the training and experience re- quirements, he was within reach of his dream. He gathered letters of recommendation, completed the appropriate application and inter- viewed with members of his chain of command, including Col. Bryan Cook, 944th FW commander.
“My ultimate hope for Martin was for him to become an officer and a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force,” Salisbury said. “It takes a lot of dedication to pace yourself and manage your money to obtain the appropriate experience and flight hours required to earn all of the different pilot ratings to achieve the level of instructor.”
After several weeks, Martin was given the chance to interview for a spot in the first AFRC F-35 B course.
“I was in disbelief because I had been working toward this for the better part of a decade and couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Martin said.
“This is so meaningful to me because there were some very dif- ficult times that lasted a number of years that I didn’t think would have a solution,” he said. “How- ever, through hard work and a lot of support, I was able to overcome those challenges and have an op- portunity like this.”
His 22-year dream is finally coming true. Martin’s application was approved and he was sched- uled to attend Officer Training School in March.
Salisbury shared his advice for those who want to pursue a path similar to Martin’s.
“There will most likely be set- backs, so keeping your eyes on the horizon, and persevering is key to moving toward whatever you want to accomplish,” he said. “Don’t neglect your current job while working toward your goal. Be an expert in whatever job you’re doing and people will rec- ognize your dedication and help you open doors to great future opportunities.”
CHiEf
and discuss things because I may know some information you don’t. We don’t agree on everything, but we communicate and it works.”
Rochelle says, don’t sweat the small stuff.
“We both have idiosyncrasies and things that we do that probably bug us every day, but that’s small,” she said. “I think sometimes people get fixated on that and blow it way out of proportion.”
Regardless of their career fields, they stand together in duty to their Airmen.
“We both respect the fact that she’s a chief in the medical group and I’m a chief in the maintenance group, but to me there’s no difference,” Dominic said. “She doesn’t go around telling me what to do and I don’t tell her what to do. I love being able to lead my men and women and the Air Force, but they’re all ours regardless of their career.”
There are some challenges, but they don’t let anything stop them.
“I’m not going to let something stop me from doing what I do and serving in this capacity,” Rochelle said. “This is an honor. I never would’ve imagined that I or he, or both of us, would be serving as chief at the same time. It just happened.”
So what’s next for the dynamic duo? Rochelle is off to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, where she’ll become the command chief. Dominic is staying here until his retirement in the fall and adding the title of “Doctor” to his name when he completes a PhD this summer in management, leadership and organizational change.
Although the next step means leaving Luke, it will always hold a special place in their hearts.
“Working with Fighter Country Partnership, the Community Initiatives Team, and the men and women of the 56th Fighter Wing, as well as the local community, have been my favorite part of this assignment,” Dominic said. “I’ve been to ten different bases and this is by far the best community relationship I’ve ever seen.”
Rochelle added that it provides a lot of opportunity to the Air- men and their families because of the community’s kindness and generosity.
As for her next assignment, she said she’s excited and nervous.
“I want to do well and I want to represent our family and make our family proud,” Rochelle said.
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