So far in this series, I’ve mostly dealt with spiritual matters. I’ve mentioned before that I have lived a very “out of balance” life for the last 10 years while waiting for my big invention prophecy to come together. I want to focus in this episode on my past experience and how, after all these years, God has started to bring it back around in full circle. It’s been a very hard thing to do but, I have seen what I can truthfully call a miracle with the resurrection of the technical side of my past career paths. If you’ve ever wondered how God can take someone down an “ancient training program” devoid of most modern elements, and then bring them back to the “modern world” again… keep reading.

Air Force Intelligence Officer: UAVs & ISR

When I retired from the USAF in 2015, I had just spent the previous 10 years as an intelligence officer (14N) primarily, working in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) field. I served in more than one capacity, starting out as a MQ-1 Predator crew member (on the intelligence side). That led into becoming a Mission Operations Commander (MOC) at a very large Distributed Ground Station (Langley AFB, Virginia). In each of those assignments, we had to go through a certification process which then had a little over a one-year recertification timeline. In order to sit in those positions, you had to pass the tests and “check rides” to become, and remain, fully qualified.

The subject matter was very technical as you might imagine. We had to learn about the systems of the UAVs we worked with, the vast network of satellite and ground based systems that made them work, including many things I am not allowed to discuss here. We dealt with tons of computers, all monitoring various aspects of our missions. We got daily intel briefings on what our targets were for the shift so we knew the overall scheme of what we were doing. When I was a MQ-1 crew member, my scope was limited to the single MQ-1 aircraft I was involved with. When I became a MOC, I dealt with about 100 intel analysts who worked with many ongoing / simultaneous MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk missions (not to mention other much more secretive platforms that operated in our area of responsibility).

ISR stands for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, which refers to the coordinated and integrated acquisition, processing, and provision of timely and accurate information to support military operations. It involves collecting data through various means, including land, sea, air, and space platforms, to enhance situational awareness and decision-making.

Most of what we did was in direct support of the Middle East region – primarily Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a very big job and the work we did often got the attention of high ranking people in the Washington DC area. There’s much more I would like to say but, my memory of what was classified and what was not is (after 10 years) a big sketchy in some areas. What that means is, there’s not much more I can say about it. My point being, it was very a technical field and I was very much suited to that.

But… none of that was what I wanted to do. Yep, it was a very minor eye problem that totally blocked me off from flying as a pilot in the Air Force. So, that’s where we now pick up the other part of my story…

Civilian Pilot & Instructor

When I was a teenager, I joined Civil Air Patrol and started learning to fly. I soloed a Cessna 172 as a 16 year old in a CAP summer flight school program at a nearby Air Force Base that flew F-4 Phantoms (a fighter jet from long ago). When I became a cadet at the Air Force Academy, I finally finished up my initial flight training and got 3 FAA pilot’s licenses / ratings including Private Pilot, Instrument Pilot and Commercial Pilot. No kidding, if you’re wondering, I spent more time learning to fly on my own dime at the Academy than I actually did doing my homework for my classes (let’s talk about that another time).

After I graduated from the Academy, since I was unable to fly in the Air Force, I kept up my civilian flying because I was determined to either get the Air Force to waive my eye problem or else I was going to fly no matter what. I don’t remember what year it was but, a few years after graduation, I got my multi-engine rating. Then, several years later, I got my Certified Flight Instructor license. At that point, I was able to get 2 jobs (paradoxically) at military bases teaching the Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) program. If you’re reading this correctly, then you know I was teaching initial flying to brand new military officers who were going to go off and do what I wanted my whole life (but was unable to). All my students were either Marines or Navy officers, which went on to fly F-18’s and other such aircraft.

This is a good time to say that, as a younger person, all I ever wanted to do was fly fighter jets. I really had no other goal in life. Looking back, that’s very scary. I’ve seen others who retired as fighter pilots and end up with the most empty existence you could ever imagine. What I mean is that they had accomplished some great things here on earth but, eternally, they had nothing at all.

As the years went on, I began to realize that my eye problem had 2 potential routes. First, that I could have asked God for a miracle if I had known any of the things I now know. Second, God spared me from the same eternal emptiness and a life filled with a type of pride that almost always blocks people off from ever coming to God in a real way. Since the first option was totally unknown to me, the second one is what I knew was the real truth. I grew up with some very arrogant attitudes and never one time felt like there was anything wrong with it! If God had let me become a fighter pilot, I would have ended up being so prideful that I would never have come to God, asking Him what His plan was for my life.

I’m not trying to say that all fighter pilots are arrogant. I’m only saying that for me, the way I grew up and the family patterns I was handed down, I would never have come to the place I am now. What I mean by that is, by God not allowing me to do what I wanted most, He saved me from what I really believe would have been an eternal judgment in Hell. Pride causes many to end up in Hell and the Bible is full of those warnings. Pride makes a person too arrogant to honestly and humbly come to God with sincerity. Pride causes them to be so self-fulfilled that they need nothing – including God. They become their own God and well… that’s the path to Hell.

It’s hard to imagine how someone who grew up going to church every Sunday could end up like how I’m describing but, that is exactly what was going on with me. We won’t talk about how useless most church teachings are because I’ve already dealt with that many times.

Resurrecting The Past?

Well, as I wrote in the title of this episode, only within the last few months, I have seen God bring back some of what I left behind in order to go through His ancient training program. About 6 months ago, I was given some money to begin getting back all my pilot currency as regulated by the FAA. I started out eventually passing the 2-year flight review which gave me back my VFR pilot privileges and as I’m writing this, I’m almost finished with regaining my IFR proficiency check.

I walked away from flying 15 years ago to find out what God put me here for and for the last 10 years, I’ve had dreams about going back to flying again as a pilot. I really thought I was dumping that part of my life for good but, God oddly enough, kept showing me otherwise. Seriously, that was confusing for me and it took a very long time for Him to open the doors so I could get back to flying again.

Only a few months ago, I had a dream that I was going to finish up my training and get back to where I once was when I was actively flying as an instructor (CFI). The dream showed everything I had given up had been restored to me. I was actually skeptical of that possibility because I knew how much work I had to do to get that back. However, much to my surprise, that is exactly how things have played out. I can’t explain it any other way than to say it was a combination of my studying all the things I forgot about and a miracle from God that I have been feeling very competent flying again. I didn’t think it would be so hard to get back into this again and I didn’t expect I would get this sort of miracle of resurrecting my past skills.

So what’s the lesson here? A great question, if you have not already figured it out… If you walk away something extremely important to you for the sake of going after what God put you here for, don’t be surprised if He gives it all back to you again at a later time. But, the second time around, assuming you go through His training program for your development, expect that you will be much better than you ever were in the past. That’s how it’s been with me.

So what happens after I get my pilot currency all back up to speed again? Well, when I start my company, I’ll be buying a private jet of which I will be the copilot. Additionally, I plan to get my instrument instructor rating (CFII) so I can return to being an instructor again but, at a higher level than I once had.

Does God perform miracles of resurrection? YES. Sometimes with real physical death and other times with parts of our life that went “dead”. I hope this piece of my story has been inspiring and useful. There is much more I can say here but as always, maybe we will talk about that later.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

John 12:24 (KJV)

To be continued…

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