Posted on 11/04/2007 8:21:04 PM PST by Stonewall Jackson
A Family of Heroes
By MAUREEN ROSE - Turret Staff Writer
FORT KNOX — The Army’s aviation community is known as a tight-knit family.
But the folks with the 8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment (Attack), headquartered at Fort Knox, have taken the family thing to an historic level.
The Aviation Support Facility supervisor Dennis McNamara wears two hats, like all the people in the unit. In addition to being a civilian supervisor, McNamara also is an Army Reserve first lieutenant and an Apache helicopter instructor pilot in the 8/229th.
McNamara, affectionately called “D-Mac” by his coworkers and family, chalked up several firsts Tuesday. He scheduled and flew a training flight for a young second lieutenant who only has been with the unit a short time.
The lieutenant finished flight school Oct. 7 at Fort Rucker, Ala.
Her name also is McNamara. Dennis and his daughter, Elizabeth, flew what unit personnel believe is the first Apache flight with father-daughter pilots.
But the family links don’t stop there.
The crew chief for this historic flight — you guessed it — also was a McNamara.
Spc. Brendon McNamara finished his advanced individual training in August 2006 and since has been a maintenance crew member with the 8/229th.
The 11th Theater Aviation Command Deputy Commander Col. Daryl Blohm was on hand to wish the McNamara family well.
“He’s more than a commander; he’s a family friend,” said Dennis, who has been with the unit since 1996. He credits Blohm for urging him to accept a commission in lieu of his previous CW4 rank.
“He’s been a mentor to me, too,” said Elizabeth, even though her career is just getting off the ground.
With three family members in the same unit, one might suspect the mother of this family would be a nervous wreck.
“Mom thinks it’s great,” Elizabeth said. “She’s the one who kicked my butt to get my ROTC packet in.”
“Me, too,” said Brendon, who has an application packet pending for flight school.
“We have a different mentality at our house,” said Cindy McNamara, the mother. “Dennis has been doing this a long time. It is a risky job, but I know these guys get top-notch training, so I’m comfortable with it.”
“I am extremely proud of my children,” Dennis said during the pre-flight interview.
He has been in Army aviation since 1986 and his children have grown up as Army “brats.” In addition, D-Mac’s top-notch reputation throughout the aviation community has brought mixed blessings.
“Dad used to teach at Fort Rucker.” Elizabeth said.
When she arrived for flight school, she was quickly dubbed as “D-Mac’s kid.” She received no special treatment and, in fact, might have been singled out on more than one occasion because of her father’s “notoriety,” as he calls it.
Brendon claims the same problem. During his advanced individual training, his platoon sergeant was a prior crew chief for D-Mac.
Even now, Brendon’s company commander is his father.
“He gets no special treatment from me,” Dennis said firmly and, in fact, believes his son probably suffers from his association with the McNamara name.
“(The unit) knows my kids and they love to pick on them. They watched them grow up. Any special treatment he (Brendon) gets is not the kind of treatment you want. He gets every dirty job.”
A Fort Knox High School graduate, Elizabeth pursued her military career through ROTC and graduated from the University of Kentucky in December 2005. She accepted an aviation position with the Active Guard Reserve at Fort Hood, so her stint with the 8/229th has been very short.
Although she loved flight school, Elizabeth admits the “hardest thing to learn was patience.”
Transitioning from the standard instrument panel to the Apache’s helmet display unit, which has an eyepiece that projects information symbols just a few inches from the wearer’s head, was tough for her to learn.
Cindy understands their drive to fly, however.
“They love it; it becomes part of who they are,” she said.
A combat deployment could be in the future for her family, but Cindy said she’s not worried.
“You know what you were in for when you joined up. I’m more comfortable with them in the air than on the ground,” she vowed.
Especially in a combat situation, she said, she prefers them to be on an Apache.
“They have bigger guns,” she said.
Here’s a great article about a wonderful military family from my neck of the woods.
A long neck to reach from Ft Huachuca AZ to Ft Knox KY, though I did spend a tour of duty once at Ft Knox. lol
I did two tours in Germany and two at Fort Hood before moving to Fort Knox, although I was in the Army Corps of Brats. ;-)
This article is subtle evidence of something that I have been concerned with. The general lack of understanding of what the military is about by the general public.
If someone does a quick statistical cut about the number of military compared to the public - say 3 million active & reserve in a population of 300 million, means that 1 percent of the nation serves. The number of families that have a family member is very low - statistically.
But - when if we consider that those who join and serve often come from families where the tradition to serve is very strong - and you end up with father (and or mother) serving, and two or three grown children going on to serve. When you include this fact - the number of families that have a family member serving becomes much lower.
It is through personal knowledge - knowing those who serve, knowing the quality of individuals who serve, who are willing to sacrifice, that helps the members of the general public to come to better informed opinions on what the military does, what the military is about. A more informed public would not have a rush to judgement about what Abu Gharib was about, and would be very vocal in critizing comments by Democrat Congressmen and Senators who accuse the military of improper conduct.
IMHO - the military is very highly regarded at present - (a far cry from what happened in the late ‘60’s and early 70’s due to the lies about the Viet Nam war) ....but if the public really knew the quality of those who serve, the sacrifices made, and the successes (at great risk) in Iraq and Afghanistan (and all over the world!) - then the regard would be even higher.
Mike
(I am retired from the Navy - but all 3 of my children - now adults, are serving in uniform - 2 in the Army, 1 in the Navy. And I see so many cases where there are multiple family members serving - so it doesn’t seem to be that special - but it is still wonderful to see!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.