Can you give me a brief overview of your military experience?
The first thing that pops into my mind is “hurry up and wait.” And I think every veteran can attest to that one. When I joined the military, just like many veterans, I had an idea of what it’s going to be and shortly after joining I realized that that idea was completely off from what it actually is. My military experience was a lot of hurry up and wait, work your ass off, and make the mission work. And that’s really what they ask of you- make the mission work and don’t screw up. I appreciated all of that, I loved making things work and I loved figuring things out. My military experience was in the Air Force and I was a Flying Crew Chief on C-5 Galaxy Aircrafts, so a perfect opportunity to make shit work.
Photo Credit: John Van Horn
What was your favorite part of serving on a C-5?
I had a love-hate relationship with the C-5. I will always love the C-5 Aircraft, and anytime I randomly see it in the skies I’ll tell everyone “Hey, there’s a C-5!” So I’m super passionate about that aircraft. But that aircraft breaks quite a bit and sometimes causes headaches to maintainers. We gave it an acronym- F.R.E.D., standing for Freaking Ridiculous Economic Disaster. And it’s not because it’s a bad aircraft, but it breaks frequently. It’s an amazing aircraft and it carries more than any other plane in our military. The inside of the fuselage is two stories that consists of the cockpit/crew compartment, a seventy-two-man troop compartment, and a cargo compartment as the entire bottom inside level. I’ve taken off out of Spain with three-hundred-thousand pounds of fuel, that’s stored in the wings, and it didn’t have a problem. My experience on the C-5 was inundated with figuring things out. I’ve been in certain hazardous zones where there weren’t many resources to fix the plane, but I had to figure out how to fix it with the tools I had, and that was a huge attraction to me, I loved doing that. Just like any job in the military, there was quite a bit of comradery between crew chiefs, so I appreciated that as well.
Photo Credit: John Van Horn
What are the Hurricane Hunters and what was it like to work in that position?
Photo Credit: John Van Horn
My experience with the Hurricane Hunters was strictly an intern position while I was a meteorology student. I kind of had an “in” being a veteran that was also studying weather. Their mission is to collect data throughout a tropical cyclone by dropping meteorological sensors called, “dropsondes.” Their goal is to find the center of a tropical cyclone that represents the area in the storm with the lowest pressure. It’s an amazing organization that is family oriented, and what they do helps millions of people without those people knowing it. Hurricane Sandy had quite an “S” path to it and its track was interesting. Well the Hurricane Hunters were flying that mission and they were providing the data to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The dropsondes measure certain atmospheric conditions and that data is inputted into complex weather models.
When I interned with them it was absolutely amazing just to see that tight family connection. They trust each other to fly in turbulent conditions during storms to collect data. The turbulence is something they get used to, and if you talk to a Hurricane Hunter, for them it’s just another flight. For me, I loved the idea of flying through hazardous weather, but being my mom’s only son, she was not very thrilled that I wanted to fly through hurricanes, especially after I had just flown through hazardous zones for two years. And my response was “At least the hurricane isn’t shooting at me.”
What do you miss most about the Air Force?
I do miss it quite a bit. I think that whether you are a combat veteran or you were someone who worked admin on base, when you get out of the military it’s a very hard transition to make. The reason why is because you are in such a tight family- you have your brothers and sisters who are going through the same thing, everyone understands the same struggle. And then you get out and it’s almost similar to having a bunch of friends in high school, and then six months after you graduate you don’t know where the hell those people are anymore and you lose that connection. And I don’t want to speak for every veteran, but I will say most veterans feel, I don’t want to say abandoned, that’s not the right word, but they feel that loss of connection. And especially at that age in the younger twenties, you love that connection. That’s your family. And then all of a sudden you miss it because you’re out. So for me it’s the connection and also doing a mission that matters.
How did you discover that meteorology was your passion?
Meteorology has been a lifetime passion for me. I was the kid at the bus stop in middle school telling people what the weather was going to be, whether they believed me or not. And a lot of meteorologists will tell you this, but you become a meteorologist because of childhood events, like a certain tornado or certain hurricane. Some grow up storm chasing because they’re around it, some of them watch the movie Twister. I loved the idea that the atmosphere is always changing. No matter what happens throughout your day, or one minute ago, the atmosphere just changed, and that’s appealing to me.
Photo Credit: John Van Horn
You have many examples of charitable service on your resume, including third grade school tutor, sustainable farmer, and weather forecasting for Team Rubicon.
What is it that drives you to do all of this amazing work?
I don’t think there is one answer for me, which I think is appropriate for that question. What pops into my head is that there was a saying I heard “to live in the mystery.” And something I did growing up was that I tried to be included in everything. It didn’t matter if I was changing oil at twelve years old with my dad, or fixing jeans with a thread and needle by myself. As much experience as I could be included in, I went for, and that just turned into community service as an adult where I would come across an ad in the newspaper that says “We need elementary school tutors.” And I picked up the phone and called. Or rebuilding veteran’s homes from Hurricane Katrina. It’s all very random, but whenever something pops up and there is an opportunity for me to make a difference and go and be a part of something bigger than myself I’m all over it. That’s just my personality, I love getting my hands in everything I can possibly get into.
Are there any service opportunities you are particularly interested in for the future?
Well that definitely goes into the business that I started. I think community service is great if you want to volunteer for the Red Cross, or Habitat for Humanity, but I’m in a position in my life where I really want to focus on the impact I’m going to make. What I’ve decided on is that the veteran population is who I want to help. Really the common theme with me is helping and connecting veterans at this point in my life.
Photo Credit: Veteran Unmanned Solutions
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For those who do not know, what is Veteran Unmanned Solutions and why did you start it?
I’ll start at my grad school because that’s pretty much where it came from. So at my first year of grad school I was funded through a NOAA-backed research project and I was a graduate research assistant using unmanned aerial systems, so drones and drone technology for hydro-meteorological applications. We would go in the marsh of Louisiana and chase this fixed wing drone with Jon boats up and down the marsh all day long, and we would take the imagery, stitch it all together into one massive image and I would process it. So that pretty much got me into drone technology and then I turned my thesis into comparing drone imagery to satellite imagery for hydrometeorology. My lit review is what got me interested in the whole drone industry and from that I realized the applications that are available to help society with drones.
While I was interning as a meteorologist at NBC in D.C. in the summer of 2015, I was also working part time as a mechanic and electrician. And I was on the way back from the scrapyard and the idea hit me that I can train people with drones or in drone technology for them to use those applications to give back to the community, since the applications are there and the technology is there to help. And then I started thinking “Who do I want to help?” And obviously the lightbulb went off, and I said “Veterans.” Teach veterans drone technology so they can go and not just have a job, but have a purpose and fulfillment again. So take a veteran, train them and then they can go and do a search and rescue mission and potentially save someone’s life, they’re going to feel fulfillment and that continued service again- and that’s what I was shooting for. We started as a non-profit and I was invited through the Pat Tillman Foundation to participate in the Military Entrepreneur Program through Inc. 5000. I went to the Inc. 5000 conference and they schooled me for three days and I came back and I realized that I can help more veterans as a for-profit business and in the long run I can effectively make more of an impact. So we started Veteran Unmanned Solutions, Chris Zarzar and I. He is a PhD prospect at Mississippi State, he’s finishing his dissertation, and he was on the same research project as me.
So the direction that we’re going now is that we found a void in the drone community and we’re filling it now. We’re actually offering after school drone education programs to K-12 students now. Our reason behind that is that these kids are growing up getting drones for Christmas or for birthdays, but there aren’t many regulations to prevent them from going out and fly it over someone’s fence or too high or into someone. So we’re filling the void of teaching kids how to deal with drones- the fundamentals, the safety and the awareness which are important things to put to use. A portion of our proceeds are going towards the veteran initiative to train veterans in drone technology.
When you think of Pat Tillman, what words immediately come to your mind?
Legacy. The guy was amazing, I mean he is such an inspiration to not only the Tillman Scholars, but to the many people that know of him. He was a huge advocate and participant of community service. He was not doing football for money. He loved the game, he followed his passions and he lived his life the way he wanted to live his life. You can only admire someone like that and the fact that he made the ultimate sacrifice for the country- there aren’t many words, but it’s just amazing to be considered someone that is going to carry his legacy on.
Pat Tillman
What did it mean to you when you found out you were selected as a Tillman Scholar?
Photo Credit: John Van Horn
When you first find out that you were selected for the Tillman Scholarship, the word scholarship is kind of misleading, especially when you’re in college and you’re like “Holy crap, I just won a scholarship.” It took me a few days to really process what I just received. So initially I was like “Holy crap I won.” There was over fifteen-hundred applicants I believe, and they chose under sixty that year, and I’m just thinking “Wow, I can’t believe they’re awarding this to me.” But when the dust settled I realized it was more than money for college, and that thought process was reassured by the Pat Tillman Foundation because yes, you get money for college, but also the amount of opportunity and tools they provide for the Tillman Scholars makes the money seem like a small part of being a Tillman Scholar. I received it in 2012 and I graduated my undergrad in 2014, and in 2017, I’m still in contact with the foundation and they’re still helping me out, they allowed me to be a spokesman for the Super bowl for the foundation, there’s just so much they do for each scholar that scholarship seems just a small part, it’s more of a fellowship or brotherhood and sisterhood.