Local man gives up seat in fighter jet for office chair
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Lee and another pilot flew their F-16 fighter jets, fully armed in the event they would be needed to respond to a threat, over the ranch in what the military called combat air patrols.
Fortunately, as Lee puts it, he was never pressed into duty except for the occasional pilot of a small private plane that would fly off course and drift near or into the restricted airspace. When that happened, the F-16 s would fly down and meet the aircraft, usually scaring the poor pilot to near death, and politely escort them out of the area.
Lee’s love of flying began when he was a boy growing up in Fort Smith. He remembers seeing fighter jets taking off and landing nearby.
“ It was a dream of mine back then to do that, ” he said.
When he was 16, he soloed in a single-engine airplane at the local airport. By law, he had to wait until then.
By the next year, he had a private pilot’s license, enabling him to fly pretty much anywhere he wanted as long as the weather was good.
After graduating from Fort Smith Christian High School, Lee accepted an appointment to the U. S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. There he majored in computer science and graduated in 1996.
During his senior year, as is the norm at the Air Force school, he and the other cadets received their first orders. For Lee, that meant flight school at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla.
His flying career began in a two-engine training jet, a T-37, built by Cessna. Because he wanted to continue into fighters, he graduated into the T-38 Talon, formerly flown by the Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team and astronauts with NASA.
He stayed in Enid for nearly three years, the latter part of his assignment serving as a flight instructor.
While there, he met the woman he would eventually marry, Jennie, and they had their first of two children, Faith. The Lees celebrated their 10 th wedding anniversary in October. Their daughter is 9 today.
From Enid, he and the family headed south to Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas, where he attended Fighter Fundamentals Schools, the precursor to his ultimate dream — strapped into the seat of an American fighter jet.
Those early years were demanding, but Lee kept one thing in the forefront of his mind.
“ I just wanted to fly, ” he said. “ It was my dream job since I was a little kid. ”
The next assignment for Lee and his family was to Luke AFB in Nevada.
About three weeks after his arrival, he made his first flight in the F-16.
It is a single-engine, single-seat fighter jet with a surface ceiling (maximum height ) of 50, 000 feet. It is capable of flying nearly twice the speed of sound, roughly 760 mph, according to information found online
The jet measures 49. 5 feet long, is 16 feet high and has a wingspan of 32. 7 feet.
Its range is approximately 1, 740 nautical miles. The aircraft is equipped with a 20 mm cannon and 500 rounds of ammunition and can accommodate up to six Sidewinder missiles.
There are more than 1, 500 of the aircraft being used in active-duty Air Force, National Guard and Air Force Reserve units.
Cost for the aircraft is $ 9. 5 million each for the earlier designs, F-16 A / B, and $ 12. 8 million for the later versions, C’s and D’s.
Fortunately, Lee said, he never had any serious incidents in one and always brought them back in one piece.
He completed his assignment at Luke AFB in August 2001 and headed to Cannon AFB in New Mexico.
He and the family arrived at their new duty station on Sept. 11, 2001.
At that time, Lee had not completely processed in and was not flying.
“ I thought for sure I was going to war, ” he said.
But he never did deploy.
At Cannon AFB, Lee was promoted to major and
It was from the runway at Cannon that Lee and his peers would launch to fly protective cover over the president’s Texas home.
It also was there that he came to a certain realization about the future.
If he were to make a career of active-duty flying, he knew he would have to take an unaccompanied assignment to South Korea in order to move to the next level. So, before the military could assign him, he volunteered.
But as he waited for something to happen, he looked other places for career possibilities. One was the Arkansas Air National Guard at Fort Smith.
He put out feelers and made contact with old friends about possibly leaving active duty and taking a job with the National Guard. And that’s exactly what happened.
But the change in status came with a significant cut in salary. And the young major had a wife and two children to support. Five years ago, they had a son, Connor.
That’s when Lee called on his old friend Chuck Beale, who for years had overseen a very successful financial advisory and investment business for seniors and retirees.
Beale gave Lee a chance, as Lee puts it, and eventually moved him into the Bella Vista office, where he works to this day.
“ This was a unique opportunity, ” Lee said of the job. “ It was a Godsend to go into business for myself and make a good living. ”
It wasn’t long after trying to juggle flying, family and career that Lee decided something had to go. And as much as he hated the idea, it had to be flying.
Then something happened that made his decision much easier. In an effort to save money, the government had been looking at closing, or at least reducing, the overall operation at several U. S. military installations. Fort Smith was one of them.
Eventually, officials decided to keep the facility, but they moved the F-16 fighters out and replaced them with A-10 s. Lee was qualified to fly that aircraft and would have had to relocate if he wanted to continue.
His decision to give up his beloved flying was basically made for him at that point.
Today, his focus is on his family and his career with Beale, Lee & Associates Inc.
“ I miss the flying part, ” he said, “ but it’s not like I sit here and think about it every day. I do thank God I was able to do it. ”
He said his decision to dedicate his time to his career also was influenced by the people he serves.
“ I asked myself who would take care of (the clients ) if I had to deploy for 30, 60 or 90 days ? What would happen to my clients here ?”
Speaking of his decision, he said it is “ good for all parties involved. ”
While you won’t see Lee hopping into the seat of his fighter anymore, it might not be the last time he is ever in uniform.
Since he left the National Guard, he has been on inactive reserves and works as needed as a liaison for the Air Force Academy.
It’s unpaid work, but a way to keep his status toward retirement.
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