Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Family, and RVs

[terrykohler]

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A U.S. Navy P8 recently completed a training mission, and before heading home, made a stop at The Marine airbase at Cherry Point, N.C. During the stop-over, one of its crewmembers, PO2 Erich Kohler, officially began his third tour in the Navy with a swearing-in ceremony conducted onboard the Poseidon.
Erich is the son of my brother Mike (RV6 ? N8491K), is currently based in Jacksonville, Florida, and serves as flight crewmember for VP8. Erich started his service in the Navy as an electrical/instrument repairman, followed by a crew position on a P3 Orion, before eventually transitioning to the new P8 Poseidon. He?s also currently heading for the finish line at Embry Riddle University (as is his younger brother, Alec, who?s now in the midst of an instrument rating to go with a degree). I?m very proud of these young men. Erich honored our family by asking his cousin to handle the recent ceremony.
Delivering the oath to Erich was Lt. Commander Dr. Leah (Kohler) Spring. Leah is our eldest daughter, a build assistant on N323TP, and is currently serving as Staff Dermatologist at Naval Hospital, Camp Lejeune. When she completed flight and aeromedical training in ?07, N323TP took me to Pensacola where I was privileged to pin the gold wings on her. Afterwards, Leah served as Flight Surgeon for Navy VP45 out of JAX before assignment to the Marine KC130J group based at Futenma. It was in Okinawa where she met and married Major Tyler Spring USMC, then an aircraft commander with the Mighty Sumos. For a guy with mostly heavy metal time, he?s a pretty good stick with 3TP.
Eleven years before all of this and a recent medical school graduate, Leah received her own service oath from Captain Roger Bentlage, USN (Ret.). Roger is a very close friend; he built and flies an impeccable RV7 as well as a Pitts S2 out of Marquette, Michigan. Roger spent 3,000+ hours putting together N531MR from quick build wings and fuselage. The extended build time was the result of an engineering background combined with Germanic lineage. Everything is on CAD and there?s more documentation than an A380. Nuff said.
Finally, I should mention that my youngest build assistant, daughter Lauren, is slated to return stateside this summer following a three year stay in Germany. Lauren and family will be moving to Rhode Island, where husband, Army Major (select) Josh Fender, will attend the Naval War College (Josh has already received a little flight training in N323TP and can expect more). Lauren is a former mental health counselor for the DOD and an adjunct Psychology Professor and, while the only fruit salad on her blouse was likely put there by one of her young daughters, she?s very much ?Army?.
Besides family, the thread that ties much of this together is an incredible little airplane ?we? built in our garage over 13 years ago. Today, it resides at KPTK, next to an RV7A, N442DP (Dave Pohl) and an RV6, N16TG (Ted Gauthier). For the coming year, the primary mission for N323TP will be to provide Peggy and me with timely, regular transport to Camp Lejeune and Newport, with an occasional trip back to the family camp on the shore of Lake Superior. Life is good.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP

[DeltaRomeo]

Thank you for posting! Enjoyed every word!

[MercFE]

Small world... Retired Navy Flight Engineer, but got my start as an Aviation Electronics Technician and did a tour with VP-8.

Now that I'm retired, I help with the production testing of the new P-8's.

Congrats to PO2 on the continuing career!

[Bubblehead]

Outstanding! My congratulations and thank you to all the mentioned service members.

[Mark Dickens]

Congratulations to your family! There's much to be proud of there. Reading your post was a great way to get a Monday started (well that and coffee ).