thedrifter
07-17-06, 08:18 AM
Air station commander no stranger to the area
July 17,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Somewhere along the way, a Morehead City boy who spent his childhood trolling the coastal waterways for fish and shrimp grew up into a Marine Corps colonel who now commands an air station.
Not even that boy — now Col. Darrell Thacker Jr. — can tell you how it happened.
“Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would get this far,” said Thacker, a locally born and bred Marine who assumed command of New River Air Station on July 7.
The air station lies only miles down the coast from his boyhood haunts in Salter Path and Broad Creek, where he spent time shrimping with his granddaddy and where he thinks he “was pretty much related to everybody in Broad Creek by marriage or blood.”
“The one constant was water,” he said. “I was always in the water and always wet.”
His Marine father, Darrell Thacker, was an air defense intercept officer who split most of his time between Cherry Point and Beaufort, S.C. His family traveled along with him, which treated his son to life along most of the Carolina coasts.
Once he graduated from Wilmington’s Laney High School, Thacker decided military life was for him. He said his upbringing in a military family had a lot to do with his desire to enlist. He was instilled with the idea that even if you serve for only a brief stint, “you need to do your part.”
“I’m sure it had a large part to do with it,” he said. “You see the customs, courtesy and traditions; and you start learning from your parents that sense of responsibility.”
Thacker said he was recruited by all the branches of the military. He was accepted at the Citadel but couldn’t go because his family was unable to afford it without a scholarship.
“So I did it the hard way,” he said.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1979. Although the original plan was to go into avionics, his schooling was delayed because classes were full. Instead, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He graduated in 1983 and was commissioned through the Platoon Leaders Course. Thacker’s next stop was flight training.
He became a CH-46 pilot and served in that capacity with New River-based Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162 from 1986 until 1991, deploying overseas three times.
Thacker said he enjoyed the numerous deployments, especially when he was single. It gave him the sense of adventure he sought.
“I joined the Marine Corps to get out and do things, things that you can’t do in the States, for the adventure of it,” he said. “I joined the Marine Corps to do things, not sit behind a desk and chase electrons.”
He spent a few years in Yuma, Ariz., with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 as a CH-46 instructor. In 1996, Thacker returned to the area as an air-ground exchange officer with 2nd Marine Division, then returned to HMM-162 as the operations officer. His squadron deployed with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Thacker was serving as the MEU’s executive officer in September 2001, when the unit deployed to Afghanistan and elsewhere in support of anti-terrorism campaigns.
His first deployment to Iraq came in 2003 as Marine Aircraft Group 29 executive officer. While in Iraq he assumed command of his old unit, HMM-162. His second tour to Iraq with the 2nd MAW ended in February.
Eight deployments later, Thacker said he is excited to command an air station — where he can support the Marines deploying into harm’s way. The fact he has returned to his boyhood home is a bonus.
“It’s home,” he said. “I was born in Morehead City and raised in Wilmington. I’ve got family from Dare County all the way down to New Hanover County. That alone makes it special. I’m excited, happy, all the adjectives you can think of. It was like the perfect answer to get back here where you are so comfortable, with friends and family.”
Thacker, who lives in Surf City with his wife, Vicki, said he loves the people in the area — and seems to be reuniting with old friends every day.
“Every time we walk into Lowe’s, we run into someone we haven’t seen in forever and we spend a half an hour just talking.”
Contact Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, Ext. 229.
Ellie
July 17,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Somewhere along the way, a Morehead City boy who spent his childhood trolling the coastal waterways for fish and shrimp grew up into a Marine Corps colonel who now commands an air station.
Not even that boy — now Col. Darrell Thacker Jr. — can tell you how it happened.
“Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would get this far,” said Thacker, a locally born and bred Marine who assumed command of New River Air Station on July 7.
The air station lies only miles down the coast from his boyhood haunts in Salter Path and Broad Creek, where he spent time shrimping with his granddaddy and where he thinks he “was pretty much related to everybody in Broad Creek by marriage or blood.”
“The one constant was water,” he said. “I was always in the water and always wet.”
His Marine father, Darrell Thacker, was an air defense intercept officer who split most of his time between Cherry Point and Beaufort, S.C. His family traveled along with him, which treated his son to life along most of the Carolina coasts.
Once he graduated from Wilmington’s Laney High School, Thacker decided military life was for him. He said his upbringing in a military family had a lot to do with his desire to enlist. He was instilled with the idea that even if you serve for only a brief stint, “you need to do your part.”
“I’m sure it had a large part to do with it,” he said. “You see the customs, courtesy and traditions; and you start learning from your parents that sense of responsibility.”
Thacker said he was recruited by all the branches of the military. He was accepted at the Citadel but couldn’t go because his family was unable to afford it without a scholarship.
“So I did it the hard way,” he said.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1979. Although the original plan was to go into avionics, his schooling was delayed because classes were full. Instead, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He graduated in 1983 and was commissioned through the Platoon Leaders Course. Thacker’s next stop was flight training.
He became a CH-46 pilot and served in that capacity with New River-based Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162 from 1986 until 1991, deploying overseas three times.
Thacker said he enjoyed the numerous deployments, especially when he was single. It gave him the sense of adventure he sought.
“I joined the Marine Corps to get out and do things, things that you can’t do in the States, for the adventure of it,” he said. “I joined the Marine Corps to do things, not sit behind a desk and chase electrons.”
He spent a few years in Yuma, Ariz., with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 as a CH-46 instructor. In 1996, Thacker returned to the area as an air-ground exchange officer with 2nd Marine Division, then returned to HMM-162 as the operations officer. His squadron deployed with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Thacker was serving as the MEU’s executive officer in September 2001, when the unit deployed to Afghanistan and elsewhere in support of anti-terrorism campaigns.
His first deployment to Iraq came in 2003 as Marine Aircraft Group 29 executive officer. While in Iraq he assumed command of his old unit, HMM-162. His second tour to Iraq with the 2nd MAW ended in February.
Eight deployments later, Thacker said he is excited to command an air station — where he can support the Marines deploying into harm’s way. The fact he has returned to his boyhood home is a bonus.
“It’s home,” he said. “I was born in Morehead City and raised in Wilmington. I’ve got family from Dare County all the way down to New Hanover County. That alone makes it special. I’m excited, happy, all the adjectives you can think of. It was like the perfect answer to get back here where you are so comfortable, with friends and family.”
Thacker, who lives in Surf City with his wife, Vicki, said he loves the people in the area — and seems to be reuniting with old friends every day.
“Every time we walk into Lowe’s, we run into someone we haven’t seen in forever and we spend a half an hour just talking.”
Contact Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, Ext. 229.
Ellie