thedrifter
07-03-07, 06:15 AM
Model Marine: Pilots' aide exuded leadership at young age
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:07/03/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
Jose Miguel Lopez was an unusual child, possessing both intelligence beyond his years and a moral compass that adults sometimes forget to consult.
Now Lopez -- at 21 a Marine corporal serving in Iraq -- puts those skills to use supporting pilots in Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, stationed at Al Asad Air Base about 100 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq. Lopez tracks flight hours and training for the FA-18D Hornet jockeys to ensure they are on top of their game.
"I count the flight hours to make sure everything is correct," the El Paso native said last week in a phone interview from Iraq, adding that he has logged 10,000 flight hours. "I keep track of every one to the tenth of a decimal."
Pilots must fly a certain number of hours and train to qualify for combat missions and the unit needs those hours to be designated an active-duty squadron, Lopez said. He added that the flight hours also are used to justify funding for gas, parts and manpower.
"If a jet is down for maintenance or something and they need to get into another jet, I have to coordinate all that stuff," Lopez said.
The fighter jets provide air-to-ground support for troops in the area.
"My squadron, they drop plenty of ordnance," he said. "We are here to support the Marines on the ground, wherever they need a bomb to be dropped ... or the sky illuminated."
Asked if the responsibility he shoulders is uncommon for a Marine corporal, he said his superior officers always are trying to develop leaders. "It's exactly what a (Marine) corporal would do," Lopez said. "They do task you to these things that normally a sergeant or a staff sergeant would do."
Lopez's parents say he was a responsible child from the time he learned to walk and talk.
"He was a little gentleman," said his father, Miguel Hicks. "He used to talk a lot and ask a lot of questions about everything."
Lopez uses his mother's last name.
When Lopez was 4 or 5, Hicks said he was standing in line at an East-Central hamburger joint when the man in front of them unknowingly dropped a $20 bill.
"It was very hard times for me," said Hicks, who had about $2 in his pocket. "I was thinking, 'Well, now we're both going to eat.' I remember he was just staring at me like, 'Dad, what are you going to do?'"
Hicks gave his son the $20 bill and he returned it to the man in line. The man thanked them by buying them both meals, Hicks said.
At about the same age, Hicks said, he and his son witnessed an accident. A young man ran a stop sign and rammed into another car. The youth quickly shook off the confusion and restarted his engine preparing to escape.
"My son started screaming, 'The license plate, dad!'" Hicks said. "He barely could talk, but he knew that the license plate had something to do with it."
At Montwood High School, Lopez excelled in his studies, said his mother, Beatriz Lopez.
"I'd ask him if he had done his homework and he'd say, 'Yeah, don't worry about it, mom. I know what I'm doing,'" she said. Another teenager might have been trying to dodge parental scrutiny, but the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps student meant what he said, graduating in 2004.
"In school, everybody liked him because he was a leader," Beatriz Lopez said. "Before he graduated, he enrolled in the Marines."
His father said he would often tell his young son that he should be proud to be an American and that he should thank the nation's veterans, but he never considered that he was instilling a desire to serve.
"As much as I love El Paso, I just knew I needed to get out and experience the world," Jose Lopez said. He joined the Marines "because of their way of being, their personality -- they walked around with their heads held up."
"I plan to make this a 20-year adventure," Lopez said. He said he will retire in El Paso.
But with the country involved in two wars, that's not an easy thing to accept for his parents -- particularly when the time between phone calls or e-mails stretches to two or three days.
"I feel sad because he's over there, but I cannot cry because I'm very proud of him," Beatriz Lopez said. "I pray to God every night that he comes home safely."
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Ellie
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:07/03/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
Jose Miguel Lopez was an unusual child, possessing both intelligence beyond his years and a moral compass that adults sometimes forget to consult.
Now Lopez -- at 21 a Marine corporal serving in Iraq -- puts those skills to use supporting pilots in Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, stationed at Al Asad Air Base about 100 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq. Lopez tracks flight hours and training for the FA-18D Hornet jockeys to ensure they are on top of their game.
"I count the flight hours to make sure everything is correct," the El Paso native said last week in a phone interview from Iraq, adding that he has logged 10,000 flight hours. "I keep track of every one to the tenth of a decimal."
Pilots must fly a certain number of hours and train to qualify for combat missions and the unit needs those hours to be designated an active-duty squadron, Lopez said. He added that the flight hours also are used to justify funding for gas, parts and manpower.
"If a jet is down for maintenance or something and they need to get into another jet, I have to coordinate all that stuff," Lopez said.
The fighter jets provide air-to-ground support for troops in the area.
"My squadron, they drop plenty of ordnance," he said. "We are here to support the Marines on the ground, wherever they need a bomb to be dropped ... or the sky illuminated."
Asked if the responsibility he shoulders is uncommon for a Marine corporal, he said his superior officers always are trying to develop leaders. "It's exactly what a (Marine) corporal would do," Lopez said. "They do task you to these things that normally a sergeant or a staff sergeant would do."
Lopez's parents say he was a responsible child from the time he learned to walk and talk.
"He was a little gentleman," said his father, Miguel Hicks. "He used to talk a lot and ask a lot of questions about everything."
Lopez uses his mother's last name.
When Lopez was 4 or 5, Hicks said he was standing in line at an East-Central hamburger joint when the man in front of them unknowingly dropped a $20 bill.
"It was very hard times for me," said Hicks, who had about $2 in his pocket. "I was thinking, 'Well, now we're both going to eat.' I remember he was just staring at me like, 'Dad, what are you going to do?'"
Hicks gave his son the $20 bill and he returned it to the man in line. The man thanked them by buying them both meals, Hicks said.
At about the same age, Hicks said, he and his son witnessed an accident. A young man ran a stop sign and rammed into another car. The youth quickly shook off the confusion and restarted his engine preparing to escape.
"My son started screaming, 'The license plate, dad!'" Hicks said. "He barely could talk, but he knew that the license plate had something to do with it."
At Montwood High School, Lopez excelled in his studies, said his mother, Beatriz Lopez.
"I'd ask him if he had done his homework and he'd say, 'Yeah, don't worry about it, mom. I know what I'm doing,'" she said. Another teenager might have been trying to dodge parental scrutiny, but the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps student meant what he said, graduating in 2004.
"In school, everybody liked him because he was a leader," Beatriz Lopez said. "Before he graduated, he enrolled in the Marines."
His father said he would often tell his young son that he should be proud to be an American and that he should thank the nation's veterans, but he never considered that he was instilling a desire to serve.
"As much as I love El Paso, I just knew I needed to get out and experience the world," Jose Lopez said. He joined the Marines "because of their way of being, their personality -- they walked around with their heads held up."
"I plan to make this a 20-year adventure," Lopez said. He said he will retire in El Paso.
But with the country involved in two wars, that's not an easy thing to accept for his parents -- particularly when the time between phone calls or e-mails stretches to two or three days.
"I feel sad because he's over there, but I cannot cry because I'm very proud of him," Beatriz Lopez said. "I pray to God every night that he comes home safely."
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Ellie