In honor of yesterday’s Veteran’s day and in remembrance of every soldier and hero that have fought for our country, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to remember and represent some veterans in my own family and share their stories, specifically my Uncle Mario.
My family is an Air Force family. My grandmother, my grandfather, and my uncle have all served in the Air Force at sometime in their lives. Sadly, i’ve never had the classic ideal situation of sitting in front of a grandparent and listening to old war stories with big eyes and wondering ideas about the world. My grandmother, Gerlint Ursula Zuge, passed away from breast cancer just about a year before I was born and I didn’t meet my grandfather, , until I was about 14 years old and have only seen him a few more times since.
Lucky for me though, I still have access to their stories through they’re four children. My uncle Mario (who served in the Air Force and is still serving for the national guard), my aunts Sharon and Cookie, and my father Robert.
Robert, Cookie, Sharon, and Mario
For this Veteran’s Day, I’ve decided to share a little bit of my own family history with you and why it’s important to me. I’ve learned so much from these people and they inspire me everyday. I hope they inspire you in some way as well.
Mario Reeve
My uncle Mario, first son of both Mariano and Gerlint, joined the Air Force active duty when he was only 18 years old, and later joined the National Guard. In total he’s served about 24 years, 10 years active duty in the Air Force and 15 for the Air National Guard.
He decided to join the Air Force because as a high school drop out, he didn’t really know which direction he wanted to go with his life. He figured that if he didn’t get the discipline and education that the military would provide, he would go down a bad path. In the end, he says that the military was a “saving grace” for his future.
When he joined the Air Force, he joined as a jet engine mechanic. While he was working that job, he saw some guys that were enlisted, flying with the pilot in the cockpit of the plane. He asked them about the job and they told him about becoming a flight engineer. He learned that it was the most coveted job of the Air Force, but he knew that he wanted to apply for the job. After some hard studying and passing the test to become a flight engineer, he ended up flying for the Air Force as a flight engineer for 7 years. At his 10 year mark of serving active with the Air Force, he decided to continue being a flight engineer for Japan Air, so he moved to Japan to continue his work.
After working with Japan Air for 10 years and meeting his now wife, Jackie, he decided that he wanted to return to America and still find a way to serve in the military. Once he returned the U.S he worked as a jet mechanic again, but felt like he wasn’t moving forward with his career but backwards. He ended up cross-training to computers and networking to help him move forward and ended up having a leadership position as a first sergeant.
Today, he still serves with the National Guard as a retention manager for the state of Utah. His job is to try and retain members of the National Guard and manage all the incentives. If someone is looking to join the National Guard or is in the National Guard, he talks to them about the educational and funding benefits that the National Guard provides, and manages their educational funding.
He says about his current position: “I absolutely love what I’m doing right now for the National Guard. I’m helping those that were just like me, find direction and fund their education so that they can further themselves in the world.”
Mario recently got an award for Retention Manager for the entire nation.
To put it simply, he’s the best of the best.
Mariano Lugtu Ycmat
My grandpa Mariano was born and raised in the Philippines and decided to join the Air Force when he was about 19 or 20 years old. His father, who was a surviver of the death march, was a cook for the Air Force, which at the time was called the Army Air Core. Back during WWII, if someone fought in the Filipene Army side by side with the American’s, you were allowed passage into the U.S. Because of this, he was able to leave the Philippines and was stationed in Denver, Colorado as a jet engine mechanic. In Denver was were he met my grandmother, Gerlint, since she was a weather girl for the Air Force at the time.
Mariano served in the Air Force during the Vietnam war and engaged in combat when the Viet Cong attacked his station in Cambodia. Luckily he survived but it was a pretty traumatic experience for him.
He did tours in the Philippines, Thai Land, and Vietnam. Since he moved around so much, he found it as an easy way to visit his home in the Philippines.
Thought I don’t know my grandfather that well, I do know that he is an amazing man. He was a tough guy that never backed down.
Fun fact: He got in a fight in the military with another soldier and ended up loosing his eye, causing him to now have a glass eye. He was that kind of guy. You didn’t mess with Mariano Ycmat.
Gerlint Ursula Zuge
My grandmother, Gerlint aka “Jean”, served in the Air Force for only a short time as a weather girl and would report about weather changes that might effect the flights. She originally joined the Air Force after she moved to America from Germany and became a nanny for a wealthy jewish family in New York City. She joined the military hoping to become an interpreter in german, but since the position wasn’t available she was offered the job as a weather girl for the air force.
She only served in the Air Force for about 4 years since she met my grandfather, Mariano, and became pregnant with their first son Mario. They ended up getting married in Denver, Colorado where they were both stationed.
A couple months ago, I knew close to nothing about my grandmother, only the fact that I shared her name “Jean” as my middle name. It wasn’t until my cousin approached me asking me to help her with an assignment. Just like me, she’s terrible at presenting in front of people and can suffer from anxiety attacks. She asked me to help her create a video that she could show her class, sharing a brief history of a family member. I accepted, but didn’t think much of it and figured it would be a quick project. It wasn’t until she had me interview her dad, my uncle Mario, and our Aunt Sharon that I realized I needed to learn more about my grandmother. I ended up spending 5 weeks on the project, working on it everyday until I could get it somewhere near perfect.
Here is the “directors cut” of the video, since the project video could only be 5 minutes long, I had to make two.
To quickly sum of the video, my grandmother was an amazing person. She only served in the Air Force for 4 years, but was still a hero to me and to my family. I’m extremely saddened by the fact that I never got to meet such an amazing and inspirational woman, but i’m more than honored to have her name be a part of me forever.
I hope this article inspired you in some way to thank and give respect to all the soldiers and heroes that are fighting for our freedom and our country. If you come across a veteran today, make sure to stop them and give them a warm handshake and a thank you.
[ORIGINAL POST ON SALTROADS.COM]