Veteran shares stories of ‘true heroes’
RANDOLPH — Ryan Surber often thought of pilots as being superheroes.
Maybe it was the influence of Tom Cruise’s performance in “Top Gun” which was so popular at the time but most likely it was from his own home life.
Surber’s father, Don, was fulltime military in the Air National Guard.
“It had an impact on me, a profound one. Having a family member in the military for me inspired me to become a member, to join, to serve,” he said during his address at the Veterans Day program at Randolph High School.
He served in the Air National Guard and also in active duty in the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City. He spent his first two years as a weapons system mechanic on F-16 fighter jets and then seven years as an aerial refueling tech. His brother, Bennie, served in the same company and he has other family members in the military including four cousins, an uncle, stepbrother and sister-in-law.
He found out firsthand that the pilots portrayed in Hollywood did not match that of the real-life Air Force.
“Pilots had an easy job, all they * had to do was not crash, land partnered with wheels down. I mean, how hard is that?” Surber joked.
As a boom operator, Surber didn’t find himself behind the wheel of a plane. Instead, he was responsible for everything behind the cockpit - passengers, cargo and in-flight refueling when part of the flight plan.
He now teaches art at Randolph Public Schools.
During his Veterans Day speech, Surber recalled several memorable moments from his time in active duty, “deploying within a moment’s notice.”
His longest deployment was 45 days stationed in Turkey to support Operation Enduring Freedom, flying over of Columbus the Black ranked Sea #6 in the and permanent into life Iraqi insur ights air Statista space. to independently survey more than 16,000 cu h
At that time, most of the air space was controlled by the United States or its allies.
“I was pretty much out of harm’s way, thank goodness,” Surber said. Another memorable mission was evacuation of people from New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“It looked like there had been 100 tornadoes. It was very devastating. I had never seen anything like that,” Surber said. “It was pretty meaningful to me to help those people ad they were in desperate need.”
Still, another mission, stands above the rest in his 10-year military career.
He was part of a medical evacuation mission in which he flew a soldier out of Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. to his home base near San Diego, Calif.
“He had been (seriously wounded but) out of battle for some time and recovered to a point where he was finally healthy enough to fly and we got to take him home,” Surber said.
The young Marine he was transporting couldn’t have been older than 19. Flying into San Diego, he recognized some of the landmarks from the “Top Gun” movies and remembers being awestruck by the sight.
Once landed, though, the powerful image of the Marine greeted by three generals and then his family, is not one that Surber will forget.
“It was a pretty powerful moment and still sticks with me to this day, seeing this young man finally make it home,” Surber said. “My sacrifices are pretty insignificant when you consider what so many others have done. . . . I think of some of the people who have experienced things that are unimaginable and I am so deeply thankful and I just hope that that moment I brought some of those troops home helped contribute in some way. To me, they are the true heroes.”
He urged those at the program to not just thank veterans with words but to take action by finding a pathway to be impactful in daily living - military service not required.
Along with Surber’s speech, Senior Ariel Fye read her winning Voice of Democracy essay titled “America: Where Do We Go From Here?” The essay is printed in this week’s Randolph Times.
The junior high and high school band and choir performed patriotic musical selections. Mayor George Bradley gave a welcome, and the Rev. Timothy Forgét provided the invocation and benediction. The parade and recession of colors was lead by the VFW and American Legion.
