I grew up an AF brat. My dad was an USAF service man, my mother the domestic , and me, the AF Brat. My father was very proud to wear the uniform, and I always remembered him happy to go to work. He took pride in his service and that couldn’t help but rub off on his son. He embodied what a good American should be and I based my own views on citizenship and service on his own life. It was tragic that he didn’t live long enough to see me become a naturalized citizen myself – it was one of the proudest moments for myself.
I of course enlisted right after high school. College was probably the more obvious choice to those around me, but at the time, I was more focused on my own civic duty and the new family I thought I was going to be raising. So I paid my dues in the USN.
And now, my daughter Jazmen is just starting to get comfortable in her brand-spankin new service blues down in Lackland. I’m not just supportive of her, I am very proud of her. And we both owe a lot of who we our to the man that came before us. Without June, there would be no Chan, and no Jaz. I hope that can show our appreciation through the lives we lead.
In loving memory of Chancey D. Mainor, Jr.
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I knew and worked with your father when we were stationed in Kunsan, Korea in 1972-73. I am much saddened to find out he has passed. I was hoping to find him to talk to.