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Homeschool to Blackhawk

December 15, 2010
Pilot flying helicopter

As I sat at my desk struggling with Saxon Algebra ½, wondering what a dangling participle was and fearing the “new” homeschool diet my mom was about to test on us, I certainly didn’t think that a few years later I’d be sitting in an $8 million aircraft learning how to avoid radar-guided missiles.

Since most of my friends were homeschooled and didn’t know a fist bump from a frat party, I wasn’t too focused on spending the next four years of my life in the halls of higher learning. But things seemed to change after I finished that stage after high school, where a boy likes to jump off tall things and break bones. Did I really need a degree to start a career? Did McDonald’s really have a retirement package? For those of you who aren’t content with a cubicle or helping your mom knit doilies on your 25th birthday, I may be able to help.

I had a desire. I loved flying and everything related to it. God blessed me with parents who drove me to the ends of the earth so I could get that hour in the rusty old airplane or go to that pancake fly-in and meet a “real” pilot. If God’s given you a natural talent for something and a passion to do it, maybe that’s His cue. It’s not always a thundering voice from heaven.

I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to work hard to get it. I couldn’t rely on an $80,000 piece of paper from the state university telling others I was good at basket weaving. So instead of that, after high school I got a lot of life experience that definitely helped me get to where I am now. I worked many different jobs; I went into the woods for weeks, went on long hikes and figured out where my breaking point was. That’s not something a tenured professor can transfer into your soul.

I did everything from teaching flying and delivering boxes for UPS to driving the Amish to market. It wasn’t glorious, but it was valuable, and I had a résumé. I had more than two letters behind my name. So when I looked into flying helicopters for the Army, the “undergraduate degree” required to become an officer didn’t daunt me too much. Only a handful of people are selected, and pilots make up about 0.2% of the entire Army. When it came time for my interview with a colonel and a few majors, I heard it could take up to an hour to impress them. Mine lasted about four minutes. They said they were tired of seeing unemployed history majors with nothing to offer and were always looking for people with real life experience. And it only got easier after that. I finished at the top of my class in boot camp and was an honor graduate in primary flight training and the Blackhawk course. Yes, the vast majority of pilots have degrees, but they also have $60,000 of unpaid student loans and nowhere jobs in their field. I had a passion to fly and to serve our country and a degree didn’t stand in my way. Now, with so many alternatives to traditional college it almost seems pointless to lock yourself into four years of classes you don’t really need, with people who won’t help your career at all. Granted, there are many fields that require a four-plus year degree, but most can be done online or with distance programs that build a degree for you. Distance learning and real life experience are where it’s at. God gives us the dream and desire, but we have to be the owner, coach and cheerleader to get it done.

If you haven’t finished high school yet, or you’re in those awkward few years after and you just don’t know what to do, do anything that pushes you to the limit. You have stiff competition with the masses of scholared folk these days, and, as for me, I never regretted taking the jump off the edge.

Marc Cohen is the youngest son of Mel and Pat Cohen. Mel served No Greater Joy as the General Manager.

 

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13 comments on “Homeschool to Blackhawk”

  1. I too learned from the Army where my life was heading. I was a combat medic and found out that I was pretty good at this medicine thing, but I didn't want to be 35 and just starting out in my residency. I decided that nursing was a better choice and 15 yr's later I am still glad I made that decision.

  2. I too learned from the Army where my life was heading. I was a combat medic and found out that I was pretty good at this medicine thing, but I didn't want to be 35 and just starting out in my residency. I decided that nursing was a better choice and 15 yr's later I am still glad I made that decision.

  3. how do you avoid all the parties and alcohol use in that comes with joining the military? I served 4 years in the navy and my husband served 22 years in the marine corps. Sometimes it was required to get drunk for initiations or to move up in rank.I would never suggest anyone to join the military no more than I would public school.It was hard to be a chritian when we were in.divorce rates are high and everyone keeps secrects of what others dowhen they are deployed.no one is married when they are deployed. they all cheat on there spouses. forgive me for being negative.I just wouldn't want to be surrounded by all those things again and wouldn't want to lead someone to beleive this stuff doesn't happen.

  4. how do you avoid all the parties and alcohol use in that comes with joining the military? I served 4 years in the navy and my husband served 22 years in the marine corps. Sometimes it was required to get drunk for initiations or to move up in rank.I would never suggest anyone to join the military no more than I would public school.It was hard to be a chritian when we were in.divorce rates are high and everyone keeps secrects of what others dowhen they are deployed.no one is married when they are deployed. they all cheat on there spouses. forgive me for being negative.I just wouldn't want to be surrounded by all those things again and wouldn't want to lead someone to beleive this stuff doesn't happen.

  5. in response to a comment to Rachell, my husband was in the army for 12 years and came to the Lord during his time in the army. We have come across many God fearing men and women that strive thier best to serve Christ and make Him known. During deployments these soldiers hold Bible studies and reach out to the men and women around them trying to make an impact for Christ. I do agree, that there is a problem with infidelity and divorce, but do know that there are soldiers that are insiders reaching out to many and not only sharing Christ but walking with them and discipling them. I have had the privilege to have known many of them. Praise our King!

  6. in response to a comment to Rachell, my husband was in the army for 12 years and came to the Lord during his time in the army. We have come across many God fearing men and women that strive thier best to serve Christ and make Him known. During deployments these soldiers hold Bible studies and reach out to the men and women around them trying to make an impact for Christ. I do agree, that there is a problem with infidelity and divorce, but do know that there are soldiers that are insiders reaching out to many and not only sharing Christ but walking with them and discipling them. I have had the privilege to have known many of them. Praise our King!

  7. I disagree with Rachell, I was in the Army for 4 years and am now in the National Guard, partying and infidelity are choices that people make all the time as civilians. It is simply not true that you have to party for initiations in the military. I've never heard of or seen this happen. (I got promoted from E-1 to E-5 in four years without partying or trying to butter up my chain of command. I worked hard as unto the Lord, and they noticed.) All this to say, choices are choices whether we're in the military or not. God is not going to shelter us from reality if we don't serve our country, I believe that I have developed a stronger mind while in the Army, making better choices for my life, regardless of whether or not it is popular. We shouldn't hide from the world, but go into it and be a witness to others - how else are they going to know what a true christian is?

  8. I disagree with Rachell, I was in the Army for 4 years and am now in the National Guard, partying and infidelity are choices that people make all the time as civilians. It is simply not true that you have to party for initiations in the military. I've never heard of or seen this happen. (I got promoted from E-1 to E-5 in four years without partying or trying to butter up my chain of command. I worked hard as unto the Lord, and they noticed.) All this to say, choices are choices whether we're in the military or not. God is not going to shelter us from reality if we don't serve our country, I believe that I have developed a stronger mind while in the Army, making better choices for my life, regardless of whether or not it is popular. We shouldn't hide from the world, but go into it and be a witness to others - how else are they going to know what a true christian is?

  9. Congrats WO1Cohen! My brother was also homeschooled and is now a WO Blackhawk medivac pilot. He just returned from Afghanistan a couple months ago.

  10. Congrats WO1Cohen! My brother was also homeschooled and is now a WO Blackhawk medivac pilot. He just returned from Afghanistan a couple months ago.

  11. My husband is in the Navy, and we do know people who are good honest Christians, who have long lasting marriages. My husband ranked quickly from e-nothing to a 2nd (being promoted to 1st in a few months) in less than 4 years because he worked hard on the Stennis, and in his shop. I know my hubby doesn't get drunk on shore to be promoted and have no reason to doubt he doesn't on ship, as every1 calls us the Amish people *people ignorant of Amish culture :)*. In the Navy, people do not get promoted by drinking, and are rewarded for not drinking with days off. Plus, my husband does pee-watch quite often (drug testing other sailors) and if you've been doing drugs then you are out! There are quite a few people who drink, and divorce rates are high...but they just need Jesus! It is a sad day on ship when a sailor finds out his spouse has cheated at home (which is not often), and the Capt of my husband's ship required if you were found in adultery you were made to call your spouse and confess with the Capt on the phone then sent to mass...this was not promoted behavior.

  12. Awesome! My husband and I teach at a small k-12 Christian school. We are met with apathy so often. Kids who don't know how or want to work. Praise the Lord for good parents who teach their kids to work hard and go for what they want. They must be so very proud of you.