Sam Stillings

Retired Naval Aviator. Saw the world, did some things, then came home. I graduated from Mannington HS in 1974, West Virginia University in 1979. Went to work for Aeromech Airlines as the Morgantown Station Manager for a couple years then joined the Navy in '83 to become a Naval Aviator. I was commissioned as an ensign in the USNR via the Aviation Officer Candidate School at NAS Pensacola FL (class 1783) in 1983 and then proceeded to flight school. Until 1994 I served as a Naval Aviator. I flew four different types of aircraft while in the Navy, but most of my hours are in the H-3 Sea King helicopter. I lived in many different places: Pensacola,FL; Milton, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Key West, FL; Norfolk, VA; Naples, Italy; Manama, Bahrain; and Patuxent River, MD as well as several ships in the fleet. I loved the Navy. Left as a result of the downsizing policy shorty after the Persian Gulf War (Desert Storm), the "peace dividend" they called it. They made me an $ offer I couldn't