FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. –
Warrant Officer Dejour Hughes, a medevac helicopter pilot with the Charlie Company, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion, 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade is no stranger to overcoming life's obstacles in order to achieve his personal and professional goals.
Growing up in York, Hughes faced delicate and complex family circumstances that made it difficult for him to be successful in school. His disdain for authority often left him involved in altercations with other students, suspended from school or transferred to other high schools.
He began working at a relatively young age in the field of culinary arts in an effort to assist his mother in providing income for his family. His diligence paid off as he was promoted quickly within the company in which he was working, going from a dishwasher to an event line cook. Despite finding some success in employment, Hughes still faced challenges at home and quickly found himself living in Lewistown working as an apprentice for his uncle's carpentry business.
"[My uncle] taught me everything he knew, and ultimately, with the combined effort of my father, raised me to be a man," said Hughes.
Hughes was devastated when his father passed away when he was in his early twenties. Prior to his passing, Hughes' father shared some of his life's regrets, one of which was not joining the military and becoming an aviator when he was a young man.
In an effort to live out the dreams that his father shared with him, Hughes enlisted as a cavalry scout in the Pennsylvania National Guard. While at basic training, he discovered that becoming a warrant officer would afford him the opportunity to be an aviator. After serving for 6 years as a cavalry scout, Hughes' application for Warrant Officer Candidate School and Initial Entry Rotary Wing Training was approved.
WOCS quickly thrust Hughes into a challenging, solution-driven environment requiring quick thinking, versatility and leadership. He worked and learned alongside other prior-enlisted service members whose ranks ranged from specialist to command sergeant major.
"WOCS honed my organizational skills and cultivated my desires to be a mentor," said Hughes. "Being a warrant officer inherently gives off the idea that we have all the answers and if not, then at least we know where to look."
Together, all of the candidates navigated training for the leadership roles, networking and camaraderie that accompany being a member of the warrant officer cohort. Upon his graduation from WOCS and the pinning of his warrant officer rank, Hughes rejoiced in knowing that the adversity that he faced and the hard work that he put forth paid off in honor of his father.
Following WOCS graduation as a new warrant officer, Hughes journeyed to IERW to begin his official preparation to be an aviator. While there, he trained in topics such as time management, leadership, weapons qualification, swim testing and SERE, or survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. He learned the basics of flight by operating the UH-72 Lakota helicopter, before beginning to learn to fly his assigned aircraft, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
"My first flight was euphoric. I remember coming home and just melting into my wife with tears of joy," described Hughes.
Despite some initial frustration with getting the hang of operating the aircraft with a steady hand, Hughes realized that the more repetition of the flight tasks he had, the more enjoyable training would be. This was especially true as the training became much more intense and involved with tactical combat maneuvers, multi-ship flying, aerial navigation and flying solely using instruments. His training led Hughes to become a subject matter expert on the UH-60, thus enabling him to advise multiple levels of leadership and his commander on the best use of this airframe.
The culmination of all of this difficult training was a final graduation ceremony where Hughes' wife pinned on his wings, his mother and sister were able to attend and his father was present in his heart.
"When I [walked] across the stage, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder pushing me across, and I knew it was [my father]. I remember back when I would look up in the motor pool at the Black Hawks flying overhead and tell my buddies that that was going to be me someday. I couldn't tell you how many nights I prayed for this and how many days I thought I would never get to this point."
Hughes strongly concludes that the wings that he earned through his training are not his own. Instead, they are for his father who wanted to fly but selflessly served his family instead, his wife and children who love and support him, his mother and sister who did their best in raising him and all of the people who have dreams they would like to accomplish in the face of adversity.