by Ricco Brazzi

Created on: October 29, 2009

Marathon, Fl has a very special place in the back roads of my mind. You see, way back in the year 1974, I was an aspiring student pilot. A bit of a hot shot from Brooklyn, NY, l had all the answers for all the problems that ever beset mankind. I guess you might say I had an attitude, of sorts. Once upon a time I had a dream that I would someday fly the big boys of the sky's. My street kid mentality was the catalyst that propelled me forward-sometimes to my dismay. Consider that nothing was out of my reach in those days of yore. I was a tough guy, a runner-no one could ever beat me in a street race-a talker-I could talk my way out of the inside of a block of steel-a schemer-I made up some doozies to get from here to there and finally, humble. Right. Raised in the Italian Catholic tradition, I had a fear of God, cops and kids tougher then I was, in that order. That said, the Marathon thing was destined to happen. I accomplished one of my dreams when I was just eighteen. I was a member in excellent standing in Americas 82nd Army Airborne unit. A special forces trainee, I was made for the mold-not from it, mind you. Jumping was my passion.

Me and a few other toughs from Brooklyn were united in our minds as blood brothers from another time-using real blood to cement our allience. We jumped together, fought the bad guys together, stockaded together and picked up broads together. In the days of the 82nd, we were invincible. So much so, that their was rarely a time we weren't together in one adventure or another. Counted among them was bouncing off a bridge abutment at warp speed at three o'clock in the AM-into a murky, muddy river in Sumter, NC. Why? We were skunked from a farewell party that bade us farewell an hour before the incident, that's why. But that's another story. We were to ship out to Korea at revely the next morning. PS We didn't make it-to Korea, that is. Got the picture?Back to Marathon.

I swore that, someday I'd fly em' instead of jumping out of them . Well, here I was, twenty some odd years later attempting to complete my long cross country-solo- so I could sit for the FAA flight examiner and full-fill my dream of flying. Of course, I was far too smart and sassy to follow all the rules-just some of them. I was about to get a first hand lesson in what we were warned over and over again about in ground school -spacial disorientation. Oh, and let's not forget one of the other rules. Never, never ever fly over open water until you've been checked out

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>