My first duty assignment was as a bomb loader or weapons mechanic at Dow Air Force base , Bangor , Maine ; then I spent one year in Thailand loading bombs to drop in Vietnam ; six bombers were launched every six hours .”
After four years , Norrad left the Air Force , returned to Maine , and worked as a plant manager at a tire company in Westbrook where his then father-in-law , Kibbey Porter , was an executive . “ I didn ’ t feel like I ’ d earned that job . It didn ’ t feel right supervising people who had worked there for years . I decided that the Air Force was my calling , but I wanted to get out of bomb loading , do something more exciting and travel more . So , I enlisted for a second term and was assigned to a base south of Miami . I started playing volleyball for the base team and while playing in a tournament in northern Florida , I saw some guys wearing berets . I learned that they were deployed , undetected , behind enemy lines . Their motto was ‘ First There .’ They led the way for other troops . I asked to retrain into combat control .”
Norrad listed the extensive training required to become a combat controller , “ I went to basic airborne school for parachute training , I attended air traffic control school , survival schools ( for basic survival , plus jungle , Arctic , and water survival ), then a few years later I went to scuba diving training with the Navy , as well as free fall parachute training with Army Special Forces . During the dive training , I almost quit . I had a difficult time during “ pool harassment ” exercises and wanted to quit before they drowned me . But then Kibbey Porter ’ s words came back to me , ‘ We ’ re a team . This isn ’ t all about you . When you sign up , you stick with it .’ So , I decided not to quit . I might drown or I may fail , but I won ’ t quit . After that , I realized that I could do anything and not look for a way out .”
Following this , Norrad experienced a long and successful 30-year military career . “ I stayed on parachute jump status throughout the rest of my career and made more than 400 jumps . I made a night combat jump with U . S . Army Rangers in December of 1989 into Rio Hato , Panama , during operation Just Cause to help oust General Manuel Noriega , the Panamanian dictator and drug trafficker .
“ I liked parachuting ; it was my transportation to get to work . Normally I jumped High-Altitude-Low-Opening ( HALO ) where you jump at altitudes of up to 18,000 feet . But then I participated in a training program where you learn to open your parachute at high altitudes and glide long distances across the border into enemy territory . I did one of these jumps with Navy SEALS in West Germany . We went up to 30,000 feet where the air was so thin that we had to wear oxygen masks and warm clothes just to survive . We pulled our ripcord within seconds of jumping and flew our parachute canopies over 25 miles before landing .” Before he retired , Norrad recommended and then founded a parachute demonstration team , the U . S . Air Force STARS or Special Tactics and Rescue Specialists ( see photo at bottom left ). It was used as a recruiting tool to increase awareness of the combat control and pararescue career fields in the Air Force . Since military retirement he has continued to work for Air Force Special Operations Command as a contractor and later a government civilian employee until fully retiring on February 25 , 2016 , the 50th anniversary of the date he joined in 1966 . Norrad reflected , “ The more time you serve , the more patriotic you become . I loved my country before I joined , but became more patriotic the longer I served . Everything I got in the Air Force , I earned . I loved the opportunity to progress . I ended up studying harder for promotions because I was motivated and I wanted to excel . Toward the end of my career I was selected to be the top senior enlisted person working directly for the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command .
“ I started reconnecting with Thornton Academy at the 20th reunion . I was welcomed by my ’ 65 classmates and felt part of the class . I don ’ t think I ’ ve missed a reunion since .” Over the years , he says he has kept up with close friends , including Ken Pike , Ron Sargeant ( who became his brother-in-law ), Wayne Berry ’ 62 , and Sam Meserve ’ 66 .” Last year , Wayne returned for the 50th reunion and experienced a surprise . “ Headmaster Menard was making a special presentation and describing someone . I thought , ‘ He ’ s talking about me ’ and he was . He gave me an official diploma . It reads ‘ June , 2015 .’ Fifty years later I have a diploma from Thornton Academy . It ’ s official , signed and everything . I didn ’ t know what to say . I should have said that my grades and attendance were so bad that it took me 50 years to earn it ! It was a surprise . It gave me closure . I always felt bad that I was kicked out of English and then left my senior year and was not able to graduate with all of my TA friends . I felt incomplete .”
“ If I joined that team , then I wasn ’ t going to quit . I ’ m going to stick with it . I might get drowned or thrown out , but I won ’ t quit . After that , I realized that I could
do anything and not look for a way out .”
Chief Master Sergeant Norrad offered some advice for those Thornton students on campus today who face challenges , “ Try to be as mature as possible . Commit and be disciplined . If you make the wrong choices , it will lead to failure . Make the right choices and you will succeed . And if you sign up for something , don ’ t quit on anybody , especially yourself . You started it . Finish it .”
BY PATRICIA ERIKSON
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