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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