SOCOM patriarch retires after a remarkable 63 years of service
By: Michael Bottoms - USSOCOM Office of Communication - 6/22/2021
In the year 1958, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, hula hoops became a national craze and the cost of an average house was $12,750. Also, in that year, David Lee Northern Jr. began his remarkable journey of 63 years of service.
Enlisting in the Air Force as a civil engineer, Northern would have 12 assignments in his 26-year career including two tours in Vietnam. In Vietnam he was assigned to “Red Horse” (Rapid Engineer Deployable, Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer) squadrons which were heavy construction units like the Navy Seabees.
“We worked day and night doing 12 hour shifts in Vietnam doing runway and ramp construction projects. We erected metal buildings and aircraft revetments to protect fighter aircraft. The laboring hours in those positions of support on many occasions would cause me to lose track of time. We as Airmen would continue to perform assignments that made the time go by fast until it was time to rotate back to the United States mainland,” said Northern. “It was challenging. I discovered many things about my own resilience and what the human body could endure. I was humbled continuously and daily. We never really knew sometimes what the day would bring. We made it there and back in one piece physically sometimes and fragmented in other ways but, we stuck together. It is so very true that teamwork makes the dream work. Sometimes, I did not think I would make it, but God saw fit for us to make it. My faith kept me hopeful and praying for myself and others.”
https://www.socom.mil/pages/SOCOM-patriarch-retires-after-a-remarkable-63-years-of-service.aspx
