JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. —
Imagine yourself flight suit zipped up, Aviators on, sitting in the cockpit of a KC-10 Extender, watching the gauges rise, hearing the whir of the engines as they spool up. There is a moment of silence amongst the constant chatter on the radios as your hand grips the throttles and you push the power up. Adrenaline is rushing through your body as the g-forces push you back in your seat and begin rolling down the runway.
“80 knots,” the co-pilot says.
“Power set,” you hear from the engineer behind you.
“V1,” the co-pilot calls out. You bring your hand from the throttles to the yoke.
“Rotate,” the co-pilot says. You begin to pull back and the 250 ton aircraft takes flight.
That’s just another day in the life of 514th Air Mobility Wing pilot 1st Lt. Alexandro Retamozo.
No two paths going into the Air Force are ever the same. However, Retamozo has had a unique chain of events in his life that landed him here at Joint Base MDL.
He was born in Asuncion, Paraguay and is the third of four children. His family moved to White Plains, New York in 2000 when he was seven years old.
As a child, Retamozo grew up with a love for soccer. He played year-round and eventually played for the North East Olympic Development Team, and became the captain of his high school varsity team.
“Playing soccer at different levels taught me a lot about leadership on and off the field,” Retamozo reminisced. “It forced me to balance a heavy academic load filled with honor classes along with playing games and practices almost every single day.”
When it came time to begin college he knew he wanted to attend a place that had plenty of school spirit. The choice was easy for Retamozo – Pennsylvania State University.
“My freshman year of college I felt like I was missing something since I didn’t play soccer anymore. That’s when I decided to sign up for Air Force ROTC,” Retamozo said. “I wanted to serve others and be a part of something larger than myself.”
The leadership team work and camaraderie aspect of Air Force ROTC were able to fill that void for Retamozo. In order to commission into the Air Force, he needed to become a U.S. citizen and pass the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT). Those were just a few of the many obstacles Retamozo encountered.
Unfortunately, due to English being his second language, he failed the English portion of the AFOQT twice. A candidate in AF ROTC can only take the test twice unless Headquarters Air Force grants a waiver. Retamozo stated, “The summer of 2013 I spent every day studying 20 new vocabulary words leading up to my third attempt at the AFOQT.”
After completing the SAT preparatory course, a waiver was approved and Retamozo passed. During his junior year in ROTC he applied for the active duty rated board. “I realized that I wanted to do something that involved aerospace engineering, but I didn’t want to be an engineer,” said Retamozo.
However, he did not earn an active duty pilot slot. The military was going through changes at the time and ROTC cadets were allowed to walk away from their active duty commitment regardless of scholarships they had been awarded.
Retamozo did not take no for an answer. He decided to apply for a pilot slot through the Air Force Reserves, but was placed on the wait list at number five. Three months from graduation he was set to move to Tyndall Air Force Base as a developmental engineer.
After one stressful month, Retamozo received exciting news. Two months before graduation, he received a pilot slot from the reserves as an unsponsored candidate as well as a job offer from Pratt and Whitney.
“My faith in God and the support from my friends, family and Emily, my girlfriend at the time and now fiancé, were really important during those times, especially the days when my tank was running empty,” said Retamozo. “The Non-Commissioned Officers at Detachment 720, especially Tech. Sgt. Toni Reid, did an awesome job of taking care of me. I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for them.”
Retamozo worked hard to earn his chance to put silver wings on his chest. He appreciates the lessons he learned as well as those who have continually supported him along the way.
“Little did I know that this AFOQT obstacle was prepping me for what was coming in the Air Force and in life,” Retamozo said. “There are always new obstacles out there and this process proved that resiliency and trusting that God always has a plan has and always will be very important.”
Retamozo graduated from Penn State University with an Aerospace Engineering degree and commissioned into the Air Force Reserves December 18, 2015. He started Undergraduate Pilot Training in Columbus, Mississippi May 2016 while still searching for a reserve unit. Almost a year later, in April 2017, he was sponsored by the 514th Air Mobility Wing.
Retamozo currently flies for the 78th Air Refueling Squadron as a traditional reservist, while working full time for Pratt and Whitney as a test engineer and is still playing coed soccer.