After the Korean War ended, his father left the Active duty Air Force and joined the Vermont Air National Guard as a full time Guardsman. Derek was born in Burlington, VT and was a collegiate ski racer at Norwich University in Northfield, VT. He was good enough to be considered for the U.S. Olympic team, but a broken leg in his senior year of college ended his dreams for winning an Olympic medal. The break almost ended his chances of qualifying for Navy flight training.
While at Norwich, he heard retired Rear Admiral Josh Haman speak several times and decided that he wanted to fly special operations and combat search and rescue missions. To do so, he volunteered to fly helicopters.
Derek married right after he earned his wings, but the marriage to Adrian ended in three years. The experience made him gunshy about engaging in a deep relationship with a woman. On his third tour in Afghanistan and near the end of his service obligation, a senior Army officer didn’t want Derek to pick up a SEAL team because of the weather. Because the team was being chased by the Taliban, Derek ignored the Army colonel’s wishes took off from Bagram Air Force Base. Had he not gone when he did, the SEAL team would have been overrun by the Taliban and either killed or captured. Despite the success, the Army colonel tried to screw Derek to cover his ass.
Right after the rescue, a CIA officer asks Derek if he wants to be a contract pilot for the agency. The CIA officer had seen Derek in action and believes he could be an asset to the CIA. The agreement that he signed allows him to stay in the Naval Reserve. After his release from active duty, Derek buys a small ranch in a town called Ivanhoe which is 120 north, north east of Dallas.
Derek is 5’ 11”, 170 and looks like an athlete. He has close cropped blonde air. Like his “idol” Josh Haman, Derek is a maverick and an innovative thinker who hates those with political agendas. With him, one’s position is binary, either one is part of the solution or part of the problem.
