[ WAR IN IRAQ ]
COURTESY PHOTO
Lt. Tyler Nekomoto is a naval aviator aboard the USS Constellation, flying F/A-18s with the VFA 137 "Kestrels" squadron.
Like father, like son, LIHUE >> Dave Nekomoto is still kicking himself. His son, Tyler, was interviewed on national television on the first night of the bombing of Baghdad -- and both he and his wife, Doris, missed seeing it.
when they’re
flying in combat
Dave Nekomoto flew copters
By Anthony Sommer
in Vietnam; now his son is flying
jets as part of the war in Iraq
tsommer@starbulletin.com"All of our friends saw him. They all called us," Nekomoto laughed. "Everyone saw it but us."
Navy Lt. Tyler Nekomoto, 28, Kauai High School Class of '92, is an F/A-18 pilot with VFA 137, "The Kestrels," aboard the carrier USS Constellation. The Navy's F/A-18 Hornet is used for air-to-air combat and attacking ground targets.
Nekomoto's dad, a retired Navy commander who flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam, couldn't be prouder. The elder Nekomoto now works full time testing missiles at the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. In his spare time he still flies helicopters for Niihau Helicopters.
"Tyler's always wanted to fly," Nekomoto said. "Originally, he wanted to be an Air Force pilot, but he ended up graduating from the University of Colorado on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Both my wife and I are (Colorado) alumni as well."
When he graduated first in his flight school, Tyler Nekomoto had his choice of which aircraft to fly. His father said he considered becoming a helicopter pilot like his dad.
His dad advised him to choose jets.
"You don't want to be in the helicopter supporting the jet pilots. You want to be flying that jet that takes off from the front end of the carrier," Dave Nekomoto said he told his son. "Everybody out there, every destroyer, every submarine, every helicopter, everybody is there to help launch you off the front end of that carrier."
Dave Nekomoto considers jet-fighter pilots the elite of the elite.
"Can you imagine the attrition?" he asked. "Take every little kid who's ever dreamed about being a fighter pilot, and then count the number who actually make it. A speaker at Tyler's flight-school graduation said there are more National Football League players than there are U.S. Navy jet pilots. I think that's probably true."
Nekomoto said the U.S. military is very different today from the draftee-dominated services of Vietnam.
"The kids that you see on television all have a strong sense of purpose. Everyone there wants to be in the service, and everyone there is a professional," he said.
Tyler Nekomoto e-mails his parents several times a week. "That's something we never even dreamed of in Vietnam. It's wonderful," Dave Nekomoto said.
Nekomoto said he and his wife probably view the war and their son's role in it quite a bit differently from parents who were not career military.
"I was a combat pilot. I fully understand what he's going through," Nekomoto said. "My wife worries, but she's more seasoned than most service mothers. She's gone through having close family who is flying in combat.
"Many people, parents of servicemen, have problems with the 'embedded reporters' and the really intense news coverage. Some won't watch it.
"I, personally, watch it every day," he added.
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