Delmar pilot stays grounded

Area men and women fly with the 109th – George Alston

This is the first of a two-part series on members of the 109th Airlift Wing based in Scotia. This week The Spotlight focuses on the home lives of two of its members,

George Alston

of Delmar and Bradt Primary teacher

Karolyn De Vito

. Next week we will focus on how they perform their military duties in Greenland.

See Part 2 of

George Alston’s story here

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland – George Alston grew up in a military family where expectations ran high.

After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1989, he began his military career as an instructor pilot with assignments in Arizona, Texas, Japan and Arkansas. At that point in his career he was doing very well.

`My father always had aspirations for me to have a higher command than he did. Since he was a full colonel, that would mean being a general,` the 43-year-old Delmar resident said. Just as he was readying for his next assignment in 1998, he received a received a medical diagnosis for his first-born daughter.

`The defining moment in my life was having to face the realities of a child with special needs. At that point, it became all about her. Every decision we made was about Ashley,` Alston said. `I said to myself, ‘I don’t need to be a general, I need to be a good dad.’`

Alston made the decision to leave the full-time Air Force and began to search for a National Guard Unit in the U.S. that flew C-130s. There were lots of them.

`In any Air Force career, you are going to move every three years,` he said. `Ashley needed stability in her care. The frequent moves made that stability highly unlikely.`

While researching guard units, Alston and wife Jennifer gravitated toward the 109th. They liked the Capital District and the Bethlehem School District offered great programs for their growing family.

`We had no connections to this area at all or even New York for that matter, other than an aunt that lived in New York City.` he said. `I would still be flying C-130s, but in a non-combat role. My schedule would be more predictable and that is imperative when you have five children.`

After joining the 109th Airlift wing, Alston landed a job with US Airways as a 737 pilot, but that was shortlived.

`Nine-11 changed all that. I was furloughed, which is the airlines’ word for laid off,` he said.

At this point Alston had another bad-into-good moment.

He was hired full time as the 109th’s community relations manager.

`The position is about outreach to the community. We are the liaison between the command and the local, business and political communities.`

Through this, he wanted to be more involved. He got into the General Electric Junior Officer Leadership Program, which offers jobs to young officers and assigns them to different units of GE. The goal is to help the officer develop various leadership skills in various work environments within the company.

`This program was designed for young captains, and I was a major at that point,` he said. `They called me Grampa.`

Alston had three rotations at GE in communications, GE Foundation and human resources/union relations.

`We did some amazing things at GE, especially with relief efforts for the large earthquake and hurricane Katrina. I also had an eye-opening experience in human relations, understanding the complexities of union and management negotiations.`

Alston eventually learned about a program through the Chamber of Schenectady County called Leadership Schenectady. The program connected local business leaders to all facets community life in Schenectady. When he graduated from the program, he was ready to give back.

Chuck Steiner, the president of the Chamber tapped Alston to co-chair a new program that merged the Schenectady program with the Albany Colonie Regional Chamber’s. For two years, he co-chaired Leadership Tech Valley, and then became chairman of the Schenectady Foundation, which is the fundraising arm for the Chamber programs.

`Leadership is so important to society,` Steiner said. `The answer to every problem that exists today is to raise a generation of leaders to solve them in the future.`

With all this involvement and still being a full-time guardsman, balancing family life is hard.

`I try to include my family in everything I can. It allows me to be there with my kids,` Alston said.

In 2007 he deployed to Afghanistan with the 109th, which was hard on the family, but others stepped up while he was away.

`While I was away, my wife had a medical emergency with her mother, and other members of the community stepped in to help us take care of the kids,` he said. `The amazing thing is they got a hold of me in Afghanistan within one hour. `

At the same time a terrible storm blew down a tree, which went through the roof of his house in Delmar.

`My wife was still away, but within one day, the roof was covered. This unit takes care of its own.`

During a recent deployment to Antarctica, Alston set up a video conference with Hamagrael Elementary School in Bethlehem to use the guard as a teaching tool for students.

`It was a way to connect them to what is going on down there,` he said. `Sometimes we (at the 109th) lose sight as to how cool our mission really is. If I can make a difference, I want to be part of it. I have been the beneficiary of many opportunities and I hope that I can offer opportunities to others.`

Next week, we will look at Alson’s duties as a LC-130 instructor pilot and chief of aircrew training for the 109th during a recent deployment to Greenland.

Click Below to see the Photo Gallery of George Alston.