When he was just a boy of 6 or 7 years old, Airman 1st Class Dillon TerHaar attended an air show at the Battle Creek, Mich., Air National Guard Base. There, he got to look into the cockpit of an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. At that moment, he decided to join the Air Force.
Today, TerHaar is a crew chief working on A-10s for the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing, which is based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in metropolitan Detroit. In April 2021, he participated in his first major exercise, Green Flag-West, based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, helping to launch A-10s on simulated combat missions.
“This is exactly what I signed up for,” TerHaar said.