MSgt Gary Willet was honored with a retirement ceremony on Aug. 15 at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

MSgt Willet is the son of Sarepta "Betty" and MSgt Harvey Willet (U.S. Army, retired). He and his wife, Lynn have two children, Zachary, 13, and Morgan, 11.He was born in San Antonio, Texas and attended grade school in Lehighton with a year in Hanau, Germany where his father was stationed. He graduated high school in Troy, Pa. in 1988 and entered the delayed enlistment program that year. He entered active duty service in November 1989.After graduating from basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas, Willet completed basic Loadmaster technical training and C-5 Loadmaster initial qualification training. His first duty assignment was to the 9th Military Airlift Squadron Dover AFB in February 1990. He upgraded to qualified loadmaster in October 1990 while on a Desert Shield mission.He went on to support numerous military operations including Desert Storm, Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, New Dawn and Special Assigned Airlift Missions directly supporting the President of the United States.In 1992, he was promoted to Senior Airman Below the Zone and in 1994 was one of the first Senior Airmen to achieve instructor qualification.Willet gained his airdrop qualification in February 1996 and was a member of the historic 6-ship Brigade Airdrop test at Pope AFB, NC. In 1999, he gained his evaluator certification and in 2000 he obtained Special Operations Low Level Night (SOLLII) qualification. Willet volunteered for a Tanker Airlift Control Element (TALCE) assignment with the 621st Contingency Response Group at McGuire AFB, NJ. During his four-year TALCE assignment he qualified as a ramp coordinator and AMC affiliation instructor. He was assigned to the 621st and 721st Air Mobility Squadrons and the 819 Global Support Squadron where he was the group's affiliation manager for McGuire's European and Eastern U.S. training affiliates. During his assignment to McGuire he deployed with the TALCE to Djibouti, Africa; Oman, Jordan; and Tikrit, Iraq. He also taught countless affiliation classes in the U.S. and Europe.He was assigned to the 9th Airlift Squadron in 2005. Since his return, he has held positions including NCOIC of loadmaster training, standardization and evaluations superintendent (operations group and squadron), squadron flight chief, assistant loadmaster supt and loadmaster supt.During his time in the Air Force he obtained a Community College of the Air Force associates degree in aviation operations; professional manager certifications; and graduated summa cum laude from Trident University with a BS in business administration.Willet has flown the C-5A, C-5B, and the C-5M aircraft and has logged 8,297 flying hours (1,242 combat hours), and 1,736 sorties (210 combat sorties).His first flight was Jan. 24, 1990, and his last flight was July 17, 2013.He currently resides in Harrington, Del.