{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0446C366-6747-4D27-B0B0-67660DA4DE02", "Boozman Preserves Memories of Arkansas Air Force Veteran", "2023-12-21", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "John Boozman", "B001236", "www.boozman.senate.gov", "boozman", "https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) recognized the service of Harold Beaver in \u2018Salute to Veterans,\u2019 a series highlighting the military service of Arkansans.\n\nBeaver was born on December 12, 1946 and raised in Searcy, Arkansas. He grew up on a farm and attended Pleasant Plains school with only 15 other classmates. After graduation, he attended the University of Arkansas to pursue a degree in civil engineering.\n\nAfter completing a mandatory two years of ROTC, Beaver chose to pursue advanced ROTC.\n\n\u201cEverybody who was looking to have some choices during the Vietnam era rather than being drafted, for the most part, chose to go into the advanced ROTC. That\u2019s part of the reason, I had no idea what my draft number would be. It didn\u2019t make any difference, so I chose to go in that direction.\u201d\n\nJust weeks after marrying his wife, he was assigned to March Air Force Base in Riverside, California for a six-week advanced ROTC summer camp. \u201cIt was an interesting experience,\u201d he said recalling the extensive schedule that kept him very busy.\n\nHe graduated in May 1969 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. His first active duty assignment was at Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring, Texas.\n\n\u201cThe interstate wasn\u2019t completed at the time, so we did a lot of country driving to get there,\u201d he said.\n\nHe was selected for pilot training and learned to fly the T-41 \u201cto weed out the folks\u201d who weren\u2019t cut out to be a pilot.\n\nThe next step in training was flying the T-37, which at the time was the first jet an Air Force pilot flew. It was side-by-side training with an instructor for more than four months.\n\n\u201cThe 37\u2019s got a stick so you had to learn that transition,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the only plane in the Air Force, at that time, where you practiced spins, so we would go up to 22,500 feet, force it into a stall, create rotation and make it spin. There is only one spin recovery procedure. Nothing else works, other than that one, so you had to do it right once you got into a spin to get out.\"\n\nOne of his fellow students in the program was killed trying to get out of a spin. \u201cIt made me do some soul searching whether I wanted to continue with the program or not,\u201d he recalled.\n\nBeaver said the hardest part of learning to fly was the motion sickness, but he found ways to overcome the challenge.\n\nFollowing training on the T-38 the pilots in the class were able to select their next flying assignment based on the class ranking. Beaver elected to be an instructor on the T-37 and stay at Webb Air Force Base.\n\nHe described the relationships he made with fellow students as the best part of pilot training, and how important that was for him to give those same experiences to new pilots as an instructor.\n\nFlight classes were typically made of 25-30 students with 9-10 instructors.\n\nBeaver and other instructors also trained a lot of foreign pilots. One of his best students was from Norway. While that student spoke English well, others weren't proficient in the language.\n\n\u201cIt was kind of difficult trying to explain to them what to do in the plane while you\u2019re flying.\"\n\nThere is one experience as an instructor that stands out.\n\n\u201cWe were spinning,\u201d Beaver said. He recalled the student tried to recover, but the plane ended up in an inverted spin. \u201cVery uncomfortable situation, and his hands were locked on the stick, and I couldn\u2019t get him to turn loose.\u201d Beaver was beating on the student\u2019s hands to no avail. \u201cI grabbed his oxygen hose, squeezed it, and he couldn\u2019t breathe, so he turned loose the stick to grab his mask and that\u2019s when I got the stick and we recovered and came back immediately.\u201d\n\nBeaver had a five-year commitment to the Air Force, but he was able to get an early out as the Vietnam War was ending.\n\nHe and his wife returned to Arkansas where he spent a long career serving as a civil engineer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation.\n\nBeaver says he hopes he made a difference and shared knowledge that helped his pilots.\n\nHe recommends the ROTC program for those who feel called to serve. \u201cIt is something of an honor to serve your country, especially as a pilot, especially wearing the uniform of this country,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cHarold Beaver made a tremendous impact on transportation in Arkansas, so I\u2019m especially honored to help preserve these memories of his Air Force service, as well. He is a great example of someone who has found ways to use his talents to serve others throughout his lifetime. His stories are important to our nation\u2019s history and I\u2019m glad future generations will get to learn about the role he and other pilot instructors have had in ensuring the strength of our military,\u201d Boozman said.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=0446C366-6747-4D27-B0B0-67660DA4DE02"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1882732398808002, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}