QOV Awarding Honors Veteran and His 22 Years-plus Career

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Senior Staff Writer

HARRISON – When is enough, enough? That would seem to be a question whose answer Harrison resident and pilot Joshua Snow has yet to find. Snow and many of his family members gathered Saturday, July 20 at Veterans Freedom Park in Harrison for a truly special occasion – his awarding of a Quilt of Valor by Quilts of Valor Foundation representative Judy Tritten. Among those in attendance was Snow’s grandmother Mildred Snow, age 100. Her presence also represented her husband, the late Teddy Snow, who had served in the Army Air Corps.

Prior to the actual quilt presentation, Tritten described the origins of the Quilts of Valor, and the countless hours contributed by the volunteers who sew these quilts – quilts intended for wrapping comfort around veterans whose service to their nation should never go unrecognized. She noted that, since its inception, the QOV Foundation has presented 390,000 quilts.

She pointed out to Snow that his quilt contained fabrics whose prints represent all the branches of the U.S. military. Considering Snow’s extensive and wide-ranging military service, the quilt’s “Around the World” pattern choice also was truly apropos.

Snow attended Beaverton High School, then moved to Harrison while he attended Mid Michigan Community College [where he met his future wife, Tabitha]. There he earned an HRA (heating, refrigeration and air-conditioning) degree in 1999, and joined the U.S. Army Dec. 19 [on delayed entry to enable completion of his last semester at MMCC where he was student-teaching Hydronics and Industrial Process Piping]. On Feb. 3, 2000, Snow officially began his lengthy military service with four years as a Cavalry Scout, then moved on to flight school. He flew Blackhawks for five years, and flew airplanes, mostly military intelligence aircraft, for most of the balance of his career. Snow said he finished up as an evaluator with the Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization, which he likened to the Army’s version of the FAA.

That lengthy career ended with his last day of active duty being July 31, 2022, and his having attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4.

 After Basic Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Snow went to Fort Benning, Georgia. Permanent Changes of Station and other education stints included: Camp Humphrey, South Korea; Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; and Fort Hood, Texas.

Snow’s bio noted that, “In August 2014 the U.S. Air Force began to partially divest its MC-12 Aircraft Fleet to the U.S. Army. As part of that plan, Army pilots were sent to train and deploy with the Air Force in order to learn to fly the aircraft and accomplish the Project Liberty Mission.” He was then sent to Beale Air Force Base, California for USAF Pilot Training/MC-12 and Mission Commander training.

The bio provided a comprehensive listing of Snow’s service – some four pages of it – along with dozens of awards and decorations. Unit awards included: Presidential Unit Citation; Valorous Unit Citation, and Meritorious Unit Citation. Highlighted individual awards included: Meritorious Service Medal; Air Medal; Air Force Aerial Achievement Medal; and Army Commendation Medal (X7); Iraq Campaign Medal (2 stars); and Master Army Aviator Badge.

Deployments included: Operation Noble Eagle in Anniston, Alabama 2001; Operation Desert Spring into Operation Iraqi Freedom 2002-2003; a second Operation Iraqi Freedom 2010-2011; and Operation Enduring Freedom 2014 Afghanistan.

Throughout his service, Snow amassed a plethora of trainings and accomplishments, including in intelligence, reconnaissance, gunnery and aviation. At the time of his retirement, he had been not only a Blackhawk pilot, but also an MC-12 Aircraft Qualification Course Instructor and Instructor Pilot, a Maintenance Test Pilot and a Fixed Wing Branch Standardization Officer, and so much more.

This merely touches on the many elements of Snow’s career. What’s truly interesting now is that he hasn’t retired to hobbies of puttering around in a home wood shop or restoring antiques cars – or even building model airplanes. No, at age 46, he’s far from done.

Which brings the circle back to that question of when is enough, enough? Snow’s answer is as yet unfound because upon retirement from his military career, he had wisely chosen to continue utilizing his skills as a medevac pilot for North Flight Aero Med out of Traverse City. The helicopter transports are commonly known, but Snow’s part is to pilot a King Air twin turboprop plane which transports patients and attending medical providers wherever the emergent care requires they go. Snow had nothing but high praise for the flight crew’s team of medics and nurses. “The things that they can do and the people they can save – it’s amazing,” he said, adding that “It’s a great job to have. Love it.”

When referred to as a hero, Snow was quick to say, “Hero, no. I just did my job.”

A job that seems to continue, and that’s the thing about heroes – they never stop. And isn’t this nation lucky to have them?