An Introduction

                If there is ever anyone from outside my AVT 422 class that reads this blog let me give you a brief introduction. This blog was started as a requirement for the AVT 422 Senior Seminar class at Eastern Michigan University.

                As to who I am, my name is Joe Zarzycki and I am a senior at Eastern Michigan University. I will graduate in April of 2015 and be commissioned in the United States Marine Corps as a 2^nd Lt on May 1^st of 2015. To say I planned to be in this spot when I graduated from Chippewa Valley High School in 2009 would be a lie.

 I spent most of my youth years travelling around the country playing elite levels of hockey, and it was my goal to one day play college hockey. As fate would have it, or more accurately by the mistakes of my youth, I wound up leaving a junior hockey team in Michigan to play junior hockey in Canada. For those of you unfamiliar with the levels of hockey, juniors is what most hockey players, those of us who aren’t complete studs, go into before moving on to play professional or college hockey.  I was most assuredly not a stud, but I was mean, blocked shots, and battled hard every shift on the ice as a stay-at-home defenseman.

                After spending a year playing for the Cobourg Cougars in the Ontario Junior Hockey League I ended the season with a promise from the coaches that I would be back on the team for the next season. As it would turn out when I showed up for the next season the organization wanted to bring on some local boys of lesser talent, and so I was sent packing back to Michigan. It was at this time I realized I no longer yearned to devote my life to hockey, and found myself chasing two higher callings. One of those being my girlfriend at the time, Jesse, who I am now happily married to, and the other being the Marine Corps.

                While working full time at Royal Oak Boring, a machine shop run by my father, I worked with the recruiting office in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to start my journey with the Marine Corps. After applying, and being denied, acceptance into the Naval Academy and the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps I was left with two options: enlist or try one last route to becoming an officer through the Platoon Leaders Class. As luck would have it I was accepted into the PLC program as a flight contract. This was in the fall of 2011 during which time I began my college education at EMU, a decision made mostly based on the fact that my beloved Jesse was an undergrad student there. Additionally, I was given the unique opportunity to train with what I believe is the finest NROTC program in the country, the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University combined NROTC Battalion.

            Almost four years of college later here I sit. From my freshman year to now I have completed two six-week sessions of Officer Candidates School, OCS Juniors and Seniors, I have been married, traveled to Alaska and Hawaii, trained hard, studied hard, and played hard, and am now on the verge of starting the next phase of my life with the Marine Corps and my beautiful wife. To close I would like to thank all of my family and friends who have helped me to reach this point. I could not have made it to where I am without your help. By now those of you reading know a little bit of what I am about. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say on our class aviation topics, as I am sure I will enjoy writing about them.