Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 22, 2013 Midland Park MPHS graduate to be Memorial Day keynote speaker A decorated veteran of many wartime missions who graduated from Midland Park High School in 1984 will be returning home this weekend as the keynote speaker at Memorial Day observances in Midland Park, scheduled for Saturday, May 25 at 11 a.m. at Veterans Park. Stuart A. Rodriguez, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve with over 25 years of combined active and reserve service, said he is honored, but puzzled at the same time, to have been singled out. “I have not done anything differently than all the other volunteers in the community who serve in the military or in public service, people who step up when needed and juggle personal, social and work life,” he said, pointing to his own parents and their commitment to the community. His father, Francis, serves as the town historian and was a longtime member of the local and regional boards of health. His mother, Judith, served for many years on the Midland Park Board of Education. Lt. Col. Rodriguez is a command pilot with over 5,000 flying hours in various types of military aircraft including the T-37, T-38, C-12F, C-141B/C, and C-17A. Before leaving active duty in 1998, he had landed an Air Force aircraft on every continent including Antarctica, and over 30 different countries. In 2003, he was activated for Operation Enduring Freedom. Since 2003, he has voluntarily deployed numerous times overseas and in the continental United States in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. Over the course of these deployments, he has carried hundreds of patients, troops, passengers, and tons of cargo in support of our nation’s objectives. As a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III aircraft commander, Lt. Col. Rodriguez commands America’s newest heavy four-engine intercontinental jet transport operating on a global route network. As squadron executive officer, he supervises key staff officers, operations staff functions, and prepares complex evaluation/upgrade/downgrade reports for 165 officers, many at his grade level, and enlisted personnel. Additionally, he is a United States Air Force Academy admissions liaison officer, assisting with selecting and preparing America’s young people for an appointment to the prestigious United States Air Force Academy. He was one of the airshow narrators for the United States Air Force Reserve’s West Coast C-17 Aerial Demonstration Team. He has served in various leadership capacities in United States Air Force Airlift Squadrons at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; Travis Air Force Base, California; McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey; and March Air Reserve Base, Lt. Col. Stuart A. Rodriguez California. An American Airlines pilot in private life now stationed in Los Angeles and flying domestic routes, he has flown to 69 countries in his 14 years with the airline. Lt. Col. Rodriguez graduated from the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and earned a (continued on page 31)