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Youngest in family continues service tradition
  
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By Robyn Lydick
Ryan Eanes comes from a military family.
His mother Diane was a nurse through the Vietnam War, his father a soldier. His older siblings Jeremy and Kelly both serve. Ryan Eanes will deploy to Iraq in September.
“I’m grateful it isn’t Afghanistan,” he said.
But it was his grandfather, who served in the Air Corps flying B24s, who influenced the branch of service Ryan would enter.
They attended air shows together, igniting a life-long love of aircraft.
“Air Force. We loved talking about airplanes,” Ryan Eanes said. “That’s what pulled us together.”
Army and Marine recruiters wooed Ryan Eanes through his last years in school, to no avail.
He signed blue and entered basic training out of high school.
It was at Keesler Air Force base that Ryan Eanes got a taste of true service.
Trained in communications technology, basically running and maintaining the systems that control Patriot missiles, among other things, Eanes spent the days following Hurricane Katrina helping Biloxi, Miss., locals clean up and find their families.
It would prove to be life-changing as Eanes, 22, but then 18, helped find bodies.
“I’ll never forget the stench,” he said, looking into the middle distance, remembering what he’s tried to forget. “All the houses had an X painted on the boarded-up door with the number of people who lived there, how many had been found, how many were missing and how many were dead.”
Eanes’ voice slips into a slightly southern cadence as he speaks about the rescue work.
“We slept in an abandoned school, 20 people to a room with no food but MREs, which are not that good for you,” Eanes said. “You eat those for several days and you get tired.”
For Diane Eanes, the season of Katrina was harrowing, knowing her youngest child was in the thick of the damage and unable to let anyone know if he was OK.
“It was so hard for us,” Diane Eanes said. “Not knowing.”
The work bonded Ryan to Biloxi.
“I miss the people,” he said. “Living in Highlands Ranch is like living in a bubble. My friends from high school all complain about their jobs and their lives. They have no idea what I’ve already seen.”
Now based at Hill AFB north of Salt Lake City, Ryan Eanes is looking forward to deployment, and then leaving the service.
Best friend Cort Wilson, an Army Ranger, served five deployments and was caught in stop loss and stayed in.
Ryan Eanes hopes to serve his time and come home to a civilian job, or a posting as a guard at Buckley AFB.
He’ll pursue a degree that will let him work with space command.
The family will be marching in the Independence Day parade July 4.
His mother Diane was a nurse through the Vietnam War, his father a soldier. His older siblings Jeremy and Kelly both serve. Ryan Eanes will deploy to Iraq in September.
“I’m grateful it isn’t Afghanistan,” he said.
But it was his grandfather, who served in the Air Corps flying B24s, who influenced the branch of service Ryan would enter.
They attended air shows together, igniting a life-long love of aircraft.
“Air Force. We loved talking about airplanes,” Ryan Eanes said. “That’s what pulled us together.”
Army and Marine recruiters wooed Ryan Eanes through his last years in school, to no avail.
He signed blue and entered basic training out of high school.
It was at Keesler Air Force base that Ryan Eanes got a taste of true service.
Trained in communications technology, basically running and maintaining the systems that control Patriot missiles, among other things, Eanes spent the days following Hurricane Katrina helping Biloxi, Miss., locals clean up and find their families.
It would prove to be life-changing as Eanes, 22, but then 18, helped find bodies.
“I’ll never forget the stench,” he said, looking into the middle distance, remembering what he’s tried to forget. “All the houses had an X painted on the boarded-up door with the number of people who lived there, how many had been found, how many were missing and how many were dead.”
Eanes’ voice slips into a slightly southern cadence as he speaks about the rescue work.
“We slept in an abandoned school, 20 people to a room with no food but MREs, which are not that good for you,” Eanes said. “You eat those for several days and you get tired.”
For Diane Eanes, the season of Katrina was harrowing, knowing her youngest child was in the thick of the damage and unable to let anyone know if he was OK.
“It was so hard for us,” Diane Eanes said. “Not knowing.”
The work bonded Ryan to Biloxi.
“I miss the people,” he said. “Living in Highlands Ranch is like living in a bubble. My friends from high school all complain about their jobs and their lives. They have no idea what I’ve already seen.”
Now based at Hill AFB north of Salt Lake City, Ryan Eanes is looking forward to deployment, and then leaving the service.
Best friend Cort Wilson, an Army Ranger, served five deployments and was caught in stop loss and stayed in.
Ryan Eanes hopes to serve his time and come home to a civilian job, or a posting as a guard at Buckley AFB.
He’ll pursue a degree that will let him work with space command.
The family will be marching in the Independence Day parade July 4.
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