<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4E9vxA_1H1nnfAe00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4E9vxA_1H1nnfAe00" width="1200" height="630" >SIOUX CENTER—When it comes to life’s adventures, Gerald “Jerry” Vink belongs in the driver’s seat. He started out on a Farmall tractor in rural Iowa, flew F-105 jets in Vietnam and then transported cargo in DC-6, B737 and C-130 planes all over Alaska.Vink, 82, grew up on a farm just south of Rock Valley and graduated high school in 1962. He attended Central College in Pella from 1962-64 and Mankato State University in Mankato, MN, where he studied math and business, graduating in 1966.During college, he was granted student deferment from the draft, which provided him protection while he was in school, but the protection ended after college graduation.In his final years of college, he knew that others were being drafted for service in Vietnam. Vink figured he’d be headed there soon, but didn’t want to be on the ground. And so, he enlisted in the Air Force and trained to become a pilot and an officer. Ultimately, he would serve from July 1966-December 1971. He would serve in Vietnam from August 1968-July 1969.After graduation, he was sworn in as an Air Force officer in Minneapolis, able to complete officer’s training in Texas followed by pilot training in Oklahoma.“I graduated at the top of my pilot training class,” Vink said, “so I was able to choose what I wanted to fly.”Vink selected the F-105 jets, which he called the biggest, baddest, meanest, single-seat, single-engine fighter planes available.“It was a fighter pilot’s dream,” he said.After completion of F-105 training in Kansas, survival school in the mountains of Washington state and water survival school in Florida, in 1968, he was on his way to Vietnam.“I knew what I was in for,” Vink said. “F-105s were being shot down regularly in Vietnam; the odds of being shot down were better than 50 percent, and recovery if you were shot down was only about 50 percent. But you know, I was 23 years old and bulletproof.”Vink completed more training, jungle survival school in the Philippines, and then was stationed as part of the 354th tactical fighter squadron in Thailand.“The problem some of us Vietnam vets have,” Vink said, “is that we didn’t go overseas with a unit. Some of us flew over there by ourselves and came home by ourselves.”Vink told the story of flying to Bangkok to meet up with his squadron and missing the shuttle to the Takhli Royal Thai base. He stayed that night in a hotel that was more of an officer’s club and noticed a man in uniform in the restaurant.“He was obviously a pilot in a flight suit, and I asked him if I could join him,” Vink said.He was a fellow F-105 pilot who had been shot down, spent the night in the Laotian jungle, and rescued a few hours previously.“War was getting close to home,” Vink said.Vink was in Vietnam for 10 months and completed 139 missions before returning home.“Your first 10 missions are supposed to be low-threat, but I don’t know that mine were,” said Vink.His fourth mission was his most memorable. The target was a Pathet Lao/North Vietnamese Headquarters area and he was assigned to fly No. 2 in a flight of four airplanes. When their planes swept low, Vink could tell they weren’t wanted there. The ground fire was intense and the air filled with flak.“We were dive-bombing them,” Vink said, “and I could feel the plane vibrating and taking hits. As tracers went by, I got out of there. I was going about 700 maybe 800 knots.”Compared to miles, that’s about 800-900 miles per hour.“As I was climbing for altitude, I thought, hey, I’m still flying,” Vink said.After that mission was complete, he knew there would still be many, many more. He wondered how he was going to do this.“I had a long talk with God,” Vink said. “I had peace that He was going to take care of me.”When Vink returned to U.S. soil, he left the Air Force with somewhat of a bad attitude. He didn’t care for how the Vietnam War was run — the politics behind it and losing friends for seemingly no good reason.“It was like being in the ring with Muhammad Ali with one arm tied behind your back,” Vink said.In his years after military service, he still flew, but Vink learned that there’s more to flying than just going fast. For 19 years, he flew DC-6 planes all over Alaska, delivering cargo. He trained pilots on the DC-6s as well. For a few years after that, Vink trained to fly passengers and flew Boeing 737s for Mark Air before the airline went bankrupt. His final 13 years in Alaska, he was responsible for starting an airline flying the civilian version of the C-130.Jerry Vink was active in the Air Force for five and a half years as captain of the 354th tactical fighter squadron. He and his wife Colleen, who he married in 1970, spent many years in Alaska.“The only thing that kept her there was Nordstrom’s,” Vink said.The couple originally retired to Northern California, where Colleen is from. They’ve lived in Sioux Center now for a year and a half, choosing to be closer to friends, family and the care his wife requires.As for the next generation, Vink’s words were positive: “I hope those who enlist today never face the fears and traumas of war, but I encourage them to serve.”</div></body>

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SIOUX CENTER—When it comes to life’s adventures, Gerald “Jerry” Vink belongs in the driver’s seat. He started out on a Farmall tractor in rural Iowa, flew F-105 jets in Vietnam and then transported cargo in DC-6, B737 and C-130 planes all over Alaska. Vink, 82,...

Vink still flying through life

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SIOUX CENTER—When it comes to life’s adventures, Gerald “Jerry” Vink belongs in the driver’s seat. He started out on a Farmall tractor in rural Iowa, flew 

Vink still flying through life

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