Editor’s Blog: The Good Guys

After my breakup last year, I got a few months out of the initial heartbreak and decided to reach out to some of the more standout men from my youth. It just so happens they were all in the Navy. No surprise there if you’ve read my bios.

Two messages sent. Two USNA grads contacted. A flirty response from the fighter pilot and radio silence from the other one. 1 for 2, I’ll take it. As I was reminiscing on the good old days, my brain lit up! I need to see MY Sean!

Ensign Sean Brady was one of the best pilots I knew while in college in Corpus Christi. “Shady” easily flew through basic flight training and into a fighter jet. He was tall, smart, handsome, funny, and incredibly organized. 

We met at the lap pool where I lifeguarded on NAS-CC and decided to introduce our friends at a cohosted party soon after. Before everyone showed up, Sean gave me a tour of his apartment where his bedroom closet left quite the impression. The top shelves were lined with all of the electronics and storage boxes from his recent move, labeled and facing forward. As a military kid, I was impressed. I remember thinking moves with him would be easy.

After a drinking game or two, Sean and I kissed (right outside the aforementioned closet actually) and we quickly surmised that we were better off as friends. Our friendship continued even as we both left Texas, me to DC and then to his college town of Annapolis, Sean in Virginia Beach. There were shenanigans up and down the Eastern Seaboard where we were exceptional wingman and wingwoman for one other. Sean was an officer and a gentleman CHIEF among many officers and gentlemen. So it is beyond hilarious to me that his call sign is Shady but call signs tend to take the most obvious route. What do you expect from guys who need their hands to talk?

I was so excited at the prospect of seeing Sean after so many years. I text and we set up dinner with his beautiful wife Lina at Gaido’s in Galveston. It was a lovely evening with lots of laughing at our younger selves. I asked Sean if I could write about him in my book. He agreed. Then I asked him to retell a story he told me twenty years ago. He was surprised I remembered. 

Sean was a teenager in his backyard in Florida. It was a beautiful day, his sisters were swimming in the pool, his golden retriever was playing nearby. Sean looked out at all of the things he cared about and felt a deep sense of gratitude and love and peace. He then felt a deep sense of duty to protect those things. He knew then what he wanted to do with his life. He pursued attendance at the United States Naval Academy and would spend the next twenty years serving his country by being a disciplined, hard-working, and incredibly brave fighter pilot and instructor. A happy warrior who sacrifices his body on a daily basis to make the world a safer and better place. 

Commander Sean Brady’s job is not for the faint of heart or the weak-willed. When he offered to take me on a tour of the flight line at NASA, I was elated.

Sean teaches astronauts how to fly the T-38 Talon, a supersonic jet. The T-38 is an extremely difficult plane to fly and landing it is especially hard due to the limited surface area of its wings. It also has one of the fastest landing speeds of any plane. This creates a high-stress environment where mistakes are deadly. Simulators can’t provide the high-stakes training and teamwork that comes with flying the Talon.

Besides all that it is just a really sexy, streamlined plane.

On our tour, Sean took me to the locker room where the astronauts keep their helmets and flight masks. He showed me which helmets belonged to which astronauts and I made mental notes of which decals I liked best. The locker room houses a T-38 cockpit. Sean pointed out the amount of space a pilot has while seated in the Talon. He said this was probably one of few jobs in the world that made you wish you were shorter. My 5’2 self laughed. Then I thought about Sean strapped in that seat and landing at 200mph. Yikes!