Cunningham-Ramos AML & Stroke after TBI Journey

Friday, April 19, 2024

Daniel’s last flight as instructor pilot was this past Friday, April 19. The celebration lasted all day, starting with a 9 am send off flight of 2 T-1 jet planes – the ones he’s been teaching on since 2020.

María flew to Daniel’s Airforce Base in Columbus, MS and managed to get Kim to participate a little – a nurse assistant in Kim’s ‘resort’ facilitated a video call with him at that early hour. This was wonderful because Kim was very fresh, alert, asking relevant questions, and staying tuned in to Daniel’s flight warm up and take off for more than 1/2 hour.

The lead plane (on the videos) was commanded by Daniel. Seated with him were his pals Chris Garrison and Emma Wells. In the other plane were his other three close friends: Colin Homer, Nick Cavallone, and Adam Wilson . He chose the friends he wanted to fly with one last time on the T-1 and the city to fly to, Myrtle Beach, SC, where they all walked on the beach and touched the (cold) ocean water with their bare feet before seeking shelter 🥶

This whole day celebration was to honor Daniel only, something he casually shared the day before. The celebration was designed to honor his accomplishments for the past 4 years as a pilot and instructor: completed 1480 flight hours;671 sorties; trained 724 pilots; and attended 3416 student events.

Both his immediate boss (first video presenting him with a certificate of accomplishment) and the squadron commander (second video presenting him with a plaque) said glowing remarks about him. The commander specially said that only 2 other lieutenant coroners may have flown more hours as Daniel did and that he was impressed to learn that Daniel’s peers went to Daniel for help on how to teach students. This is one of the reasons he is being sent to Germany (his base of choice) and assigned to his plane of choice ( C 130 J) as well as the fact that his wife Lauren is well-respected and has also being recognized for her accomplishments in her job.

Later in his office the commander coached him and suggested what he should go for the executive role while in Germany 😊. Videos and photos of the celebration can be found in the link below.

As you may know, Daniel is a quiet person and never talks about his accomplishments. I was not aware of most of these and I could not be prouder 🥹. It was a wonderful, sentimental day, to say the least.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SyoTZDawpE74q3uF6