Lawson Drury, a La Grange native and longtime Burr Ridge resident, said he thought he’d like to fly after working at Amazon.
He graduated Lyons Township High School and then Purdue in 2017 and after graduation, he found himself working in the aviation department for the online shopping giant. He worked there for three years before he thought to himself, he’d rather be doing something else.
“I thought, I’d really rather be flying every day,” he said via phone interview.
Drury was no stranger to planes. As a kid, he had fond memories of going to the Navy Pier to watch the Air and Water Show and those memories were still very much alive for him.
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“Growing up and going to the Chicago Air and Water Show every year, I was in awe of the Blue Angels,” he said.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are an elite team of navy pilots that perform aerial tricks in fighter planes capable of going over 1,000 miles per hour. The pilots are some of the best in the armed forces and while Drury said he didn’t exactly plan to be a Blue Angels pilot, he thought it might be interesting to fly for the navy.
So, he signed up for Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. The program is 13 weeks long and now, with the last week ahead of him, Drury is poised to graduate and get one step closer to the sky and he’ll be part of the navy’s management and leadership.
Still a long way from the cockpit of a Blue Angels Super Hornet, but that’s O.K.
“Yeah, those guys are the best of the best,” Drury said. “At this point in my training, I’m very much at the start of it.”
So what is his goal?
“Mostly just fly in general,” he said. “They’re the cream of the crop, I’m just looking at whatever the navy can offer me.”
It will be a long journey, too. After graduation from the OCS, he’ll be commissioned as an ensign. From there, Drury will go down to Pensacola, Florida for flight school, which could last anywhere from a year to 18 months. His first planes will be small, two-seater affairs but after a few months he said students then move into bigger planes.
“That’s my main goal. Just taking it one step at a time,” he said.
Ultimately, he would like to get behind a fighter jet, he said something along the lines of an F-18. In any case, he’s got time. His naval contract is one of the lengthier ones in the armed services.
“It’s one-to-two years before you get your wings, then it’s about a 10-year commitment,” Drury explained.
He said so far, he’s enjoyed himself. The OCS can be grueling — as basic training so often is. His cohort began with 100 students and now, in the last leg, about 22 of those are gone — though some will redo basic training. But Drury said he liked it.
“There are not enough good things to say about the program,” he said.
The biggest challenge was to learn to work as a comprehensive team with everyone — of all backgrounds.
“You cannot do this program all on yourself. You have to work with others around you. There are individuals with extremely different backgrounds here,” he said.
To find out more about the program, and how to sign up, visit the navy’s website for the OCS program at navy.com.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.