Father, daughter meet during deployments in Middle East

Hasenauer retired from active duty in 1993, but he joined the active National Guard in 2003 because felt like he needed to keep contributing to the American forces fighting today.

Their daughter, Lt. Amanda Delaney, is also a helicopter pilot, and while her father serves what is most likely his last detachment overseas, she is serving her first sea tour with HS-11, which is embarked on board USS Enterprise (CVN-65). Growing up as an "Army brat," Delaney regularly moved wherever her father was stationed including Germany, Korea and many bases stateside. She watched bravely as her father flew for 17 years and fought in many conflicts including the first Desert Storm.

Little did she know that someday she would be supporting the same war, in the very same area of the world as her father. Although she is used to traveling, this was the first time that it was her service taking her halfway around the world to the Persian Gulf. Many of the events she has encountered aboard the Big "E" have been very standard for a pilot "learning the ropes" on a carrier.

The primary mission of HS-11 is search and rescue on board the carrier, but the squadron aircrew must also keep current for terrain flight landings. To do that while deployed at sea, the squadron works with U.S. Army squadrons stationed in Kuwait to fly on their training ranges. When Delaney found out that her squadron

would be flying into Kuwait, she contacted her father via email inquiring whether or not he would be able to fly one of his helicopters from Tallil, Iraq across the border into Kuwait. When her father wrote back to say that he would definitely be able to make a flight into Kuwait to see his daughter, she, as well as the entire squadron, was delighted. The squadron established a date and within a couple of days of mentioning the idea to Hasenauer, father and daughter were reunited at Udairi Army Airfield in Kuwait.

The last time Hasenauer saw his daughter was when he gave her away at her wedding almost a year ago in Sebastian Fla., where she married Capt. Tom Delaney, an Army Special Forces officer who is, coincidentally, also stationed in Iraq right now.

Delaney and her father were able to spend the afternoon together, sharing stories and updating each other on what they had been doing for the past 10 months. Much to the joy of Mrs. Hasenauer they were able to call her in Florida and let her know that they were together, if only for a couple of hours. It was well worth the trip though, and they even got to sneak in some ice cream.

Although Delaney doesn't contribute her desire to fly helicopters solely to her father flying, she admits that she always admired what he did. "I think watching my dad fly helicopters and seeing what they could do in the air may have subconsciously made me want to fly helos. Like every little girl, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I specifically remember coming home from school one day when I was 16 and saying, 'dad, I want to fly helicopters.'"

Naturally, Hasenauer was proud of his daughter's decision to serve, but as he says, "he would have been proud of Mandy no matter what she decided to do in life." He jokes about how he never anticipated it, but the military has become somewhat of a "family business." Kristopher Hasenauer, the oldest son is an Army Special Forces medic who recently graduated with his Green Beret and Delaney's husband served in the Navy before he transitioned to Army to serve in the 1/504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne.

Mike Hasenauer will be heading home in September after 12 months in Iraq to return to his wife and his regular job flying helicopters for the Indian River County Sheriff's Department. Delaney is scheduled to arrive home in December, where she is looking forward to spending some quality time with her family on American ground.