HS-11 CO reaches 4K hours flight time

During the deployment, a young Sailor had a stroke and the ''Dragonslayers'' were called into action. Nettleton was not on the flight schedule for the day but volunteered to take the Sailor to the nearby country of Oman.

Helping a Sailor get the medical attention he needed had Nettleton focused on other matters other than his 4,000-hour mark.

Nettleton began his naval aviation career with VT-6 in Milton, Fla. His first flight was in January 1988 in a T-34C Turbo Mentor.

''It was great to finally climb into the cockpit after months of ground training,'' he recalled. He remembers everything happening so fast, from start up to shutdown.

After flight school, Nettleton became a part of the helicopter community and a large majority of the 4,000 hours have come in the SH-3 Sea King or the SH-60F/H Seahawk.

He has served during Operations Desert Storm, Provide Comfort and Provide Promise. Most recently, he participated in Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Nettleton has landed on practically every aircraft carrier in the fleet. Nettleton is also one of the few helicopter pilots to land on a battleship. During Operation Desert Storm, he made a deck landing qualification on board USS Missouri (BB 63).

He has gone from being a fleet pilot to a fleet replacement flight instructor to the navigator aboard USS Inchon (LPH 12). He has been a department head for safety, operations and maintenance departments. He has also served as executive officer with two squadrons and now is the commanding officer of the Dragonslayers.