Info Sheet - Charles "Pat" or "Juaquin" Eastes
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I grew up in the Army; my dad was a crusty Master Sergeant who had served as a tanker in WW2, and we lived in California, Washington, Alaska, Michigan, Okinawa and Texas during his career. When Dad retired, we moved to Bryan, Texas, and after graduating from high school (the third one that I attended), I enrolled at Texas A&M
To say that I wasn't ready for college would be grossly understating the situation, and when it became apparent to me that I was bound to flunk out, I went down to see my local recruiter and signed up for flight school.
After basic training and flight school, I made my way to D troop in August of 1967. Following my tour with the Centaurs, I went to Ft. Wolters and became an IP until the Army offered me a second tour or an early out in 1970. It wasn't a hard decision, since I had been married about 2 months, and I left the Army and applied to be a police officer in the city of Ft. Worth. FWPD said that they had plans for police helicopter pilots, and that sounded pretty good. However, after almost 7 years with the PD, they still had no officer pilots, but did have a couple of civilian pilots that were being paid as Lts. while I was flying a patrol car. I had also been going to college and earning one of my degrees while working, and flying with the Army Reserves.
When it became apparent that FW was not getting police pilots any time soon, I started applying to various departments in the Rocky Mts, and in early 1977, Casper Wyoming offered a job, and I jumped on it. Both the wife and I love the mountains and the outdoors, and aren't crazy about big cities, so the move to Wyoming was a very good one for us.
I retired from Casper PD in 1998, and went to work for the State of Wyoming as a representative for Veterans, which was a fulfilling job where I got to work with and assist lots of veterans, from the WW2 era to those who fought in the middle east and lots in between.
We fully retired in 2007 and moved to Buffalo, Wyoming to be nearer to great fishing, hunting and camping. Again, the move was perfect for us and our lifestyle. We now spend a few months each winter snowbirding in Arizona, enjoying the great weather, hiking and outdoor opportunity that the Sonoran desert offers.
I have had an interesting life, full of adrenaline rushes, and they keep coming. But, of all my adventures, being a Centaur rates right on top. We are truly a band of brothers, and only those that have done what we did can truly relate. I salute all of you....Pat