Ken Shoup

I’ve been a military brat my whole life—I was born at Yokota Air Base in Japan and spent my whole conscious life moving around every few years—Houston (Texas), Cocoa Beach (Florida), back to Yokota, Tinker/ OKC, Ramstein Air Base (Germany) (side note: where I graduated from high school and was the valedictorian of my class), and back to Houston for school. I was originally a Chemical Engineering major, but I got to my first real major classes and realized I hated it, so I ended up switching to Mathematics.

At that point I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career; my dad then brought up, why not consider the Air Force again? I was close to getting my degree, and always thought being a military officer was a prestigious career. I put in an application for Air Force Officer Training School, got selected, and that was that. I’ve been in the aviation career field ever since and currently reside in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The job’s allowed me numerous travel opportunities, including to Guam and Sicily for work. It’s been hectic and stressful at times, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Hobby-wise, cars are my big thing; I currently drive a Ford Focus RS.