J Louis Nance
CW5 (Ret) J Louis Nance attended public schools in west Tennessee and after graduating from Halls Consolidated High School continued his education at Tennessee State University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. In 1967, during his tenure at Tennessee State University, he was drafted into the United States Army. Mr. Nance completed two tours of duty in Vietnam. After his first tour as a combat infantryman, he entered flight school as a Warrant Officer Candidate at Ft. Wolters, Texas.
Upon graduating from advanced flight training at Hunter army Airfield, Georgia in July 1969, he returned to Vietnam as a Helicopter Pilot and flew 1244 combat mission hours with the 114th Assault Helicopter Company.
On his return to the U.S., he completed the Army aviation Maintenance Officers Course and attended Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, completing a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He served two assignments as an Aviation Maintenance Officer and Test Pilot for the AH-1, OH-58 and UH-1 helicopters, including a tour of duty in Germany. Upon his return to the U.S. he began a training cycle that added fixed wing qualification and ratings in the CH-47, and the OV-1 Mohawk aircraft, afterwards he was assigned to the U.S. Army Test Activity as an Engineering Test Pilot. His next assignment was with the Army Aviation Command in St. Louis as the Project Officer for aircraft modifications U.S Army Europe (USAREUR). The following assignment was South Korea with the 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion as a Mohawk Pilot, Quality Control Officer and Platoon Leader. On his return to the U.S. he was again assigned to the Army Aviation Command in St. Louis, MO. with duty station at Ft. Hood, Texas as a Project Officer for the Army Aircraft Modification Program and the Officer-in-Charge of the Army Aircraft Maintenance Facility at the Killeen Municipal Airport, Killeen, TX. He departed Ft. Hood and Killen, TX for the Persian Gulf War where he served as the Theater Aviation Maintenance Officer during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He then returned to the Army Aviation Command in St. Louis, MO and completed the last six years of his military career as the Aviation Technical Administrator for the Foreign Military sales Directorate. In 1992 Mr. Nance was among the first group of U.S. Army Warrant Officers selected for promotion to the grade of Chief Warrant Officer Five.
He continued to provide management and planning support to U.S. Army deployments and was deployed six months during Operation Joint Endeavor (Hungary/Bosnia) with the AMC Logistics Support Element as the Chief of the Aviation Logistics Assistance Team.
He retired in October 1997 after 30 Years and six months of continuous active duty service.
Mr. Nances Military education includes the Army Aviation Advance, Senior and Master Warrant Officer courses. His Military Awards include the Combat Infantryman Badge, Master Army Aviator Wings, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, Legion of Merit and three awards of the Meritorious service Medal. Since retirement, Mr. Nance has been employed by: The Boeing Company in Mesa, AZ as a Logistics Manager for the Apache Helicopter, the Government Group of Volvo as a Contract Manager and for the past three years, by Dyncorp International in Fort Worth, TX as the Engineering Manager for the U.S. Army C-12/UC-35 LCCS contract. Mr. Nance is presently employed by MSSI as the Sr. Program Manager.