After the bottom fell out of the real estate market six years ago, newlywed real estate broker Matthew Hanks joined the Army National Guard to help bring in some extra income.
“I was just searching for any way I could to help my family through that time,” Hanks tells the Gaston Gazette.
He signed up as an enlisted man, but the Army invited him to enroll at Officer Candidate School. After graduation, he asked to be assigned to aviation, and the next thing he knew he was on his way to flight training.
Today Hanks, broker-in-charge at Coldwell Banker Meca Realty in Belmont, North Carolina, flies UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters as a first lieutenant with the 131st Aviation Regiment. Source: gastongazette.com.