A New Start With Leatherwork
How many people can point to a specific month and day on the calendar and declare that it marks the beginning of a new chance at life? But for David (“Dave”) Botelho, who lives with his wife, Maria, in Paducah, Kentucky, the transforming event associated with his brand-new start, arrived unannounced on May 2, 2020.
Before this turning point, Botelho, 59, already had under his belt a dedicated and highly active, 26-year military career, first as an enlisted man in both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army, and then, as an Army aviator. Among his many other duties, he piloted both Black Hawk Assault and Apache Attack helicopters. And, in 2003, he was deployed as Battalion Aviation Safety Officer during the conflict, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After retiring officially from military service in 2006, he was hired by the Department of the Army as a DoD Civilian (a Federal civilian employee of the Department of Defense), to be an Airfield Safety Officer.
In 2013, he and Maria relocated to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he served at Godman Army Airfield. “My wife and I were very happy to be back in Kentucky where all of our children and their families would eventually settle down,” he said.
But on
