George Brady, a 70-year-old retired veteran from Ensley, has lived a life marked by a dedication to service and a passion for educating others. Since he was a young man, Brady has been intrigued by airplanes and always wanted to obtain his pilot’s license. After a distinguished military career and during a decade spent in classrooms as an educator, Brady earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Commercial Airplane from Wallace State Community College.

“I decided to go for the full degree because I’m older, and even though I got my private pilot’s license at the beginning of the program, I wanted to go the full nine yards to get as much training as I could,” said Brady.

For most of his career, Brady served in the United States Army and the Alabama Army National Guard until he retired in 1999 at the age of 46. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, he was placed on the retiree recall list.

“After 9/11, I was recalled and went to Afghanistan in 2004 and then once again in 2010. I spent one year over there each time,” said Brady. “I already had a degree, so when the military started sending me information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, I sort of blew it off at first, but then they sent a letter telling me I could use it for aviation. I had accumulated 24 months’ worth of academic credit hours by that time, so like a lot of my fellow veterans, I used my Post-9/11 GI Bill to go back to school and study aviation.”

Before joining the aviation program, Brady obtained three degrees with plans to teach college courses as an adjunct professor.

He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in history from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Years later, while stationed in Montgomery, he earned a Master of Liberal Arts degree with a dual instructorship in English and Sociology from Auburn University at Montgomery. Following his retirement from the army, Brady received a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teaching Social Sciences via the School of Education at Auburn University, but as he was finishing his dissertation, he was notified that he would be recalled and deployed to Afghanistan.

“It took me a bit longer than I expected to write my dissertation, and when I was wrapping up my studies at Auburn, I got the notification that I was going to be recalled. I was able to finish right before I was deployed to Afghanistan,” said Brady. “I came home, got a little rest and found some teaching jobs until I was recalled once again. Following my second return home, I began teaching online courses.”

After his two recall deployments to Afghanistan, Brady devoted himself to being an educator. During his teaching career, he taught mathematics, history and sociology at three different colleges and universities including as an adjunct professor of mathematics at Virginia College from 2006 to 2009 while also teaching history at UAB. He then set his sights on the aviation program.

“In the Aviation program, you must complete cross-country, solo, and dual flights, as there are a certain number of flight hours required for different licenses. Some of the trips are dual with an instructor, but when you get into commercial, it’s mostly on your own. Some flights are short, and some are longer, with a minimum of 50 miles from the airport for most of them,” said Brady. “A long cross-county flight requires a minimum of 300 miles, and they certainly were one of my favorite parts of the program.”

The one trip that sticks out most in Brady’s mind was a long cross-country flight he took from the Cullman Regional Airport to Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

“For their cross-country flights, a lot of people like to fly to the Gulf Coast, but when I planned to head down there, we were having bad storms, and I didn’t feel comfortable making the trip, as storms and small planes don’t really mix,” said Brady. “Instead, I ended up going on one of my favorite trips which was a long cross-country flight to Pine Bluff, Ark. I loved getting to fly over the Mississippi River and see the Delta region, and it was kind of peaceful being all by myself, so high up that I could see everything. I know a lot of people love to fly over the big cities, but I have always preferred the countryside. I got to see the rains and the storms off in the distance, and it was just so beautiful,” said Brady.

Bert Mackentepe, Department Chair for the Aviation/Flight Technology program at Wallace State, said Brady stood out not only in his desire to excel in his studies, but also in how he interacted with his peers in the program.

“He is humble and jovial, and it really was a joy to have him come through the Aviation program. In fact, he was a mentor to some of the younger students. A lot of times, we don’t see many older adults that are interested in learning how to fly, so he acted as a beacon to people that did want to come in and learn. He is a very unique individual, but I believe if there were more people in the world like George, there would be fewer problems,” said Mackentepe.

Outside of flying planes, learning new things and teaching others, Brady enjoys taking on various projects around the house.

“In my free time, I like to build things. My wife, Deborah Jean, and I live on the river, and we built a lot of our house ourselves. Not too long ago, we built an outdoor pavilion and enclosed it. In fact, I was bringing in an air conditioner to install in our new pavilion earlier today,” said Brady. “We are water folks besides air folks, so Deb and I also have a sailboat at Lake Guntersville and really love to sail. My wife has been a huge help in my life and has helped me do all these things.”

Now that he has received his degree, Brady still flies regularly to continue practicing and stay current as a pilot. He encourages anyone that is interested in pursuing their dreams to take the first step and not look back.

“I say go for it, because I truly do believe that you can do it.”