{"id":363883,"date":"2022-03-10T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=363883"},"modified":"2022-03-10T06:00:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T20:00:17","slug":"guam-native-returns-during-exercise-cope-north-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/guam-native-returns-during-exercise-cope-north-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Guam native returns during Exercise Cope North 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
FORCE\/STAFF SGT. AUBREE OWENS
U.S. Air Force Capt. Celestino Aguon, also known as \u201cTorch,\u201d an F-15C Eagle pilot with the 67th Fighter Squadron assigned to Kadena Air Base, Japan, takes a photo next to the first aircraft he flew prior to joining the military at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam, Feb. 23, 2022. (U.S. AIR )
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\u201cI remember when I was about 6 years old and my family and I were driving along the main road on Andersen Air Force Base, passing by the airfield,\u201d he said. \u201cLooking back, I realize the aircraft I saw was most likely an F-15C under one of the sun shades, and I remember thinking how cool it would be to fly it one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Air Force Capt. Celestino Aguon, also known as \u201cTorch,\u201d an F-15C Eagle pilot with the 67th Fighter Squadron assigned to Kadena Air Base, Japan, is a Guam native and was the first member of his family to join the Air Force. Although he didn\u2019t have a plan to join the military as a young boy, he always had a love for aviation which has led him to where he is today.<\/p>\n

Aguon was born and raised in Mangilao, Guam. He attended elementary, middle and high school all on the island and then went on and attended the University of Guam to study mathematics. Throughout his time in school, Aguon\u2019s love for aviation grew and he began learning how to fly aircraft right out of Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my private pilot\u2019s license and my commercial license here after college and then received additional training out in the states,\u201d said Aguon.<\/p>\n

After he received his private pilot\u2019s license, Aguon looked back on the day when he was 6 years old and dreamed of flying a fighter jet and he commissioned in the U.S. Air Force. Due to his ambition and success during training, he was awarded his very first choice of job as an F-15 pilot in 2014.<\/p>\n

Fast forward eight years, Aguon is currently stationed at Kadena AB, and he was selected as part of the team to participate in Exercise Cope North 2022. The exercise is a multilateral U.S. Pacific Air Forces-sponsored field training exercise that is conducted annually at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam that occurred from Feb. 2-18, 2022.
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U.S. Air Force Capt. Celestino Aguon stands next to his instructor before taking his first flight prior to joining the military at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam in 2013. Aguon commissioned in the U.S. Air Force in 2014 and was awarded his very first choice of job as an F-15 pilot. (COURTESY PHOTO)
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During the exercise, fighter aircrafts from the U.S. Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force conducted aerial refueling, close air support, and counter-air missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to take gas from my cousin, U.S. Air Force Capt. Dustin Alger, who is also stationed at Kadena AB with me, as he was flying his aircraft and I was flying mine\u2014and to do it in our hometown was surreal,\u201d Aguon said.<\/p>\n

Aguon stated that he feels fortunate to return to Guam for a training such as Cope North since it promotes safety for areas in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here for Cope North 2022, I think of how we are promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and it resonates for me since that is where my home is, and it\u2019s such a huge honor being part of the team that enables that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over the past three years, Aguon has returned to Guam a total of five times for a variety of exercises and training to include: Cope North three times, Valiant Shield, and a Resilient Typhoon exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing being able to come back and participate in Cope North this year, since Guam is where it all started and it has always been special to me aviation wise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aguon has served the military for a total of eight years thus far, and plans to continue his career as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
\n\u201cIt feels so surreal that 26 years later, here I am flying the jet I saw when I first dreamed of being a pilot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

AUBREE OWENS\u00a0(36th Wing Public Affairs)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI remember when I was about 6 years old and my family and I were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":363885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2241,51],"class_list":["post-363883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-exercise-cope-north","tag-guam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}