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Ian Walsh was like many other students at Hamilton College - he majored in English and biology and played hockey and lacrosse. But he and his twin brother, Eric, were in a class by themselves when it came to career plans. While their peers were preparing for jobs or grad school, they were the only members of the Class of 1989 who spent part of their summers training to be officers - and eventually aviators - in the U.S. Marine Corps. Their choices, however, were quite in keeping with family tradition: their father had been an enlisted man in the Marines who had earned his pilot's license after he got out of the service. "I wanted to emulate my father, who always attributed his self-confidence to his Marine Corps experience," Walsh explains.
By age fourteen, Walsh had already made his first solo flight. In 1992, he earned his wings as the pilot of an AH-1 SUPER Cobra, an agile attack helicopter. He was on the firing line in Marine operations in Somalia and Haiti, but it was in Eastern Europe that he was put to his greatest test.
At 4:30 a.m. on June 8, 1995, Walsh, by then a captain, was the lead pilot as four helicopters lifted off the deck of the USS Kearsarge as it steamed through the Adriatic Sea ninety miles from Bosnia. Their mission was to rescue U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady, who had been shot down by Serbs. The helicopters reached the coast around dawn, flying low to avoid radar detection and maneuvering their way inland over mountains, farm-filled valleys - and hidden missile sites.
About ten miles from O'Grady's last known position, Walsh recalls, "My copilot and I suddenly heard the downed airman's voice and code name over our radio." Moments later, the two transport choppers were on the ground, while Walsh and his wingman hovered in the air in their Cobras. "I could see Captain O'Grady running toward them," Walsh says, animatedly recalling the scene. "One of the Marines grabbed him by his belt and lifted him on board. The whole encounter took less than eight minutes."
In full daylight, Walsh led the dangerous return dash to the carrier, flying his Cobra at over two hundred miles an hour, mostly at heights of no more than fifty feet above ground while dodging missiles and small arms and antiaircraft fire. Finally, the Marines reached the Adriatic and safety. For his achievement, Walsh received the Air Medal with a Bronze Star and Combat "V" (for valor) from President Clinton.
Leaving active duty in 1996, Walsh earned a master's degree at the Kennedy School of Government before entering HBS, where he has been active in student government. While a political career may be in his future, for now, he says, "an MBA enables me to make an impact on people and organizations more quickly." After Commencement, he will put his skills and experience to work at Bell Helicopter Textron. "It's a nice fit," he winks. "They make the Cobra."
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