Vincent J. Deon

Northampton supervisor enjoyed time in Air Force.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com


Vincent Deon gets uncommonly excited when discussing his military service. Looking back on his memorable stint in the U.S. Air Force, the 46-year-old Northampton resident makes frequent use of words like “awesome,” “cool” and “amazing.” He didn’t see any combat, and he’s quick to observe that those who did “are the true heroes,” but he’s nevertheless proud to have served his country, and he considers himself fortunate to have had a good time doing it.

But good times aren’t what got him into the service in the first place. Born to parents Pasquale and Anna Mae, Deon grew up in Levittown with siblings Pat, Mark, Michael, Lisa and Chris before moving to Langhorne in 1978. At 17, while attending Neshaminy Maple Point High School, two “very big” events occurred that Deon says steered him toward the military.

The first, he vividly remembers, took place on Aug. 20, 1980. Four of his best friends, in a car that would have contained him if not for a last-minute date, got into a horrific accident in Levittown. Two of them died. One of the survivors is currently at Pennswood Village in Newtown, unable to move or speak for the past 30 years.

“It was just one of those things...,” Deon says, searching for the words. “When you’re a kid, and you lose your friends, it’s a crazy, coming-of-age moment.”

The second event was a drastically long teachers’ strike in the Neshaminy School District, which Deon estimates ran from October 1980 to March 1981 – roughly 70 percent of Deon’s senior year of high school. He was still able to graduate on time, but he wasn’t learning anything, and he wasn’t attending meets or meeting with scouts to advance his career as a young gymnast.

Robbed of his friends and his education, Deon passed the time “working and playing” until, on March 5, 1981, he chose to join the military and save up money for college. He decided on the Air Force and enrolled in the Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP), a type of G.I. Bill. Deemed “delayed entry,” Deon didn’t officially join until Nov. 11, 1981, shortly after he turned 18.

His first stop was at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for basic training, then Sheppard Air Force Base for crew chief training. (A crew chief, Deon explains, is a noncommissioned officer in charge of a crew of maintenance specialists, but more on that in a bit.) After Sheppard, Deon headed to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. It was the spring of 1982. Deon was working on F-16s as a Tactical Aircraft Maintenance Technician. He was part of the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing. Each squadron had 20 battle-ready fighter jets, which were deployed for test missions to bases in places like White Sands, N.M. and Wendover, Nev.

“It was very technical and fun,” Deon says, “but we always knew what was at stake. We knew we could eventually get killed if called into battle. We were next in line – we were on alert – for Grenada. We were mobilized and ready to go.”

But he didn’t go. Instead, Deon and his crew were selected for Red Flag, an aerial combat training exercise/competition that Deon considers a “big part” of his career. Held at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Red Flag is to the Air Force what Top Gun is to the Navy, Deon says. Squadrons from across the U.S. compete, and the finest may be selected for the elite Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s official air demo squadron known for its elaborate shows.

Initially sent in as an assistant crew chief, Deon would arrive at Nellis a week prior to Red Flag, and he and his fellow crew members would be in charge of logistics, making sure all of the aircraft maintenance equipment was set up properly, and that every plane had everything it needed, from tools to fuel.

“Red Flag represents the best of the best in the Air Force,” Deon says. “I was chosen to be a part of it. I was very proud of that. It was an awesome assignment.”

Deon was also chosen for Below the Zone (BTZ) promotion, a program reserved for superior Airmen and one that allowed him to enter non-commissioned officers school one year earlier than he’d anticipated. Selected by his squadron commander for BTZ, Deon became a Senior Airmen in the process, then, while in school, was given the rank of Sergeant.

“It was very cool to be a sergeant at 21,” Deon says. “It was awesome to have command bestow that responsibility on me.”

At the same time, Deon earned crew chief status, enhancing his duties when he returned to Red Flag for a second year. This time, he oversaw his crew. After that, with only a short time left in his tour of duty, and nearly a month’s worth of leave days saved up, Deon soon waved au revoir to the Air Force and returned home to hit the books.

With a handful of credits already under his belt from classes he took during time served, Deon attended St. Joseph’s University. He graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor’s degree in marketing. While at college, he met his wife, Grace, with whom he had a daughter, Aubrey, now 13. Upon graduation he dabbled in his family’s beer distribution business, ran a restaurant for nearly a decade, then spent the early half of the 2000s as an insurance adjuster.

He’s spent the last five years working as an employment recruiter for regional banks, assisting in the hiring of commercial lenders in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. In addition, he’s also spent the last five years serving on the Northampton Township Board of Supervisors, of which he is currently the chairman. He’s supported such initiatives as the Veteran Advisory Commission, which was set up by the board to oversee veterans’ concerns in the township.

When asked what he got out of the military, Deon throws out a lot of responses: “Maturity. Humility. Respect. Honesty. Integrity. Core values.”

And, of course, some fun and excitement, too.