E.J. Seasprunk

E.J. Seasprunk
Sex	M
Birth date	1961

Mark and Jackie Gravengood met E.J. when he was a small boy when they were forced down during a storm near his home in Twillingate, in rural Florida. They gave E.J. his first plane ride and he decided then and there he wanted to be a pilot. He was about ten in 1971.^ROC11

E.J. Seasprunk later graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1983, and later he participated in the Persian Gulf War where he shot down three MIGs. At that time he was a Major.^ROC30

As he says himself "The E and the J don’t stand for nothin’."^Roc2-6 His father, a teppentine worker (teppentine is the local Florida dialect for turpentine ^Roc2-6), had run off before he was born. His mother left for better work in Mobile, but never returned. Without any other family, he was raised by Brother Erasmus and his wife Ethylene Green.

E.J. appears again in Chapter 14 of Reaching for Wings when Mark and Jackie receive a Christmas card from him, with a note advising them that he is still in the Air Force, was promoted to Colonel, and is now at Scott AFB near Chicago. Mark and Jackie write back, and ask if they could get together, as both Mark and Jackie would like E.J. to give Bree an idea of what to expect at the Air Force Academy.^RFW14

Harry Bankston and George Flusser were more open to Bree flying the mountain wave to achieve her Gold and Diamond altitude gain targets when Mark Gravengood mentioned E.J. He had been George's wingman.^RFW33

E.J. wrote a letter supporting Bree's application for nomination to the Air Force Academy.^RFW35 He followed her progress and was happy to be selected by Bree to pin her new rank on when she graduated. By that time he had been promoted to General.^RFW42