Man comes home after Air Force career

After 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and 22 hours in the air, Aaron Aldrich is back home in Columbia Falls.

Aldrich, a 1985 graduate of Columbia Falls High School and the grandson of a former Columbia Falls mayor, arrived at Glacier Park International Airport on Nov. 24. Greeting him were his parents, David and Judy Aldrich, and family friends Peter and Edwina Bergen.

Aldrich served in Europe for 10 of his 22 years, the last two and a half in Eindhoven, Holland. His son Devin, an eighth grader, attended school there, made the return trip with him, and now will enroll at Columbia Falls Junior High.

At one point in his career, Aldrich served as a special forces specialist. He remembers the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania in 2001 as 'surreal at first." He was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, S.D., at the time.

The attack "was a security breach, so we enhanced security at the gates' of the base, he said. "I worked with Homeland Security and spoke with (Secretary) Tom Ridge several times."

Afterward, he noticed "an upswing of patriotism, which was nice to see."

Aldrich also spent time in Berlin, Prague and Kuwait, and noticed something significant that tied all these far-flung experiences together.

"Everybody's the same, when you get right down to it," he said. "Everybody cares about family, everybody wants to be loved."

And it's love of family that brings Aldrich back to Columbia Falls. His mom's father, Robert Emerson, was a superintendent at Anaconda Aluminum Co., and his mom's mother, Mildred Emerson, taught physical education and Spanish in Columbia Falls for decades. (Robert Emerson moved to Portland, Ore., earlier this year.)

His father's dad, Lloyd Aldrich, served two terms as mayor and one as city councilman, and worked as a foreman at Anaconda.

A plaque and tree dedicated to Mayor Aldrich can be seen at Credit Union Park on Nucleus Ave. Aaron said in a Facebook e-mail that he plans to look it up soon.

He also wants to relax and "work with my hands." First project on his list: Fix up his grandfather Emerson's home, at the foot of Columbia Mountain and next door to his longtime friend Barry Conger, executive director of First Best Place Task Force.

"I have a to-do list that's pages long," Aldrich said.