Heart

Tom (TJ) Navickis, United States Air Force

Inside its dark casket, she tugs the strings

crying out softly, beating and crushing and piercing against the frame.

She works the strings, the pain limitless, ever flaunting a four-letter death.

Yet it lays there willing. Wanting and waiting and hurting. It lays there.

It lays there because it knows. She knows. She tugs. She laughs.

And it’s willing to lay there. Enduring, everlasting.

My name is Thomas Navickis, I go by TJ mostly. I was born and raised in Glastonbury, CT. I am a New England kid at heart. At eighteen I enlisted into the Air Force on active duty. As a Fuels and Cryogenics troop, I have handled hazardous material throughout my career and have worked with every aircraft not only in the Air Force and sister branches, but with foreign nations as well, to include The Royal Marines/Air Force, French, Canadian, Japanese, Australian, Afghani, and many more. I have stayed stateside, in Texas, Mississippi, Arizona, Las Vegas, Georgia, Florida, and now North Carolina.

One of the greatest experiences I have had so far in my career was a six-month rotation I spent as a member of the Honor Guard in south Georgia. It is bitter-sweet to have given the final honors to veterans who have passed away. I spent just over four years on active duty with the Air Force and transitioned into the reserves so that I could pursue my educational goals for self-development. I am attending Cape Fear Community College, transferring to UNCW, with hopes of attending a School of Dental Medicine. Completing dental school will allow me to commission back into the Air Force, into the Dental Corps, and continue my career on active duty. Overall, I have been satisfied with what I have accomplished and look forward to the opportunities in my future.