Desire to fly leads to military career ... and ultimately, MCAS Yuma

Yuma gets treated to an airshow every day as home to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

  At its helm is Col. Mark Werth, who started his aviation career in Yuma flying AV-8B Harriers with the
Blacksheep of VMA-214 in the early 1990s. He returned to Yuma as the air station's commanding officer in July 2008.

  In between, he served as a test pilot and in various command positions. That included deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq, where he flew numerous combat missions.

  His personal awards include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal Strike/Flight 4th Award and the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal.

  "I'm proud of my country," Werth said. "And I'm happy to serve."

  His original reason for joining the military, though, was because he wanted to fly.

  "I figured out it wasn't the Boy Scouts. It makes me feel good to know I'm defending my country."

  Werth had something of an idyllic childhood growing up in Forest Lake, Minn., where he fished, water skied and played hockey.

  That is, "until my dad made me get a job." At age 12, he found himself sweeping the floor at his father's auto radiator business.

  His father, who had served in the Army, asked his son if he would be interested in entering the military, Werth recalled. "I said I wouldn't join the military if my life depended on it. I was 17 - I thought I had life all figured out."

  In college, he planned to pursue a degree in architectural engineering, but a few classes quickly cured him of that goal. That brought him back to his original career choice.

  "I really wanted to be a pilot since I was 5," he said. He noticed guys on campus in NROTC uniforms and realized that was his entry to flying.

  "One and a half years after telling my father I wouldn't join the military, I had. Dad was quite surprised."

  Upon earning his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering in 1986 from the University of Minnesota, he was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps through the NROTC program and headed for flight training in Pensacola, Fla.

  Asked about his call sign, "Brain," Werth explained that he didn't miss any questions in flight school, unlike college where he graduated with a 2.9 grade-point average in part because he seldom went to class.

  Flight school was different. "Yeah, it mattered then. I studied harder."

  As commanding officer of MCAS Yuma, Werth still gets in flight time in the cockpit of F-5s with the Yuma-based Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401.

  But being the boss is a different role for him.

  "When I was assigned here, I was training for deployment. Until this point in my career, I've been in operations. Now I've come in as the support guy. I provide the opportunities for everyone else. I'm the ultimate guy responsible for what does or fails to get done."

  That's inside the gate.

  Outside the gate, Werth equated his job more like a mayor, representing the air station in the community.

  "The relationship with the community is critical," he said.

  Werth said the air station has a significant impact on the community - the flights over the city's airspace, the economic impact it brings and the adoption of Yuma as home by the military while stationed here.

  "People of this town are great supporters. We want to work with the community and, by and large, the community feels the same way about us."

  MCAS Yuma is a large player in Yuma's economy, with an estimated $322 million annual impact, he said. "That's real dollars, no multipliers."

  That's for salaries, contracts, supplies purchased, utility bills paid, contributions to schools, the money spent on restaurants and stores and car dealerships. Visiting military coming to train also have a significant impact. Last year, 71 units were deployed to MCAS, staying an average of three weeks. The 71 units included 627 aircraft and 13,531 people.

  However, contributions to the community go beyond dollars.

  "There all kinds of things people do," Werth said, from reading to kids at Barnes & Noble to lending a helping hand for a community project. Color guards perform at various functions. Through mutual aid agreements, MCAS fire trucks were out in the community 292 times last year assisting or standing by.

  In turn, the community gives to the air station, Werth noted. He said the live urban warfare training the Marines are able to conduct in the city "is vital" and serves as a model for other areas.

 "We appreciate the hospitality."