  | Just hours after the September 11 attacks, Navy Cmdr. Russell P. Knight's fighter jet squadron was ready for action. | ||||||||||
A Knight on Guard for AmericaBy Dave Lavallee '79, M.P.A. '87 "They were all ready to roll," Knight said of his 210-member squadron, Jason and the Argonouts. "I met with my squadron, and I was getting them pumped up for action. You have to be ready because you never know when you're going to be called." Knight, a native of Warwick, R.I., who graduated from URI in 1982 with a degree in civil/ocean engineering, was also ready. "I had my bags packed too," said Knight. A day after one of the most horrific days in this country's history, Knight assigned two of his junior officers and their jets to San Diego for air defense. Had four jets been needed, Knight would have been part of the group. "We keep in touch with the guys through email, but right now [September 13] I am on my way to Fallon, Nev., with the rest of the squadron for training," Knight said, quickly adding that new orders could come at any time. "You just never know," he said. Following the training exercises, Knight's orders as commander of the Argonauts were extended as the nation responded to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Flying in times of crisis isn't new for Knight, who has logged 900 aircraft carrier landings with his F/A-18C Hornet fighter, the Navy's premier day/night strike fighter. He has been shot at while flying in some of the world's most dangerous places--Libya, Bosnia, Iraq, and Somalia. A Navy aviator for 19 years, Knight began his command of the Argonauts in June 2000. The 14-plane squadron was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Stennis, which patrolled the waters between the Persian Gulf and Australia. "It has been an awesome career," said the Toll Gate High School graduate. "I tell our young officers who are thinking about leaving the Navy to compare this to what they will be doing when they get out of the Navy. I ask them, 'do you think you'll be doing anything as exciting, or more important than what you are doing now?'" Knight has logged more than 3,400 hours in the air while flying more than 50 different aircraft and has been awarded three Air Medals, five Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. But soon Knight will hang up his flight suit to begin a new three-year assignment as an aide to the admiral at the Navy Warfare Development Command in Newport, R.I. "This unit looks at developments in warfare and the need to stay abreast of technology," Knight said. "We'll be looking at using the latest tools and systems and then testing them with our fleet. Our pilots will be flying with these systems, and they will be reporting on their successes or failures and whether we should be pursuing further development." Asked if this think tank would address terrorism, Knight said, "I wouldn't doubt it. We are going to be addressing the asymmetric war, a war in which you don't know who the enemy is or where they are going to attack." Knight, his wife Mary Lou, a Pawtucket native, and their two children, Colin, 14, and Kellie, 10, who were living in Lemoore, Calif., when Knight headed the Argonauts, were eager to return to Rhode Island. "Mary Lou once asked me if we would ever get back to Rhode Island, and I told her I didn't think so," Knight said. "She was sad, and we wondered about whether I would stay in the Navy--I am a Navy commander, but in my own house, I am just a lieutenant. When I told her we were going to Newport, she was very glad." Knight, who said his foundation for leadership was built at URI, is eager to reconnect with his alma mater and alumni events. When he was at the Naval War College in 1996-97 earning his Master's in National Security and Strategic Studies, other personnel would drive by URI and remark on how beautiful it was. "I always said, 'That's my campus.'" As a URI student, he served as president of Theta Chi fraternity, as president of the Interfraternity Council, and as business manager of the student newspaper, The Good 5¢ Cigar. It was in fact a trip to Pennsylvania for a job interview with two fraternity brothers, Peter Lamb '79, and Daniel Piggott '78, that led him to consider a career as a Navy flyer. "I was hooked when I took my first jet flight or that interview," Knight said. "I had always been interested in aviation as a kid and was always building and flying model planes and rockets. I was also considering the Navy in the winter of 1981 when I was finishing my classes at URI." In January 1982, he took the Navy's aviation aptitude test, and on May 14, the morning of his Commencement at URI, he was waking up in Pensacola, Fla., to morning military drills. "My dad kidded me saying that when I joined the Navy I had just joined another fraternity, but I believe my fraternity taught me a lot about leadership and dealing with people. There are issues you just can't walk away from in the fraternity, and the same is true in the Navy. "I never started in the Navy to make it a career, but then I was selected for test pilot school, and then I was selected to be a department head, and then I completed cruises on three different carriers," Knight said. "I figured as long as I was having fun, I would stick around. Sure, the Navy has its troubles, but I am still having fun." While Knight said Navy personnel can never be sure where their next assignment will be, he hopes to eventually become an air wing commander on a carrier. "I'd also like to reach 1,000 landings on a carrier because it's a great milestone. It's kind of like 3,000 hits and 500 homers in baseball." Dave Lavallee '79, M.P.A. '78, is a public information and communications specialist in URI's Department of Communications. |
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