After more than a decade of searching for the perfect job, David Gage finally thinks he found it.
Gage, 35, serves as a cabin crew member for Oregon-based defense contractor Columbia Helicopters. For 28-day stretches Gage flies on Boeing helicopters, ferrying supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. For 26 days after those stretches end, he spends time at home in Jefferson City with his wife and kids.
"I'm like a flight attendant, but with a rifle," Gage said.
Before he began working for Columbia last December, Gage spent much of his time overseas while serving in the Marines and serving as a contractor for the federal government. His new job allows him to seek the adrenaline he craves while also allowing him to see his family more than ever. With Gage's family settling into their new home in Jefferson City, Gage said the family hopes to put down long roots in the community.
Gage grew up an hour south of St. Louis, but said it felt like he grew up everywhere. Born in Germany as a Military brat, his parents separated while he was young. Gage moved around a lot as a kid and never felt like anywhere was home.
Like many young men of his generation, 9/11 changed Gage's life. By his senior year of high school, in 2001, Gage planned to go to college. After 9/11 Gage secretly decided to join the service.
After being shunned by Air Force recruiters, Gage joined the Marines. During his first tour of duty in 2004 he worked in motor transportation for the Marines and drove trucks. Gage served in Fallujah during this time, which saw two of the worst battles of the Iraq War.
In Fallujah, Gage said his unit got bombed "all the time."
"I don't think I knew that it was that bad," Gage said. "I just expected war to be like that."
After returning home in 2005, Gage requested to change units. He ended up in Bravo Company, the company that's best known for toppling a large statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 2003. With Bravo Company, Gage learned to drive tanks out of necessity as his company suffered casualties.
At times, Gage had close calls. One day, rockets were blowing over his unit's tents. Gage ran from his tent to a nearby hangar in only short green shorts, his Kevlar body armor and a pair of flip flops. When one of his sandals broke, a buddy of his threw the grown man on his shoulder and helped save his life.
Another time, Gage was supposed to be in a convoy that got ambushed and decimated by Taliban fighters. Only a premonition by a buddy of his convinced him to wait for the next convoy.
As a freshman at North County High School in Bonne Terre, Gage met his wife Erica. She introduced Gage to God. He later became a Christian and his relationship with God became the rock on which Gage built his life as he faced the carnage of the battlefields in Haditha and Kandahar.
While sitting in his Jefferson City home Thursday, Gage rattled off several harrowing stories from war. War took friends of his, but war also gave him the chance experience breathtaking memories with his best friends. As Gage talked about the time his unit of four tanks stayed in a towering dam on the Euphrates River in Haditha, his voice slowed as he imagined the scene and described what the experience meant to him.
"I had a really tight group of friends," Gage said. "You hear that all the time, but it was real."
After leaving the military in 2006, Gage attended college at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. After graduating from Washburn with his wife in 2009, the couple had their first child.
Family life would slowly become the top priority for Gage. For another four years, Gage served as an overseas contractor in Afghanistan. He tried to keep up with his family by watching cameras set up in the family's living room. It wasn't enough.
In 2013, Gage moved back to the U.S. and managed a fleet of tug boats in St. Louis and spent more time with his family. That job ended up giving him just 16 hours per month to spend with his family, he said.
So, Gage jumped at the chance last December to work for Columbia Helicopters. After taking the job, Gage realized he could live anywhere in the country. So the family of six moved to Jefferson City as Erica pursued her dream of becoming a judge.
People often forget about the ongoing war in Afghanistan, he said. Columbia's helicopters get shot at, but he insists the job is safe.
"We fly very high and very fast, which keeps us from getting shot," Gage said. "We haven't taken fire since I've been there."
The job also allows Gage to see his family more than ever. Gage and his wife already had four children when they began fostering two additional children last week. During stints at home, he can spend all the time he wants with his family.
"This job, I catch lunch with my boys, take my wife out to lunch," Gage said.
Technology allows him to stay in touch with his family during overseas stints, Gage said. With his job going well and his wife pursuing her dreams, Gage said his family hopes to put down roots in Jefferson City over the next 10 years.
"Our plan is to invest in Jeff City," Gage said.