Pete Charest joined the Air Force in January 1977 and completed basic training in San Antonio, Texas.  After technical training in the Tactical Aircraft Maintenance field, he was assigned to Randolph AFB, also in San Antonio and maintained T-37 and T-38 aircraft for the pilot instructor training program at Randolph. 

Pete took a special duty assignment in 1980 as an Air Force recruiter in Smithtown and Patchogue from late 1980 to July 1984.  He recruited pilot, navigator, engineer, and meteorologist candidates from Suffolk County colleges and universities to attend Officer Training School.   He was awarded AF Recruiting’s highest honor of “The Gold Badge”.

Pete was reassigned to Headquarters Air Force Recruiting at Randolph AFB, San Antonio as a Community Events Manager, in the Public Affairs division in 1984.  He coordinated Air Force representation at medical, nursing, and education conventions nationwide.  His favorite part of this assignment was coordinating recruiting service support of the Air Force Thunderbirds and Air Force level bands which took him to The Pentagon and meetings at the Secretary of the Air Force, Public Affairs.  (SAFPA)

Pete returned to his primary career field in aircraft maintenance in 1985 and was assigned to the 380^th Bomb Wing at Plattsburgh AFB, New York.  After positions as maintenance expediter and production supervisor on FB-111 aircraft, he became a Wing Trainer.  The FB-111 was a medium range nuclear bomber.

The Air Force transferred Pete once again to Bitburg Air Base, Germany, near the Belgian and Luxemburg borders to work with F-15 fighters.  While assigned to Bitburg, Pete worked as a maintenance expediter, production supervisor, and Zulu Alert Shift Supervisor.  The mission of Zulu Alert was to maintain aircraft for interception of Russian and Eastern European aircraft.  The F-15s had to be fully armed and in the air within five minutes of the alert.  In November of 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, and the USSR dissolved and by 1990, Pete was reassigned to F-15s at Holloman AFB, in Alamogordo, New Mexico,

In 1991, Pete left maintenance to accept another special duty assignment with recruiting in New Jersey.  After the first year of recruiting BSN nurses and Nurse Anesthetists, Pete accepted a district supervisor position in Westchester, Pennsylvania.  In 1994, Pete was assigned as Operations Supervisor for the 345^th Recruiting Squadron in St. Louis, Missouri.  The squadron recruited enlisted, officer, and medical candidates across parts of six Midwest States.

In 1997, Pete was promoted to Senior Master Sergeant and reassigned to the 313th Recruiting Squadron in Syracuse, New York.  As Superintendent, Pete managed over 100 personnel in 32 recruiting offices across upstate New York and part of Pennsylvania.  1n 1999, Pete accepted a position with the nation’s largest military recruiting company, submitted his request to retire from the Air Force, and moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area.  Pete spent the next 20 years helping civilian companies hire military technicians and officers for a variety of careers in nuclear power production, semi-conductor manufacturing, the paper industry, automotive components, among others.  Pete’s favorite position was his last one before retiring in 2019.  He was European Recruiting Manager for Booz Allen Hamilton, a very large defense industry contracting company.  His team helped hire candidates with top secret positions in intelligence and counter-intelligence for the NATO European and African Commands in Germany, England, Belgium, Republic of Georgia, and Italy, among others,

Pete is married to his 1971 Sayville High School classmate, Ramona (Monie) Xiques.  He has two daughters from a previous marriage who live nearby and he became a grandfather in 2020.  Pete’s military decorations include six Air Force Commendation Medals and three Air Force Meritorious Service Medals. 

Career Highlight: In 2013, the first pilot Pete recruited from the Aeronautical Sciences degree program at Dowling College retired and invited Pete and Ramona to his retirement ceremony in Tucson, Arizona.  Colonel Rick Dennee was the commander of the weapons test center in Tucson.  Pete and Rick stayed in touch over the years including a chance meeting while Pete was temporarily assigned to Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath, England.  Colonel Dennee, a Captain at the time, happened to be at RAF Lakenheath at the same time from his assignment at Reykjavik, Iceland as an F-15 pilot at the time.