CavCpt's Story
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DOB: 24 Feb, 1983
Occupation: Army Officer
Hometown: Harrisonburg, VA (actually I am a military brat and have lived all over the country)
Civilian Education: BA in History from James Madison University, Minor in military Leadership.
Army Education: Armor Officer Basic Course, Scout Leaders Course, Air Assault School, Reconnaissance
and Surveillance Leader Course, Maneuver Captain’s Career Course, Cavalry Leader Course (currently),
Airborne School (April 09).
Events Leading up to Aces High:
My father, an Air Force Academy grad-turned army officer, turned me on to flight simulators at a very
early age after watching him play F-15 Strike Eagle II (1989) on the early-model computer that he kept
in his office. He had me watching movies such as, “The Blue Max”, “12 O’clock High”, and “The Memphis Belle”
from a very early age. I pressured him to buy newer and better computer so that the graphics card would
support the air simulators that I so desperately wanted play. I vividly remember playing games such as
Pacific Figher, Aces over Europe/the Pacific, and F117 Stealth Fighter. Needless to say, I was hooked of
flight sims at an early age.
In 1996, I came across a simulator called Air Warrior II, hosted on compuserve, and I was immediately hooked. The game was a drastic change to the previous simulators I had played because it was totally online. I was immediately drawn to bombers and took a special interest in gunning for anyone who would have me. At the time my handle was DamageINC. or something to that effect, and as it turns out, the SKBG let me fly with them several times . I eventually shot down enough enemy fighters to earn enough of a reputation to be recruited into the squadron. Once the game transitioned to Gamestorm, I begged my parents to pay for the monthly subscription, and started saving my weekly allowance so that I could buy a graphics card upgrade for the upgrade to Air Warrior 3d. It was during this period that I had the fortune of making friends with great AW mentors such as KenJr., Denny, Alpo, Raven, and countless others. Although I had to play AW3d in 2d for a couple months, I eventually became engrossed in SKBG to the point that I became a designated gunner for squad night (along with AirRat, who was waaaaay better than I was). Eventually, after being ridiculed by my younger sister and her friends in 1998, I went on an unexpected hiatus from gamestorm and Air Warrior.
I continued to play single player flight simulators, including months worth of time playing B-17 Flying Fortress II: The Mighty Eighty, and European Air War. Through college I kind of got away from simulators until I came across the awesome simulator, IL2 Sturmovic. I played that game until I graduated, then fell off the gaming map as I began my Army training.
Getting Hooked… again:
After 15 months deployed to Iraq as a Scout Platoon Leader with 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, I saw a
commercial advertising an online WWII air combat simulator called, Aces High II. I told my wife, “that looks
an awful lot like an online game I used to play when I was younger!” Of course she didn’t give a crap, but I
went ahead and signed up for my free 2-week trial anyway. After a week or so of playing, I decided that the game
was exactly like AW, and assumed that there we probably some ex-SKBG pilots floating around somewhere. After
changing countries a couple times, much to my surprise, I found a number of people I recognized with the letters
“SK” in front of their names. I tuned to channel 125 for a couple of days to confirm that I was reconnecting with
the Sky Knights, then sent a message to Alpo, Identifying myself as a form SKBG member, and was welcomed back
into the group.
Since rejoining the group I started polishing up my bomber skills and even take up the occasional fighter.
Despite my extensive background in land warfare, I suck in GVs in Aces High. I really enjoy flying with the SKs
and FTs on their respective squad nights, and have am glad to have met so many new people! I truly wish that I
had more time (and wife’s patience) to fly in more of the snapshots and FSO events. Needless to say, I take pride
in having “SK” in front of my name, as I know that we are feared and respected as both a bomber and fighter force,
and I really look forward to Sunday nights every week.
~CPT Robert Humphrey (SKCavCapt)
