DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --
With only hours remaining in a 20-plus year career, Lt. Col. Sam VanZanten, a 326th Airlift Wing command pilot, had an opportunity that not many C-17 Globemaster III pilots get. He was going to perform an assault landing to a dirt strip in the hills of Virginia near Fort A.P. Hill, Va. Sept. 23, 2015. Dirt landings require just the right combination of precision and finesse. Once committed, there is little room for error. After 4,400 hours of military flying, 3,300 of which was in the C-17, VanZanten knew exactly what needed to be done.
The instructor pilot on that sortie was Lt. Col. Steve Lewis. These two pilots began their careers together almost 17 years ago at Yakota Air Base, Japan, flying the C-9 Nightingale. Now they would be closing a chapter together on a training sortie from Dover Air Force Base, Del. The weather was cooperative, radio contact was made with the Landing Zone Control Officer, and the aircraft and crew proceeded inbound. 
They lined up on final approach with the airplane configured for landing and performed final checks. At 50 feet, VanZanten added power to break the jet's descent, and the aircraft touched down 250 feet into the landing zone - a near perfect maneuver performed by the seasoned crew from the 326th Airlift Squadron.
After the final flight of his career, when the dusty jet returned to Dover Air Force Base, VanZanten's family was waiting for him. Escorted onto the ramp by his squadron mates and maintenance troops, his wife and young daughters were able to see their husband and dad park the mighty C-17 for the last time. When the engines shut down, VanZanten was ceremoniously hosed down with a cooler of water, capping the flight in the traditional way most Air Force aviators end their flying careers.
As a pilot for a major airline, he will continue to fly, and his legacy of service to the Air Force Reserve, the 512th Airlift Wing, and the 326th Airlift Squadron will live on in his absence. The Lieutenants and Captains he has mentored continue to prove their worth, as they prepare to make the same dirt assault landing VanZanten did for the last time.