No matter how successful Kirby Harwell becomes in his new career as a financial advisor in Vero Beach, it won’t compare to his previous job – flying Marine One, the presidential helicopter often seen taking off and landing on the South Lawn of the White House.
After flying Super Cobras in combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where his attack helicopter was often fired on by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, Harwell qualified in 2012 to become one of the elite pilots in HMX-1 – the prestigious Marine Helicopter Squadron One.
“It’s the best job in the Marine Corps for a helicopter pilot,” said the 37-year-old Harwell, who left active duty Sept. 30 and moved to Vero Beach, where he now lives in Castaway Cove, plays golf at Quail Valley and has joined Mike Williams’ Raymond James Financial Services office in Pelican Plaza.
“Really, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, or will ever have,” he added. “It was the pinnacle of my Marine aviation career. I loved flying Cobras, but flying the president’s helicopter was the coolest job I could ever imagine doing.”
In fact, he’s still doing it as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, which requires him to fly to Quantico, Va., where HMX-1 is based, to serve one three-day weekend each month.
As a reservist, Harwell can continue serving in the presidential squadron, which, for those on active duty, has a four-year term limit. He gets paid for his time, which counts toward his pension, and keeps his military health-care benefits.
And he still gets to fly Marine One.
Not only has Harwell met President Barack Obama – “Every time he comes aboard, he shakes our hand, says hello and asks how we’re doing,” he said – he was the Marine One pilot when Obama visited the prehistoric Stonehenge monument in England after a NATO summit in Wales in September 2014.
Harwell also was on site when Obama:
Visited South Africa in 2013 in hopes of what would’ve been an historic meeting with Nelson Mandela, only to abandon his attempts because Mandela was hospitalized and fighting for his life.
Jetted to Japan in May and became the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima.
Flew to the Treasure Coast to play golf at the Floridian in Palm City in 2013.
“We operate mostly in and around Washington, D.C., but we’ll travel anywhere in the world that the president goes,” Harwell said. “Everywhere he goes, we’re there with a helicopter.”
The helicopters are loaded into the back of an Air Force transport plane and flown to the president’s destination, “so we’re there when the president shows up,” he said.
During his active-duty stint with the squadron, Harwell also was involved in transporting Vice President Joe Biden, the Obama and Biden families, cabinet members and foreign dignitaries, including Pope Francis.
The squadron uses two models Harwell described as “presidential but not royal.” The iconic, VH-3D “Sea King” is an updated and upgraded version of the helicopters that have carried American presidents since John Kennedy. There’s also the smaller, VH-60N “Whitehawk.”
Those aircraft are far different from the AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters Harwell flew in combat in Iraq in 2007-08, in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009, and in Afghanistan in 2011-12.
During each of those seven-month deployments, Harwell’s two-a-day missions provided air support for Marines on the ground – escorting convoys, supplying overhead surveillance and, when necessary, firing on enemy targets. Sometimes, the enemy would shoot back.
“It gets your attention pretty quick when you know they’re shooting at you,” Harwell said. “We tried to mitigate the threats with where and how we flew the helicopters. We weren’t predictable.”
Harwell said pilots would change altitude depending on the threats, which included AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) or shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles.
“There were some successful shoot-downs, so, for sure, it was always a concern,” he said. “But if you’re getting shot at, you’re most likely in an engagement with bad guys who are also shooting at Marines on the ground, and those Marines are getting shot at from very close range. We’re going to stay and help those Marines get out of a tough situation.”
Besides, Harwell said, Super Cobras are built for battle, armed with plenty of firepower and piloted by hard-core Marines trained to use it.
“The bad guys we were facing didn’t want to get shot, either,” he said. “They usually relied on sneak attacks or ambushes. When they saw us, they weren’t going to have it out, face to face, in the middle of the street. They knew we were going to win that game pretty quick.”
Harwell still vividly remembers every deployment, especially his first one as a new lieutenant with limited experience flying Cobras and, as he put it, “a lot to learn.”
He recalled feeling “excited but nervous” – excited about the opportunity to do the job he was trained for, but nervous about not knowing what was going to happen when he got to Iraq. Eventually, he adapted to the desert climate, daily missions and drudgery of a monotonous routine.
He also became hardened to the realities of war.
“You just get used to it,” Harwell said. “You say, ‘We got shot at today,’ or ‘A Marine got killed today,’ or even ‘I killed people today,’ and it’s just part of being there. It’s always a big deal, but after a while, it becomes the norm.”
Then the deployment ends.
The transition isn’t always easy, he said, particularly making the adjustment from a rigid daily schedule in a high-stress, combat environment to life at home with family and civilian friends.
“I was able to make the adjustment,” Harwell said, “but you need a couple of weeks to decompress when you first get home.”
Nearly five years have passed since Harwell returned from his last deployment to Afghanistan, but he said he still thinks about his time in Iraq and Afghanistan every day. He’s proud of his service and feels blessed to have made it home without injury.
“There are things that happened during those deployments I’ll never forget – and don’t want to forget,” Harwell said. “Those were important periods in my life.”
It’s a life that began in Franklin, N.C., and took him to the University of Georgia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He didn’t grow up wanting to be a Marine, even though his stepfather was among several Marines in his family.
Not until he graduated from college in 2002, in fact, did he give military service any serious thought.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Harwell said, “but I knew the entry-level, business-job options available to me didn’t get me going.”
What got him going was flying – something he did with friends who had pilot’s licenses – so he broached the subject with his uncle, a former Marine jet pilot. His uncle explained that private flight schools were expensive and suggested the military.
Harwell talked to a local Marine Corps recruiter and, after performing well on a written test, was guaranteed an aviation contract.
Soon after that, he was on his way to the Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School in Quantico, where he underwent 13 weeks of basic training before being commissioned a second lieutenant in 2003. Less than a year later, after taking a required infantry course, he went to the U.S. Naval Aviation School in Pensacola.
Harwell earned his wings in 2006 and immediately opted to fly Cobras, which he did for the next six years.
“I could’ve flown transport helicopters, but I joined the Marines because they’re the tip of the spear,” he said. “If I was going to be a Marine pilot, I wanted to go support Marines in combat. That’s why I chose Cobras.”
Six years and four deployments later, after rising in rank and proving himself to be one of America’s best attack helicopter pilots, Harwell applied for assignment to the HMX-1 squadron.
Armed with an impressive resume and getting help from squadron members who lobbied on his behalf, Harwell was selected to join the best-of-the-best, 50-pilot unit. He then began training to fly the presidential helicopters, which are noticeably different – mechanically, structurally and in the cockpit – from the Cobras he flew in combat.
He started as an HMX-1 co-pilot and progressed step-by-step through a long-established training regimen before being approved by the White House to pilot the presidential helicopters, including Marine One.
“One of the coolest parts of the squadron is the amount of responsibility you get as a captain or a major that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the Marine Corps,” Harwell said. “You’re given a multimillion-dollar national asset and 40 Marines and all the equipment needed to take this helicopter anywhere in the world, and you’re in charge.”
Harwell, who has a top-secret national security clearance, couldn’t discuss specifics of the HMX-1 aircraft’s counter-terrorism options. He said only that the helicopters are “extremely capable” and are flown by “experienced military pilots who know how to handle them.”
HMX-1 pilots also coordinate the logistics of every trip with the Secret Service, White House staff and local law-enforcement agencies. In addition, the job puts the squadron’s pilots in contact with various other government agencies and corporations that do business with them.
Many of them, Harwell said, would welcome the opportunity to hire a Marine officer with his security clearance.
Harwell, though, didn’t want to stay in the government defense industry or work for a large corporation when he left the Marine Corps. He was interested in finance but lacked experience in that field. He also preferred to live in a small town.
Harwell and his wife, Heidi, both grew up in small towns and wanted to raise their daughters – Kennedy, 3, and Elizabeth, 4 months – in the same type of setting. So when he left active duty as a major six weeks ago, they came to Vero Beach.
Harwell’s wife has family in Vero – her father, Bob Proechel, lives here with his wife, local realtor Marta Mytych Proechel – and the Harwells always enjoyed their visits to the area; so much, in fact, that Harwell and his wife bought a house in Castaway Cove three years ago, anticipating his eventual exit from active duty.
“We liked the area and the timing was right to look at real estate, so we bought it as an investment property and had renters,” Harwell said. “We knew it could be not only a great investment but, looking at the long term, it was a place we could move into when I got out of the Marine Corps.
“Being married with two young daughters, it was time for me to get out, and now we’re living in that house.”
As for a job, Harwell said he looked first for a spot in the aerospace industry, but he didn’t want to commute to West Palm Beach, Jupiter or Melbourne. He also considered becoming a realtor. Then, one night at the Quail Valley River Club’s tiki bar, he was introduced to Williams, who was looking to take on a junior partner he could groom to take over his Raymond James office.
After a couple of discussions, Harwell had a job. He now spends his days studying for the tests he needs to pass to become a financial advisor. He’s also completing his online work toward a master’s degree from Marshall University.
“He’s new to town, but he’s a terrific young man who makes you proud to be an American,” Williams said. “The more people meet him and hear his story, they’re going to be impressed.”
Given his exemplary record as a Marine, Harwell should have no trouble gaining the trust of local investors.
“It’s fun to talk about what I’ve done, and people like to hear about it,” Harwell said. “And, sure, I’ve been entrusted with national assets, flying the president of the United States and supporting Marines in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this is a new career for me.
“I know I have to go out there and prove myself every day.”
