Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. -- "I love aviation. I love flying. It’s what I do. There’s a sense of freedom and control at the same time; the freedom of being separated from the ground and going any direction — vertical or horizontal — that you want to go, and the control of the aircraft, making it fly how you want it to fly. It’s amazing.”
Every Marine has a different story, a different reason for entering the Corps. For Col. Christopher C. Seymour, former commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 26, the draw was serving his country as a pilot.
Seymour’s father was an Army pilot, and instilled a love of flight in his son from an early age.
“I flew as a kid with my dad in helicopters,” he said. “He flew for an oil company after he got out of the Army. I remember flying in the front seat of a Bell JetRanger with him. He paid for me to get my first flying lesson when I was 14 years old.”
Seymour, who was in an Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in high school, spoke with both the Air Force and the Navy about becoming a pilot, but was told that at 6’5”, he was too tall.
“I had a buddy I went to high school with who enlisted in the Marine Corps, and he came back to our home town on (Permissive Temporary Assigned Duty) to do recruiting, and he told me he knew pilots in the Marine Corps who were bigger than I was,” said Seymour. “He asked me if I wanted to talk to a recruiter, and I said sure.”
Robert H. Barrow, then a captain and son of the 27th Marine Commandant General Robert H. Barrow, contacted Seymour about joining the Corps as an officer.
During his 26 years of service, Seymour has flown approximately 5,000 hours in more than 35 aircraft, but his favorite is the MV-22B Osprey, which accounts for half of that time.
“(Seymour) devoted more than 20 years of his career advancing the revolutionary tiltrotor capability,” according to Lt. Col. Brett A. Hart, commanding officer of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204.
Seymour was the first Osprey pilot to serve as commander of MAG-26, especially notable because MAG-26 is the only strictly V-22 aircraft group in the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps is more than a way for Seymour to express his love for aviation. Since the start of his career when a friend introduced him to the prospect of joining the Corps, to his last day of active service, his fellow Marines have helped him in his personal and professional development.
“That’s probably the most important piece to me,” said Seymour. “Taking care of Marines. I’ve had people take care of me through my career. Training and mentoring young Marines is what we do, teaching them to take care of each other and respect each other.”
Seymour said he has learned from all ranks across the Marine Corps, from privates to four-star generals, all of whom have taught him lessons in traits Marines hold dear, such as accountability and honor.
“I’ve had so many during my time in the Marine Corps that I owe all of the Marines my utmost respect and thankfulness.”
Seymour piloted an MV-22B on July 31, his last flight as a naval aviator. He flew to the outer banks of Virginia, to Kitty Hawk, N.C., the site of the first flight of the Wright Brothers, down the beach back to Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. Upon arriving, he addressed his Marines on the flight line, thanking them for their service and reminding them that first and foremost, Marines take care of each other and he is where he is now because of them.
“It chokes me up to think about the people that we recruit, the type of people we retain, the sacrifices they make — we’re an all-volunteer force during a time of conflict,” he said. “You can’t take that lightly.”
Every Marine has a different story, a different reason for entering the Corps, but they all stay for the same one.
“Marines take care of each other,” Seymour said. “I am proud to be part of such a great group of people — the Marines.”
Seymour relinquished command of MAG-26 to Col. John C. Vara during a change of command ceremony on the VMMT-204 flight line, Aug. 2.