{"id":98654,"date":"2018-07-23T17:27:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T23:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parker-scrappy-pilot-versus-bigfoot-hunter-in-tennessee\/"},"modified":"2018-07-23T17:27:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T23:27:20","slug":"parker-scrappy-pilot-versus-bigfoot-hunter-in-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parker-scrappy-pilot-versus-bigfoot-hunter-in-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker: Scrappy pilot versus Bigfoot hunter in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not. Kidding.<\/p>\n

Nickloes and I sat down Wednesday at the Yee-Haw Brewing Co. and talked about her decision to seek the 2nd Congressional District seat long held by retiring Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (and before that, his father). Last December, she was in Washington on her daughter\u2019s seventh-grade class trip, during which the group visited one of her state representatives (she won\u2019t say which one). Nickloes asked a question and got an answer that made her mad.<\/p>\n

Her query: \u201cIn light of Congress\u2019 inability to pass a budget and its detrimental effect on our military, do you think you\u2019ll be able to pass a budget before the continuing resolution ends?\u201d<\/p>\n

His reply was that the military has everything it needs and that the Pentagon has sold the American people a bill of goods. He might as well have said, Don\u2019t you worry your pretty head, young lady. At this, Nickloes stepped forward, extended her right hand, and said, \u201cI\u2019m Lt. Col. Ashley Nickloes. I fly a 1957 aircraft, and some of our enlisted men and women live below poverty. Yes or no, can you pass a continuing resolution?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a moment.<\/p>\n

For our meeting, Nickloes arrived punctually with two unpaid staff members. Wearing a navy-blue dress, a single strand of white pearls and medium heels, she resembled the flight attendant she once was en route to becoming a military pilot. Already a trained pilot, and having initially been turned down by the Tennessee National Air Guard because they felt she couldn\u2019t handle the physical demands, she took the airline job at her father\u2019s urging. Also a pilot, he told her to get to know the pilots, who often also serve in the Guard, and take any Guard pilot job she could get.<\/p>\n

When the New York National Air Guard had an opening, Nickloes applied. \u201cYeah, we need a chick,\u201d she says she was told. \u201cYou\u2019d be a quota.\u201d Finally, an officer said: \u201cGo to the bar tonight, drink, don\u2019t make an ass of yourself, and we\u2019ll hire you in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

#Done.<\/p>\n

Nickloes is preternaturally calm as she describes these and other made-for-Hollywood episodes in a life that begs for a biographer. When I used the word \u201cserene\u201d to describe her, she laughed. \u201cI doubt my children or my husband would agree with that assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, four children, ages 8 to 15, and a fifth, Gabriel, who died after being born prematurely. I asked how she manages a family, including her surgeon\/professor husband; her career as a commander in the Tennessee Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force; eight deployments since Sept. 11, including five times to the Middle East, flying a KC-135 Stratotanker \u2013 she refuels aircraft in flight \u2013 while also (are you kidding?) pursuing a master\u2019s degree in the \u201coperational art of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith and family, she answered. \u201cI am blessed to serve. If my family and faith are strong, my service is stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus far, Nickloes lags behind her fellow GOP contenders in fundraising and, therefore, exposure, mostly because she\u2019s had only about 100 days to build a campaign after returning in April from her most recent deployment. Her toughest opponent, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, is a former member of both the state House and Senate and has never lost an election.<\/p>\n

His popularity is unrivaled, perhaps, because as a legislator, he eliminated red tape for people who want to quickly scoop up their roadkill. He\u2019s also well-known as an avid Bigfoot hunter, which prompted Nickloes to wonder aloud: \u201cIf I kill Sasquatch, does that mean he\u2019s mine?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nickloes, meanwhile, has won the endorsement of the Knoxville News Sentinel, and a fundraising group in Washington, \u201cDefending Main Street,\u201d just released a six-figure ad about Nickloes for the Knoxville market.<\/p>\n

Should Nickloes beat the odds and win the Aug. 2 primary and ultimately is elected, she\u2019ll continue serving in the Guard and hopes to apply her experiences to tackling defense and health care, as well as term limits. Serving in Congress, she says, should be like any other mission. You do the job, and then you go home.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Parker writes a twice-weekly column for The Washington Post. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary In 2010. Reach her at kathleenparker@washpost.com<\/a>. \u00a9 2018 The Washington Post Writers Group<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

du1-i-syn Not. Kidding. Nickloes and I sat down Wednesday at the Yee-Haw Brewing Co. and talked about her decision to seek the 2nd Congressional District seat long held by retiring Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (and before that, his father). Last December, she was in Washington on her daughter\u2019s seventh-grade class trip, during which the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5758,6321],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-98654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columnists","category-columnists-kathleen-parker","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98654"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=98654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}