Growing up in Washington, DC, U.S. Army Major Matthew Manning was inspired by the steady presence of his father, a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Manning never missed his son’s practices or sporting events. While his mother wasn’t part of his life and his older brothers faced their own struggles, young Matthew was inspired by both his father’s devotion and his military focus and discipline. “Growing up I wasn’t your traditional teenager, going out or trying to sneak out. I was in the house before the streetlights came on,” says Matthew with a laugh. “And when I joined [the military], I loved it… even in basic training I was put in leadership positions that I excelled in.”

Although Matthew is a highly respected Army officer today, his military career—like his father’s— actually began with the Air Force. Matthew was trained as an electrical maintainer on the Warthog A-10—an aircraft designed for close air support. He was great at his job and highly regarded. But one day, he shared his dream of flying with a pilot emerging from the aircraft. “I said to him: ‘Man, I wanna be a pilot’. And he looked me up and down and said: ‘You don’t look like a pilot’,” Matthew recalls. “I said, ‘Okay, I don’t know what a pilot looks like, but I’m going to be one of them.’”

That’s when Matthew made one of the biggest pivots of his life. After doing some research, he realized that the Air Force wasn’t the only branch of the military that provided the opportunity to fly. The U.S. Army had helicopter pilots and Matthew decided that not only was he definitely going to be a pilot, he was going to fly the legendary attack helicopter, the Apache AH-64. “I wanted to fly that specific aircraft because I wanted to be the aviator that was out there… protecting our brothers and sisters on the ground,” he says. “I felt like I already did what I needed to do in the Air Force… To continue on my trajectory, I needed another challenge.”

Matthew’s father questioned the move, but the aspiring aviator was steadfast. “I told him, I have to take this chance. If I fail, hopefully you’ll be there to support me. But if I don’t try, I’m always going to live with that regret.”

First, Matthew completed a master’s degree in Intercultural Communications at the University of Hawaii. Then, his career as an Army aviator began in earnest with flight school, an intense training period that would test his commitment to, well, everything. Just before flight school, Matthew’s then wife was deployed to Iraq. Since the couple had a two-year-old son, Major, Matthew had to figure out how to juggle fatherhood and his new career direction. 

Fortunately, Matthew’s father stepped up. While Matthew tackled flight school in Fort Rucker, Alabama, his young son was cared for by his grandfather in Washington, DC. Phase one was four weeks of basic officer learning, but phase two turned out to be more grueling. “That’s where we go through combat water survival tests and SERE school. That’s Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape,” Matthew explains. “That’s a couple of weeks with no contact with the outside world where you’re put through some of the hardest, but most valuable training you’ll ever experience in the Army. It teaches you, in the event your aircraft goes down behind enemy lines, what tools and resources you can use to be able to make it home.”

Training was tough, and so was being apart from his son, but Matthew knew it was an investment in both their futures. “Making it through that course wasn’t just about, ‘Oh, I’m making my way to actual flying.’ It was my route to getting my son back. My last phone call, before I went into SERE school, was to my dad. I said, ‘Hey, when I’m done, bring [my son] Major to me.’ And he said, ‘Alright, that’s what I wanted to hear. I know you’re ready now.’”

Completing SERE school was a major victory, as was being reunited with his son. But there was no time to relax as Matthew had to pivot again and figure out how to navigate the rest of flight school while caring for his son. “Every day starts at about 5 a.m.,” he says. “So I was taking Major to daycare at about 3 a.m., getting home at about six or seven in the evening, then feeding him, playing with him, and then going to bed at about 11 o’clock. Waking up and doing it again.”

Matthew admits that grueling pace broke him at times, bringing him to tears, but he’d already decided failure wasn’t an option. He couldn’t fail himself and he certainly couldn’t fail Major. “‘Dominate the morning and win the day’ was the slogan that started to stick in my brain,” Matthew recalls. “It started with reading my scripture, and then making sure Major was good… I just told myself, ‘You might not have it all figured out… you just gotta take it inch by inch, brick by brick.’”

With the support of his flight school classmates and his own stellar performance in the classroom and in the air, Matthew went all the way to the No. 1 spot in his class. But that ranking was more than a feather in his cap, it was key to making his dream of piloting the Apache come true. There are only so many of the various aircraft available at any one time, depending on what the Army needs. Pilots get to choose based on class rank, meaning the No. 1 spot has the best chance of getting his or her pick of aircraft. 

But on the day his class found out which aircraft  was available, Matthew had to pivot yet again as there were no openings for Apache pilots. Matthew was crushed, but only for a moment. “I kept moving forward,” he says. “Over about three to four weeks, I just kept doing the right thing. I was doing volunteer work, building important relationships, and then, one day I received a phone call.”

Matthew was summoned to meet with one of his instructors who said, “You’re an Apache pilot now. Go out there and continue to do great things for Army aviation.” Matthew hasn’t looked back since.

After leadership roles in the 17th Air Cavalry Squadron in Afghanistan and in the Army’s INDOPACIFIC operations, Matthew was awarded a prestigious General Omar N. Bradley Fellowship in Washington, DC. During the fellowship, he worked at the Pentagon in support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and received a Master of Policy Management at Georgetown University. Today, he serves as a strategy officer in the Army’s Global Communications Office. 

Matthew has also founded a mentorship program, Jacob’s Ladder Junior Flight Training Academy, where he applies two of his most important leadership lessons from Army Aviation. He supports at-risk youth in his hometown by meeting them where they are and giving them grace. Jacob’s Ladder brings its young charges on visits to the Pentagon, and to sessions in real Army flight simulators, including one for the Apache, where the teens try their best to beat their mentor. The program even connects some participants to scholarships so they can obtain a free pilot’s license. “For these kids to have a pilot’s license before they have their driver’s license…” Matthew enthuses. “You want to talk about how that changes their perspective on life and how that changes a culture for those that follow behind them? You know…the sky is not the limit.”

Learn more about the men and women who make up today’s U.S. Army at the Blavity x U.S. Army Content Hub.
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