Mark Scarpa tried college after graduating CHS in 2008. “I went to college maybe two months. I didn’t really like it; it wasn’t for me,” he said. “I wanted to go do something else and wound up joining the Army.” Today, after his four year hitch and now a Senior Aircraft Maintenance Tech for Republic Airlines, Scarpa is something of a scholar. Thanks to the GI Bill, he first went to the Teterboro School of Aeronomics for aircraft mechanics. His next stop was the FAA to test and pass tests for his air frame and power plant license. Scarpa, now 26, just completed an AA degree in Avionics at Bergen Community College and is now at Thomas Edison College—on his own dime—where he will get a BS in Aviation Maintenance Technology. Impressive for a kid that felt college wasn’t for him. “Being in the military helped me to get the drive to get things done,” he said, noting he has been with Republic for a year and a half and already received his first promotion. “The service taught me to hustle, to focus and to come up with a clear plan and execute.” 18 November 2016 • Cliftonmagazine.com
Scarpa went to basic in January 2009 at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, spending six months in basic with additional training to become a military police (MP) officer. On July 13, 2009, he deployed to Seoul, South Korea, and was attached to the 142nd Military Police Company, 94th Military Police Battalion. “Over there, military police were like regular cops,” explained Scarpa. While his stepdad Sam Skidmore is a retired Clifton Police Officer, Scarpa said working on engines became his calling. “This became my true passion and I figured I’d enjoy my day-to-day life more.” While his time in Korea was pretty quiet, he did note a hot period: “When North Korea sunk that South Korean ship [ROKS Cheonan, on March 26, 2010], they recalled all of us and we had to check all of our gear and all this craziness. It was pretty wild,” he added. Scarpa said his time in Korea gave him a worldly perspective. “I can’t even compare it to anything else. I was 18 years old, just out of high school. And I was in a foreign country for the first time ever, and in the military. It was an incredible experience.”