Hayhurst served country through camera lens

SEELEY LAKE – Eric Hayhurst became interested in photography when he was a student at Capital High School in Helena. He liked the creativity of developing a negative in the darkroom to produce the photo as he wanted it to appear, liked the freedom inherent in layout and composition. Hayhurst considered pursuing a career in photography after graduation but realized it would be difficult to make a living as a photographer. His solution: become a photographer in the United States Navy.

Hayhurst entered the Navy in June of 1989 and was sent to boot camp in Orlando, Fla. where he graduated top of the class with an E-2 designation. He was also top of the class upon finishing his photography training at Pensacola, Fla. He was then assigned, as an E-3, to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).

Hayhurst said the Navy required documentation, often with photo accompaniment, of everything that happened aboard ship. That meant everything from dental and medical procedures, to public relations photos aimed at enlistment materials, to broken parts resulting from some minor accident, to photos of reenlistment and retirement ceremonies.

"We photographed everything from A to Z," Hayhurst said. "We would develop the film in the darkroom, old school way, and print onboard whatever size was needed all the way up to poster size."

Hayhurst categorized these types of onboard assignments as side work. He said the primary function of a military photographer is aerial reconnaissance. That meant attaching pods containing film approximately nine inches wide and 2,000 feet long onto F-14 Tomcats. Usually the film was black and white, high resolution and infra-red for flying over a target at night, but other types of film could be loaded for different missions. The pilot's job was easy, just push a button to start the film rolling. The real work took place after the pilot returned.

Hayhurst said, "They would come back and we would process and develop the film and make big poster prints for bombing missions. And of course, during the Gulf War everyone was hopeful for a sighting of Saddam Hussein. That never happened but we definitely blew up a lot of convoys, bunkers and bridges. The film was very high quality, high resolution. You could see a guy next to his car and read the license plate. Now of course we have very sophisticated satellites that can do all that digitally, but this predated most of that."

One of the more somber assignments that fell to Hayhurst was doing photo documentation after an airplane landing accident. During the night, under choppy sea conditions, a jet airplane came in too low and its landing gear crashed into the back of the ship. The copilot, situated in the rear of the plane, initiated ejection and was catapulted over the water where his parachute brought him down safely. The pilot was ejected straight up and his chute did not have sufficient time to deploy. He landed on the flight deck and was killed. The plane skidded into the ocean.

The task of documenting the damage to the ship, the skid marks, the pilot's body and other relevant evidence was given to Hayhurst. He was one of the few aircraft qualified photographers, a designation that allowed him to go aboard a helicopter to take overhead as well as closeup shots of the accident.

Accident aside, Hayhurst, who served two tours during the Gulf Wars, valued the special training that authorized him to do aerial photography and photographic reconnaissance as a crew member aboard helicopters and jets. Hayhurst said, "It was a pretty cool job."

Other operations Hayhurst participated in included Operation Fiery Vigil in the Philippines and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. Fiery Vigil occurred in the wake of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The Abraham Lincoln provided evacuation support, evacuating roughly 4,000 to 5,000 people off the island to a safer location.

Hayhurst said, "It was a mess. There was anywhere from 12-18 inches of what they called ash but was really more like gravel. That much weight was very dangerous and stuff was collapsing everywhere. There was true ash as well, and then when the rains came it would just turn into mudslides and a complete mess. So we supported that whole operation and helped those people during that time. That was pretty neat."

The 1993 Operation Restore Hope was a U.S. led United Nations sanctioned venture to create a protected environment for conducting humanitarian relief operations in Somalia. Aided by photographic reconnaissance, the Abraham Lincoln flew air patrols over Mogandishu, ensuring food and needed supplies reached the Somali people.

During his five-year Naval career, Hayhurst toured a substantial portion of the world: Virginia, Florida, and California in the U.S .; plus the Virgin Islands, Brazil, Cape Horn, Chile, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

After his discharge from the Navy in 1994, Hayhurst used his GI benefits to go to the University of Montana and work toward a degree in finance. However, he found he missed the camaraderie of military life and the sense of knowing he was serving his country.

Since, as Hayhurst put it, "the Navy doesn't do much in Montana," in 1995 he decided to enlist in the Army National Guard, choosing the 189th Light Utility Helicopter Battalion based in Helena. While serving there he entered Officer Candidate School (OCS) and in June of 1998 was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He also put in his application for pilot training, knowing only one person could be chosen from Montana per year. After a battery of tests probing both physical and mental aptitudes, Hayhurst was selected to begin flight training in March 1999 at Ft. Rucker, Ala. His goal was to be able to fly Blackhawk helicopters.

He had completed the 24-month OCS course when he faced a tough life decision. Having graduated U of M in May 1998 with his finance degree, he needed to build a career in that field, especially since he was now married to his wife Lisa. Cingular Wireless offered him a job in the San Francisco Bay area. Though he tried to find a way to continue his flight training and participation in the National Guard while living and working in the Bay area, it was not possible to pursue both career paths.

Reluctantly, in 2001 he resigned from the military and gave up his dream of flying the Blackhawk.

Now, looking back, he said, "It is one of my biggest regrets."

The finance path eventually led him to bank positions in Helena, Mont .; Minot, N.D. and Gillette, Wyo. Hayhurst said the goal always was to settle permanently in Montana, so when he was offered the job of Vice President/Branch Manager and Loan Officer at Citizens Alliance Bank in Seeley Lake, he said it was a dream come true. His parents had built a cabin on Placid Lake in 1989 and he and the family had come up often and were very familiar with the area.

Hayhurst said, "We [wife Lisa and son James] love the Seeley Swan Valley and hunting, fishing, camping and mountain biking. All that is kind of religion in my family. Lisa and I have been together for 27 years and we've moved 11 times. We're hopeful that this is our final stop. We love being here."

Hayhurst said, "I not only enjoyed serving my country but at the same time I gained some great skills and a chance to see the world. I would highly recommend it to any young person that might want to take on that experience and serve and later benefit from the GI Bill."