Veteran Voices: Al Zepeda keeps his head on a swivel

Editor’s note: The Vail Veterans Program and the Vail Daily will highlight the service of an Eagle County veteran each month in Veteran Voices.

“My wife hates watching ‘Top Gun’ with me,” chuckles Avon Police Officer Al Zepeda. “All through the movie, I’ll be like, ‘That’s not true, that could never happen. He’s not even sitting in the right seat to fly the plane. He’s sitting in the back seat!'”

But when it comes to planning and prep, no one takes a backseat to Zepeda, no matter as a naval systems analyst or keeping his adopted community safe as an Avon police officer.

Zepeda joined the Navy in 1989. It was a definite cultural shift from the world he was used to, growing up on the streets of Los Angeles. He saw the life path he was on and realized that it was not one he wished to continue down.

“For many years,” Zepeda said, “my parents had preached going into the military, but they finally gave up when I turned 18. At 22, I just knew I wasn’t going in the right direction, so I decided on my own to join up with the Navy.”

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“I did a six-month delay so my parents had no idea that I had joined. I didn’t want them to think this was their decision and I needed for them to know it was my decision.”

Two weeks before Zepeda went to boot camp, he told his mother and she was shocked. One week later, he told his father and he was equally shocked. And thus began his military career.

Having worked with some computers during his schooling and having an interest in the aviation community, Zepeda became a database network coordinator, taking care of logs and records for various aircraft components. About the same time, an old flame reentered the picture.

“I started with our E-2C Hawkeye, the one with the big (radar) dome on the top,” Zepeda said. “I realized in my third year that this was going to be me for a while. I also realized that I was back in love with the girl next door, literally, and we got married. I had known her since she was 13 so she was a good sweetheart from way back when.”

Zepeda went to the E-2cC squadron before doing some land time and eventually got into working with F/A-18s, which became his forte.

“I did a lot of work on ships,” Zepeda said. “On my last tour, I was with the Blue Blasters Squadron as a flight deck coordinator. I stood in the middle as our aircraft were getting prepared to go on missions. My job was to watch my teams go to each aircraft and then signal the tower that they were ready to fly.”

Strike Fighter Squadron 34, also known as the “Blue Blasters,” is a F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter squadron stationed out of Naval Air Station Oceana located in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“It’s definitely one of the most dangerous jobs on the carrier,” Zepeda added. “It’s a matter of keeping your head on a swivel and always knowing where you are because those jets can turn on you at any time and that jet propulsion can knock you over.”

Zepeda’s initial encounter with an aircraft carrier flight deck came on his first tour of duty. Needless to say, it was not a “Top Gun” moment. 

“I weighed about 128 pounds, and they took me up there, and my chief told me to hold on to his belt loop,” Zepeda said. “So, I grabbed his belt and I walked around like a little puppy dog with this chief just to make sure I didn’t get blown over as he showed me the flight deck during flight operations.”

Meanwhile, life was not all about fishing off the back of the USS Enterprise for Zepeda. Attached to the USS Kearsarge, the unit was deployed to Sierra Leone, which had just experienced a military coup that stranded numerous humanitarians in the middle of the fray. 

“I was with the security force at the time so our job was to set up a way we could get these civilians to come onboard and then send them through a process so that we could do verifications, perform a wellness exam and giving them a place to stay for the night until we could transport to someplace safer,” he said.

While sitting there, Zepeda noticed a man slumped over in his chair.  Al walked over to him and asked if he was OK.

The gentleman looked at Zepeda and said, “Seeing you in your uniform and seeing the American flag right there, I knew I was going to be OK.”

“I immediately felt this tingling coming up from my toes all the way to the top of my head, and I knew that I was here for a purpose,” Zepeda said. “The story of that one gentleman in Sierra Leone led me into thinking that maybe I could be a part of helping and protecting our community, considering how much time I had spent protecting our nation. That’s how I came into the police force.”

Zepeda retired from the Navy in 2013 and followed a friend out to Eagle County, where he joined the Avon police force.

“I’m getting to that point where it’s time to start thinking about moving on,” Zepeda added, “but I’ve already started looking at what my next step is going to be.”

His goal is to get more involved with the Special Olympics, where he’s currently the deputy director Colorado Special Olympics.

For Zepeda, service begets service, and Special Olympics will have snagged a good one.

John Dakin is a 2022 inductee to the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame.