European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Seipelt a soaring from one desert to the next by Amy Geiszler Jones . Bureau it Ion packed is How Cut. Brad Seipt a describes his 199he started the year in the desert. Me will end it in the same Type of climate but on a different continent under different circumstances. During the months in Between he has been traversing the european continent and the United kingdom. Seipel a weapons systems officer for the of Iii aardvark fighter out of Raf Lakin Heath England was in the Sands of saudi Arabia on Jan. I having been there since aug. 25, 1990. By the end of january he was Well on his Way to becoming a successful combat aircrew member and had flown in High profile missions in the Gulf War. The first target he and his wartime Pilot capt. Mike Russell were Given was Saddam Hussein s summer Palace in Cikrit Iraq. Later in january the duo were involved in a Mission that stopped the iraqi forced How of crude Oil into the persian Gulf off the kuwaiti Shore. Seipel himself steered the two bombs into the pumping stations. Now he s on his Way to another base in the desert a Cannon fab . There will be no War to fight just More peacetime flying of the of Lulf and with him wifi be his family a wife Penny and daughters Noelle 11, and Leanna 8. Seipel 35, from Virginia Beach va., has been in the air Force nine years. So he had trained nearly a decade for last Winters Mission All the More reason for him to say a the War was a real and yet he says he does t consider himself a Gulf War hero. A when you think of a hero you think of someone who risked their life beyond what they would have to do a he said. A i was really just doing my Job. I was real Lucky in that we did have a lot of High priority targets and we always came shortly after his return to Lakenheath and his reunion with his family March 15, Seipel Russell and a third member of the 48th tac fighter Wing flew to Washington to Brief Pentagon officials about the Wing s wartime successes. During the summer Seipel zipped to Zaragoza a Spain on a temporary duty deployment. Following that he gave More briefings in Germany. Seipel also spent a month in Belg Tom for a Tacti Cal leadership program getting the Chance to Fly with aircrews from Belgium Britain France the Netherlands and Germany. Kwh hoops Ter Whitney Rolls out a new kind of record by Anita g0sch Stalf writer Lime a and the Money a to do it. As a pro Basic taller the 29-year-old spends just two hours a Day at practice with two games each weekend. The pay he says is a decent Quot though its a not even a Remote percentage Quot of what say magic Johnson made. �?o1 guess if you have a Nice 9-to-5 Job that pays Good its about equal to the Money came in Handy in september. Faced with up to three months off from basketball from a knee injury that required Ortho Copic surgery and intensive therapy Whitney jumped into music. He recorded produced and pressed 5,000 copies of his Maxi single cd. The Bill total Joe Whitney rang in the new in january 1991. Just 17 Days into the new year his daughter Lauren Blake was born. That was the beginning of a whole new life for him. The native of Seattle who plays professional basketball for the German second division team Lang in near Frankfurt started working on his future a a future he knows might not include sports. Whitney began in Earnest to pursue a career in music. This year he released his first Maxi single cd and he appeared twice on German television. Quot you can Ponder starting a career like that and you can Ponder it for 30 years and never get anything done. But Lauren kind of gave me the inspiration to really go for it a he says Quot because now i have to take care of another person besides myself who s heavily dependent on me. And if 1 can to do it financially in music then in be got to find another Whitney a graduate of the University of puget sound in Tacoma wash., with a degree in education says right now he a struggling a like millions of other but unlike Many of those other artists he has certain advantages he has the filet s4s Aiwood Wetr Feciw capt. Brad Seipel started 1991 in the Sands of saudi Arabia. Not All of his travel was career related. Since his return from saudi Arabia Seipel and his family packed their bags for time off together in Germany Scotland and Cornwall England. The family a bags Are packed again but this time they re destined for a move not a vacation. Seipel says he looks Forward to his stateside assignment Quot you re always Happy to go Back eds upwards of 25,000 Marks Quot he says a All out of his own pocket. "1 consider it an investment in myself a he says. There Are a lot of other Guys i know that Are playing Ball. Making a Normal living. They re spending 25,000 Marks on a Nice car. But i say hey ill drive an older car and ill put that Money into a the cd a the rhythm and blues soul in Ituen cd time to Jam a attracted the interest of the German television stations Rel and sat 1. Following his appearances on to Whitney received a Call from Sony music in Frankfurt which offered him an artists contract. Whitney a closed the offer. He a holding out for a masters contract which will give him greater creative Freedom and a higher percentage of the profits in the meantime Whitney has another Job. Since Lauren a birth he has become a self described House husband while his Girlfriend Debbie Blake pursues a business degree. If Whitney is successful with his singing hell stand out in the music business. At 6 feet 6 inches lie s several Heads taller than Many singers. Two members of his band deep pockets arc nearly As tall. The guitar player is 6 feet 3 inches and the Bass player is 6 feet 2vi inches. It s kind of a huge front line on the stage a Whitney says. Quot it creates an interesting effect. People arc immediately wide eyed when they Sec us because of our size. A if i do a concert that draws 60,000 or More the Guys Way Back in the Corner scats will be Able to see me Joe Hitney wants to Trade scores on the court for hits As a Singer. Page 6 a sunday december 29, 1991
