LD Jeffries, elected recently to serve as a member of the PJ Association Board during the 2018 Pararescue Reunion, is currently employed as a Captain at United Airlines and lives in Poplar Grove, Illinois with his beautiful wife, Kelly.
Mr. Jeffries was born in the United Kingdom on April 2, 1956. He entered the Air Force in Sept 1974 where he was the Honor Graduate for BMT Flight 1074, and served for three years until he was able to successfully cross-train into the Pararescue Career field. He was the Team Leader of the infamous and elite “Slime-9” Class 79-01 of which six members went on to remarkable careers as PJs. Notable assignments include being one of the Pararescue Team Leaders during Air Rescue’s 20,000th Save, two over-the-horizon night-time water jumps to rescue injured sailors, three year assignment as a High Glide Ratio Parachute Accelerated Freefall Instructor on the Pararescue Mobile Training Team, 5 years as the NCOIC and Commandant of OL-J, Pararescue Indoctrination Course, 1 year as the Detachment Chief at OL-A, Det 4, 1730th PRS at Keflavik, Iceland, 3 years as the Hq ARS Chief of Pararescue Standardization and Evaluation, and 2 years as the Director of Air Operations at the 58th Special Operations Wing.
He was twice awarded NCO of the Quarter during his 20 year Air Force career. His decorations include: Meritorious Service Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Achievement Medal. His education includes: Bachelor of Science in Humanities from Southwest Texas State University (Cum Laude), Associates degree in Rescue/Survival Operations, Distinguished Graduate of Senior NCO Academy, NCO Academy and Leadership School.
Mr. Jeffries has been employed as a professional pilot since military retirement in 1994. He holds an Air Transport Pilot Certificate, a Flight Engineer certificate in the Boeing 727, and Captain ratings in the Hawker HS-125 business jet, Boeing 737, 757, 767 and 777 airliners, as well as the BD-5J Micro-jet.
He is also holds commercial ratings in helicopters, seaplanes and is a Certified Flight Instructor. He currently has over 18,000 hours of flight time. Mr. Jeffries is honored to be elected to represent the members of the Pararescue Association and very much looks forward to serve, and give to such an incredible organization.
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