Recruit loses 120 pounds to join Air Force Published Feb. 21, 2008 By Staff Sgt. Chad T. Tanner 338th Recruiting Squadron COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For as long as he can remember, Daniel Kuertz has admired the uniformed Airmen in his community of Columbus, Ohio. As he grew into a young man, Kuertz said joining the Air Force was a logical conclusion, considering many people in his family served in the military, including his father, Greg Kuertz. The problem: While weighing 320 pounds may have helped him play high school and college football, the weight was keeping him from achieving his dream. But instead of giving up, he fought to lose the weight. He cut out sodas, limited his meal portions, switched to healthier foods and started an intense fitness regime in 2006. One year after changing to a healthier lifestyle, Kuertz stepped into an Air Force Recruiting Office in Columbus, where he met Staff Sgt. Paul Lindsey. Kuertz still had a few more pounds to lose, so he said Lindsey told him to come back in a few weeks when he had lost the additional weight. This is not an uncommon occurrence at a recruiting office, according to Lindsey. "Nine times out of 10, we never see them again," the recruiter said. But he did see Kuertz again -- minus the extra pounds. Today, not only has Kuertz lost 120 pounds, but he has qualified for training in one of the Air Force's most elite career fields - combat control - and will enter basic training in three weeks at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. Combat controllers are combat forces assigned to special tactics squadrons within the Air Force Special Operations Command. They are the Air Force equivalent to Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Recon Marine. Their mission is to deploy by the most feasible means available into combat and non-permissive environments. They are Special Forces who establish assault zones, while simultaneously providing air traffic control, fire support and command and control communications in the joint arena. Kuertz will attend several training courses, including a two-week combat orientation course, a 15-and-a-half week combat control operator course, a three-week airborne school, a three-week survival school course, and a 14-week special tactics air traffic controller course, which serves as the capstone to the entire training experience. "Right now I am trying to focus solely on the six years I have signed up to do," Kuertz said. "However, as I meet more and more [military members] who have spent 10, 15, even 20 years in the Air Force, I can't help but feel I will stay in for a while. "All the Airmen I've had a chance to meet have nothing but compliments about the Air Force and the benefits of making it a career are certainly enticing. It is hard to say now whether I will stay for a career, but it is definitely an option, which I cannot rule out." Susan Kuertz, his mother, said she and her husband are very proud of their son. "We've seen this determination throughout his life," she said. "Danny will be an asset wherever he goes." His recruiter agrees. "As long as he keeps that drive and determination, he can make it all the way to the top," said Lindsey.