What’s the first thing a fighter pilot does when his wheels touch down on an aircraft carrier? He hits the brakes, right? No. I’ve just learned it’s exactly the opposite: he shoves the throttle back up to maximum, full afterburner. I thought the idea was to stop! Of course it is; and if all goes well, the aircraft catches a wire that slams it hard to a halt in just two seconds. If things don’t go well, though, it’s a lot better to fly away from the ship than to fall off the edge!

It’s life on the edge: constantly practicing, constantly studying, constantly taking great — but necessary — risks. Jason Ladd, Marine fighter pilot and father of seven tells the fascinating story in his book One of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot’s Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview.

There’s a lot more to the book than life in the cockpit, though. I’d never heard anyone talk about having a “passion for anti-apathy,” but that’s how Jason Ladd described himself as we spoke on the phone last weekend. There’s definitely passion in his voice as he speaks of his career, his family and his faith.

He joined the Marine Corps just over fifteen years ago, and flew the F/A-18D Hornet fighter jet until 2015, when family events convinced him it was time to shift his focus.

He had met his wife when they were both high schoolers living on a Marine Corps base in Japan. Jason’s dad was a Marine, and Karry’s dad was serving with the Navy. They kept in touch long-distance through college, then married at about the same time Jason joined the Marines.

Triple Training

That was when Jason began triple training: flying a fighter jet, being a dad and husband, and developing a whole new spiritual side to his life.

They hadn’t been married long when Karry asked him, “What do you believe?” He thought he could just shrug the question off as unscientific, but it nagged at him. When he finally looked into it, he was “taken immediately,” as he puts it, “with the truth of Christianity.”

I was a typical guy who had heard a lot of the parroted arguments against religion in the media and on the television and movies — wherever one picks them up as they grow up .… One by one I started seeing [Christian] responses that were very reasonable. The first book I read was Lee Strobel’s The Case for Faith, which I thought was amazing, and adequately addressed a lot of those questions that I had. That, combined with going to church, reading the scriptures and hearing the preaching and teaching that explains — it all made sense to me, and I had no reason to reject or deny it. … It answered the questions in a way that was more complete and undeniable than anything else I’d heard.

Knowing Which Way Is Up

I wondered whether there was anything about flying for the Marine Corps that might shine a light on his approach to truth. He answered with an illustration that’s also in his book:

I liken it to flying on instruments. You always have to have a point of reference. In daytime conditions it’s the horizon. When it’s completely dark or you fly into a cloud, there’s no way to know visually which way is up. All you have is your instruments. Either way you have to have a point of reference or you literally don’t know which way is up and which way is down. The same is true for your philosophy of life, especially for morality. Without a point of reference — which we know is God, our standard of moral good — you have no way to determine which way is up and which way is down, which way is good and which way is evil.

”Being Christians Is What Kept Us From Apart”

Today he and his family are living in Alaska where he trains military pilots on an F-22 simulator. But his spiritual training continued, as he and Karry prayed through the pain of their son Boone, who was diagnosed in utero with Trisomy-18. It’s one of the most debilitating conditions a child can be born with. For many it proves fatal immediately following birth. Jason and Karry didn’t know what they were facing: a child with severe disabilities or a funeral.

As he told me, “We had this experience with Boone where we as parents had to make end-of-life decisions for a child even before he was born.” Boone did not live long. Jason writes in his book, “I held him for a lifetime.” On the phone he added, “Our faith is what kept us from falling apart.”

Spiritual Training, Parents and Kids

He went on to speak even more directly about parents training their kids:

Everyone has a worldview, recognized or not. … Parents reading the book need to understand that if they decide “not to teach a particular worldview” to their children, that provides only the illusion of neutrality. I don’t see that as liberating; I see it as abandoning duty. Especially if you honestly think you’ve discovered truth — you have a duty to share it. The reality is that you’ve chosen apathy.

There’s that word “apathy” again. I asked him further about it, and he said what he’s really passionate against is “apatheism” — apathy toward God.

Family, Military, Christianity

As a Marine, Jason Ladd understands duty; as a father he understands the same, especially the spiritual perspective on raising kids. In all these realms he understands training. In One of the Few he ties it all together. It’s a great read for anyone in the military, for anyone with an appreciation for our men and women in uniform, or for for any parent, for that matter. Indeed, it is for anyone who rejects apathy, and wants a thorough and passionate reconnaissance of life.

Find Jason Ladd online at jasonbladd.com, jasonbladd.com/blog.