Veteran Steve Cone had a varied career

Posted 11/29/20

In December veteran Steve Cone, after he graduated, was on his way to the Air Force where he spent three and a half years.

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Veteran Steve Cone had a varied career

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OKEECHOBEE — Veteran Steve Cone is a twin. He and his twin sister were adopted at six months of age and went to live in Belle Glade, but when they were 2 years old, they moved to Crystal River on the west coast. Just before they turned 18, their dad went to work for Tommy Close at Echols Plumbing, and the family moved to Okeechobee. “For the first year and a half, I hated it! I’m coming from fresh spring, crystal clear water to that muddy hole.”

Another problem he had with the move was he had it set up to graduate early. He was sick of school, and was planning to complete his junior and senior years at the same time. They did manage to persuade the Okeechobee County School Board to allow him to do the same thing here, and he will be forever grateful to his guidance counselor Virginia Bryant for her help in this area. “Ms. Bryant and Ms. Raulerson. God bless ’em both. If it weren’t for those two I wouldn’t have made it.”

Air Force bound
In December, after he graduated, he was on his way to the Air Force where he spent three and a half years. Four months was in Texas and the rest was in California. He went in to be a crew chief on Black Hawks but ended up being a plumber, because his dad was a plumbing contractor for so many years, and Cone worked as a plumber when he was 17. As soon as they saw that, they decided to put him in that field. “It was a blessing in disguise in a way,” he said. His knowledge in the field helped him to quickly gain rank up to E-4.

He was able to see some unique things, the Space Shuttle, the F-22, F-23 testing to see which plane they would get. He got to see the SR-71 break a new speed record. He saw the new C-17 cargo plane. He saw the Space Shuttle land eight times. One of those times, he was home on leave and watched it take off. He then flew back to California and eight days later watched it land. He was within touching distance of it.

At one point, he was put on a crash recovery team. On that team, they would go to the site of any downed aircraft, pick up anything they found and put it in big boxes. If there were fatalities, it was a little more intense. “In my three years, I had four crashes, two of them with fatalities, a total of 11 lives lost. A Huey helicopter went down carrying six people, and the second one was an explosion. There were seven on board, but two jumped. We heard, ‘Mayday, mayday, boom.’ That was not pretty.”

He wanted to stay in, but was forced out due to downsizing, he explained. He came home in 1992 and spent another year working with Echols, but decided that was just not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

He put himself through fire and EMT school using his G.I. Bill. He worked for Okeechobee County for over two years as a volunteer. The county was hiring and hired three paramedics, but did not hire him, so he went to work for Martin County in 1994. He loved the job and had a great career until January of 1999 when a simple slip and fall at the fire house ruined everything. It cost him his career, his family and almost cost him his life, because in 2016, he attempted suicide.

Injury leads to downward spiral
The fall injured his knee and he endured nine operations before finally having a total knee replacement. By then, it was too late, though. He had too much scar tissue, and the new knee locked up. In trying to unlock the knee, they broke his leg. They had to let his leg heal, which meant they could not do any rehab on the new knee. All told, he had 12 operations on his leg, including two total knee replacements. None of it worked. It was basically a stiff leg. He became addicted to painkillers and got divorced. He and his sons were evicted from their home at one point.

The pain, depression and anxiety got to him, and he attempted suicide.

In the end, he wound up having his leg amputated and said it helped tremendously. He decided he was done with the pain meds and now has been drug free for five years except when he is in the hospital for a kidney stone which happens occasionally.

He made the decision to change because he wanted to be there for his boys. “I might not be the greatest dad in the world, but I love my boys. I want to be here for them. It’s the best decision I ever made.”

veteran, steve cone

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