Full Name: Kotaro Tsurugi
Date of Birth: November 20, 1978
Place of Birth: Nagasaki, Japan
Build: Average
Height: 70 in. (5' 10")
Weight: 171 lbs.
Born in Nagasaki, Japan to two flying officers in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), Kotaro Tsurugi led a tragic beginning.
His father, Colonel Kenzo Tsurugi (a former fighter and test pilot who flew F-4 Phantoms and F-104 Starfighters), was missing in action during a top secret combat mission, his mother, Lieutenant Colonel Chiyomi Mitsuoka (a former JASDF flight nurse who flew F-4's as a Radar Intercept Officer/RIO on the sidelines), died of leukemia years after retirement from the Air Force, and his childhood sweetheart Mizuki Ikeda died from a car accident on a way to a beauty pageant.
Even after moving with his uncle Shoichi (a.k.a "Sho," a retired Commander and Shipboard Officer in the Japanese Coast Guard who eventually opened his own music store in San Fernando Valley) and aunt Saemi (a.k.a. "Sammy," an experienced sushi chef and restaurateur) to Sherman Oaks, California to try to better his own life, Kotaro felt empty. There had been times where he almost succumbed to pressure amongst his peers, almost getting into drugs and gangs until a handful of mentors snagged him away from terrible livelihoods.
Throughout his academic life, in spite of a rough start while living in Southern California, Kotaro excelled academically and outside of school. He played varsity basketball (as a point guard) and baseball (as a utility player focusing mostly on 2nd Base and Center and Right Outfield positions). He would also be part of the Anime Club, Asian-American Club, and Academic Decathlon Team in Reseda High School. He also managed to earn his 1st-degree black belt in Shorinji Kempo (a holistic martial art combining techniques from Kung-Fu, Judo, Aikido, and Karate) and also take up boxing in his spare time. When it comes to subjects, he mostly excelled in mathematics, history, economics, art, chemistry, and physics.
High school was also the time where he found love for a bit via a girl named Ayame Shido, a fellow Japanese-American whose lineage originated from Hokkaido. Ayame was an assistant captain of the Varsity Cheerleader Squad and the captain of the Varsity Volleyball Team at Reseda; she would prove to be an academic match for Kotaro and had a grand aspiration to join the US Air Force and become a pilot flying either Helicopters or Transport Planes like the C-17 Globemaster III. When it comes for the pair to further their relationship into next levels, it was not to be as they split up after nearly two years of dating and a couple of months prior to graduating from RHS.
Upon graduation from Reseda (with a whopping 3.74), Kotaro enlisted in the US Navy as an Aviation Structural Mechanic - Hydraulics Technician (AMH). He served in the "Checkmates" of Submarine Control Squadron 22 (VS-22), stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida, fixing the hydraulic systems of the S-3 Viking Anti-Sub Jet.
While on deployment aboard the TR (back in 1997), Kotaro held his first flight in an S-3. When he was just a wee, 19-year-old Aviation Structural Mechanic 3rd Class (AMH3, he was given an incentive ride in a Viking due to having been selected as Junior Sailor of the Quarter (JSOQ).
During that sortie, he flew with his former Division Officer for Aircraft (Airframe & Powerplants) Division, Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Erich Meyer, callsign "Weiner." Kotaro would grow to be fond of Mr. Meyer as he mostly modeled his leadership style off the stoic department head.
As far as Kotaro's callsign is concerned, well, everyone noticed that every time he appears cleanly shaved, he looked like an 11-year-old still going to middle school. Hence, he was christened "Pretty Boy" long before he started his operational flying career as a naval officer.
After this lone flight, Kotaro knew he would follow the footsteps of his father before him.
He was eventually selected for a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship via the Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST), a prestigious enlisted-to-officer commissioning program.
Upon graduation with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Digital Design and Media Arts (with minor in French) from the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA), Ensign Tsurugi was commissioned back into the Navy and underwent Naval Aviator (Pilot) training at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
Kotaro was then selected to fly the venerable Northrop-Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat with the "Black Lions" of RCA Navy Fighter Squadron 213 (VF-213). Prior to receiving his initial operational orders as an officer, he trained with the "Grim Reapers" of VF-101 (also at NAS Oceana). He would later fly combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom, deploying once again aboard the TR (but, this time, in a somewhat different warfare campaign).
