Lt. Col. Vincent John Ciuccoli
The commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) Quantico, the home of the Presidential Helicopter Squadron, and a Marine helicopter pilot who has flown in support of combat operations in Iraq, Lt. Col. Vincent John Ciuccoli might not seem like someone who’d get excited about a parade.
But he’s looking forward to Ridgefield’s Memorial Day parade, which he will preside over as grand marshal — a job that includes being the featured speaker at ceremonies after the parade in Ballard Park.
“You can’t imagine how excited I am to do this, to be around family and friends,” Ciuccoli said.
“And honored,” he added.
MCAF Quantico’s mission is to operate and maintain the facilities, and provide services and materiel, to support Marine Helicopter Squadron (HMX-1) and other transient aircraft as required.
“Everybody knows them as ‘Marine 1,’ but there’s actually several aircraft,” he said.
Ciuccoli has roots in both the Ciuccoli and Baldaserini families of Ridgefield, and in serving his country for more than two decades logged over 2,400 hours as a naval aviator. He earned personal decorations that include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy Commendation Medals and the Navy Achievement Medal.
‘White tops’
He is the commander of MCAF Quantico, also known as Turner Field, the historic airfield just down the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., where the presidential helicopter squadron is based. For its 1918 role as one of the country’s first military flying fields, MCAF Quantico is referred to as the “Cradle of Marine Corps Aviation.”
“My unit primarily operates the airfield, so the flight line is just outside my headquarters building” he said.
“HMX-1 flies three types of aircraft, from the VH-3 and VH-60, which are the presidential helicopters, the ‘white tops’ that you see on the White House lawn, to the MV-22 Osprey, which is the tilt-rotor aircraft, that supports the president. The Ospreys transport the press, Secret Service, White House staff members, and all those extra people that travel in the president’s entourage.
“HMX-1 has over 800 marines and sailors, while there are approximately 150 marines, sailors and civilians at MCAF Quantico,” he said. “Our smaller outfit supports their much larger squadron.”
Fleet aircraft
There’s more to MCAF Quantico than just supporting presidential helicopter operations.
“That may be what makes this place special — but it isn’t everything we do, it’s just what people know best.” Ciuccoli said.
“We are part of Marine Corps Installations Command and we’re also tasked to support Fleet Marine Force aircraft and other transient operations,” he said.
Fleet aircraft — “the gray aircraft out on our ships and deployed across the globe” — fly in and out of the base routinely.
“They need fuel, or they need to stop over for the night as they take part in training missions,” he said.
The Quantico airfield also sees a lot of traffic from U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo planes. Among other duties, the massive C-17s are used to transport presidential helicopters to distant places where they’ll be used to ferry the president around on shorter trips.
“If the president travels outside the local area,” Ciuccoli said, “those helicopters aren’t flying to those far-off countries or states, they’re being transported in C-17s.”
“HMX-1 loads their helicopters, maintenance equipment and personnel so those assets can precede the president’s arrival in a certain state or country — wherever he may be going.
“They’re not based here, but arrive and depart every day, every night, every weekend — we are a 24-7, 365 installation when it comes to supporting presidential travel.”
If the president is going to several sites as part of one trip, the C-17s will be seen at Quantico.
“We can have up to six C-17s on deck at one time picking up several helicopters and take them to every one of those locations,” Ciuccoli said.
“Let’s say he’s finished up on a trip to Florida and comes back to D.C. before a European trip. HMX-1 would have to be operating helicopters in Florida while pre-staging helicopters in Europe.
“It’s all choreographed through the White House.
“MCAF Quantico and HMX-1 find out what they need and we make it happen as a team.”
‘The people’
Ciuccoli knows aviation, but as the airfield’s commander, he must know the men and women he leads — those who have a critical job to do.
“It’s all about the people,” he said. “Beyond our everyday headquarters functions, most of our 150 marines, sailors and civilians are spread across several key capabilities. At the center of it all is our Base Operations, consisting of Flight Clearance, those who plan and track flight operations, as well as our weather forecasters. Also essential, Air Traffic Control and Air Traffic Control Maintenance are made up of the marines and civilians who operate and work on the radar equipment and communications equipment needed to control and communicate with aircraft.
“And then we have what’s known as Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters, affectionately referred as ‘ARFF.’ … They’re the crash fire rescue men for the airfield,” he said.
“They have special aircraft firefighting trucks, and they stand ready to respond to any type of aircraft emergency.
“We also have the motor transport and bulk fuels marines who drive and operate the large fuel trucks that refuel all the planes and helicopters on the airfield.”
Back to ’93
Ciuccoli’s military career dates back to his 10 weeks at Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in the summer of 1993, before he graduated from Villanova University in May 1994 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Much of his training and experience is as a helicopter pilot.
“My airframe is the CH-46E Sea Knight,” he said.
The venerable Sea Knight, which has since been replaced by the MV-22 Osprey, is a medium-lift transport helicopter used by the Marines for all-weather, day-or-night transport of troops, supplies and equipment. Its primary function is “assault support” and it is also used in “search and rescue” as well as “casualty evacuation” and “forward refueling and rearming.”
Over his 21 years in the Marines, Ciuccoli served all over the globe, including at sea.
“Typical deployments,” he said. “I did four Marine Expeditionary Unit Western Pacific deployments — that’s when we go out on ships for six or seven months at a time.
“The areas we typically visited were Southwest Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.”
The Horn of Africa is near Somalia. The Persian Gulf separates Iran from Saudi Arabia, and is close to Afghanistan and Pakistan — places of geopolitical interest.
“We would offload somewhere in our assigned theater of operations — in my case that was normally Kuwait,” Ciuccoli said.
“I never deployed into Afghanistan, but I did support combat operations in Iraq,” he said.
Ciuccoli doesn’t make much of that.
“I haven’t done anything different than most of the service members out there today,” he said.
From 2010 to 2012 he served at the NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
“It was a headquarters job,” he said. “It’s called Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), but we supported allied operations, everything from International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to the NATO training mission in Iraq, from air operations in Libya to counter-piracy off the coast of Africa.”
He’s proud to be a marine.
“Less than 1% of Americans serve in the U.S. armed forces, and less than one-tenth of 1% serve in the U.S. Marine Corps,” he said. “It’s a small force. We’re an expeditionary force in readiness that is routinely referred to as the ‘911 force’ that is always ready when our nation is least ready.”
He views his service in the context of the many who served before him, and it’s this he expects to talk about in Ballard Park after the Memorial Day parade on Monday.
“Places I’ve been are places soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have been before me, places that have stirred up emotions in me as they did to the young service members when they arrived back in World War I and World War II, all the way through to this generation’s wars — Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan,” he said.
“I consider these places hallowed grounds, and examples of American idealism, places America’s sons and daughters have fought and died. Whenever you go there, you can feel the gravity of it.”
Ridgefield roots
Ciuccoli isn’t from Ridgefield, but has roots in town.
“My father is Richard Ciuccoli,” he said.
“My father’s dad was Amelkri Ciuccoli.”
His father’s mother was born into Ridgefield’s Baldaserini family.
“My father didn’t just grow up in Ridgefield, he worked there his entire life. He worked at Ullman Devices, Ciuccoli said.
“When he was a youngster he was in the Navy, he served four years in the Navy as a Seabee.”
Vincent Ciuccoli’s mother, Jennifer Ciuccoli, grew up in California, then came to Connecticut after marrying his father.
“They lived all over in Connecticut — Ridgefield, Danbury, Bridgewater, Southbury. By the time I was born, we lived in Danbury, but my dad still stayed tied to Ridgefield. When we go back home he still goes to Ullman Devices and checks on people.”
Ciuccoli and his wife, Savanna, have two daughters, Emilia Louise and Elysia Margaret.
He’s had a lot of relatives live in town — including the “Chick Ciuccoli” after whom Ciuccoli Field on East Ridge is named, Geno “Jinx” Baldaserini, and the late Paul Baldaserini, who under the professional name Paul Baker announced the car races in Danbury and worked for decades in radio in Danbury. George Besse, Vincent’s second cousin and the commander of the American Legion post in town, will be coordinating the Ridgefield Memorial Day events.
Ciuccoli views being grand marshal and speaking after the parade in this context.
“Really, the way I see it, it’s for those sons and daughters of Ridgefield, specifically my relatives who’ve served before me and have since passed,” he said.
“What I’m trying to do is make sure I live up to the Ciuccoli name and do Ridgefield proud. I might not be a Ridgefield son, but I’m a Ridgefield product, there’s no doubt about that.
“I think of it as a huge honor,” he said. “As long as we have people that are willing to fight and die for our country, the citizens of Ridgefield should feel safe, and we’ll continue being free.”
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