The Rauch Family has more than 40 years of Navy flying, and son CDR Karl Rauch, USN is working hard to make it 50.
CAPT K.N. “Dutch” Rauch, USN(Ret) started his Navy career in the middle of the Vietnam War — a time when “Wings of Gold” were doable in less than a year. He did that and started his fleet flying at NAS Lemoore in the A-4 “Scooter” on an Essex-class 27C carrier. The years brought the usual sea time and many permanent changes of station — Empire Test Pilot School and a tour at Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Md., transition to the A-7E Corsair II, Canadian Forces College followed by Overseas Family Residence Program in USS Midway (CV-41), XO/CO of VC-5 in Cubi Point, Republic of the Philippines, Air Boss on board “The Hawk,” an OpNav tour (actually enjoyable) and ended as ComTraWing-2. Dutch’s final tour was right back in Kingsville, Texas, where he received his wings 24 years prior.
CDR Karl “Otis” Rauch had an early initiation to Navy life. He was born at the NAS Lemoore hospital while Dutch was in the Tonkin Gulf. As a Navy junior he was close to jets, squadrons and aircraft carriers, and the great people that man them. He enjoyed Tiger Cruises in Midway and Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and experienced carrier life firsthand. As a Navy brat, he attended high school at Cubi Point, and enjoyed SCUBA diving and Olongapo City just across a small stretch of jungle. Along the way Karl developed a desire to be a pilot. So when he asked his father if he could learn to fly, the answer was, “Sure, join the Navy! They will teach you!” So Karl did just that! Often people asked him why he wanted to fly from aircraft carriers. His standard response has been, “I didn’t realize there were other jobs out there!”
Karl’s training track, in fact, did follow Dutch’s footsteps with Wings of Gold at Kingsville in 1995. He then received orders to Lemoore for training in the F/A-18 Fleet Readiness Squadron and his first fleet tour with the VFA-146 Blue Diamonds. Notably, he reported to NAS Lemoore on 29 August 1995, his 26th birthday. In 1998, he had a chance to host Dutch for a Tiger Cruise on board Nimitz (CVN-68). Subsequent tours included instructor pilot in VMFAT-101 and time in Constellation (CV-64) where he flew combat missions with the VMFA-323 Death Rattlers as a guest pilot in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Otis then took a different path from Dutch and departed the active-duty Navy to become a Selected Reservist with VFC-12 at NAS Oceana. He currently is the XO and recently gained civilian employment as a pilot with JetBlue Airways. Otis, however, did not stray far because he is an adversary pilot (aka, “Bogey Driver”) who is currently on track to command an adversary squadron like his father.
Otis and Cindy have two lovely daughters, Elly and Peyton. They currently live in Virginia Beach, Va. Otis recently took a third job where he assists Cindy, the Yogurt Queen, in running and expanding her creation: “The Skinny Dip,” a chain of three (soon to be four) frozen yogurt shops in the Hampton Roads, Va., area.