HURON — Scott Corcoran was nearly 30 years old, working a retail pharmacy job at Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls, when the Air Force came calling.
In the mail one day was a flyer announcing that pharmacists were needed.
“That really piqued my interest,” the Huron native said. “I remember thinking how much I love this country and this was an opportunity to do my part.”
After he stopped at the recruiting office on his way to work to learn more, Corcoran was offered a three-year assignment at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina.
He entered the Air Force in June 1988, and in a couple weeks he’ll retire with the rank of colonel after a 30-year career. “In total, I have had 12 assignments — that equates to moving an average of every 2.5 years, but three years is the longest I’ve ever lived in one spot with the same job,” he said.
The son of Jerry and Cherryl Corcoran and grandson of Vera and Charlie Corcoran, the family is well known as the owners of Huron Cleaners.
A 1977 graduate of Huron High School, Scott Corcoran developed a strong work ethic from his parents and grandparents at their downtown business. He was also a life guard at the Huron pool during his high school years and at the Wolsey pool while in college. He was a projectionist at the State Theater and played football and some basketball and ran track.
After graduating from South Dakota State University, he took a job as a staff pharmacist in Elkhart, Ind., but he missed South Dakota and came back in 1984 to work at Lewis Drug.
That flyer that arrived in his Sioux Falls mailbox might be considered an omen of sorts because Corcoran said he always wanted to serve his country in some fashion.
“I was raised in a very patriotic family, and we always held the military in high esteem,” he said.
But although his dad was a World War II buff, no one else in his family had served in the military other than an uncle and great uncle.
At Myrtle Beach, Corcoran worked his way up to be chief of pharmacy. In September 1989, his unit received deployment orders to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He was chief of pharmacy of the 354th Air Transportable Hospital at King Faud Air Base about 100 miles from the Kuwaiti border.
Three years later, he was sent to Ramstein Air Base in Germany to be assistant chief of the pharmacy. During that time he also deployed to Zagreb, Croatia, for six months where he ran the pharmacy at Camp Pleso in support of Operation Provide Promise, a United Nations action involving 34 countries trying to keep the peace during the breakup of Yugoslavia.
His last Air Force job where he worked in a pharmacy filling prescriptions was at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla.
His favorite post was in Washington, D.C., where he enjoyed the sights and sounds of the nation’s capital. The District of Columbia, he said, is “an amazing eclectic city with so much to see and do — I highly recommend that everyone visit our nation’s capital at least once.
“As an officer in the Air Force, my two tours as a commander of a medical support and medical operations squadron were by far the hardest, yet most rewarding jobs I had,” Corcoran said.
“As squadron commander, I was responsible for leading and caring for our most precious treasure — our airmen — on a daily basis,” he said. “They are on loan, entrusted to the military by the loved ones who expect us to do our utmost to take care of them. As a commander, it was an honor to lead airmen executing the mission.”
While frequent moves are part of the military way of life, they are particularly difficult on the children, he said. He and his wife, Renee, are parents of two sons and a daughter. But at the same time, they’ve lived in six states and another country, he said.
“I think our kids have seen and experienced so many different cultures and it’s made them more well rounded and tolerant people,” Corcoran said.
“What I have found especially during deployments is a deeper appreciation for just how absolutely wonderful the Unites States of America really is and how lucky we are to call this country home,” he said.
From 2004 to 2006, he was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City. Corcoran calls it his “God assignment,” because at the time his father was battling cancer and so it was nice to be just four hours away from home.
An uncle, aunt and cousins and his best friend from high school live in Rapid City, so he said it was bittersweet to serve in the Air Force in his home state.
As a parent, Corcoran said he more fully appreciates growing up in Huron where he could feel safe.
“It was a place I could ride my bike anywhere and disappear during summer days until the street lights came on,” he said.
His support system of grandparents, aunts, uncle, cousins and friends is something his own kids have never known living a military life.
“However, they have seen so much of this country and have traveled Europe for three years,” Corcoran said. “I guess it’s a trade off, but I wouldn’t trade my growing up in Huron for anything.”
