ROBERT E. CLUKEY, III, LCDR, USN
Robert Clukey, III '91
Lucky Bag
From the 1991 Lucky Bag:
Robert Edward Clukey III
Orono, Maine
It started when we were STANDING IN LINE, and I saw Trey, complete with his eyes in the boat machine, chopping down the hall. Now Cluke after being DIRTY for awhile and millions of calculations behind us, we're finally going to graduate. Here are a few things to remember: The Girls of Rock and Roll, AWESOME skiing, San Fran, IMBAT/EVERAGE/CLUKEY, not high-five'n (but close enough), ring dance, elves, that tennis ball, and an iguana named Hendrix. Some things to FORGET: me being BLUE, you being BLUE (I told you it hurt), me parked in Coronado, and you somewhere in the greater San Fran area five hours before departure time. We broke every reg but one (and who knows maybe by now you've broken that one too). Even though you were UNSAT once, its OK, cause so was SHE. Remember the beaches of Coronado really can be fun, and I still owe you that chicken run. Although it took foooorrrrever, we got through this place together, and whether I see you at BUD/s, or over me in the clear blue, I'll always stand beside you. BEV (and Hendrix the Iguana)
Robert Edward Clukey III
Orono, Maine
It started when we were STANDING IN LINE, and I saw Trey, complete with his eyes in the boat machine, chopping down the hall. Now Cluke after being DIRTY for awhile and millions of calculations behind us, we're finally going to graduate. Here are a few things to remember: The Girls of Rock and Roll, AWESOME skiing, San Fran, IMBAT/EVERAGE/CLUKEY, not high-five'n (but close enough), ring dance, elves, that tennis ball, and an iguana named Hendrix. Some things to FORGET: me being BLUE, you being BLUE (I told you it hurt), me parked in Coronado, and you somewhere in the greater San Fran area five hours before departure time. We broke every reg but one (and who knows maybe by now you've broken that one too). Even though you were UNSAT once, its OK, cause so was SHE. Remember the beaches of Coronado really can be fun, and I still owe you that chicken run. Although it took foooorrrrever, we got through this place together, and whether I see you at BUD/s, or over me in the clear blue, I'll always stand beside you. BEV (and Hendrix the Iguana)
Shipmate
In the January-February 2003 issue of Shipmate, via USNA '91:
Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Clukey III, USN, died when his FA-18 Hornet crashed in the Adriatic Sea during training on 3 November 2002. He was 33 years old.
Born in Bangor, ME, a native of nearby Orono, "Trey" was a member of the ski patrol, an emergency medical technician, and a state-ranked competitive skier in high school. He received a congressional appointment to the Naval Academy from Senator William Cohen of Maine. At the Naval Academy, Trey earned a bachelor of science degree in oceanography and was a member of the offshore sailing team. He graduated in May 1991, a member of the 30th Company.
Trey attended flight training in Pensacola, FL, and Kingsville, TX, and was designated a naval aviator in September 1994. In October, he reported to VMFAT-101 at MCAS El Toro, CA, for FA-18 Hornet training. In November 1995 he reported to VFA-113 the "Stingers" in Lamoore, CA. During this tour, Trey completed two deployments to the Persian Gulf on Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), flying 38 combat missions in support of operations Southern Watch and Desert Strike. He was awarded the Strike/Flight Air Medal for his actions in these operations.
Call sign "Plumbr," Trey was selected to become a strike fighter tactical instructor in October 1998. He completed the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor training course at Top Gun in Fallon, NV and was assigned to the Strike Fighter Weapons School, Atlantic in February 1999. While at the Weapons School, he served as the weapons and tactics coordinator and was the air-to-ground employment subject matter expert for the East Coast Hornet community.
In August 2001, Trey reported to VFA-34, the "Blue Blasters," as the tactics officer and deployed on George Washington (CVN-73) in June 2002. While on deployment, Trey completed 20 combat missions over Southern Iraq and Afghanistan in support of operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom. He also conducted missions in operation Deliberate Forge/Decisive Guardian in support of NATO peacekeeping in Bosnia. In September 2002 he was awarded his second Strike/Flight Air Medal.
Trey is survived by his parents, Robert E. Clukey Jr. and Francis H. Clukey of Bangor, ME; and two sisters, Robin Clukey of Carmel, ME, and Christina Clukey of Bangor, ME.
Jeff Everage
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
“Trey” graduated in 1987 from Orono High School. Honor Roll 1,2,3,4/Student Council 1,4 (Secy)/Yearbook staff 2,3/New England Math League 3,4/State Math League 3,4/Prom committee 3/Speech and Debate 1,2,3/Spanish Club 2/American Field Service 1,2,3,4/Senior play 2,3,4 (light technician for “The Miracle Worker)/Musical 1,2,3/Cabaret 2/Coffeehouse Theatre 1,2/Core Committee 1/Affirmative Action 1,2/Dirigo Search and Rescue 1,2,3,4/Marching and Concert Band 1/Pep Band 1/Football 1/Baseball 1,2,3,4/Soccer 2,3,4/Intramurals 1/Rescue Squad 3,4/Quote: A bird in the hand is better than two overhead.-Murphy/Future Plans: To fly for the Navy.
From The Bangor News on May 27, 2000:
U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Edward “Trey” Clukey III loves to fly more than anything, but showing off his F/A-18 Hornet up close inspires a special kind of pride.
The Orono native will talk about the fighter plane he loves to fly as part of the Greater Bangor Air Show 2000 today at the Maine Air National Guard Base near Bangor International Airport.
While other pilots show what the Hornet can do in the air, Clukey will display the same type of plane on the ground, answering questions about the high-tech gear and talking about what it’s like to land and take off from an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean.
His job Saturday may be less glamorous than that of the Blue Angels team that will soar high above the ground, but it’s important in its own way, said Clukey, a tactics instructor at the Oceania Naval Air Station at Virginia Beach, Va.
“The air show piques people’s interests, and gives me the opportunity to answer people’s questions. They’re thrilled to be able to see the Hornet up close,” said Clukey, 31, who has played the same role at other air shows.
“It’s nice to be able to explain what the Hornet is like, point out where the bombs and missiles go and where the radar and gun are,” said Clukey, who was asked by a local Air National Guard pilot to participate in the air show.
Clukey’s drab-gray plane won’t be as showy as the blue and gold ones in the air.
“This one’s looking a little battle-weary – it just got off deployment to the Persian Gulf,” the pilot said Friday during a telephone conversation from his parents’ lake-side home at Lucerne-in-Maine.
The son of Dr. Robert and Fran Clukey, Trey Clukey is a 1987 graduate of Orono High School and a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Clukey was supposed to fly in Thursday night, but gear trouble delayed his trip until the next morning. That only made his family more excited as they waited for him at the Air National Guard base Friday.
Her son had always wanted to fly, Fran Clukey recalled with a smile. Watching “Top Gun” heightened his ambition, she said, referring to the Tom Cruise movie about fighter pilots.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen helped pave the road to Trey’s success, Fran Clukey said. The Naval Academy had been her son’s first choice and after then—U.S. Sen. Cohen agreed to nominate him, the youth was more sure of his path than ever.
“I’m in!” she recalled him shouting jubilantly after he received word of Cohen’s support.
Suddenly, Fran Clukey heard a familiar sound. Looking up into the sky she smiled. “That’s Trey,” she said with a grin. “Moms know their sons’ planes.”
Later Friday, as he greeted friends and family who were gathering for a welcome-home barbecue, Trey Clukey talked on the phone about the aircraft he has come to love and about what it takes to fly.
“The F-18 is a really amazing plane,” said the pilot who spent three years flying from an aircraft carrier based off the West Coast near California.
“There’s nothing the Hornet doesn’t do,” he said. “It’s still on the cutting edge, it’s so advanced that after you fly it for two or three hundred hours, it becomes part of you. It’s so well-designed ergonomically that you feel like you’re one with the plane.
“The aircraft is very versatile and extremely computerized,” he said, noting that TV displays have replaced dials and gauges.
“It’s really user-friendly. When you’re in combat you don’t even have to take your hands off the stick and throttle,” said Clukey, who has been deployed twice over southern Iraq.
Learning to become a tactics instructor was tough, he admitted. The instructors “beat you up for 10 weeks, but you come out feeling pretty confident,” he said. “It was the best flying I’ve ever had.”
Now he teaches pilots to drop bombs and fight other planes in the air.
Joining the Navy was the best decision he could have made. “I’m not a 9-to-5 kind of guy,” he said. “I don’t do offices very well, I need a constantly changing environment. In the Navy you transfer every three years, and every mission’s different. When you start getting comfortable at one thing, they give you another challenge.”
Meanwhile, Clukey’s got other plans. He is close to being qualified to participate in air demonstrations, he said, and is thinking about becoming a member of the Blue Angels himself.
“It’s fun. It’s kind of a bonus to all the other flying you’re doing,” he said. “But, really, any kind of flight is amazing. The day goes 200 percent better if you’re in the air at least once.”
From The Bangor Daily News on November 5, 2002:
Clukey was the third man in his family who had experienced combat. His grandfather, Robert Clukey of Bangor, served in World War II. His father served in the Vietnam War. Trey flew missions in Iraqi no-fly zones … Clukey admitted he didn’t feel “particularly brave” while flying combat missions, but said there was so much going on that “you don’t have time to think about it. But sometimes after landing on the boat on a dark night, you sit down in a chair and start shaking.”
He has a marker in Maine.
Photographs
From his high school yearbook
From his high school yearbook
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