STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. -- For
many people starting a small business is a daunting prospect. For Tech. Sgt.
Abraham Gadway, it’s following his passion.
Gadway, a quality assurance evaluator with
the 109th Maintenance Group here, started his own wilderness guiding
service in April 2017, combining his love of the outdoors from a young age with
his military experience.
As
a QA evaluator, Gadway works directly for the maintenance group command, serving
as a primary technical adviser in the maintenance organization, assisting to
identify, and resolve workmanship and compliance issues impacting the mission.
In contrast to his
military career, as a guide in the east-central Adirondack Mountains, Gadway
provides clients with wilderness adventures including hunting, fishing,
camping, hiking, canoeing and even whitewater rafting on the Indian and upper
Hudson rivers.
This year Gadway began a different kind of “adventure”
by starting his own wilderness guiding service.
He began by teaching various American Red Cross certification courses that
helped him get the funds needed to grow the guiding and outdoor custom retail
service side of his business.
Gadway said the leadership and management
skills he learned at the New York Air National Guard’s 109th Airlift
Wing motivated him in his business endeavor.
For years Gadway worked as a guide for a
private agency, but after branching out on his own he decided to increase his
business skills by attending the “Boots to Business” entrepreneurial education
course here.
“(Boots
to Business) gave me a new perspective … and several
great ideas as well to help grow and expand the business" said Gadway.
Gadway grew up in the Indian Lake region
of the Adirondack Mountains and as a young man also served as a volunteer
firefighter and first responder, working on nearly a dozen search, rescue and
wilderness first aid scenarios.
For him, it was a natural progression to
want to share his love for the outdoors with others, it was for this reason he
decided to become a New York State licensed guide.
“My passion is being outdoors,” he said.
He had this advice for fellow Airmen who
aspire to accomplish personal goals: “If anybody has a desire or a goal that
they want to do in life… If you are
passionate about it and love it, just do it!”