Growing up on a ranch near Yakima, where he spent many summers pitching hay bales and helping with the wheat harvest, Gary Spohn knew what he wanted to do.

He already had his career planned out, before it even started.

"I wanted to be an officer and fly airplanes," he said.

This was no pipe dream.

He knew what it would take to succeed, a little something he picked from his days of rising early to complete a long list of chores on that ranch before going to school. It's the same ambition that enabled him to graduate from Whitman College before heading into the military.

"Discipline and hard work," Spohn said, when asked for his keys to success. "Hard work achieves goals. It does."

Spohn turned that attitude into a 31-year military career before he retired as an Air Force colonel at the age of 51.

His career was filled with highlights.

He flew more than 12,000 hours as a pilot, including refueling planes like the KC-97 Stratotanker and the KC-135.

He flew out of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War on refueling missions to meet up with B-52s and fighters.

He was a leader of a reconnaissance squadron, promoted to a full colonel, served as a deputy base commander and base commander at March Air Force Base in California and then Fairchild Air Force Base.

He also served overseas three years in Italy, and three in Berlin.

"That was my final assignment," he said.

These days, Spohn is co-owner of AUL, a 19-year-old company with an office in Coeur d'Alene, which provides after-market services, such as warranties, on cars, boats and RVs.

At 80, the veteran still rises early, still works hard, still enjoys skiing and golf.

What he learned during his military career, he said, carries into life: Discipline and hard work pays off.

He speaks of ambition, of dedication, of goals. If you have those, you can, you will, succeed,

"You have lots of opportunities and options," Spohn said. "It just depends on what you want to do."

When you look back on your military career, what do you think?

I wouldn't do anything different. I would do it all over again.

What do you consider career highlights?

Having command of squadrons where you deal with lots of people. One of the things that made the Air Force career so good and so interesting was the quality of the people. The people were just outstanding. I think you recognize that from what you see and read.

Probably my best assignment was in Berlin, which was my final assignment before retirement. We were there before the wall came down, 1981 to 1984. That was interesting because we dealt with the British Army and Air Force, the French Army and Air Force, The Berliners, who don't consider themselves to be Germans, and the Russians as well as our own Army.

How was your service in Vietnam?

When I was there, '65 through '70, we were fueling fighters flying over Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and even into North Vietnam. When I had the squadron of reconnaissance airplanes, we flew out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we were doing the recon.

We were a listening relay platform. We had orbits in Laos, Cambodia and over South Vietnam. The Ho Chi Minh trail, they continually put listening devices all along that trail. These were microphones that picked up all kind of sounds. Very sensitive. We were a platform that relayed that information. We'd pick it up through hundreds of channels and relay it to a task force building, where they would target it from that information. They would send it off to the bases and target where they knew the trucks or people were.

What was your experience in America when returning from Vietnam? Other vets have said they were met with hostility.

When we rotated back, I came home several times to be involved in some conference, discussions about airplanes. During that period of time, you didn't wear your uniform through the terminal. You dressed in civilian clothes, you flew home in civilian clothes and you went through the terminal in civilian clothes. I never had any really bad experiences, but I suppose it's because I wasn't in uniform.

I've heard a lot of those stories. Personally, I didn't have any of those experiences.

As a military commander, what did you try to do?

When you're a commander, it's the people who do the work that are responsible for the achievements of the organization. You have to nurture that, get the people to be willing to work, put out that extra effort, too.

How did you get the best out of people?

Pats on the back and words of encouragement always get better results than chewing people out or criticizing continually.

That's it?

If you treat people decently, like you'd like to be treated yourself, with respect, they will return that many times over.

How did you handle discipline?

You do what you have to do.

How would you describe life in the military?

We're just regular people. We pick a career field, that's the way we go, that's what we do.

The difference in the military, we're an up and out society. You can only serve so long at any particular grade. As you get higher you can serve longer, but still, even that comes to an end. Even our four-star generals can serve 35 only. If the president wants them to serve longer, they can. That's to keep it young basically. Even though they shove a lot of experience out, it's to give or have opportunities for people coming up.

Was it a difficult transition back to the private sector?

No. There's a lot of people who find it difficult to break away from the military. There is some security there also. But what I decided when I retired, it was like, 'OK, that's the end of this part of my life. We're going on to do something else.'

How do you think the military is doing today?

I think the military is great. They're doing a great job.

What the key to a successful military career?

In the military, your word is your bond. That's what it's built on.