blevine@thestamfordtimes.com

STAMFORD — For many, the dreams of childhood are often forgotten for one reason or another, and the paths taken tend to wind and bend in all directions. But for Stamford native Mehdi Akacem, a 30-year-old Navy pilot, the path has always been straight and narrow.

"When he was 9 years old, he announced what he wanted to do in life," said Akacem's mother, Sandra Akacem, from her home in Pittsburgh, Pa. "He said he was going to the U.S. Naval Academy to become a pilot, and then after that he would go on to NASA.

So, like most parents, Sandra Akacem and her husband fostered their son's dream. When he was 10, they sent him to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. At age 12, Lt. Mehdi Akacem made his first trip to Annapolis, Md., with his family, where he walked directly into the admissions office to inquire about the school curricula needed in order to be accepted.

Sandra Akacem described her son as a very articulate and determined young man. She also said he was very stubborn.

"I kept telling myself that was going to serve him well later on in life, and it has," she said.

The Akacem family moved to Stamford by way of Paris, France. Both Mehdi Akacem, and his brother Karim, were born in Stamford Hospital.

Sandra Akacem had moved to Paris in the late 1960s, leaving the United States in large part because of her objections to the Vietnam War. She met and married her husband, Ahmed, while in Paris, and returned to the U.S. so Ahmed could pursue his MBA in international business.

Mehdi Akacem, who attended the Westover Magnent School and lived in Springdale until he was 15, said he cannot pinpoint the exact point when he knew he wanted to be a Navy pilot, but like most kids in the mid-80s, he was a fan of the movie "Top Gun."

"I know it's going to sound cliché, but I think the movie had an influence on me," Akacem said.

He was also a big fan of Nintendo's video game adaptation of the movie, and in the third grade he started a paper route so he could buy the game. He said he and his neighbors played it all the time.

"No one could land the plane (on the aircraft carrier)," he said.

Akacem was an excellent student, his mother said, and when it came time for high school, they sent him to Procter Academy in Andover, N.H.

Akacem did very well, and after spending part of the summer before his senior year attending a science camp at the Naval Academy, he was academically accepted to attend the school in the fall of 1995.

For Sandra Akacem, the reality of her son's dream was within his grasp, and for the first time it felt real. It was a reality she wasn't yet prepared to face.

"It was a bit of a battle for me," said Sandra Akacem. "Having always been so anti-war and anti-military, it was tough."

To help her come to grips with her son's decision, she turned to the poet Khalil Gibran, who said, "the parents are the bow from which the child springs."

She says it has become her mantra.

"I knew all I could do was prepare him and support his dreams," said Sandra Akacem.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1999, Mehdi began training at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola, Fla., earning his wings in 2001. He completed additional training on EA-6B Prowler planes at the NAS at Whidbey Island, Wash., the primary electronic warfare aircraft used by the Navy and Marine Corps to interrupt enemy electronic activity, as well as to obtain electronic intelligence.

In 2002, Akacem became one of the first Navy pilots to engage in electronic warfare air support while deployed on the USS George Washington in the Indian Ocean.

Akacem provided support for coalition forces in Afghanistan. His mission was to provide radar and radio jamming support for troops on the ground. He likened the mountainous terrain to the surface of Mars.

"You certainly know about the risks involved," Akacem said. "But we studied and were well prepared. The risks I faced were certainly not as great as the troops on the ground.'

He recalls one mission in the southeastern part of Afghanistan, where an Army convoy was trying to make it safely through a mountain pass from Gardez to Khost. Akacem said that part of Afghanistan is very tribal, and uncertainty waited around every corner.

"The Russians tried to make it through this same pass (during the Soviet war in Afghanistan), and their troops were decimated," he said. "Fortunately that day, we were able to get the convey through without a problem."

Sandra Akacem said she was terrified when her son went off to Afghanistan.

"I had to make peace with it so I could sleep," she said. "What allowed me to do so, was I knew he was living his dream."

After his time in Afghanistan, Mehdi Akacem completed his mission commander qualifications, and was one of an elite group of 11 pilots to graduate from the Electronics Attack Weapons School's (EAWS) Prowler Tactics Instructor course.

Akacem has since been deployed on the USS John F. Kennedy, completing missions in Iraq.

His most memorable moment came in late 2004. Akacem was flying support for special forces who were hunting down makers of IEDs (improvised explosive device).

"(They) had intelligence as to a location where these IEDs were being made," he said. "We took off in the dead of night, and were in the air for eight hours, using our night vision goggles to make sure the special forces on the ground were safe."

Eventually, the special forces were able to locate a facility where radio controls for the road-side bombs were being made.

"I found out a couple days afterwards that we had captured a high profile bomb maker. I was proud that I helped get these (bombs) off the street, and keep our guys safe," Akacem said.

Since his time in Iraq, Akacem received a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology and is currently stationed in Patuxent River, Md., where he works as a developmental test officer for recently modernized EA-6B Prowlers, testing the planes weapons systems.

Despite her initial trepidations, Sandra Akacem could not be anymore proud of her son.

"My experience as a Navy mom has changed my view on the professional military," she said. "I've grown, and all the young officers I've met through my son are the most compassionate and intelligent young men I've ever had the please to meet."

Sandra Akacem said her son is too humble to ever talk about all he has accomplished, but on several occassions her son's fellow Navy mates have come to her and expressed their admiration for him. Of course they always do it without him knowing, she said.

"One of the things they told us on Mehdi's first day at the Academy was, '(the Academy) seeks excellence without arrogance.' And those are the words I would use to describe my son," Sandra Akacem said.

As for what the future holds for Mehdi Akacem, nothing is certain. He is currenlty back at the NAS at Whidby Island for his annual qualifications test. What is for certain, is the dreams of this 9-year-old Stamford native are hard to extinguish.

"I still have my dream of being an astronaut," he said.