Skateboarding remains a constant for Airman Published Sept. 25, 2013 By Senior Airman Jake Eckhardt 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- An 8-year-old Dana Ragsdale looked outside his window in Las Vegas, Nev., to see his neighbors skateboarding on a box they built. He rushed outside to join them. "The teens across the street would always skate near this box," said now-Airman 1st Class Dana Ragsdale, 15th Operational Weather Squadron meteorologist. "They would go up on it and do tricks. I saw that, and I wanted to do that too." Even though he couldn't successfully do any tricks onto the box, the feeling he got from it was enough to keep him going all these years. "I grew up with it," he said. "It looked cool to me. I was looking up to people like Chris Cole and Jamie Thomas, and I just wanted to be like them." Ragsdale spent his childhood immersed in the sport. He hung pages of Transworld Skateboarding magazine on his wall and played Tony Hawk's Underground. "My entire wall was filled with pictures of skateboarding. I would see someone doing a cool trick, so I would just stick it on my wall." Being a child of a military couple, he moved around every few years. Even though he never stayed in one area for long, he always kept skateboarding to bring a sense of familiarity to wherever he went. At the age of 19, he chose to join the Air Force, and was eventually stationed here in June of this year. The Tampa, Fla., born Airman now spends most of his time off at the O'Fallon skatepark honing his skills. Jake Meyer, a local skateboarder, said, "He is constantly trying to get better. He sees something he wants to do, and he just keeps trying until he gets it." According to Meyer, skateboarding is a mental sport that requires a "don't think, just do" attitude. Meyer added, "He has the most positive attitude toward the sport. He falls down, gets up and brushes it off without complaining or getting angry." Ragsdale said his dream is to skateboard professionally. "Skateboarding is a huge aspect of my life," he said. "I directly see the results of my effort in the sport, and I love that about it."