Daegu Air Base, Daegu, Republic of Korea - Part 1

After a LONG trip around the world, I landed in Daegu, South Korea some 20 hours after I left North Carolina on October 6^th, 2015.  My co-workers (all 5 of them) were waiting for me at the airport, loaded me and my bags up and drove the last 10 minutes to the place I would call home for the next year.  The one thing that I absolutely loved there, we were such a small presence, we would meet our new arrivals at the airport just as they had done for me.  That was an amazing aspect of this small, close-knit POL family that we had there!  I found myself at the forefront of this little shop with a huge mission.  I was assigned to the 607^th MMS (Material Maintenance Squadron) where our motto was “Just Turn the Key.” 

We all lived in Daegu but also were the caretakers of 3 additional bases spread all over the Korean peninsula with bases in Daegu, Busan, Suwon, and Gwangju.  All 4 bases were in a standby caretaker status but would be very vital to the United States if a conflict were to ever break out again between North and South Korea.  We had contractors on each of the bases and we would spend time at each site for a few days each month to make sure the bases could be opened up at a moment’s notice if and whenever necessary.  The 607th Materiel Maintenance Squadron maintains assets across these four co-located operating bases (Daegu, Gimhae, Gwangju and Suwon) and oversees the reception and bed-down of outside units to these locations. One thing won’t change. In wartime, it would still be the Airmen of the 607^th MMS who would get each of the bases ramped up for war — unlocking and organizing the ammunition, fuel, medical supplies, vehicles, forklifts and other equipment needed to set up a combat air base.

The United States has engaged in four military occupations after World War II and the one in Korea was both the shortest and by most accounts, the least successful. At the end of WWII, the country of Korea was divided in 1948 at the 38^th Parallel, with backing from the US sponsored ROK in the south and the Soviet-sponsored Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north. The Korean War started on June 25^th, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. It ended unofficially on July 27^th, 1953 in an armistice. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was ever signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict. To this day, the leaders of North and South Korea are still in an on again/off again process to work toward a treaty and formally end the Korean War. A little Korean War history about each of the bases that we maintained:

Daegu - At the outbreak of the Korean War, the airfield consisted of a dirt and gravel runway and two concrete buildings. The airfield was designated by the USAF as K-2. The airfield was used as part of the Bout One project, an emergency program to train Republic of Korea Air Force pilots to fly the F-51 Mustang. The Bout One planes provided close air support to the U.S. 24th Infantry Division through July 1950. On 10 July 1950, the Bout One force was re-designated as the 51st Fighter Squadron and was merged into the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on August 4^th. Taegu Airfield was abandoned following the North Korean attack on Taegu in mid-August 1950, but USAF units began reoccupying the base by September 23^rd, 1950.

Suwon - This base was originally established during the Korean War as Suwon (K-13) Air Base and hosted United States Air Force units. The base was evacuated on the night of June 30^th, 1950 in the face of the Korean People's Army (KPA) attack, but the base was not occupied by the KPA until July 2^nd, 1950. The base was recaptured on September 24^th, 1950; the base was again evacuated in the face of the Chinese Third Phase Campaign on January 5^th, 1951 and the base's buildings were destroyed. The base was recaptured on January 28^th as part of Operation Thunderbolt and by March 6^th, despite its poor condition, the base was used for the staging of F-86 patrols along the Yalu River and Mig Alley.

Gwangju - Though I haven’t been able to find much Korean War history pertaining to this base, Gwangju (K-7) is 150 miles south of Seoul. It was an active-duty US Air Force base until the ownership of it was turned over to the Republic of Korea in 1991. The ROK subsequently used the airfield as a base and airport in Kwang Ju City, the 5th largest city in the South Korea. The US Air Force continued to maintain nearly 250 acres of the base. The continued US presence was part of the potential forward deployment of US military personnel and equipment in a wartime scenario. In peacetime the base is normally used for training by South Korean Air Force units and US Air Force units on a regular basis.

Gimhae - The base was originally established during the Korean War as Pusan West (K-1) Air Base and hosted United States Air Force and United States Marine Corps units. On June 25^th, 1950, 10 divisions of the North Korean People's Army attacked the Republic of Korea. The North Koreans quickly overwhelmed the South Korean Army and moved south. On June 30^th, 1950 C-54s of the Fifth Air Force began transporting a battalion of the 24th Infantry Division from Itazuke Air Base to K-1, however the weight of the C-54s damaged the runway and later flights were made using C-47s. By April 1951 K-1 served as the headquarters of the First Marine Air Wing and Marine Aircraft Group 12 was based at K-1 to provide aircraft for combat missions and special missions.

To be continued……..

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, North Carolina - 2nd time here!

I would find myself back at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina the beginning of June 2013.  If you’ve been with me since my earlier posts, you’ll remember that I left this North Carolina base the end of May in 2000.  So here I am, back where it all started some 17 years later after having left 13 years prior.  I arrived the first time as an Airman Basic (E-1), left as a Senior Airman (E-4), and now here I am all these years later back at SJAFB as a Master Sergeant (E-7).  I thought that this may be it, I may just finish my career where I started it all these years ago in 1996.  But, there were other plans in play, plans that I wouldn’t see coming for another two years.  Let’s recap on some quick history about this base. This was my 1st military assignment; I was here from 27 November 1996 to 21 May 2000 on that first tour.  This is where I learned my trade; I refueled my first aircraft, an F-15E Eagle at this base.  I still believe this is the best fighter jet in the world.  It will always have a special place in my heart! 

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was established five months after the United States entered World War II when the War Department approved the establishment of a technical school two miles southeast of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Seymour Johnson Field was activated on June 12th, 1942, as Headquarters, Technical School, Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. The base is named in honor of U.S. Navy Lt. Seymour A. Johnson, a native of Goldsboro. Johnson, a test pilot, was killed in an aircraft crash near Norbeck, Md., March 5th, 1941. Seymour Johnson Field was deactivated in May 1946. The base was reactivated as a Tactical Air Command base on April 1st 1956 and has been home to B-52 bombers, KC-10 tankers from Strategic Air Command and F-4 and F-16 fighters from the Michigan Air National Guard. “Shady-J” is now the home of the 4th Fighter Wing, known as the Fourth but First, along with the 916th Air Refueling Wing flying the mighty F-15E Strike Eagles and KC-135 Stratotankers.

Honestly, I loved every minute of being back in North Carolina.  I loved interacting with the troops; I loved my off on and off duty time on my second tour here.  It was here that I was stationed, when I married my beautiful wife, Marilyn in October of 2013, not much longer after getting back to this little base!  In an instant, I would become a father to a little girl who I still adore to this day, Avery.  But as you’ll see later and as most of you already know, it wasn’t the last child for us!  But that’s still a couple bases down the road – we’ll get there I promise!!  We got married in Oklahoma City that October and she soon moved out east with me after our honey moon.

During my time here, we spent some time traveling, over to the coast to see where the Wright Brothers first took flight at Kitty Hawk, down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, even on an amazing retreat weekend in the mountains of western North Carolina.  We went to NASCAR races in Darlington and Charlotte and caught a practice at Talladega; visited Elvis Presley’s Graceland, volunteered time at airshows, and college football games, and even went to a hot air balloon festival.  We ocean fished on a pier on the Atlantic Ocean, went deep sea fishing, visited the USS North Carolina battleship that’s now a museum, had a great time at an Air Force Combat Dining In, went zip lining – a first for both of us, and enjoyed a great evening at an Air Force Ball with my sweet wife.  One can’t stay in a state like North Carolina and not try NC style, vinegar based bbq either.  To this day, NC bbq is my favorite, hands down!  One huge accomplishment that I had always wanted to do was run and complete the Air Force Marathon up at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.  I trained as hard as I thought I needed with a goal in mind of a 4 hour 30 minute marathon.  What I wasn’t prepared for were the hills, and the raining weather that Ohio had in store for this Michigan boy in that late September 2015 run!  I’m still proud to say that I finished in 5 hours, 12 minutes, and 29 seconds!  I ran quite a few other great runs while stationed in North Carolina as well; Run For The Fallen, a color race(won’t do that again), Fire Cracker 4 Miler, and The 15^th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Half, just to name a few.  I’ll have to make a post once I chronicled all of my bases for the races that I’ve ran and have been important to me.  That said, the Air Force Marathon wasn’t my first full distance marathon; I ran the Boston Marathon in 2010!  I finished that race in 5 hours and 36 minutes.  Ok, ok it wasn’t the real Boston Marathon– even better, it was a shadow race that I ran while deployed to Iraq!  But…..I finished Boston!  And now I can always state that I ran and finished the Air Force Marathon as well.  There are a few others I’d like to run, but as stated – I’ll leave those for another post all together!

I hope this was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to go through and remember all that we did on this second tour at Seymour Johnson.  I might add; we did all of this and probably much more in a span of just over two years. I received set of orders for my first official short tour (I was credited a short tour for my 7 month tour in Iraq in 2010).  See, I told you there were other plans. I’d be off to Osan Air Base, South Korea.  Well, that is until about 3 weeks prior to leaving – it was changed last moment to Daegu, South Korea.  “Needs of the Air Force” and it became one of my most challenging yet rewarding assignments – even though it was only a yearlong tour.  I left Seymour Johnson on 5 October 2015 (a day after my second wedding anniversary) for my next adventure to South Korea.  In total, I spent 5 years, 9 months, and 26 days in North Carolina between the two trips there.  This would prove to be the longest I spent at one location in my 23+ year Air Force career! The journey continues…….