Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska

“Alaska is the most central place in the world for aircraft. I believe in the future, he who holds Alaska will hold the world, and I think it is the most strategic place in the world.” - Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, 1935

By the late 1920s, it was clear that Alaska's geography, roughly halfway between the major cities of East Asia, Europe and North America, made it critical for air travel. While Alaska was prized in the 1920s for its ability to hold fueling stations, Mitchell points out that the pace of technology will change things further. "The vast leagues of the Pacific are shrinking continually under the magic of scientific aircraft development. The day is not far off when neither months, weeks nor days will be used in computing the trip (between the United States and Asia), but hours alone." Even if fueling is not necessary in Alaska, the shortest route still flies over that territory, Mitchell realized. He began promoting the idea that Alaska needed to have military air bases in order to serve effectively in the next war. In 1934, Col. Henry “Hap” Arnold led a flight of 10 B-10 bombers from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, Alaska, to help build the case for these airfields. This was the first time a flight to Alaska did not need to stop in Canada.  Following this successful flight, Rep. James Mark Wilcox, D-Florida, introduced a bill calling for airfield construction in Alaska. He introduced it soon after the start of the 74th Congress, and it was referred to committee. On Feb. 11, 1935, this was where Mitchell declared in support of the bill, "Alaska is the most central place in the world for aircraft, and that is true of Europe, Asia or North America. I believe, in the future, he who holds Alaska will hold the world, and I think it is the most strategic place in the world."

Wilcox's bill became law in August 1935, and construction of bases in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Kodiak followed. They were followed by others as war broke out in Europe, and by the time the United States entered the war, they were ready for operation. It's difficult to say whether Mitchell's testimony was critical to the passage of the bill, but it's easy to say that the bill itself was critical to American defense of Alaska. Without it, bases might not have been ready for use when war began.

What a journey the Air Force up to this point had been; up till the moment I left Grand Forks, North Dakota heading toward Alaska, I had been in the Air Force for 13 years, been promoted 5 times, gone on 4 deployments, been stationed at 3 bases, saw the birth of 2 children.  Alaska turned out to be a game changer in so many ways; I made mistakes; mistakes that I would have to live with for long into the future.  I would find myself being promoted yet again, and the addition of two more deployments!  Let’s dive in.

As stated, I in the last blog, I left Grand Forks on May 24^th, 2009 – just two days after Alec’s 11^th birthday; our little Danielle was almost a year old and would take her first steps on the journey north!  We crossed into Canada with a SUV pulling a camper at Sweet Grass, Montana and just took our time winding through Canada, taking 10 days to get to our base just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska.  Crossing into Canada that late May day we found ourselves driving through Banff National Park - Canada’s first national park and the flagship of the nation’s park system and through Calgary, mind you this entire trip using a great book called Milepost to guide us where to stay, where to get gas, what sights to see on the way.  If you have never made the trip up the ALCAN to Alaska, I would totally recommend it.  I made the trip north and back south 4 years later.  Throughout our travels we found ourselves going through Grand Prairie in the province of Alberta, crossing into the British Columbia province near Dawson Creek, passing through Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, and Watson Lake. At this point we transitioned into the Northwest Territories province at Watson Lake, pushing through Whitehorse, Haines Junction, Destruction Bay, and Beaver Creek before crossing back into the United States through Tok, Delta Junction, and finally up to Eielson Air Force Base, near North Pole in the interior of Alaska. 

One of the most amazing attractions on this drive is the Sign Post Forrest at Historic Mile 635 in Watson Lake.  Travelers from around the world have been bringing signposts from their hometowns to the Sign Post Forest since 1942 and continue to do so today.  The tradition began during the Alaska Highway Project in 1942, when U.S. soldier Carl K. Lindley spent time in Watson Lake recovering from an injury. A commanding officer asked him to repair and erect the directional signposts, and while completing the job, he added a sign that indicated the direction and mileage to his hometown of Danville, Illinois. Others followed suit, and the trend caught on. In 1990, a couple from Ohio added the 10,000th sign in the Signpost Forest. Today, there are over 77,000 signs in the Forest, and the number grows each year as visitors contribute signs and continue the tradition. The Town of Watson Lake maintains the site, adding more sign posts as they fill up. If you ever make this trip, make sure to bring along a sign to add to the forest or you can make one at the Yukon Visitor Information Center to officially leave your mark!

Of course, a trip of this magnitude should not be taken without the most seriousness of preparation.  During the winter months, most passes require chains on vehicles and many gas stations are closed.  Even in May, we ran into snowy mountain passes, lots of animals on the side of and in the middle of the road and two punctured tires; one on the SUV and one on the camper.  It was slow going in many places, over one lane bridges, areas of the road that was still unpaved – but an amazing trip none the less.  As I said, we took our time taking 10 days to travel north, but it can be done with long days in as little as 4 days or less with multiple drivers.  

After arriving to Eielson, we closed on our house that would be home for the next 4 years in North Pole – we lived about a mile north of “The Santa Clause House.”  My time here at Eielson would provide me with both happiness and pain; I learned a lot about myself both personally and professionally while stationed at this base in Alaska’s interior.  The summers were great, minus the forest fires that would make it very smoky from time to time; nearly 24 hours of daylight in near perfect weather.  The winter was another story completely.  Sometimes as little as 4 hours of twilight and temperatures as cold as 50 below zero, I believe I saw it as cold as -63; the winters are certainly brutal to man and machine if you are not prepared.  I would deploy two more times at this base and also be promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant, an E-7 in the Air Force.  My deployments while here in Alaska included six month trips to Iraq and Bahrain. 

Ali Air Base, Nasiriyah, Iraq

Known by many names, Ali, Talil, Camp Adder, this base near the Kuwaiti border has a lot of history.  First contact by the American military happened during the 1991 Gulf War when its fortified aircraft shelters were heavily damaged by coalition bombing missions.  The air base originally served as the home of an Iraqi unit of Soviet-built MiG fighter aircraft as well as several Mi-24D helicopter gunships. The aircraft could be serviced and stored in 36 fortified concrete aircraft hangars located at either end of the main runway. These aircraft shelters, sometimes referred to as "trapezoids" or "Yugos", were built by Yugoslavian contractors sometime prior to 1985. After the start of the Iraq War in 2003, Ali Air Base, was used by the U.S. Air Force’s 332d Air Expeditionary Wing before they moved to Balad Air Base in January 2004. The 407th Air Expeditionary Group, operating C-130 Hercules cargo airplanes, then utilized the base and trained more than 100 Iraqi Airmen on how to maintain and fly the C-130 type until February 2006. Ali Air Base was thereafter used primarily by U.S. forces, including elements of the U.S. Army, Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine Corps. The base was nearly vacated of all U.S. Forces on 16 December 2011. The closure of this were the final actions in Operation New Dawn, the successor mission to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

At the start of Iraqi Freedom, on March 23, 2003, a convoy, belonging to the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. The subsequent recovery of Private First Class Jessica Lynch by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April 1, 2003 received considerable media coverage; it was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since World War II and the first ever of a woman.  The convoy made a wrong turn and were ambushed near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates.  The convoy was supposed to detour around the town and instead turned directly into it, eventually running into an ambush. The ambush was unlikely to have been set up in advance, because the Iraqis did not know which course the convoy would take. Although some vehicles had GPS receivers, military GPS systems, unlike civilian equivalents, provide only grid references and not turn-by-turn navigation. Maps of the area lack the detail required to properly navigate through tight city streets. Apparently, the convoy took more than one wrong turn. The convoy came under attack by enemy fire. Eleven other soldiers in the company were killed in the ambush. Five additional soldiers were captured and subsequently rescued 21 days later. Initial official reports on Lynch's capture and rescue in Iraq were incorrect. On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon (her M16 rifle having jammed), and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed.  Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated "That wasn't me. I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do ... I'm just a survivor.”

Ur, Iraq's most famous archeological site, was perhaps the earliest city in the world. Ur flourished under the Sumerians between 3500 BC and 4000 BC. It is located within the confines of Ali Air Base; Ur has been identified as the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham. In the early decades of the 20th century, excavations uncovered a royal cemetery in which members of the ruling elite were buried with their servants and beautifully-made possessions. Ur's dominant feature is the remains of a ramped ziggurat or temple tower, the best preserved in Iraq.

While I was at this desert base in 2010, a member of our base was killed when an improvised explosive device pierced his Mine Resistant-Ambush Protected vehicle.  Army Major Ronald Culver was killed May 24; I would read about his May 27 memorial service soon after.  Major Culver had given his watch to a young lieutenant who kept asking what time it was, afraid she would miss a meeting. He told her he had worn that watch without taking it off for a year during his last deployment here and he left without a scratch. He told her to never take it off and she'll go home fine. She was a public affairs officer and every night the watch alarm went off at six p.m. She called and asked him how to turn it off and he said he wouldn't tell her. Every evening when the alarm goes off, he explained, she will be reminded that she needs to write more stories about the Soldiers. When his seemingly routine mission began that day, the major asked some of the members of the squadron to fly a flag in honor of his wedding anniversary. He would send it back to his wife. They raised his flag in front of headquarters for him. That afternoon, after the attack, they lowered his flag to half-staff, in memory of him.

Towards the end of the memorial service for Major Culver, the room was called to attention. The first sergeant on stage called for roll call for Headquarters and Headquarters Troop.

He yelled, "Captain Lloyd!"

A booming voice yelled back, "Here, First Sergeant!"

He yelled, "Major Robinson!"

"Here First Sergeant."

He yelled, "Major Culver!"

There was silence.

He yelled, "Major Ronald Culver!"

Silence.

He yelled again, "Major Ronald W. Culver, Jr.!"

And a voice said, "He's not here first sergeant, for he's gone to Fiddler's Green."

Profound silence.

"Sergeant Major, strike Major Culver's name from the roll."

I was able to participate in many dignified transfer ceremonies while in Iraq; day or night, we posted on the flightline and saluted as fallen service members were transferred to military aircraft to go home as heroes, their coffins always draped in the American flag. These are moments that I won’t ever forget. 

Isa Air Base, Bahrain

Isa Air Base, formerly Shaikh Isa Air Base is located on the 240-square-mile island nation of Bahrain, situated off Saudia Arabia's eastern coast, south of the countries’ capitol, Manama. It hosts the Royal Bahraini Air Force Fighter Wing and the two squadrons that comprise it. In March 2009, the United States Air Force established a camp on Isa Air Base to support aerial port operations. The unit was designated a detachment of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. This detachment's purpose was to accelerate the delivery of mine-resistant ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It was built with American assistance starting in 1987. It is the base for the 1st Fighter Wing of the BAAF. After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, coalition forces poured into the region in the ensuing months under Operation Desert Shield. Sheik Isa was inundated with military aircraft. Close to 200 US aircraft filled the ramps F-4Gs, F-18s, AV-8Bs, A-6Es, EA-6Bs, KC-10s while the base transformed into a small city of 12,000 military personnel. USMC, US Navy and USAF units have continued to deploy to the base at regular intervals up until the present day. The period that I was there in 2012, there were Navy P-3C Orion aircraft stationed at this island base.  Myself and another USAF Master Sergeant (I was also a Master Sergeant at this time) would guide a flight of 13 Navy Fuels Aviation Boatswain's Mates, delivering fuel and maintaining a system compromised of older Air Force equipment, bladders, pumps, and fuel trucks transferred to the Navy.  I was one of less than 50 Air Force members on this Navy base.  An interesting deployment for sure!

I have always been interested in the historical value of all of the places I have been.  I was able to visit a local Bahrain landmark, located between Isa Air Base and Manama; a site called “The Tree of Life” or Bharain’s Loneliest Tree.  The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a 32 feet high Prosopis Cineraria tree that is over 400 years old. It is on a hill in a barren area of the Arabian Desert, a mile from Jebel Dukhan, the highest point in Bahrain, and 25 miles from Manama, the nearest city. The tree is abundantly covered in green leaves. Due to its age and the fact that it is the only major tree growing in the area, the tree is a local tourist attraction and is visited by approximately 65,000 people every year. The yellow resin is used to make candles, aromatics and gum; the beans are processed into meal, jam, and wine. It is not certain how the tree survives. Bahrain has little to no rain throughout the year. Its roots are 50 meters deep, which may be enough to reach the water source. Others say the tree has learned to extract moisture from grains of sand. Some assert that the tree is protected by Enki, a god of water in Babylonian and Sumerian religion. Still others claim that the tree is standing in what was once the Garden of Eden, and so has a more mystical source of water. In 2009, the tree was nominated to be on the New7Wonders of Nature list, but unfortunately did not finish on the list. In October 2010, archaeologists unearthed 500-year-old pottery and other artefacts in the vicinity of the tree. A soil and dendrochronology analysis conducted in the 1990s concluded that the tree was an Acacia planted in 1582. The tree was mentioned in the 1991 film L.A. Story, where Steve Martin calls it one of the most mystical places on earth.

Back at Eielson Air Force Base, in Alaska’s interior, it would share a designation with another base that I would find myself at 3 assignments into the future.  The home to RED FLAG-Alaska, a realistic, 10-day air combat United States Air Force training exercise held up to four times a year. It is held at Eielson Air Force Base and Elmendorf Air Force Base in the State of Alaska. RED FLAG-Alaska participants are organized into "Red" defensive forces and "Blue" offensive forces. "White" forces represent the neutral controlling agency. The offensive force includes the full spectrum of U.S. and allied tactical and support units. Because the defensive and offensive forces meet in a simulated hostile, non-cooperative training environment, the job of controlling the mock war and ensuring safety falls to the "White" neutral force. By providing generic scenarios using common worldwide threats and simulated combat conditions, RED FLAG-Alaska gives everyone an opportunity to make the tough calls combat often requires.

Eielson Air Force Base is located approximately 26 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field. Its host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354 FW's primary mission is to support Red Flag. Eielson AFB was named in honor of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson.  Eielson is projected to have fifty-four F-35's arriving in April 2020 and continuing through 2022. The planes will come with an estimated 3,500 personnel, to include Airmen and their families as well as civilian personnel. The F-35 program will increase the number of military personnel at Eielson by about 50 percent, which is a significant change for a base once on the brink of closure. Eielson Air Force Base has operated a multitude of aircraft:

• P-38 Lightning (1946–1953)
• P-51 Mustang (1946–47)
• C-47 Skytrain|VC/SC/C-47 Skytrain (1949–1969)
• B-29 Superfortress|B-29/RB-29/WB-29 (1949–1956)
• P-80 Shooting Star (1950–51)
• T-33 Shooting Star (1950–1981)
• F-86 Sabre (1954–55)
• de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (1952–60)
• KC-97 Stratofreighter (1959–61)
• WB-47 Stratojet (1960–68)
• WB-50 Superfortress (1960–68)
• F-102 Delta Dagger (1960–69)
• Piasecki H-21|Piasecki CH/SH/HH-21 (1960–1980)
• Lockheed U-2|U-2 Dragon Lady (1962–1964)
• Boeing RC-135 (1962–1992)
• C-123 Provider (1965–66, 1969–71)
• F-106 Delta Dart (1965–69)
• KC-135 Stratotanker (1967–present)
• F-4 Phantom II Det DC (1970–82)
• HH-3E Jolly Green Giant (1970–90)
• [O-2 Skymaster (1971–89)
• A-10 Thunderbolt II (1981–2007)
• OV-10 Bronco (1986–89)
• F-16 Fighting Falcon (1991 – present)
• F-35 (2020 – FAR INTO THE FUTURE)

 

There’s a B-29 in a small lake that’s visible to all who want to see. While practicing touch-and-go landings, the front landing gear of a KB-29P buckled in April of 1956, sending the temporary duty aircraft careening across the Eielson runway into a snowbank. Towing operations damaged the aircraft even more, and base officials decided to condemn the aircraft and strip it of usable parts. Several years later, the story goes, the KB-29 was hauled to a gravel pit off Transmitter Road, where a lake formed around the dilapidated aircraft. It subsequently became known as "Lady of the Lake." It's a good tale, but alas, not the origin of the Lady of the Lake. The "Lady," it turns out, is just a worn out B-29 formerly belonging to Eielson's 58th WRS. It broke down in September 1954 and was declared a permanent loss due to wear and tear. It is likely that because of the impending phase-out of the B-29 in favor of the B-50, base officials decided not to repair the aircraft. Air Force records show it dropped from the inventory due to a ground accident in May 1955, although no available evidence suggests it was fixed or that it was ever in any accidents. When it was towed to its present location is unknown.

During my tour in Alaska, I worked for some amazing leaders and had some great co-workers as well.  One of them being SMSgt Adrian “Diesel” Garner.  I worked under him for a majority of the time that I was stationed at Eielson.  I worked in places such as Refueling Maintenance, Fuels Resource Control Center, and as both the FISC and Ops Section Chiefs at different times.  I remember Diesel would always call me “Lee Watros” and does to this day.  On one occasion, while working FISC, I gave him a large stack of folders for his signature as he was the fuels account responsible officer.  I have to mention that I put them on his desk on a Friday afternoon, as he was going to start his vacation.  I just wanted them off my desk!! I can never forget the look on his face as he states, “really Lee Watros, really?!”  I held that position of the responsible officer years later so I certainly know and realize his frustrations with me now!

 But honestly, off duty was the best part of living in Alaska; from driving around looking for moose on backroads at 2 in the morning, to four-wheeling through the many trails and mountains in the area, to finishing a horseshoe race (and getting lost in the dark for a bit) to an amazing fishing trip I took right after getting home from Iraq in 2010.  A group of us got on a float plane in Fairbanks and were dropped off on a river system about a half hours flight away.  We were directed to our cabin and the use of two boats and a see you tomorrow by the pilot.  We were on fish from the moment we got on the water until the moment the plane picked us up the next day.  I have never been so sore and ready to stop casting a line as I was after that 24 hour fishing trip.  What made it even more eventful was we had to push the plane out as the pilot had gotten one of the pontoons stuck on a sandbar!  To finally watching a race that I love to this day, the Yukon Quest, and a chance encounter on the river in North Pole with a musher heading to the final stop in Fairbanks on a cold 2011 night.  I pulled my flight’s challenge coin out of my pocket and handed it to Hank DeBruin, the Red Lantern that year.  A coin that has bonded us together in that race.  I’ll have to specifically write about that moment in a future post because it’s a good one – and the story continues to this day! Ahhhhhhh, Alaska! 

Airmen who are stationed on Eielson commonly refer to themselves as "Icemen" due to the frigid Alaskan weather. Their wing motto is: "Ready to go at fifty below!  This was one of my top 2 favorite bases that I was stationed at; the other being Aviano Air Base in Italy.  I would love to get back to Alaska at some point in my life.  Who knows what the future holds!  I found myself heading back to what Alaskans refer to as the “Lower 48” in 2103 after a quick 4 year stay.  During this stop in my career, I also found myself as a divorcee after being married to my high-school sweetheart, Misty, for 15 years.  Lots of lessons learned for sure. Next stop; back to where it all started, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  I initially thought Seymour would be where I would finish my career; to finish where I started was an awesome thought on paper.  It wasn’t meant to be though…..keep reading as the Journey Continues!

Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota

 

My journey continued when I left Aviano Air Base in Italy as I found my new home at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. I remember flying in and as we were beginning our decent, I could see the landscape; farm land, and lots of it. And straight, flat roads for as far as the eye could see! Here we are in May of 2004 and yes I volunteered to become a “Warrior of the North!” 

Grand Forks AFB is a rare example of an Air Force Base that was never an Army base; a base built after World War II and named for a local community. Ongoing Cold War tensions led the Air Force to desire a northern tier area as a central observation and fighter-interception base. The base site was chosen in 1954, following a community land donation by citizens of Grand Forks, established in 1955, and constructed over 1956-57. Grand Forks would become home of the 478^th Fighter Group, the 18^th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, the 4133^rd Strategic Wing, the 321^st Missile Wing, the 319^th Bombardment Wing, which transitioned into the 319^th Air Refuelling wing, and finally into what it’s known as today; the 319^th Air Base Wing as the home to the 69^th Reconnaissance Group, operating RQ-4 Global Hawks. This base in the frozen north has a storied aircraft past. If a runway would speak, this one would have stories to tell with aircraft such as the F-101 Voodoo, F-106 Delta Dart, KC-135 Stratotanker, B-52 Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer, and RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) having launched from its airstrip.

During my time in Grand Forks, I would find myself on two additional deployments, my 3rd and 4th. I deployed to Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 2005 for 4 months and to Manas Air Base just outside of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2008 for another 4 month tour.

Diego Garcia is an atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago. It was settled by the French in the 1790s and was transferred to British rule after the Napoleonic Wars. Between 1968 and 1973, the population was forcibly removed by the United Kingdom and the United States to establish an American base through intimidation of locals and denying the return of any who left the island. Many were deported to Mauritius and the Seychelles, following which the United States built a large naval port and military base, which has been in continuous operation since. As of August 2018, Diego Garcia is the only inhabited island of the BIOT; the population is composed of military personnel and supporting contractors. It is one of two critical United States bases in the Asia Pacific region, along with Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in the Pacific Ocean. Diego Garcia was a strategic location for bomber aircraft flying over Afghanistan and Iraq during Operations Allied Force and Iraqi Freedom.

Our Air Force adventure would take us further north all the way to Alaska. However, there would be two linking moments to this base in North Dakota. First, the 18^th Fighter Interceptor Squadron which was an early housed unit at Grand Forks Air Force Base, now called the 18th Aggressor Squadron would be at my next base. Additionally, the man known as “the father of Alaskan Aviation,” Carl Ben Eielson was from a small North Dakota town near Grand Forks. This would also be the namesake of our next assignment, Eielson Air Force Base just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. I departed with my wife and two children on May 24th, 2009 and started driving north to Alaska for yet another stop in my military journey.

 

Manas Air Base, a former U.S. military installation at Manas International Airport, near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan was initially named after New York Fire Department Chief Peter J. Ganci, Jr., who was killed in the September 11 terrorist attack. The all-ranks club/recreation center on base was known as “Pete’s Place” in his honor. Shortly after the U.S. Air Force had used the name “Ganci Air Base”, it was found that an Air Force Instruction (AFI) dictated that non-U.S. air bases could not bear the name of any U.S. citizens. Since that time the air base has been officially called Manas Air Base, after the name of Manas International Airport where it is located. It was primarily operated by the U.S. Air Force; the primary unit at the base was the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing.

The base was opened in December 2001 to support U.S. military operations in the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The base was a transit point for U.S. military personnel coming and going from Afghanistan. Several events, such as the shooting of a local civilian and rumors of fuel dumping, had led to strained relations with some of the local population. Powers such as Russia and China had been pushing for the closure of the base since 2005.

In 2009, the Kyrgyz Parliament voted to close the base after the two governments failed to agree on a higher rent for the property. American and Kyrgyz officials continued negotiations after the announcement, and in June of that same year, a tentative agreement was reached. Under the new arrangement, the United States would pay $200 million a year, three times the previous rent, for continued use of the facilities. All U.S. forces vacated the base in early June 2014, at which time control of the base was handed over to Kyrgyz military forces. The U.S. lease officially expired in July of 2014.

It would also be on my deployment to Kyrgyzstan that my daughter Danielle, who is now nearly 12 would be born on June 16th, 2008. She would come into this world at 7:43 in the morning weighing in at 7 pounds and 7.8 ounces, born at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Welcome to this world baby girl!

Back at Grand Forks, I was afforded a great honor of being STEP promoted in December of 2007. This stands for “Stripes For Exceptional Performers,” essentially an automatic promotion. I was promoted to Technical Sergeant on December 16th 2007. Here’s how it went down. I was working an off shift at the time working from 3pm until 11pm. One evening, I was told that I needed to attend a safety briefing that following morning. To say I was thrilled would be a stretch of the imagination. So, here I am at 8 in the morning sitting through this briefing when the wing commander comes in. As he goes to the front and starts talking, he starts off by saying as he walked up, he saw an individual blatantly out of uniform. From there, he called my name; I’m thinking of what I possibly did to be called out like this. Then it hit me. I knew I was put in for this program months before, but the chances of it happening were very low. In fact, on this particular occasion, the wing commander handed out one other set of stripes to the entire base. I was one of two promoted under this program at Grand Forks that year. On top of that, as soon as I walked up and he promoted me on the spot, I saw my wife off to the side of the stage. She had known before I did!

Aviano Air Base, Aviano, Italy – Part 2

I found myself back at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia for my second deployment in mid-2002 shortly before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This would be the first and only time that I would repeat a base for a deployment. It seems that burying my boots in Boot Hill 4 years earlier didn’t work as it was supposed to! I would spend 147 days in Saudi Arabia during this deployment from August of 2002 to January of 2003.

Personnel landing at PSAB are immediately struck by the vastness of the place. If there is one thing that the Saudis have plenty of (besides oil) it would be flat real estate. The base was approximately 25 by 40 miles. Just the mention of the name can send shivers up and down the spine of anyone who has been threatened with a deployment here. The name Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. It invokes thoughts of intense heat, dust, sand, and scorpions. You’re not in hell, but you sure can feel the heat from there. With 15 knots of wind, the daily 115-degree temperatures feels like you are in a giant hair dryer. Highs reach into the 110’s routinely. Those of us “lucky” enough to work outside for hours on end coped by drinking as much water as we could. Bottled water was available to everyone in mass quantities. To keep from dehydrating members of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing were told to drink a bottle of water every hour; one bottle equaling a half-liter. During periods of exercise or intense labor that amount was to be doubled.   Another problem to deal with was the sand. The country is, for the most part, completely covered in sand. When the wind picks up it takes the sand with it. Even when the wind isn’t blowing, the sand gets kicked into the air by walking, driving and other daily activities. This sand gets into everything! Other hazards we dealt with were the critters that make their home in the desert. The desert is home to such wildlife as scorpions, spiders, and snakes. Generally, all these creatures will leave humans alone unless they are cornered. This is the problem. The curious found themselves the victim of a nasty camel spider bite or worse. The camel spider is not deadly, but it is aggressive, and its bite is very painful. Almost all of the snakes that live in the region are venomous. Of note was the carpet viper. This snake was known to be seen in and about the living areas and workspaces. Again, this animal will run rather than fight but if cornered it will strike.

Back at home station in Italy, over a span of a few days in early March of 2003, Aviano Air Base was preparing for something big. I mean real big. Then, it started- March 26, a fleet of seventeen C-17s would start night one of five where they delivered more than 400 vehicles, more than 2,000 people, and more than 3,000 tons of equipment with 62 airlift missions. All arrived on time, all without mishap and with great precision. It was by any measure a landmark moment for airlift operations and the C-17 Globemaster III. The nighttime airdrop of troops and equipment behind enemy lines into northern Iraq was the largest combat airdrop since the invasion of Panama in December 1989 and a first for the C-17. I remember watching that first evening as 15 C-17s took off from this base in Northern Italy one after another, not knowing the scope of what just took place until they all landed some eight hours later. And then we were busy as can be! I was working in our control center. We had every fuel truck out, 25+ in total, at about 3am when the aircraft came back. Each aircraft was taking, on average, three trucks of fuel, totaling about 15,000 gallons of jet fuel. We were driving these big green refuelers everywhere on the ramp, in the grass, over the taxiways to get the mission done and get the aircraft ready to turn for nights two, three, four, and five. Though the nights following that first were with less and less aircraft, just seeing so many wide-body aircraft taking off one after another was an amazing sight.

One of the operations pilots recalled the following as he was in the lead aircraft of the formation of 15 C-17s that first night. As the jet taxied down the ramp, he says he looked out the window and noticed something amazing happening on the ramp at Aviano. Even though the air and ground crews tried to maintain a low-profile days before the launch, the base woke up that day to thousands of Army troops and 17 aircraft on the ramp. People knew something big was about to happen. “There were four airplanes behind me and 10 others lining up at the taxiway,” said Colonel Allardice. “To see this huge formation on the ground with people everywhere … there were people on the rooftops, lining the streets, with American flags waving. They understood something big was happening, and that they were part of some very large historic moment. This was so large and so many people had a part in this operation, they all felt they were part of it. That’s what you want. You want every Airman to know they are connected to the mission.” The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo.

One of my favorite parts about reminiscing about the different bases I have been at is looking into some of the major history of that location. Aviano played a great part in events that lead us to today. Our current Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Lee Goldfein could have been involved in a totally different outcome had it not been for Air Force Special Operations Airmen from this base in Northern Italy. David Lee Goldfein is a four-star general in the United States Air Force who currently serves as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Before, he served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force and was previously Director of the Joint Staff, a position within the Joint Chiefs of Staff who assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On April 26, 2016, it was announced that General Goldfein was nominated to succeed General Mark Welsh as the 21st Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. His confirmation hearing took place on June 16, and he succeeded Welsh on July 1st, two days after his confirmation.

As commander of the 555th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, then Lt. Col. David Goldfein led his squadron flying an F-16 fighter in Operation Allied Force. During that operation, on May 2nd, 1999, Goldfein’s F-16J was shot down over western Serbia by a S-125 surface-to-air missile fired by the 3rd Battery of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Yugoslav Air Force. Shortly after midnight, Goldfein found himself in a small, unenviable club: He became just the second U.S. pilot in Operation Allied Force to be shot down. Col Goldfein successfully ejected and was subsequently rescued by NATO helicopters. In 2010, Goldfein said in an Air Force news release that he still stays in touch with the air crew. Each year, he sends them a bottle of fine single-malt Scotch liquor, and they save the last of it to drink together with Goldfein when he is able to meet and replace it with a new one. The only other manned aircraft shot down during the air war against Milosevic was an F-117 stealth fighter — the only one ever shot down in combat. It was hit with a missile on March 27, 1999. The pilot, Lt. Col. Dale Zelko, also survived and later befriended the man who shot his aircraft down.

I was promoted to Staff Sergeant on January 1st, 2002 and worked in distribution, storage and the control center during my time at in Italy. I volunteered to go to Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota under the Voluntary Stabilized Tour Program and departed for the frozen north in May of 2004. I would call Grand Forks, North Dakota home for the next five years. Our state tree was the telephone pole; the state bird was the vicious mosquito!! The journey continues…..

Aviano Air Base, Aviano, Italy – Part 1

We landed on a small base in the Italian Alps on May 22, 2000 – Alec’s second birthday for our European adventure that would last us the next four years. Aviano Air Base is the home of the 31st Fighter Wing and is the only U.S. fighter wing south of the Alps. This strategic location makes the wing critical to operations in NATO’s southern region. The 31st Fighter Wing maintains two F-16 fighter squadrons, the 555th Fighter Squadron and the 510th Fighter Squadron known as “The Triple Nickel” and “The Five and Dime” respectively, allowing the wing to conduct offensive and defensive combat air operations.

Aviano Air Base was established by the Italian government in 1911 and was used as training base for Italian pilots and construction facility for aircraft parts. During World War I, Italy used the airfield in missions against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. At that time, two Italian aviators, Captain Maurizio Pagliano and Lieutenant Luigi Gori, conducted an unauthorized, but heroic and successful, air raid on the Austrian naval yards in Pula, in what is now Croatia. In their honor, the base’s name was officially changed to Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori, in 1919. During the war the airfield was also overrun by the Austro-German army in the months between November 1917 to November 1918. Between the two wars the airfield was again used as a training base. During World War II, both the Italian Air Force and the German Luftwaffe flew missions from Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori. British forces captured the base in 1945; they conducted air operations there until 1947, when the Italian Air Force resumed operational use of the airport.

I have many memories of Aviano. We lived in a small village called Fanna about a half an hour drive north of the base. The area itself sits in the middle of wine country, so you can only imagine the views of the mountains and the vineyards. I would love to visit the area again someday just to take the sights in. The base is located about an hour north of Venice, which became an unofficial weekend destination. It was so easy to get around the country and Europe as a whole. Trains were inexpensive and on time. Driving on the Autostrada was a dream. During this four-year period, we would find ourselves driving and riding trains to places like Rome, Pisa, Venice, Vicenza, and many other places all around Italy. We also traveled extensively to Austria and Germany. I even had the opportunity to take a “work trip” to England. We drove from Italy, through Austria, Germany, Belgium, into France where we boarded a ferry that took us from Calais, France across the Strait of Dover to England, home of the famed White Cliffs of Dover, driving north up towards Cambridge to Lakenheath Air Base, all in about 24 hours!

During this time, we met some great people. A family that I still keep in touch with today, some 14 years after leaving Italy, Sheldon and Rachael Smith are amazing people in their own right. Our families did so much together during our time there and I have visited them from time to time since and vice versa. We took a long weekend trip to Rome together where I nearly got pick-pocketed. I remember getting on the subway the first night there. At the time, much of Europe still was cash only, so I had nearly $1000 in my wallet that night, enough to last us the trip for food, trains, hotels, and souvenirs. It was a full subway car, so I didn’t think much of it when two young kids, no older than 10-12 boarded and was right up against me. The next stop, they departed and an Italian man immediately started pointing at the floor, “your wallet sir.” What I didn’t realize was that when one was pushing against me, the other lifted my wallet from my pocket, but luckily dropped it and wasn’t able to retrieve it as the subway car was so packed. The rest of the trip, the amount of money that I didn’t leave in the hotel safe stayed in my front pocket with my hand over it. Other than that it was a great trip. We visited the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Roman Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican, and ate so much good food! We got our crazy cab driver experience in Rome as well. There is so much more to see in Rome, but we only had 4 days; I would love to go back and spend more time there!

Sheldon and I would take trips up to Garmish, Germany for beer trips a couple times a year. He literally taught me what good beer truly was! It was also a Pizza Hut stop, something we didn’t have in Aviano…..ahhhhh the little things! We once went to a festival in Munich called Fruhlingsfest – sometimes called the “Kleine Schwester des Oktoberfestes,” meaning “Oktoberfest’s Little Sister.” It is held in the same venue as Oktoberfest, in the Theresienwiese Park. I remember staying in a hotel across the street from the park. We thought it would be a great place to stay during Oktoberfest a few months later; that is until we inquired about the price. If memory serves me, we stayed there during Fruhlingsfest for under 100 Euro, equivalent to about $90 at the time. They quoted us a price of over 400 Euro for the Oktoberfest time frame! So instead, our families rented a cabin in Garmish and took an hour’s train ride up to Munich to enjoy the festivities! The atmosphere was electric. People dancing on tables, a huge carnival, beer tents and gardens all around. People from all over the world drinking liters, and liters, and liters of beer! And you know what, no fights; could we do that in America? We ate, we sang silly German songs, and we drank! Memories…….

Melissa, Alec, and I went on some great trips as well. A weekend in Pisa, though the best part after the half hour that it took to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa(well maybe more like 5 minutes!) was camping at Camp Darby and going to the beach on the Mediterranean side of Italy. We also took a weekend trip up to Vienna, Austria where we got to see the world famous Lipizzaner horses at The Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Melissa did and still does love everything horses, so she loved this trip for that reason! Vienna seemed to be more of a modern city than any other place we visited in Europe. The only thing I could think of was because much of the country may have been leveled during World War II.

Thinking about World War II, we had a neighbor who spoke perfect English. His name was Remo; it was him and his dog, and this man was happy. He once told me, “You Americans, you live to work. We Italians, we work to live.” He lived a simple yet wonderful life. I heard he passed away a few years ago, but his memory will always be with me. He told me stories of Fanna during World War II when he was just a young boy. He says he remembers a time when a bomb hit the ground across from our street and exploded; he’s got a scar on his leg from what he feels was getting hit by shrapnel as he hid behind a tree. Another that had fallen in the town square yet didn’t detonate. He recalled that the British military came and took it away after about a week. And finally, when the Germans were run out of the country, he told me of the young German soldiers, some that couldn’t be older than 15 just giving away all their supplies and even during the German occupation of Italy that the German soldiers treated the locals with dignity and respect, not causing them harm. As military members, they were but following orders during a difficult situation at a time of war. The reason he spoke English so well was that when he became an adult, work was scarce in Italy and so Remo moved to Australia where he lived until he retired and moved back to Italy to finish his life in his home country.

The day that changed my world. The day that my military service became something of meaning. We all know this day as September 11, 2001.   I was in Airman Leadership School when we were told that something was not right on the east coast of the United States. It was the end of our day; the instructors turned on the television just before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center complex. A day that I won’t forget the moment I found out; a day like other generations endured such as the Pearl Harbor attacks or the assassination of President Kennedy. Here we are, 19 years later, and I still remember this event as though it just happened yesterday. The Smith family and mine huddled in my living room until well past midnight reliving the day’s events over and over, listening to Tom Brokaw and other news broadcasters informing us of the terrorist attacks that would shape our lives and the define what the United States Military would come to be for me for the next two decades. Prior to this, we were primarily containing Saddam Hussain’s regime in Iraq. Osama Bin Laden would become the new enemy and soon we found ourselves in a war in Afghanistan and two short years later in Iraq. Today, we are still heavily involved in the Middle East theater even as our military is shifting towards the Pacific arena.

Stay tuned for more about Aviano and my second deployment that would be happening soon……

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro North Carolina – Part 2

Two weeks after Alec was born, I deployed for the first of my 6 (update: # 7 is coming soon) deployments. I would go to a base in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert traveling from NC to Baltimore, MD, though Portugal, Germany and into Saudi Arabia . Prince Sultan Air Base—known as PSAB, home to the 4404th Wing (Provisional), 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing was located 50 miles southeast of Riyadh, the capitol, and housed F-15C, F-15E, F-16, KC-135, KC-10, RC-135, E-3, U-2, C-130, EC-130, HC-130, and C-21 aircraft, along with British Tornados and French Mirages to provide fighter, electronic combat, reconnaissance, command and control, air refueling, search and rescue, and cargo/troop transport capabilities. I would spend the next 129 days at this base outside of the city of Al Kharj from July to November supporting Operation Southern Watch, monitoring and controlling the no-fly zone south of the 33rd Parallel in southern and south-central Iraq during the period following the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

Prince Sultan came to be following the Khobar Towers bombing, a terrorist attack on part of a housing complex used as quarters for Coalition forces who were assigned to Operation Southern Watch. A truck bomb was detonated adjacent to Building #131, an eight-story structure housing members of the United States Air Force’s 4404th Wing (Provisional), primarily from a deployed rescue squadron and deployed fighter squadrons. In all, 19 U.S. Air Force personnel and a Saudi local were killed in this attack on June 25^th, 1996. As a result of the terrorist attack, U.S. and Coalition military operations at Khobar and Dhahran were subsequently relocated to Prince Sultan Air Base. American, British, and French military operations would continue at PSAB until late 2003, when French forces withdrew, and American and British operations shifted to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. U.S. officials transferred control of portions of Prince Sultan Air Base to Saudi officials at a ceremony on Aug. 26, 2003. The ceremony also marked the inactivation of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing. The base was home to about 60,000 coalition forces during the seven years the base was in operation supporting Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. At the height of OIF, there were more than 5,000 troops and about 200 coalition aircraft based there.

Prince Sultan Air Base’s Boot Hill Cemetery was a continued POL tradition that quietly attracted attention of its own. It was even a stop on the tours for some of the distinguished visitors passing through. Located off the beaten path in the fuels main bulk storage area, Boot Hill Cemetery was exactly that, a cemetery for boots. Local legend had it that if fuels troops buried their boots there before leaving PSAB, they’d never have to return. With the prospect of not returning to PSAB on the line, superstitions about Boot Hill ran high, and one glance told visitors that a lot of care had gone into constructing and maintaining the area. Although the exact origin of the cemetery is questionable, it is known that members of the 4404th Wing Fuels Management Flight constructed the original back when the 4404th was located in Dhahran Air Base. When PSAB ceased operations, Boot Hill was carefully dismantled and moved to Al Udied Air Base. The “new” Boot Hill was set up and continues to serve there today, as a monument to over 20 years of fuels Airmen serving in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Tradition now holds that you sign your boots, date them, and toss them. If you ring it [on the rebar] on the first try, the legend is that you won’t get orders to come back to “The Rock!” And so, the legacy continues, one tattered boot at a time.

I enjoy historical events at the bases that I have been stationed at. Here’s one that happened in the early 1960’s that wasn’t completely revealed until 2013. This accident could have completely changed the landscape of Eastern North Carolina and would have had long lasting consequences on the entire east coast of the United States. Read on!

On January 24^th, 1961 an Air Force aircraft crashed just outside of Goldsboro, North Carolina. A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two 3–4-megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process. The aircraft, a B-52G, was based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. Around midnight on January 23^rd–24^th 1961, the bomber had a rendezvous with a tanker for aerial refueling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major Walter Scott Tulloch, that his aircraft had a fuel leak in the right wing. The refueling was aborted, and ground control was notified of the problem. The aircraft was directed to assume a holding pattern off the coast until the majority of fuel was consumed. However, when the B-52 reached its assigned position, the pilot reported that the leak had worsened and that 37,000 pounds (5,500 gallons) of fuel had been lost in three minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to return and land at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. As it descended through 10,000 feet on its approach to the airfield, the pilots were no longer able to keep the aircraft in stable descent and lost control of it. The pilot in command ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet. Five men bailed out and landed safely. Another bailed out but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash. The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, is the only man known to have successfully bailed out of the top hatch of a B-52 without an ejection seat. Although the crew’s final view of the aircraft was in an intact state with its payload of two Mark 39 thermonuclear bombs on board, it broke apart before impact, releasing the bombs. The wreckage of the aircraft covered a 2-square-mile area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, about 12 miles north of Goldsboro. Information newly declassified in 2013 showed that one of the bombs came very close to detonating. The two 3–4-megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombs separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 1,000 and 2,000 feet. Three of the four arming mechanisms on one of the bombs activated, causing it to execute many of the steps needed to arm itself, such as charging the firing capacitors and deploying a 100-foot-diameter parachute. Although the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft, an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming. In a now-declassified 1969 report, entitled “Goldsboro Revisited”, written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones said that “one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe.” In 2011, Lt. Jack Revelle, the bomb disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, claimed “we came damn close” to a nuclear detonation that would have completely changed much of eastern North Carolina. He also said the size of each bomb was more than 250 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb, large enough to create a 100% kill zone within a radius of 8.5 miles.

I arrived at Shady-J as an Airman Basic on November 27^th, 1996. I was promoted to Airman on January 31^st, 1997, Airman First Class on November 30^th, 1997 and promoted to Senior Airman on July 31^st, 1999. I left Seymour Johnson Air Force Base on to the next adventure on May 22^nd, 2000. I would call Aviano Air Base in Northern Italy home for the next four years. The journey continues…..

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Goldsboro, North Carolina – Part 1

Here we go again! I promise, I’m trying to get better at this; but until then, I hope you enjoy my little stroll down memory lane. As a recap, I started this blog just over a year ago to record my recollections on the different places I have ventured to during my military career. There are some big changes on the horizon, but that’s for a later discussion. I promise, we’ll get there…..it might just take a little time!

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 12^th, 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 5^th, 1941. Seymour Johnson Field was deactivated in May 1946. The base was reactivated as a Tactical Air Command base on April 1^st 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 4^th Fighter Wing, known as the Fourth but First, along with the 916^th Air Refueling Wing flying the mighty F-15E Strike Eagles and KC-135 Stratotankers.

I showed up as a new Airman fresh out of my technical training to my new base in Goldsboro, North Carolina as a Fuels Operator; a place I would spend seven years at over two different assignments. I arrived at Seymour Johnson for the first time in late November of 1996. I remember the time frame because of the interaction I had with my first Chief there. Chief Master Sergeant Thomas Leohr to me was the example of what a Chief should be. Now I could be wrong; I have heard from time to time that there are Chiefs and other Senior Non-Commissioned Officers who tend to favor their young Airmen over that of their seasoned leaders. But from what I saw of Chief Leohr, he was genuinely interested and cared about every individual in his organization. He made it a point to remember all the flight’s members first name, nearly a hundred of us. There are times I have to think really hard about a troops’ last name even now, so to me, that amazed me. I remember him opening his home and inviting my wife and I over for Thanksgiving, though for the life of me, I don’t remember why we didn’t go. Maybe we didn’t want to impose, I’m not sure. But he genuinely cared about all of us in my mind. I remember him being set in his ways and traditions as well though. I recall a conversation he had with us that the squadron commander wanted him to update his uniform with the newly designed stripes even though they weren’t going to be mandatory until well after he retired. He stated that these were the rank insignia that he grew up with; mind you, this man was a 30 year military man who started in the late 60s! He said they were the stripes he’d retire with, there was no way in hell he was gonna change just because his boss wanted him to do so. What were they gonna do, fire him?!! To me, that’s a Chief; he didn’t waiver in his beliefs, he stood up for and truly knew and cared for his people, all the while ensuring the mission happened.

I remember arriving and thinking to myself that the area was a mess with downed trees everywhere. I would soon find out that hurricanes were the norm in that area and I would have my chance to experience this great force of nature. A late storm, Hurricane Fran, had come up through the Atlantic and hit North Carolina as a category 3 hurricane, making land fall near Cape Fear on September 6^th of that year. By the time it roared through Goldsboro the following day, it was a tropical storm that dumped upwards of 16 inches of rain. The total damage in North Carolina amounted to over $2.4 billion. This was the second hurricane to hit North Carolina that year. The first was Hurricane Bertha, which hit the state a few weeks prior. I would go through another set of large storms finishing up with Hurricane Floyd in 1999. North Carolina received the brunt of the storm’s destruction. The hurricane produced torrential rainfall in Eastern North Carolina, adding more rain to an area already hit by Hurricane Dennis just weeks earlier. The rains caused widespread flooding over a period of several weeks; nearly every river basin in the eastern part of the state exceeded 500-year flood levels including the Neuse River that surrounds Goldsboro.

My oldest son Alec was born in North Carolina in May of 1998. I remember working B-shift and my wife calling and telling me I should come home. I remember this being around 6pm. We were up all night; Melissa had a rough night for sure. Just when we thought the contractions were where they needed to be to go to the hospital, the doctor would tell her lie on the other side among other things, and the contractions would go on a crazy schedule once again – we were left to wait longer. Finally, early in the morning we decided to make the half hour drive to the hospital in Kinston. When we arrived and were settled in, it was apparent that something wasn’t right. As soon as the nurse started feeling around, she just had this look. Within a half hour, she was prepped, and Alec was born via emergency C-section because he’d been breech all this time. Had we only known that hours earlier! At 9 pounds, 6 and a half ounces, this kid was a ham! He has since grown to tower over me. At 6’ 2” and 200+ pounds, I have no choice but to look up to him! Alec is now 20 years old and a great young man who I’m very proud of!

I’ve met so many great people, many of whom I keep in contact today. Though I can’t attempt to name them all, two have stood out and made deep impacts to my career. First, Adam Mulholland, even though he cross-trained on us, I have run into him numerous times over my career and regard his friendship very highly. I also wouldn’t be here without retired TSgt Max Stansell. I respect this man as a great mentor and strength as to where I have gotten thus far – he truly cared about his Airmen; he took us under his wings like a father figure. I not only came to him when I needed to work on my Jeep, but he was there to guide this young teenager to do the right things, even when no one was looking. I appreciate all the friendships that I have made throughout my career; these two are certainly the beginning and I’m so very grateful for those who I have crossed paths with through the years.

To Be Continued…….