During the latter half of the 1980s, I was an Air Force First Lieutenant and a member of the most prominent Fighter Squadron in the world, the 94th Hat-in-the-Ring-Gang at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
This was Eddie Rickenbacker’s WWI Fighter Squadron while he was the “Ace of Aces” roaring through European skies battling German aircraft in his Spad Neuport Bi-Wing. During the 1980s the 94th flew F-15 Eagles. Now they fly F-22 Raptors.
I was the Squadron’s Adjutant Officer. I didn’t fly airplanes. I was the administrative officer for the pilots and the Commander’s Executive Officer. The guy I replaced told me I’d hate the job. He shared horror stories about how miserable I would be and openly cursed the pilots he was supposed to help. I told him I was sorry about that and asked him if I could help him and his non-English speaking Japanese wife move on to the next assignment, and he declined.
What to do?
Once I had my flight line badge, I walked out to an F-15 Eagle. A crew chief was kind enough to show me around the beast. The missiles, the guns, the cockpit, all of it was impressive. I got a tour of the Life Support Shop where airmen and non-commissioned officers packed parachutes, worked on helmets, and sewed together Anti-G suits.
Amazing. I met the people who handled the operations side, scheduling all sorts of training in blocks I had never heard of until my eyes began to bleed. And along the way, I met hero after hero who seemed to already know who I was and looked very surprised that I was asking these questions. Finally, I began to settle in to my station and meet my team, learning my responsibilities which seemed petty compared to everyone else’s.
Throughout this “FAM-Ride” there were Eagle take-offs and landings that screamed across the Langley Base Runway and throughout the Chesapeake Bay’s Hampton Roads Area. For a young man in America, it was a very cool place to be.
Suddenly, I was notified about a formation at 1600 to say farewell to the 1st Tac Fighter Wing Commander: Brigadier General Creech. We were to report to the training field in Service Dress with Wheel Hats in Squadron Formation.
I had been through enough training prior to Active Duty to know two things. A formation has one guy holding the squadron colors (a flag with lots of battle ribbons), and the formation is stair-stepped tallest in front to smallest. Secondly, don’t buy the expensive Wheel Hat until you really need it, because you might use it once in your career. And on my first day, of course, I need it.
I had time. I rushed down to the uniform store, and they had a wheel hat my size. But I had to buy the insignia separately that pins to the front. One was for “Officer” and the other is for “Enlisted.” So I grabbed the one that has a big circle around it. Must be officer.
I show up on the parade ground, the brand new Adjutant, and all these pilots and enlisted guys see that I chose wrong. None of them laughed. None of them sent me away. They grabbed me, stuffed me in the middle where I can’t be seen, and we all salute Creech as he rolled by on his Jeep. Guess who had the responsibility of the first round at the Squadron Pub afterward?
I made a lot of friends that day. I still keep up with some of them everyday on Facebook and holidays. Most became generals. Some became four-stars, and some got out and became airline pilots.
There is a reason you take very good care of people like this. They strap themselves into machines that routinely train in DACTs (Dissimilar Air Combat Training Exercises). In other words, America tries to pit the best we’ve got against what we think the bad guys have and scrimmage, scrimmage, scrimmage.
These young men and women pull negative gravity, straining while their flight suits push blood back into their brains so they don’t pass out, and communicate with their two-ship in real-time against another pair of bad guys who are simulating missiles and guns. They might be upside down or sideways, with terrain or ocean or in clouds whizzing by a Mach 2. Then they safely land the aircraft, take the tapes out, and are debriefed whether or not they lived or died during the exchange.
This happens so you and I can sleep at night without worrying about our skies being unsafe. This happens so we be sure that when we set our coffee maker to brew at 0600, it will be hot and ready when we get up, because the Air Force also controls the satellites in space.
That’s right. Your networks, phones, cable television, automobile’s onboard computer, and toaster is managed by satellite, and the United States Air Force Controls the positions of those satellites 24/7.
I present this true story, so at least one person might understand why defense spending is important. It is imperative we have the very best machines and operators in the world on America’s side.
During my three decades of military life, I have witnessed unsafe airspace in other nations and what it can do to the people directly below a skilled and determined pilot and crew. I have no desire to provide you with examples, because I have had a hard time shaking them from my own memory as they are hard to “unsee.”
Suffice it to say, we need the very best team we can get. We need to stay well ahead of anyone who would plan to threaten our own Air and Space Power. Without those two elements, a family is somewhere in the late 19th Century, hoping they can find a source of clean water as soon possible.
An Article V Convention of States has the power to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal budget, so that the United States can focus resources on enumerated powers defined in the Constitution.
