Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

    On April 16, 1998 we were visiting my son Robbie in Vero Beach Florida who had recently moved there and my sister Donna who had been there since 1978. We got a call from home and were told that Nashville had been hit by an F-3 tornado. Unknown to us the tornado that hit Nashville was part of a two day tornado outbreak. The second day was the worst. Thirteen tornados hit Middle Tennessee that day. For the first time in twenty years Nashville was the largest downtown area to be hit by an F-2 tornado or larger. Tornado's also struck Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama. Twelve people were killed in these states. Seven in Tennessee and one in Nashville. Eleven people died in Nashville alone during the March 1933 East Nashville tornado that followed an almost identical path. Modern weather alerting can be credited with a lower casualty rate this time and the fact that it hit during daylight hours.   The tornado was an F-1 when it touched down at the intersection o...

Just 10 days later, on October 13, 1995, Debbie's grandmother, Grace Brown, died in Nashville. She was almost 93 years old. Grace was born in November 1902, less than a year before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane. She would live through 2 world wars, an economic depression, and see the first men step on the moon. Grace was a feisty and colorful person that was married three times. She was a great lady, however; and we still miss her to this day. Finally, Debbie's daddy, Johnny Phillips, died of pneumonia on July 3, 1996. He was 80 years old and his last years were pretty miserable. Because of Parkinson's disease he was being fed by a feeding tube. Johnny's brain was severely injured by shrapnel during the last months of WW2.   I was asked to find a bugler to play TAPs during the graveside services. If it were up to me he would have had a full military funeral but the family only wanted a bugler. To my surprise I was unable to find anyone. I called Ft. Campbe...

    After my 40th birthday I experienced a mid-life crisis that hit me like a ton of bricks. There were other personal problems that I was having, that I can't discuss here that were really weighing on me. I don't know if I was going through a depression but sometimes I felt like I couldn't function. My plan was to stay in the Air National Guard as long as I could. Partly because of my emotional state, and other factors I wasn't enjoying the Guard as I had in earlier years. I had loved the Guard, especially the men and women who I served with over the years. They were like a second family to me. During those years it was not unusual to laugh until I cried when I was around them. It was a lot of fun mixed in with the occasional hardship and boredom.   When I first joined the Guard promotion was almost guaranteed after 12 years of service. By the time I reached my twelfth year the system was changed to a more merit based system. That would have been okay if things had ...

  During 1991 Robbie and Jody were married and we vacationed in Virginia Beach near where Rob's ship was in dry dock at Norfolk. This was a dream vacation for me. Besides going to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg we were able to visit the colonial city of Williamsburg. We also visited Yorktown where the British surrendered to Washington in 1781, which ultimately led to our independence. I was able to take a day by myself and visit Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg.    Later that summer our guard unit spent two weeks at Pope A.F.B. North Carolina or "No Hope Pope" as it was called. Ft. Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne, is right next door and we did some ABGD training and some exercises with the Army M.P.'s. It was interesting watching the Army paratroopers boarding C-141's on Green Ramp. Carrying their gear and parachutes made them look like ducks waddling across the ramp. In 1994, while the 82nd Airborne was involved in a tra...

    That same June my Air Guard unit was scheduled to be deployed to Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall England. I was excited about this because we were organizing a tour package that would make it affordable to take our wives. Debbie's sister Sylvia wanted to take the trip which made it possible for Debbie to go. This was because she would have never have agreed to go on such a long trip by herself. England was my fourth overseas deployment and it was exciting to know that Debbie would finally get to go on one with me. We would celebrate our 22nd anniversary together while we were there. Our unit would go over on a brand new C-130-H model because we had been supplied with 16 of them straight off of the assembly line a few months earlier in February 1990. There had been a ceremony attended by Tennessee governor Ned McWherter and Senator Jim Sasser. Sasser flew in on our first C-130 H model named the Spirit of Music City which was emblazoned on the side of the cockpit. The music ...

Rob made it through boot camp and was scheduled to graduate in May. We made plans to be there for the graduation ceremony. I don't know if it was because of the Vietnam war but I didn't have a graduation ceremony when I graduated from Air Force basic training. I have always wondered why we didn't. Other Air Force basic training units did but we didn't. We packed up the kids and Courtney who was about a year and a half old and headed for Illinois. Somewhere in Illinois I was waved over by a State Trooper who was standing on the side of the road. A helicopter had clocked me speeding. Illinois is so flat that I was doing ninety before I even knew it.   I loved all the pomp and ceremony of Robbie's graduation and it was an experience. Rob's fiance Jody flew up to Chicago where I picked her up at O'Hare International airport just before the ceremony. Even though it was May it was freezing cold and the ceremony was held inside a big hangar. Afterwards we went to a...

    In the summer of 1988 my Air Guard unit was deployed to Hurlburt Field Florida. This was right next to Eglin AFB. While we were there we were tasked to guard aircraft with several different missions. Helicopters, special ops C-130's and the AC-130 gunships. At the time Hurlburt was one of only two AC-130 units in America. The AC-130 H Spectre is a badass. On the port side of the plane, in front of the wings, it was armed with two 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannons, or Gatling guns. One Bofors 40 mm cannon, or what they used to call the pom pom gun in the Navy, just behind the wing. Last but not least a 105 mm M102 howitzer near the rear of the plane. Since 1994 the two Gatling guns have been replaced by one 25 mm GAU-12 Equalizer cannon. It can lay down a tremendous amount of firepower and is used in close air support.   We were also there to work law enforcement. Days were set aside to do ABGD or Air Base Ground Defense training on Eglin's Army Ranger training area. I bro...

I was hired at Bridgestone Tire Company at Lavergne Tennessee in the Fall of 1987. My situation at Cumberland- Swan had improved to the point that my boss called me into his office one day and asked me what it would take to keep me there. My salary was 20,000 a year at Swan but I would more than double my salary at Bridgestone. Starting pay there was 45,000 a year before built-in raises over a 6 month period until I topped out. My insurance package and benefits would be far superior to anything I had at Swan. After I told my supervisor this he acknowledged that there was no way they could match what Bridgestone was offering me. He shook my hand and wished me well. I was extremely grateful to him for believing in me and giving me the chance to prove myself.  At Bridgestone I started off in Department 123, Stock Prep. We cut steel belt and innerliner stock for the TBR tire room. TBR stands for Truck, Bus, Radial. In the tire room they built tractor trailer and bus tires. When I start...

 On January 17, 1987, Democrat Ned McWherter was sworn in as governor of Tennessee. MP units were deployed from all over the state to help provide security for the inauguration and ball later that night at the Opryland hotel. Our unit, the 118th Tactical Airlift Wing was tasked with providing security for the entertainers at Opryland and the governor while he was there. My first post that night was in the rear of the hotel along with another security policeman named John Myers. Our job was to keep a spot open for the governor's car. We were told that the governors driver was supposed to drop Ned off at the front door of the hotel and from there he would bring the car around to our location and park the vehicle. Nearby was a line of celebrity buses with such names as Hank William's Jr., Waylon Jenning's, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette, Krystal Gayle, and many others painted on their sides.  While standing post Ralph Emery walked past us with an entourage. This was the third ...

  Sometime in November, or December 1986 Misty was supposed to go to an all night skate party in Smyrna. We let her go thinking that she would stay in the building all night and it was supposed to be chaperoned so we thought that it would be okay. I had a rule that my kids could not car date until they were sixteen. She was fourteen and seeing an older boy named Marshall. He was coming over to our house to see her on a fairly regular basis. The morning after the skating party Debbie told me that she had discovered that Misty had left the skating party with Marshall and had gone over to his house. I never whipped Misty more than a couple of times in her life but I was very angry at her over this. Although she was fourteen I thought that she needed a whipping and I gave her one with my belt. Debbie was normally at home with our kids when they were growing up but during the 1980's after I lost my job at Colonial. It became necessary, however; for her to work in order to help out with ...

    We had a C-130 that had a throttle cable snap while doing "touch and go's" at Ft. Campbell in 1986. The plane crashed while landing and killed the pilot, navigator, and load master. Two crewmen survived. One was the co-pilot who only had minor burns on his face because he was able to run out through the rear of the plane and away from the flames. The other four were engulfed in flames and the one crewman who survived the flames underwent months of treatment at Brook Army Burn Center in San Antonio Texas. I was the chapel song leader and honored when they asked me to lead the singing at the memorial for the three men who had died. The only problem was that they asked me to prepare two songs that I had never heard of in my life and I can't read music. The songs were Our God of Ages Past and My Faith Looks Up To Thee.  Our God of Ages Past was the opening song and for some reason no matter how much I practiced I could not get that song in my head. All four local tele...