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...