Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

  I knew from the start that we wouldn't be Flight Chiefs very long. because we were only filling in until the new SSgt's arrived. About one month after we arrived at Erhac the two new E-5's arrived and I was bumped down to assistant Flight Chief. I became assistant to a Flight Chief who happened to be black. He wasn't very talkative and I just reasoned that this was just his normal disposition. He was one of the two E-5's that were already there when we arrived. I tried to establish a rapport with him but he would not talk to me unless it had to do with work and it was short and to the point. Ours was a very chilly relationship from the start. He would post me in the alert area every night and I was never posted at the storage area, which was a better post. Then I began to notice that my name was last on the duty roster and as assistant I should have been listed second behind the flight chiefs name. Everyone else was listed by their rank but my name was just Segrov...

We got off of a midnight shift on a Saturday morning and boarded one of our C-130's bound for Upper Heyford Royal Air Force Base in Oxfordshire England. After landing we changed out of our uniforms and hailed some taxis that took us on a scary ride down winding back country roads. Doing this on the left side of the road instead of the right as Americans are used to was very frightening. Our destination was a railroad station where we boarded a train that took us through the beautiful English countryside. After arriving in London we walked all over trying to find the tourist sites such as Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and Big Ben. We rode on the tube, or underground which is the London subway. Much of the subway was the same subway used as bomb shelters during the London Blitz. After a steep climb we ended up at Picadilly Circus. This was a whirlwind trip in which we were trying to pack a lot into a couple of days. We wasted a lot of time looking for these pl...

  In the late Spring of 1985 our whole Air Guard unit took part in a NATO exercise called Volant Partner. All of our C-130's were loaded down with personnel and equipment for the long flight to a search and rescue base on the coast of Belgium called Koksijde. This was a Belgian Air Force base that had been built by the German Luftwaffe in WW2. The base reminded me of a WW2 movie set with German bunkers and perimeter fencing from that era. It was also where Belgian Air Force cadets took their basic training. The base was in a very historic area. The town of Ypres was nearby, where several great WW1 battles were fought and Koksijde was only about five miles from Dunkirk. The medieval town of Bruges was nearby and Bruges was not only beautiful, it is the lace capital of the world.   I was excited about going to such a historic area of Europe but I was beset by a strange premonition before I left. Flying is always something that makes me nervous but in this case I was more af...

 I can't remember exactly when this happened but I believe it was during the summer of 1984 after we came back from Little Rock that TSgt Sam Adams shot himself in the stomach and was found dead sitting in his bath tub. Sam had always struck me as being a very nice guy but shy and reserved. Guys in the unit would pick on him in a good natured way but he never seemed to be bothered by it. I was told that he and his wife were having some problems but his suicide came as a total shock to me. Sam was given a full military funeral and I was honored to be a part of his firing squad.   In the late summer, or early Fall, of 1984 we began to see a change in my brother-in-law Hulon and he appeared to be having anxiety attacks. Hulon was losing weight and looking pretty bad. On Thanksgiving Day of 1984 we spent the day with Debbie's daddy and stopped by Judy's before going home. I was shocked when I saw how he looked while sitting in a rocking chair in his living room. The look on h...

 After packing our ruck sacks which were very heavy we were tactical from the time we left our base camp. Every time we stopped for anything I would find a tree to lean against in order to help support the weight of my pack. Upon arrival we immediately began digging our defensive perimeter. I was foxhole buddies with a good friend, J. W. Smith, who was a Marine combat veteran in Vietnam. We did nothing but dig all day and as dusk arrived I was already worn out. We were tasked to man the perimeter that night, while other units did patrol and ambush duty. Besides our TANG unit there were elements of other guard units there. Memphis was there, along with Ohio and a couple of other states. I had my field jacket on but the night was so cold I was freezing and I was so tired from digging that I had trouble staying awake. Every time I nodded off J.W. would bounce a rock off of my helmet. The training cadre acted as the aggressors. It was pitch black and so quiet that all you could hear wa...

I call this chapter Prime Time because I loved the 1980's, at least for the most part. The early 1980's were crappy but I was in the best physical shape of my life and my economic picture was gradually improving. I was enjoying my service in the Air National Guard because those guys made me laugh more than I have ever laughed in my life and it was an honor to serve with a great bunch of guys. I loved the music of the 80's and my children were all young, beautiful, and still living at home. Plus, I had a beautiful wife that loved me. I was on top of the world. To top it off we had a great president in the White House and I never felt prouder of my country. It seemed like the economic stagnation of the 1970's and Vietnam syndrome was over. The cultural Communists in the Democrat party were continuing to make strides but I was hoping that the Reagan Revolution would override their gains in the long run. With the benefit of hindsight I was wrong and now we are in a fight fo...