Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

  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 ...