Buying my first cars

 The first car I bought myself was a 1974 Datsun 240Z.

It was a fun little car, six cylinders, 4 speed manual transmission, room for two, with a hatchback you could put some boxes or luggage in. Pretty much a perfect car for a single guy about to become a 2Lt in the Air Force.

Most guys were buying Trans Ams and a few Corvettes. Fort Sam Houston offered car loans to cadets, but the most they would give was $6,000. By 1981, that wouldn’t buy much, especially new. I would have liked the Mazda RX-7, but there was no way I could afford that.

One Saturday morning, I took my approved car loan down to C-Springs and went car shopping. I probably went to 4 different dealerships before I stumbled across the 240Z. It was beautiful, and the test drive was fun. All engine, it just zoomed. So, very little negotiating: I had the money, and soon I had the car.

What I quickly found out was, while I loved the car, it was steel built and had probably been driven up in the north east with lots of salt on the roads. It had lots of rust problems. At Nav school, I eventually ended up taking it to an auto body shop, getting it bondo’d to hell and back, and repainted a bright red vs. the original orange. I drove that for about two years, until I was at Castle AFB, going through B-52 Crew Training.

That was when I spotted the awesome 1979 Ford Mustang that would catch Laura’s eye, and change my life forever… jk! (But only about the car.)

Comrades in arms: friends for all time

 I made lots of friends in the Air Force. How could you not? Especially in the flying game, where everytime you go up on a sortie, you put your life in your buddies’ hands. It may be subconscious. but you know it. That bond you build with these guys is strong, especially after being on a hard crew during a deployment. If you don’t particularly like them very much, you typically respect their skills and abilities to get the team home day after day…. mostly. (Some guys truly ARE just self-centered zipper-suited jagoffs).

During Nav school, I still keep in touch with a couple friends, if only through Facebook now and then. Barry Butler was in my Nav class and then my partner through Nav/Bombardier Training (NBT). He went to Fairchild AFB for a couple years, then got out, made a ton of money selling pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, and now has a distillery in Tarpon Springs, FL.

Bob Mills and Pete Wangler were two guys I hung out with a lot. Both Navs, Bob became an expert at opening up and running airfields in combat and disaster areas. He retired to NJ. Pete morphed into a Air Force Doctrine expert, taught at Air University, retired as a Colonel, and then bacame a High School Jr. ROTC Instructor in St. Louis.

At Ellsworth, my first crew really is where I made my friends. Dave Bucknall was my Electronic Warfare Officer. Jeff Bradford was my second Radar Navigator, a couple years older, but close enough in age to be friends. Jim Veazey was my first Radar Navigator, and by far the person  who mentored me the most in the Air Force. He and his  wife, Pam, lived very close to us in Rapid City, and we kept in touch over the years. He ended up going to Edwards I think, then worked on the B-2 before retiring. Unfortunately he died a few years ago. Probably the nicest person I’ve ever met.

Chris Moore, Dave East, Jim Veazey, Me, Dave Bucknall, Lynn White.

Laura made friends with Barb and Chris Kenny, who were Civil Engineers on base. They moved to Cleveland and the Washington DC area, and for a while they were both reservists doing various things. They currently live in Oregon. We need to go visit.

At Griffiss, we became really good friends with Tim & Kathy Vinoski and Jerry and Jeannie Tshondikidis. Both had two kids about the same time as we had Kara, so we had a lot in common. Tim became really good at being an Exec, and ended up at the Pentagon advising on Bomber issues, then switched to Tampa working at Special Ops Command.

Jerry went home to work with the family car dealerships. Unfortunately Jeannie, who worked for GE and was a mover and shaker, passed away several years ago.

On my Griffiss crews, I became good friends with my AC, Dave Shunk, Tim Schuetz, Bill Hecht, Dino Perez and Ralph Davino.

When I moved to Stan/Eval, Dave Re and I became friends as we flew together as a Nav team for almost two years.

Here in Pittsburgh, I made friends with a lot of Navigators and guys I served on hard crews with during deployments.

Mark Prentice.
Navs include Mark Prentice, Joe Poznik, Ron Davis, Bob Shemer, Bill Estright, John Demaye (Who I worked with at US Airways), Pat McKenna, Bill Hertrick, Chinky Kochansky and Ray Toy.

Me, Chris Constantine, Bill Estright, Chinky Kichansky, Aldo Filoni, Ray Toy, Bill Hertrick, Craig Watkins, Wes Cranmer.

From my deployments: Tom Huzzard, Ed Tarquinio, Dan Ruediesulli. From my C-17 Conversion days, I became good friends with Sam Ewing, Chief William Andrews, Dawn Dixon, Dave Vanik, and Kyle Imbrogno.

And just from time in the Squadron, Jaime Carter, Bill Gutermuth and Diane Patton.

More school isn’t for everyone.

 School is not for everyone, and there are a ton of alternate ways to learn, gain more experience, or just plain expand your chosen skill set. I happen to enjoy the academic experience and seem to do okay. I might feel different if I hadn’t gone to the Air Force Academy, complete with a free education and guaranteed job afterwards. The life experience is much different when you are fending for yourself.

For me, getting a Masters Degree seemed the logical move to make as I progressed to an experienced rated officer with options coming up to move forward in the Air Force, or possibly leave the Air Force at some point and try to make my way in the civilian world.

In the Air Force, it was a block checked that no one could deny. The Navigator career field is one that is almost always as a 2nd tier citizen, so to be competitive for good jobs, one needs to do everything possible to deny the promotion board and career managers from pigeon-holing you onto the short track to elimination. Griffiss offered an MBA through Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Albany. Their instructors drove over from Albany to Rome to teach the courses just like in their own classrooms. It was the first time I’d had more than one or two professional educators with Ph.d’s. (The Air Force Academy was generally staffed with officers who were Captains and Majors with Masters degrees). There’s definitely a different vibe.

For the idea of getting out of the Air Force and jumping into the civilian world with a family in tow, getting an MBA seemed a must. I’m sure it helped get the job at Cooper Power Systems when I showed up as a former military officer, and a great education. Could I have gotten a better job with it? Probably, if I didn’t want to keep flying and I didn’t have as much motivation to set down roots and find stability in our lives on a very short timeline.

Has it helped at all over the last 40 years? Absolutely. I think differently than I did before I had those classes. I have used almost all the research and problem solving skills gained through my MBA at some point. Have I needed accounting? or statistics? Some, but just knowing the terms and the concepts have been handy to have in my very meandering career.

As I said at the start, I don’t recommend a Masters for everyone, but I do recommend continuing education no matter what you do. As you get older and more experienced, you get more responsibility, and you will face challenges that are unlike those at lower, more junior levels. Having an expanded background will always serve you well.