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.

The best friends a guy could have

 I went to two different High Schools in two different states, so naturally I had two sets of best friends.

I started 9th grade at Rancho High School, in North Las Vegas. Back then there were like 4 groups of people who attended Rancho: Base kids; Hispanics & blacks from North Las Vegas; and Mormons, whose parents seemed to work all the support businesses for the tourism/casino businesses that Las Vegas depends on.

My friends at Rancho primarily came from the base, and were split among kids with officer and enlisted Dads.

Greg Madonna lived two doors over on Hogenmiller Circle, on the other side of Michelle Aiken. Dave Curtiss and Mike McKinney lived down at the other end of Manch Manor - both dads were enlisted. Dave, Greg and I knew each other since the end of 8th grade when we all arrived at Jim Bridger Jr. High about the same time.

Greg was probably the most out-going; very adventurous, and always up to do something somewhere, and at any time. Definitely into the latest fashions, haircuts, glasses, etc. First guy I ever saw wear high wasted bell-bottoms with zippers on each side of the front. His Dad bought him this yellow MG, and we had a blast running around in it.

Dave is the guy I consider my best friend growing up. We had an easy going relationship, and just clicked. He was this quiet Oklahoma boy, and very good looking, so all the girls just gravitated to him. It was very easy being his wingman and just enjoy the groups of people we gravitated in and around. He had a white VW bug, played some sports early on, and then lost interest. Probably the best athlete of all of us.

Mike McKinney was a little tow-headed fireplug of a guy. He wasn’t small, but had a small-man’s chip on his shoulder. Lots of ideas on how things should go, and pretty much was the lead guy whenever we did things all together. Very driven. Ended up a Colonel flying F-16s. We’re facebook friends, but I couldn’t tell you what he does now except work out doing crossfit.

We all started out in 9th grade playing sports for either the base or school. Football, soccer, basketball, baseball. I was doing Boy Scouts and band for a time…We all skied, went camping up in the canyon once or twice, but then as social activities became more important, the organized sports kind of faded for most of them. I couldn’t hang with the football guys as a super skinny 130 lbs, so I switched to the base youth teams. Dave played school soccer for a season, I think.

Mostly, we hung out after school and all summer long, stalking girls in the various housing areas around base. No one had any really serious gf’s until probably 11th grade, though we tried hard!

When I moved to Luke AFB outside Phoenix, we got a house in a nearby planned community called Litchfield Park. It was one of those planned communities started in the ‘50s to support Goodyear Tire employees after the War.  We moved in the spring of my Junior year, so the rest of the year was spent pretty much getting to know the lay of the land, how the groups in HS worked, who was in what clique, etc. I gravitated towards the guys in my advanced classes, and the guys on the baseball team as I was able to join the JV team when I arrived. I wasn’t much good, but it was a great way to meet people.

Over the summer I met Don Snyder  who was my main friend for the rest of my time in HS. His dad was an F-104 pilot, I think. They were still teaching the Germans to fly them for air defense, and Luke was a training base. Don was tall, dark-haired, quiet, but intense. We clicked immediately. both being AF kids who had moved around a lot and arrived about the same time. I was actually interested in pro-basketball back then, and we had this fun fascination with the Philadelphia Sixers, and Dr. J, Julius Erving. We ‘d play basketball in Don’s  driveway a lot.

Don’s buddy was Mike Blake, who’s dad was eventually an F-16 Wing Commander at Hill. Great guy, and another 1959 Academy graduate. Mike was a different guy: kind of socially awkward, but incredibly smart, very dry humor, very sarcastic, a walking library of music and pop culture.

In the spring of my Senior year, the three of us went to a party out by the canals; there was beer and lots of people just sitting around talking in groups, sitting on the hoods of cars, the area lit by headlights. I think Don was seeing a girl named Mary Lukasik by then. She was there with some girlfriends, Polly and Susan, and we started talking to them. Spent the whole evening just chatting. Over the course of the next couple weeks, Mike started going out with Polly, and I started going out with Susan, and that became our main social group for the rest of the year.

This is Thanksgiving break of my Freshman year at the Academy. Mike, Don, Polly, me, Susan, Dad, Susan and Sandy

It was a fun couple of months, and those ties we made in just the three months between April and June, last still.

Postscript:
- Dave Curtiss went to school at the University of Reno, became a water chemistry person, and last I heard lives in Knoxville, TN.
- Greg Madonna got his pilot license, but died in a small plane accident in the 90s. Ironically, his dad died in a small plane crash also, just a couple years later.

- Don Snyder got into the AF, probably through NAU’s ROTC program, and became a helicopter pilot. I lost track of him after he left the DC area.
- Mike Blake ended up highly successful in marketing, working for sports teams like the Coyote and Avlanche NHL hockey teams, some Denver botanical garden, and now for a college financial aid company.
- Mary Lukasik became a dentist and married one.
- Polly Pucell became an elementary school teacher, married and has a couple of red-headed kids who look just like her.
- Susan and I lasted about three years long distance, broke up, and when I  graduated, I told my college roommate he should look her up at ASU because he was going to pilot training at Williams AFB, just east of Phoenix. They got married about a year later, and at some point he got out and became a HS math teacher, back in the Litchfield Park area.

My favorite kid’s book

 Growing up I loved books and stories. We did the library summer reading programs at the local libraries wherever we lived: Washington, California, Libya, Italy, etc. It was like shopping for free candy!

When I was really young, we had the hard cardboard books that kids get, which seem to last forever… or get totally destroyed… by dropping  them in puddles, teething on them, spilling drinks or whatever. The Little Engine That Could. The Disney tales, Black Beauty, Gullivers Travels, Grimms Fairy Tales. We had bigger books too… some I ventured into and lost interest pretty easily. Not enough action; characters who didn’t spark interest; boring stories. But others that grabbed you and drug you through it till the very end. The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Beverly Cleary stories, Johnny Tremaine.

Once we started school it was the Scholastic Book program. They gave you this four or six page order sheet that had all  these new books that you could order and then take home and keep! Not just use, but read over and over again. I don’t know that I ever found many books I had to repeatedly read, but the idea that they were mine and I could, was pretty awesome!

I think that’s where I ran across my favorite book, though I’m really not sure: Ian Fleming’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Not the movie version, but the original English version: Two kids have an eccentric inventor father who puts together this strange car, which slowly comes to life when needed. They get involved with smugglers and hoodlums, then get into dangerous situations, and the car, or their dad always finds an interesting way to get them out of it. In the end, they solve a mystery, stop a robbery, and the bad guys go to jail. Everything a 10-year old thinks is really cool.

Pretty sure I was reading Hardy Boys about that time, but  those were teenagers who could ride in cars and motor cycles. The Pott family had  kids my age. They didn’t treat adults like they could be replaced. To me it was very plausible, though I was pretty certain it was weird for a car to fly or sprout floats and cruise across the English Channel like a hover craft.

When the movie came out a year or so later, I enjoyed it, but it felt like a ripoff of Mary Poppins. Interesting story, but not as gritty or edgy as the book, and therefore not as real. It was probably the first time I understood the term “not as good as the book.”

Everyday Heroes!

An old Squadron Commander sent the following e-mail with notes from his wife's recent work with Red Cross flood relief in Tennessee. Reading through it, I am struck by how much it sounds like a military deployment, which isn't surprising when you think about it. People helping people - getting organized is the first step.

It is amazing to me all the people out there willing to take leave from their daily lives to help out when needed. Joan Bowden is just one of many American heroes that take up the gauntlet everyday in this great nation:

Here are Joan's notes from her Red Cross deployment to Tennessee. It's appropriate I send it tonight since this afternoon she got a call from Red Cross to open a shelter about 30 miles west in Fremont to take care of locals forced out of their homes by flooding. She's there now. She'll probably be there for about two days. Joe

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nashville update:

I left for Nashville on Sunday, May 9. I had about 36 hour notice. That is typical of a national disaster – if you are contacted and able to go you must be ready to leave within a 24-36 hour time period. Otherwise, someone else may take your slot.

When I arrived in Nashville, it was a week after the terrible flood. The flooding was caused by a slow moving storm that dumped around 17 inches of rain in a short period of time. That caused the river to overflow as well as the many streams in the area. It was considered a 1000 year flood. No one was prepared as initially there was just supposed to be about 2-3 inches of rain at the most.

I was fortunate enough to be traveling with another person from our chapter, an 81 year old man, a retired college professor who was very spry and sharp. He had been on a few nationals before, so he was very helpful to me. Upon arrival, we picked up a rental car (provided by the Red Cross) and went directly to headquarters, which was a vacated Dr’s office building loaned to the RC for this time. It was amazing – I felt like I was showing up for first day of enlistment in the service. I had to go to one place to sign in, another place to get my lodging, another to get a staff card (a credit card preloaded with $ for expenses). I then went to another floor to sign in with Client Casework (my job for this operation) and give them my info, fill out a couple of forms). Then, I went to the hotel to settle in. The next day was one of orientation and training.

The next day, Tuesday, was my first day in the field.

RE the motel: Each person is assigned to a hotel, some were nice ones like the Hyatt, some not so nice, such as the Days Inn, where I was. The Red Cross works with various hotels looking for the best rates. You must share a room with another RC volunteer. The RC cross keeps track of each room at each hotel and as someone leaves the operation, another person is assigned to the room. I was fortunate to have two very nice roommates. I was at 2 different hotels. It is suggested that you don’t unpack too much in case you are moved to another location, which I was. The key is to be FLEXIBLE.

Here’s a sample of my daily schedule: I woke up at 6 (showered either in the AM or at night), as I was sharing the room. Left the room by 6:45 am to carpool to the headquarters. Breakfast was served from 7:15 to 8 AM. My first meeting was held at 8 AM – for the entire staff. Between 8:15 and 8:30 AM was another meeting, for caseworkers (that’s the activity that I was assigned to). After that, I picked up all my necessary paperwork that I would need when meeting with clients. My “team” would then meet up and we’d head out to our neighborhood. At the 8:30 meeting, my supervisor was given “street sheets” which told which neighborhood we’d go to. We’d then go to that neighborhood and start knocking on doors and meeting with people. Unfortunately, many people were not home as their house was unlivable. We would then leave a note with a phone # on it for them to contact the Red Cross. When they did, we would go back and visit with them. Those that were in their neighborhood we would talk with and assist them with money for food, replacing bedding, and some clothes and shoes, and referrals to other agencies depending on their needs. RC helps with IMMEDIATE needs, not long term. FEMA helps with that. My day ended with a meeting at 6:30 pm each night. Then we were released. I’d then meet up with my carpool and then go get a bite to eat and then back to the hotel. So, many times I was eating around 8 or so at night. When I returned to my room, I’d visit with my roommate, sharing info on our day, then lights out, generally around 10:30 or 11 pm.

Carpooling: RC people would congregate in the hotel parking lot and get rides from one another.

Eventually, you rode with the same people to/from most of the time. If you missed your ride, you just hopped in with someone else going to the same place.

My team consisted of a supervisor, 3 caseworkers, a mental health person and a nurse. The nurse and mental health people had to rotate between teams, so we didn’t have them every day.

A few statistics:

• Approx 2000 people lost their homes state-wide.
• 37 shelters were opened statewide
• 2400 cases were opened (meaning that many families were assisted by the Red Cross)
• 63 ERVs were assisting in the area. An ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) is like an ambulance that has been revamped. Ervs drove around specific areas giving out hot meals (prepared by the Southern Baptist kitchens), snacks, water, and some cleaning supplies. The ERVs were brought in from RC chapters around the US.
• Total RC staff statewide: 3084 (approx)
• Meals served in the shelters: 148,915
• Clean up kits distributed: 20,377 I’m not sure what they contain.
• Comfort kits distributed: 10,845 A comfort kit is basically toiletries.
• Bulk items distributed: 329,021 (this could include buckets, brooms, gloves, masks, tarps, etc)

It was a great experience. I learned a lot, met some wonderful, dedicated people. When I met with clients they were so appreciative. Got a few hugs, saw a few tears. It was somewhat easier since it was more than a week since the flooding, so the initial shock was over. Now, they faced recovery. We always wore our vests, so people would stop us occasionally in parking lots, in restaurants, etc. thanking the Red Cross for coming and helping. Many were amazed that RC volunteers came from all over the country to help. On my day off (after almost 10 days in the field), I went to a plantation with my 81-year old “boyfriend”. When they found out we were with the Red Cross, we were given free admission. Some of the restaurants gave us discounts also.

This is probably a lot more information that you would be interested in, but it has helped me to remember some of what went on. And, I am sure, I have left out a lot of info.

Extreme Dinner Make-Over

I won a contest.

A couple weeks before I left for Southwest Asia, I was walking out of Chick-Fil-A in Cranberry, and my wife pointed to an ad Tee-Pee by the door. It was announcing a contest to have a dinner hosted in your neighborhood for you and 99 of your friends. My wife suggested off-hand that I should enter since I like to write. You had to write a quick essay; 100 words or less on why you would want to have a neighborhood dinner party. For me, this was too easy.

I quickly jotted down that I've been deployed several times and was going again this summer, and would really enjoy hosting a party for all my neighbors and friends thanking them for all their support for both me and my family over the the years.

Sure enough, about two weeks later I received a phone call from a girl named Rose who worked in the marketing department of the local Chick-Fil-A telling me I was selected as a winner! All I had to do was name the place and the date, some week night during the summer from 6:30 to 8:30. Chick-Fil-A would handle everything else.


After some discussions with Laura, we decided to hold it after I got back, as a kind of celebration. We had to give them a date, so I looked at when I was SUPPOSED to be back and added ten days.. just to be sure... (good thing, eh?)

So on Monday, the 25th, we held the party at the local park in one of the pavillions. Chick-Fil-A showed up at 5:30 and set up a tent next to the pavillion, laid out the food, and set up music and speakers. They even had a slate of games for people to play, but I think we kind of disappointed them when we came up with 80 names and only six of them were under the age of 10. I think they were used to much younger crowds.

Laura actually sent out invitations to something like 140 people. We garnered about 80 positive replies, and about 75 people showed, so it was a nice crowd. One of my neighbors, Jim Shantz, had won the services of a classical guitarist for two hours and wondered if he might bring him to the party since he didn't know when else he'd use him. I said bring him on over, what the heck! So we were serenaded by classical guitar as we ate our sandwiches and fries!

I invited my son's Boy Scout troop, since they typically meet on Monday nights, and the Chaplain's Aid led us in an opening prayer before we lined up for the food and drink. There was plenty to eat: I think pretty much everyone had seconds, and some of the boys even went back for thirds! Dinner even included some killer brownies.. so it was quite a feast.

As it turned out we all had so much fun sitting and talking that we never did get around to the fun and games.. and actually that was okay. I felt bad about the Chick-Fil-A folks getting all geared up for it, but they had assessed the mood and activities of the crowd and decided to just let us sit, eat and talk to our hearts content. It was just a gorgeous evening and so much fun seeing all our friends and family enjoying themselves.

The beauty of it was, when it was all over, our caterers packed up, cleaned up and departed, leaving nothing for us to do except say our goodbyes. It was a great evening, and my hat is off to Ron Trout and the Cranberry Township Chick-Fil-A for making it all happen so smoothly.