The tooth of the matter

 As a young Captain in B-52s, I returned from a month of Instructor upgrade with an aching tooth. I had alert changeover on Wednesday, so Monday morning I showed up at the dental clinic bright and early.  

A quick X-Ray later, the Colonel dentist announced I need a root canal, and he was ready to do it immediately. Two or three shots and a mouth dam later, he was hard at it… and at it… and at it. Three hours later, he calls it a day and tells me to come back again the next day. 

He asked if I was on PRP (Personal Reliability Program), and through my dam, I drool “Yeth.”

I also menthoned (sic) I had to go on alert in a day and a half. The Colonel laughed and said, “That’s not happening.”

He asked what squadron I was in, and had the admin assistant call over to tell them I wasn’t going to be available for alert duty till Thursday at noon. 

As he’s taking all the accoutrements off me, the phone rings and the Admin says there’s a Lt Col Sutherland on the line. Now I’m curious.

I lay there in the seat lithening while the Colonel explains I’m pretty high on Novocain, and I have to come back to finish up the next day, including more Novocain, and will be prohibited from flying duty for 48 hours. 

There’s a few seconds of silence, while he listens, then he covers the mic, puts the phone down and asks, “Who is this bozo?”

“Sir, thaths my Squadron Commander.”

He rolls his eyes, pulls up the phone, and “replies back, “No, he did NOT get a root canal on purpose just to get out of alert. Have you ever HAD a root canal? NOBODY gets a root canal on purpose, especially not a TWO-day root canal.” 

I came back the next day, finished the root canal, got fitted for the crown and my temporary filling, and showed up for alert, bright and achy, Thursday at noon. The Russians still at bay, the nation safe for Democracy. 

You see all kinds of leaders and bosses in your life, and each is memorable in his/her own way. Pay attention. 😉

Timing is everything

Back in ‘94 I rep’d the Wing at a worldwide airlift /airdrop competition. Everything was graded, including the moment the wheels touched on the scheduled arrival time at McChord, the Tacoma, WA air base hosting the competition. 

I had planned the arrival to the second, including which flap setting gave us the best chance of making adjustments. 

Beautiful day, so we planned it for a 50% flaps landing, and briefed it that way. 

We had our Wing Commander on board, because he wanted to smooze the old buddies he had flown with when he flew -141’s out of there, “back in the day.”

So we cruise in, the crew working like a well oiled machine, map reading and running the descent and before landing checklists. 

As we get on short final, we have the timing absolutely shacked. Suddenly, the pilot calls for 100% flaps, completely out of habit. I was like, “What..? No!” And the Co-pilot, hesitating says, “You want 50%, right?” 

The Wing Commander, standing next to me immediately chimes in, “The pilot said 100%, so give him 100%!” 

The Co- shrugs and puts the flaps to 100%. 

The plane pretty much comes to a hover. I mean it just slows to a crawl. 

I threw my clip board into the bunk behind me, sat down and buckled in, biting my tongue and counting down our landing, “…5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, +1, +2, +3…” 

We touched down 11 second late. 

As we parked and unloaded, I watched other competitors come in, comparing their touchdown smoke to the clock… hoping 11 sec would be a typical landing. Nope. Time after time these guys were spot on, landing +/- 2-3 seconds. 😡

The Wing Commander kept to himself for awhile.

——

For the competition, each meter from the target for the airdrops was 1 point, and every second +/- on each airdrop and landing was a point deduction. 

In the end, after 3 separate airdrops and 4 landings, we placed 2nd for best C-130 in the world by 2 points. 

Still, Chris Joniec was the best Wing Commander I had, in a long career of every type Commander possible.

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Notes to my 20-year old self

 A question pops up every now and then: “If you had the chance to go back and meet your 20-year old self, what advice would you give him?”  I think this is an interesting question.

In 1980 I was a Junior in college. I was 100% focused on graduating, becoming an Air Force Navigator, flying for as long as possible, seeing the world, and convinced I would not see the year 2000.

Looking back from 42 years later, I think it all worked out pretty well. It did not work out EXACTLY the way I hoped at age 20, but I think it was even better than I could have dreamed.

I did graduate. My eyesight stayed okay enough that I got the Navigator slot and went to Navigator Training at Mather AFB, outside Sacramento, California. I graduated from that and, while I didn’t get the F-4 or F-111 I wanted, I got a great crew airplane, the B-52. That plane led me to Ellsworth AFB, SD where I met Laura. Beat that!

I wanted to see the world, and while the B-52 didn’t offer much of that, I did get to Spain.  But later on…. I ended up on the C-130 and I’ve seen a good portion of five continents.

On the personal side, I basically knew from way back I wanted to find the one right woman who wanted me, get the house, settle down and build a family. That too, worked out better than I imagined.

So what would I go back and tell that kid, still two years from college graduation,  punching way above his weight? “Trust your gut, you’re gonna do great!”

Follow your dreams - go forth with purpose, but live like Gumby. Be flexible! Life is hard and adulting is harder. You don’t get everything you want, but sometimes (most of the time) you get exactly what you need. When you come to a fork in the road, take it; not every path will be straight. Whatever you do (and this is crucial), push yourself to keep moving forward. The worst thing you can do is sit and spin.

Most importantly, enjoy the ride!