THE LIFE
SUPPORT
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Dec 2000 Issue
There
has been a lot happening since the last newsletter and the 5th Life
Support Reunion. Just after the reunion
I was at SAFE in Reno and got to spend some time with Fred Foss. Fred had missed the reunion due to a
previous commitment with the Reno Air Show.
Fred and I talked and visited around the booths with Bill Wood, Skip
Clawson, John Damron, George Braue, Bill Harrison, Al Loving, Cal Crochet, and
many others. I introduced him to Bill
Vincent, John Fair, Ken Rennie, and Randy Loving and Bob Hudson. We looked for
Jake “The Snake” Yacobi but he was off doing what ever he does. Fred worked with most of those above and
several of us, including me. He
perfectly fits the “Life Support Icon” title.
We went over the reunion and those who had attended for the first time
Roger May, Jim Fletcher, Ray Blanchette, Dave Chitwood, Al Loving, Gale
Bradish, Harold Donley, Larry McCarty, and Bob Hudson. We also discussed the
fact that for the last two years the MAJCOM Senior Master Sergeants who
conducted briefings at the reunion were promoted on the next list. Just a coincidence or maybe the commands
send their best!. We also had Command
Chiefs Rich Robichaud, Air Material Command (MAC), Dave Chitwood, Air Combat
Command (TAC) and Bryan “Beetle” Bailey, Pacific Air Command (PACAF) in
attendance. Gary Winchester left some
good Staff Summary Sheets (SSS) for the troops to follow to get to the reunion! Trying to explain how much fun all had was very
easy. Even friends and relatives who
accompanied the life supporter have really enjoyed it. Who could have had a better time than Sandy
Burrrell’s son and Jim Rooney’s brother as well as MacDonald Nance’s
brother? The facilities and program set
up by Bob McElwain, Kemper B. Kinchen, Ed MacKenzie, and Jim Rooney were
outstanding. The hospitality suite
really got into reminisces. When Art
Wade, Leaster Williamson, Bob Burris, Willard Oost, Roger May, Tim Howard, John
Weir, Howard Donley, Ray Blanchette and others starting telling “stories” it
was quite a hoot! I don’t intend to
leave anyone out but these are my memories.
Next year you come and I will promise that you will have your own! When Leaster Williamson started talking
about the last days of the Army Air Forces and the first days of the USAF we
all listened. Art Wade as usual was
taking it all down on photos. What else
can be said about Art Wade that isn’t covered, he is a Life Support Icon and
really personifies “Gentleman”.
I
also have been privileged to attend a “Return to his Unit” get together at La
Margaritas in San Antonio for Chief J. B. Watsbaugh who is leaving the National
Guard Command Chief position. JB will
be returning to his unit in St Joe Missouri.
He has really advanced Life Support in the Guard during his tenure. He will be missed but he is still around to
ease in his replacement, Chief Walt Horseman who is moving up from the
Baltimore Guard.
Walt
was the “jeep” Chief for only a few days in November as I was also privileged
to attend the Pinning On of Rich Robichaud on 1 Dec 00. What a professional ceremony put on by SMS
Steve Skaggs and the AMC Staff. The
Scott Chiefs Group as well as friends and relatives participated. Erin Morrow provided a moving rendition of
the National Anthem and Tim Morrow delivered a very moving and challenging
invocation. Major General Roger Brady,
AMC DO was the presiding officer. Rich
Lahn and Tim Morrow “pinned on” the “Old Chief Stripes” and Rich’s Father,
Ludger Robichaud and friend Ms Stephanie Marks pinned on the current Chiefs
Stripes. In attendance were three of
Rich’s predecessors Dennis Struck, Tim and Dawn Morrow, and Rob Bentley. Also attending were Rich and Ms Vicky Lahn,
Mike Freebury, Ken Rennie, Bret Curran and troops from the Scott Life Support
community. Each of these retirement or
promotion ceremonies I attend is better than the one before. It is evident that a lot of work and
dedication has gone into each and the pride in our people and career field is
evident.
I
was not able to attend Chief Al Cricks' retirement but Al Loving has provided a
recap. Also Bob McElwain has placed
Al’s retirement comments presented at the Phoenix Workshop on the Life Support
Web Site.
A
retirement ceremony honoring CMSgt Alan D. Cricks' 30 years of military service
was held at the Main Base Chapel, Langley AFB VA, on Thursday, 9 Nov
00. BG Ronald F. Sams, HQ ACC/IG,
was the Presiding Officer. SMSgt Steve Wyatt and MSgt Dave Johnson along
with the HQ ACC Inspector General and Aircrew Life Support functional staffs
planned and executed a simply outstanding retirement ceremony and retirement
dinner later that evening. Family and
friends from as far away as Texas attended the ceremony and dinner. Life Supporters in attendance included Chief
Al Loving, Chief Dave Chitwood, Chief Todd Nelson, MSgt Mike Freebury, MSgt
Mike Grignano, and MSgt Kevin O'Neal. We wish Al, Tantawan and their
family all the best in retirement. Hope to see you at the next reunion.
As
you can see a lot is happening in the Aircrew Protection area. A lot of these
are happening close to your homes. The Panama City Group meets frequently and
takes trips to Ft Walton Beach to visit with Leaster Williamson. I know that the retired and active troops in
the Langley and Scott area get together quite often, as do the troops at San
Antonio. There are quite a few retired
in the Austin, Ft Walton Beach, and Ft Worth areas. The only Guard/Reserve Troops who make it to the reunion are
Chuck Warren and Riley Crumley! I know there are more out there! This is also true of Las Vegas, Tucson,
Phoenix, Sacramento, and Omaha. How about thinking about starting “unofficial
chapters” and get together and plan a trip to the next reunion. If all can’t
make it send a contingent like Panama City does. In Chief Oscar E. Norberg’s last words to me, “before it's too late”.
Where
are you Chris Bush, Rex Robnett, Les Ray, Frank DePasquale, Bill Baxter, Spider
Webb, John McGarvey, Al Felton, Al Foy, Doc Halliday, Cecil Pixley, Jack Stotts,
Gene Thornton?
In
closing, I have been working on a “history” of Life Support and have many old
documents and orders including cassette tapes from Oscar Norberg and Don Bock
on the starting of our career field and tech school, but I really need more in
the 1950-53 area. As I figure it the
first 922 Tech School graduated Survival Training and Personal Equipment
Specialists in the '51-'52 area which would mean that this year or next will
the 50th anniversary. I have
asked Marty Stage to see if he can get the early STS and JPG’s from the
repository at Maxwell Field. Any help
will be appreciated.
Cheers, Tommy
Former
Squadron Life Support Officer (LSO) Makes Flag Rank
It
is not often that an ex-fighter squadron Life Support NCOIC gets to report on
one of his former LSOs making O-7. In
this case, I get the privilege of doing that.
While Colonel (Brigadier General select) Marc Rogers, 49th
Fighter Wing Commander isn’t the first LSO to garner this position; it is
a recognition I know he justly deserves.
As
many of the readers of the Life Support Newsletter will probably remember from
their days in the fighter world, your squadron would get a couple shiny new 1st
Lieutenants from the respective aircraft RTUs and the squadron commander would
call them in and tell them he had two jobs available, LSO and SNACKO. After much arm-twisting, coin flipping, card
cutting, and dart throwing, the winner would proudly announce that he would
take the SNACKO job and the “looser” got the LSO job. More often than not, the good ones who gave
a s_ _t about Life Support only lasted a short time in that position. The ones the NCOIC had to tell, “No sir, you
and the commander can’t take the MK-13s, PRC-90s, Gyro-jets, and compass out of
your survival vests to go deer hunting”, seemed to hang on forever.
This
was not the case of the then 1st Lt. Rogers. I was the NCOIC of the 8th
Tactical Fighter Squadron at Holloman AFB, NM from December 1979 to March
1983. In January 1982, a young 1st
Lt. named Rogers walked in the 8th Life Support shop and cheerfully
announced that he was our new LSO.
“This is a switch,” I thought. I
can truthfully say that was one of the best days I ever had in my Life Support
career. Marc truly cared about the
people in our shop and his responsibilities as the LSO. He always played an active part in our Life
Support program, was there for guidance when I required it, went to bat for us
when we needed it, however he always let me manage the “nuts-and-bolts” of our
program. Marc and his wife Debbie
became very close friends with my wife Elizabeth and myself and it a very sad
day when he left us for another position within the squadron.
As
of the writing of this article, Colonel Rogers has not received an official
date for “pinning on” for his first star, but I’m sure it won’t be his last
one. Ed “Fast Chewnig
Personal
Spotlight
(Note: Recently, the editors of the Life Support
Newsletter decided that, space permitting, at each issue, we would pick at
random one of the members of the Life Support Retiree’s Group, and provide a
short highlight of their career in the Air Force and what and where they are
now. The first individual to garner
this distinction is SMSgt (Ret) Bob Weaver.
SMSgt
Bob Weaver is certainly one individual who has seen his share of various types
of aircraft and life support equipment come-and-go with his 45 years of active
duty and civilian time spent in the career field. Many of us remember him when he was on the TAC IG team, singing
doo-wop songs from the 50’s while he was going over your equipment.
Bob
joined the Air Force in July, 1955 in Indianapolis, Indiana and was sent to
Basic Training at Sampson AFB, NY.
Following completion of basic, he was “pipelined” to Holloman AFB, New
Mexico and entered the Life Support career field. Shortly after arriving at Holloman, Bob was sent to technical
school at Chanute AFB, Illinois. Over
the years, with many PCS’s to bases as varied as Spangdalhem AB, Germany;
McGuire AFB, NJ; Kirtland AFB, NM; Bien-Hoa, RVN; Langley AFB, VA; and finally
TAWCs at Eglin AFB, FL. Bob worked on
aircraft such as; F-100s, -101s, -102 & 6s, B-24s and 47s (now we’re
getting back there), and F-104s. A lot
of us came to know Bob with his time spent on the TAC IG team. I can truthfully say that I stood a TAC MEI
inspection when Bob was on the team with CMSgts Robert “Tommy” Tompkins and Ray
Sturble. While it was no picnic, Bob
conducted a fair, objective, thorough, and a “by-the-book” inspection, all the while
singing his hits from the 50s. (On an
aside, I did pretty good in that inspection).
When
his active duty career drew to a close, Bob kept his hand in Life Support,
working as a Civil Service Life Supporter at Eglin AFB, Florida. What a career! Bob now resides in Shalimar, Florida where he devotes a
considerable amount of his time to working for Habitats for Humanity. He is the father of six and a grandfather of
16. Bob, our hats are off to you. Thanks for your dedication and many years of
outstanding service devoted to our country, our Air Force, and the career
field. Ed “Fast” Chewning
CHILI SEZ
As
you can see Ed is back on the payroll!
We look forward to his next input.
You too can send us your ideas and suggestions. If you have something
you’d like to share, send it in. We need all the help we can get!
Web Site
Moved
If
you have not visited our web site since July of this year then you will be
surprised to learn that the site has moved to a new location. Our site can now be found at: http://webpages/charter.net/mcelwain
There
is a link on the site to our new web page, which is dedicated to our active
duty brothers and sisters. An address
list will be set up on that page for any active duty person that wants his
personal address listed there. So far
I've had very few takers.
Life
Support History
MSgt
(Ret) Paul Swindell e-mailed me with some life support history. He stated that in Feb of 1963 he and three
other 922s, SSgt James Stanford, Maurice Ouzts, and Warren Quade were the first
life supporters that he knows of to be sent to Army Airborne School. After completion of the course their AFSC
was changed to "P922X0" and they found themselves performing
parachute duties for the next two years.
With the "P" prefix Paul said he had an assignment as a
jumper, was assigned as an augmentee to two special ops squadrons, was an
instructor and jumper at the TAC Sea Survival School, and assisted Lt Col
Theodore Harris of HQ TAC in jump testing parachutes. Paul said he was able to make over 218 jumps from 9 different
aircraft in 6 different countries. Paul also stated that in August of 1962 a
LSO by the name of Maj. Wayne Williams and six 922s (Maurice Ouzts, James
Stanford, Donald Parker, Warren Quade, Paul, and someone else that he can't
remember), started the TAC Sea Survival School. By 1965 the school had graduated 1,300 crewmembers. Twenty graduates had been forced to either
bail out or ditch their aircraft at sea with all having managed to
survive. Fourteen bailed out at sea In
Viet Nam and credited the training at Langley with saving their lives. Paul closed by saying "Not too many
people knew that 922s started this school."
****
Retired
CMS Mike Yuhas has donated some important historical life support documents.
Life support training posters from the 1960’s were on display and given to me
at this year's reunion. According to
Mike, in the early 1960s troops sent in ideas for the posters to the 8th AF
Life Support Staff. The staff had them converted to posters and distributed
them throughout SAC (and the other MAJCOM Headquarters) as training aids. Below is a picture of one of the posters.
The poster was too large to fit in my scanner so some of it is not shown. The part that's not visible says "Your
Breath". The bottom of the poster
indicates that it is to be displayed 1 - 30 September 1966. I’ll try to include
a picture of one of the other posters in future newsletters.
****
As
we all know a lot of people out there collect life support equipment. I don't know of anyone other than Tommy and
myself who are collecting historic life support documents, or information,
i.e., technical orders, regulations, training manuals, pictures, etc. The donations you all send in are
appreciated and will one day be put on exhibit at some chosen location. I'm open for ideas for a temporary or
permanent site!
And The
Winner Is………
In
the last newsletter I challenged everyone attending this year's reunion to come
prepared to decipher what the meaning is of the acronyms below. The contest was held and a special prize was
awarded to the person with the most correct answers. CMS Beetle Bailey of HQ PACAF was declared the winner! CMS (Ret) Ray Blanchette came in a close
second. Here are the answers as
determined by retired CMSgts Tommy Tompkins and Leaster Williamson, along with
contacts at ACR, H.Koch & Sons, and Gentex Corp.
"AN/URC" as in
radios: Army/Navy Universal Radio
Communicator
"AN/PRC" as in radios:
Army/Navy Personal Radio Communicator
"AN/URT" as in beacons: Army/Navy Universal Rescue Transmitter
"CNU" as in
survival kit: Container Unit
“CSU” as in g-suit: Clothing Special Unit
“CWU” as in exposure
suit/coveralls: Constant Wear Unit
“F-2B” as in 20-man
raft: Flotation-2 Bouncy Unit
“HGU” as in helmet: Helmet Gear Unit
"M" as in survival
rifle/fire starter: Munition
“MBU” as in oxygen
mask: Mask Breathing Unit
"MA" as in sun
goggles/clothing: Unknown
"MB" as in
survival kit: Martin Baker
"MD" as in
survival kit: Manual Deploy
"ML" as in
survival kit: Unknown
"MK" as in
flares/desalter kit/mirror: Mark
"MC" as in
knife: Military Cutlery
"PCU" as in
lowering device/torso harness: Personal
Clothing Unit
"SRU" as in
minimum survival kit/survival vest/sleeping bag/survival tool: Survival Rescue Unit
I asked Beetle how did he
manage to beat out all the retirees? He
said it was easy, "I had four months to research the answers." The
retirees are demanding a recount!
New Chiefs
As
a courtesy we like to list CMS promotions just in case you might know or
remember the selectees from your active duty days. This year two people made it
to chief. They are Chris Holt and Greg
Copeland.
Reunion
2000
Reunion
2K was a blast and we’re doing it again next year from 17 - 20 Sept at the same
location. For more details on this
annual event see our next newsletter.
Thanks
again to the companies and individuals for their donations towards the
hospitality room. You all have come
through each and every year for the active duty and retired life supporters and
we appreciate your generosity. Our heartfelt thanks go out to: Bill Wood,
Gentex Corporation, H. Koch & Sons, Scot Incorporated, Survival
Incorporated, and George Braue & Associates.
Below
are two e-mails that I received (one from a first time attendee) that sums up
what went on at this year’s reunion.
Just a note to tell you how
much Betty and I enjoyed the camaraderie and fellowship of our first
reunion. We were able to meet again
many good friends and acquaintances made as a result of a common good...saving
of aircrew lives through dedicated maintenance of their life support equipment
and exceptional dedication to life support training. A high point of day one was the presentation on MIA location and
recovery efforts. I might add this was
a very heart-moving presentation. The tour to the London Bridge was a special
treat and the banquet was a culinary delight. It was very refreshing to see
Roger May come away with his substantial megabuck win. Yes, some folks do leave Harrah's a
winner. The Casino seemed to make every
effort to ensure our comfort. Betty and
I are very much in favor of returning to Harrah's. I strongly encourage each
one of this year's and prior year reunions to contact just one of their old
life support buddies and encourage them to attend. I made my decision to attend based on having attended two
funerals of fellow Life Support Chiefs.
I think it is better to see our good friends alive and well, rather than
attending their funeral and missing that valuable opportunity. My congratulations to you and KB for all the
fine work. A special thanks to Ed for
the fine golf outing. Keep up the wonderful work. It is hard to think that we could do this without you.
Ray and Betty
Blanchette
****
The 2000 Life Support
Retirees Reunion Golf Tournament is now history. By any measurement; participation, sponsorship, fun and
fellowship; this was our best outing.
Once again, Ed MacKenzie did a great job in setting up the event at the
Emerald River Golf Course. Thanks
again, Ed. Our sponsors this year were
most generous and we'd like to acknowledge the following:
Gentex Corporation, Skip
Clawson
Gentex West, Brenda von
Kleist
Safety Equipment
International, Gary King
H. Koch & Sons, George
Braue
Survival Inc., Joe Lynch
Scott Inc., Rob Darter
East-West, Al Loving
Bill Wood
Tommy Tompkins
Brian Lauffer
HQ PACAF Life Support, CMS
Brian Bailey
HQ AMC Life Support, CMS
Rich Robichaud
This year eight teams
participated in "The Scramble" and each participant received prizes
based on the order of team finish. The
top two teams tied with a score of "69". The tie was broken using the "Winchester Tiebreaker",
i.e., going backwards from hole 18. The
order of finish was as follows:
Team 8: Larry Garcia, Dave
Nelson, Fred Cernetisch and Roger "Big Bucks" May
Team 7: Jim Fletcher, Gary
Winchester, Tommy Tompkins and Ray "AFLAC" Blanchette
Team 6: Larry McCarty, Don
Uddman, Bill Lynn and Chris "Sunshine" Holt
Team 5: Jim Rooney, Tom
Rooney, Shirley Farkas and Ed "The Shot" MacKenzie
Team 4: Larry Erdman, Faye
Erdman and Brian "Hit the Ball and Drag Beetle" Bailey
Team 3: Rob Hudson, Jerry
Clark, Dale Braddish and Rob "The Rookie" Darter
Team 2: Rich Robichaud,
Jimmy Shaw, Al Loving and Joe "Homey" Lynch
Team 1: Roy Arterbury, Don
Muir, Gary King and Dave "I'll bring them next year" Chitwood
In recognition of their
sportsmanship and ability to survive the day, our two lady golfers, Faye Erdman
and Shirley Farkas, were presented special gifts donated by PACAF Life
Support. Prizes were also presented to
the following individuals:
Men's Longest Drive: Jimmy
Shaw
Women's Longest Drive:
Shirley Farkas
Closest to the Pin on #3:
Roy Arterbury
Closest to the Pin on #13:
Dave Nelson
The Life Support Retirees
Perpetual Golf Award was presented to Jimmy Shaw. The recipient of this award is required to carry the
"Trophy" for one year and then return it to the Reunion the following
year for presentation to another "worthy" retiree.
If you are reading this
article and have not attended a reunion, you are missing out on a lot of
smiling and fond memories. Come next
year and see what I mean.
Jim Rooney
Jessie L.
Johnson
It
saddens me to inform those of you who knew Jessie that he passed away on 29 Oct
2000 of colon cancer. If you had the
opportunity to visit the Edwards AFB Life Support shop within the past few
years then you probably met or saw Jessie.
He was the little African American guy with the big friendly smile. As
one of the troops in his shop said, "I'll never forget that
smile." Jessie was a 20-year
parachute rigger until his retirement from Mather AFB on 31 Jan 1981. After retirement Jessie continued his work
for the USAF as a housing inspector, a survival equipment specialist and then
later entering into the life support career field. Jessie began working at Edwards AFB in Mar 1993. Since his arrival at Edwards he has been a
mainstay in the life support shop. In
1997 he was the HQ AFMC Life Support Civilian of the Year. He will be
remembered as a mentor to many and a friend to all who have worked with
him.
So
ends another reunion, another newsletter, and another year. Hopefully we can all repeat these words this
time next year. Stay healthy, enjoy the
holidays and we’ll see you in 2001!
Chili