The United States Air Force 69th Birthday -- September 18, 2016

A reader reminded me this was the 69th birthday for the United States Air Force. I had forgotten. I was wondering what was subconsciously encouraging me to bake chocolate chip cookies this fine Sunday morning, but there you have it.

Three photos of photographs that I have in our small hovel.

These are the three patches worn on my flight uniform when assigned to the 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Stingers, back in 1984 - 1986. They are on my silk flying scarf. The "bumblebee" patch was designed by Walt Disney during WWII (at least that's what I was told when assigned to the squadron).

The three patches: the top one is the USAFE (USAF in Europe) patch; the middle patch is the wing patch, the 36th Fighter Wing, Bitburg Air Base, Germany; and, the bottom patch is the squadron patch. The patches also came in "subdued" (camouflaged) colors. The only patch missing is my name patch.

While assigned to the 22nd TFS in Bitburg, I participated in various overseas training deployments. This is a montage of photos taken in 1985 when the squadron was deployed to a bare-base air strip in Morocco. Two medical technicians and one flight surgeon manned the medical tent. Prime BEEF (wiki, GlobalSecurity) provided outstanding support but what I remember most was the incredible food.

Prime BEEF provided outstanding meals every day, but most memorable was the second to last day of the deployment.

The deployment forces are rotated out over the course of three days. The fighters depart first. On the second day, most of the rest of the force -- mostly maintenance personnel -- fly out on C-130s. Finally, at the end of the second day or the third day, the medics and the security forces are the last to leave, along with Prime BEEF.

The Prime BEEF kitchen personnel kept inquiring how far out the fighters were on the day they departed. Once the fighters had passed the half-way mark home, I assume somewhere over the Mediterranean, the kitchen personnel brought out steak and lobster. They had to make sure the fighters had passed the half-way mark home: if any of the F-15s had a problem, they would head home rather than turn back to Sidi Slimane.

I recall very vividly our departure from Morocco in 1985. I remarked to the pilot on the C-130 we were flying out on that while loading, he had not turned off the engines. Usually they turn off all props or at least the two on the side of the plane on which we were boarding. He said that one of the engines would not re-start if he turned it off. In addition, a fourth engine was leaking "oil". He did not want to take the chance of turning off the engines and not having at least three for take-off.

The third photo is a going-away gift from the folks at the surgeon's office of Air Combat Command, back in 2000, or thereabouts. One of the new missions at Langley Air Force Base, VA, at this time was flying drones over Afghanistan. It was amazing to see what 19-year-old men and women could do over Afghanistan half-way around the world from "trailers" across the street from our hospital.

The biggest regret I have to this day is the fact that I did not generate a 3" x 5" index card on each individual in the Air Force that crossed my path that had at least more than a casual acquaintance. The index cards would have exceeded 2,000 in number, I am quite convinced. Thirty years in the service, and I assume 100 new individuals each year, some years 250 or more x 30 = maybe as many as 6,000 index cards. And that's probably a conservative number.