Transferring from Ft. Wolters to Ft. Rucker

I quite clearly remember the drive from Ft. Wolters to Ft. Rucker. I remember being really happy to drive the VW that belonged to James Miles because he was so helpful to all of us in A1 and I was happy to return the favor while he was spending a few days with his wife.

I remember the decision, once I made it to Mississippi, to use the Gulf Coast road because I wanted to see what remained of the damages from Hurricane Camile. It's easy to recall the sight of huge fishing boats being in the front yards of people who lived close to the beach as it was such an unusual sight to see in person. Seeing a boat that was bigger than a house sitting in some one's front yard has remained with me to this day. Little did I know at the time that, five years later, I would be sitting inside a metal building when the roof came off during another Gulf Coast Hurricane.

For some reason, as I thought about the trip to Rucker, the memories of all my fellow students continued to come to mind. It wasn't just the guys from my Flight that continued to surface. I thought about several others from different Flights within the 5th WOC that didn't make it and were killed in action in Vietnam. When those thoughts continued to surface and, in my mind, took me off the specific story of leaving Wolters and driving to Rucker, I simply turned off the computer. That was 4 days ago.

Despite the fact that I'm back suffering from the "meltdown" situation again, I'm not crashing 24 hours a day. Those situations come un-announced but they only come in short spurts and sometimes only last a brief period of time. As an example of that, I only crashed 3 times yesterday which left the remainder of the day free of the tears and the body that is more or less unable to function in a normal manner.

During the time frames where I'm not on the floor or unable to function normally, my mind continued to go back to this story and I continued to think about my buddies who were killed in action or died later from Agent Orange contamination and the multitude of side effects that come with that.

As a somewhat strange coincidence that came with those thoughts, I began to think of myself as one of many who associated with some very serious heroes from the war. Having just finished a study on the invasion of Tinian, Guadalcanal and Saipan, I began to see my buddies as a group of guys who were identical to those pilots who fought the air battles in the 1941-45 era.

The more I thought about it, the more my thoughts expanded to the fighter pilots who flew off many different carriers and island airfields that were built during the Second World War. The thoughts continued and contained pilots like Butch O'Hare, Dick Bong, Joe Foss and Pappy Boyington.

For some reason, I began to see the connection, the camaraderie and the same experiences of intensity that comes with combat missions in the aviation community. I concluded that we were more or less connected at the hip with all those who fought the air war.

I can clearly recognize that we were not of the same stature and National recognition of those mentioned above, but without a doubt, we could have easily had the same conversations that they did about the next battle or the fears that came as the tracers were seen passing the cockpit or hitting the aircraft. Those thoughts were recently intensified when my gunner / crew chief sent me an email with several pictures of our helicopter with all the bullet holes in it.

I guess what I'm saying or trying to say has to do with all the men who prepare to fight a war from the air. Whether you are driving to Randolph Field in 1942 and entering the first stages of learning the art of flying or going to another base to transition into specific aircraft types like
a fighter, all of us belong to that unique brotherhood and it's impossible for me to think about the "Air War" without thinking about the entire picture. I find it very difficult to view the first aircraft carrier war and the first helicopter war as a war that is different in any way other than the tools that were used to fight it.

To finish this, let me say that I am quite thankful to have received the number of emails I have about this story. I enjoy writing it as much as some of you are telling me that you enjoy reading it. I hope that my input may have some degree of awakening in all of you as it relates to the airmen who have fought for our Country and fought at the highest levels of bravery. Hand salute to all of you. Tim