Shotgun15e's Blog

My 2nd Distinguished Flying Cross

shotgun15e — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:28:07 +0000

Lt Col Daren Sorenson was the flight lead of a flight of two F-15Es, callsign Dude 05, providing Close Air Support (CAS) in support of Coalition Forces, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan on 25 May 2011. On that day, Dude 05 flight had just completed kinetic support of a Troops in Contact (TIC) situation in the Konor province when they were retasked to support a second TIC 60nm west in the Nuristan province. Approximately 50 dismounted friendly forces were on patrol in the remote mountain district center of Do Ab when they were ambushed from all directions from enemy fighting positions on extremely steep valley walls rising over 6,000 feet above them. Enroute to the new tasking, due to his formation’s already low fuel state, Lt Col Sorenson coordinated an ad-hoc refueling plan directly above the ongoing fight to eliminate any breaks in support to the troops below. Within minutes of taking over the stack from the outgoing fighters, it was clear to Lt Col Sorenson the dire situation on the ground and the likely prolonged battle that was about to ensue. He immediately took control of one of the jet’s radios, coordinated with Army Apache helicopters, manned and unmanned ISR platforms, contacted the ASOC and his squadron operations desk where he gave them a situation update and led turn requests for additional CAS assets to include the likely need to launch ground alert CAS fighters. He then directed his wingman to begin “Yo-Yo” refueling operations with the tanker orbiting overhead, minimizing the time to refuel by 50% and allowing both jets to be back on station with over two hours of playtime. Within minutes of returning from the tanker, friendly forces began taking effective fire again from all directions far above them up from both sides of the steep valley walls. The JTACs were initially unable to determine the exact location of the enemy, so Lt Col Sorenson immediately recommended conducting a Show of Force (SOF) to cause the enemy to break contact. Knowing he was about to put his aircraft at risk of small arms and RPG fire, he directed his WSO to conduct visual scans of the ridgelines as they descended into the deep canyon. He expertly navigated the narrow, deep canyon at an incredibly low altitude of just 500 feet AGL. The SOF caused the enemy to break contact for approximately 20 minutes, during which time the JTAC seized the opportunity to eliminate a cave complex the enemy had fled to for shelter and was also a suspected weapons cache. Lt Col Sorenson expertly analyzed the cave, which was against the base of a steep canyon wall and could only be targeted from a narrow attack azimuth, plus or minus 10 degrees, or else the attack would be non-effective. The steep walls obscured the target from any look down angle less than sixty degrees. He determined the optimum weapons combination required to neutralize the cave complex as well as enemy personnel in the open just outside the cave. With only a single 2,000 pound GBU-31 weapon remaining, Lt Col Sorenson developed a non-standard attack putting his young wingman out in front to deliver the first weapon against the cave while he delivered two air burst GBU-38s against the personnel in the open outside the cave. Within just two minutes of receiving the 9-line, Lt Col Sorenson flawlessly orchestrated the formation attack and all weapons impacted exactly as designed, with multiple enemy KIA and the cave burning from within. Enemy fire then erupted again from all directions and Lt Col Sorenson recommended another SOF. Within 20 seconds of receiving approval, he conducted two more SOFs. The JTAC attested, “I personally observed Dude 05 do multiple SoFs that directly exposed them to the same intense fire we were receiving. Dude 05 literally weaved his aircraft directly over the heads of the insurgents allowing me time to prepare another 9-line as well as giving the Army guys a chance to reposition and take precise aim at our attackers.” As the last SOF was being completed, Dude 05 could hear the sense of urgency in the JTACs voice and the sound of automatic weapons fire over the radio. Lt Col Sorenson selected full afterburner to expedite his climb back to altitude while simultaneously communicating the next attack plan with his formation. Due to his expert leadership, the formation was ready to employ again in less than two minutes. However, just as they were preparing to drop, Dude 06 had a communication limitation that prevented them from employing their weapon. Lt Col Sorenson immediately orchestrated a successful single ship attack in less than one minute. Furthermore, in the incredibly short span of the next 10 minutes, Lt Col Sorenson flawlessly maneuvered his fighter in continuous full afterburner to employ on three additional 9 line taskings, averaging just over 3 minutes per tasking until they had delivered all of their ordnance. He then passed the tactical lead to Dude 06 to employ their remaining ordinance, while he maneuvered his jet into a difficult low altitude orbit beneath an encroaching weather deck and directly over the heads of friendly forces, to relay critical release clearance from the JTAC to his wingman. Dude 06 delivered his last weapon just as he reached his combat BINGO fuel, utilizing every gallon of additional gas that Lt Col Sorenson had the foresight to coordinate for more than two hours earlier, and shacking the last known enemy fighting position and ceasing the extremely effective fire the friendly forces were taking. All 14 weapons from the formation were employed with 100% lethal precision with zero civilian or friendly casualties. Post fight Battle Damage Assessments conducted by ground forces assessed approximately 68 insurgents killed and countless more wounded. The outstanding flight leadership and individual accomplishments of Lt Col Sorenson directly and substantially contributed to the preservation of over 50 Coalition lives and significantly degraded insurgent capacity in the Nuristan provinces. The JTAC summed it up best, “We would not be here if it were not for you guys…you saved our lives.”

Afghanistan 2011

shotgun15e — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:41:22 +0000

After many months of training, prep and packing the sixth deployment of my career is now officially underway. Previous deployments have included flying over such countries as Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but this one will be the first time I will actually live in country and fly out of a base in Afghanistan. Previous deployments have always stationed us in a different country, far outside and removed from the actual fighting. This time, we’re almost right in the middle of it. I have been to Afghanistan before, my last time was back in 2007 so I am sure plenty has changed and I’m looking forward to seeing the progress that has been made over the last few years.

The trip started out of Las Vegas on Tuesday, 22 Mar. After saying some very tough goodbyes to everyone I care very much about, I boarded a commercial flight to Baltimore. After spending the night in Baltimore, Wed was a day to process into the Air Mobility Centers system for moving military across the globe. It’s setup much like a commercial airline, bags were processed and I actually got a ticket and seat assignment on the chartered MD-11 jet. The plane was packed to the gills with every seat full of military deploying to various locations around the globe. Our first stop would take us to an airbase in Germany where we would swap out crews, get gas and stretch our legs. After rebounding we took off again this time for one of our airbases in Turkey. Turkey was a much quicker stop, everyone stayed on the plane and we were back in the air in less than an hour. This time we were headed for a base just outside of Afghanistan were we could stage and process in to the local system. The entire trip from Baltimore to where I am now just just over 17 hours to complete. Now we sit and wait for a military cargo plane, most likely a C-17 to take us the rest of the way into Afghanistan.

Communication back home with loved ones has been fairly good so far. The iPhone with international roaming has been transparent that I ever left the US. Every time we land, it finds the local carrier and feeds in waiting text messages, emails and missed phone calls. I’m not 100% it will work in Afghanistan, but we should find out for sure tomorrow. (If anyone is using an iPhone in Afg please let me know). Just the fact that it is working flawless in the middle of K-Stan is impressive enough for me. Other apps like Skype are going to be worth their wait in gold as I get settled. One can’t really put a price tag on the value of seeing a smile from a loved one 8000 miles away. For the folks who stay at home, they miss the deployed member, but they still have all the comforts of home to surround them. Being deployed to a combat zone, all those comforts are left behind and are usually replaced with blank tent walls, dirty brown sand, and a small personal space normally normally referred to as your hootch. Pictures from home are worth their weight in gold as they are quickly pinned up to remind us all of what we are over here fighting for. The technology that keeps us in touch cannot be overstated in it’s value to the morale of the troops.

This morning was my reintroduction to chow hall food. I laughed as I reentered the facility and smelled the all too familiar smell of the grill. Some things never change. The food is ok, but the variety doesn’t change much. After over 2 1/2 years over here in my life, it’s like going to the same fast food place way too many times. The rest of today is the calm before the storm. A good time to rest and catch up from lost sleep on the long flight over. For tomorrow we will be back in Afghanistan, back in the war, and it waits for no man. War is like jumping into a raging river. It flows fast and furious 24/7, 365 and you just do your best to not drown. Tomorrow we jump in the river once again and in six months, the river will spit me out the other side.

The war paint is on, this is as real as it gets. Fights on! Don’t bring it weak!

Why I love to fly

shotgun15e — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:00:19 +0000

Some things you’re just born with; it’s in your blood, it’s in your heart. You can’t really explain it, it just is. How lucky are we to soar with the birds in the heavens above?

Love the words to this song. Read them, then click on the link below and enjoy the video. I think they’re a good match.

Sunday morning 9 a.m.
I saw fire in the sky
I felt my heart pound in my chest
I heard an eagle cry

Now I’m alive, I can breathe the air
Feel the wind, smell the earth in the air
I watch an eagle rise above the trees
Project myself into what he sees

Hey, take me away
Come on and fly me away
Take me up so high
Where eagles fly

I often dream I sail through the sky
I’ve always wished I could fly
The simple life of a bird on the wing
Oh Lord, I could sing

Hey, take me away
Come on, fly me away
Lift me up so high
Where eagles fly, oh yeah

I’m alive, I breathe the air
Wash the earth from my face
I catch a glimpse of another dream
I turn, I look there’s no trace

Take me away
Come on, fly me away
I wanna fly away, pick me up so high
Where eagles fly, oh yeah

Eagles fly
Oh, take me away
Eagles fly
Oh, take me away

Come on, let’s fly away
Where eagles fly
Come on, fly away
Where eagles fly

by Sammy Hagar

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12607680/Eagles%20Fly.m4v

I love the Marines

shotgun15e — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:27:30 +0000

November 27, 2010
Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A U.S. Marine reservist collecting toys for children
was stabbed when he helped stop a suspected shoplifter in eastern Georgia.

Best Buy sales manager Orvin Smith told The Augusta Chronicle that a
man was seen on surveillance cameras Friday putting a laptop under his
jacket at the Augusta store.

When confronted, the man became irate, knocked down an employee,
pulled a knife and ran toward the door. Outside were four Marines
collecting toys for the service branch’s “Toys For Tots” program.

Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of them,
Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back. The cut did not appear to be severe.

The suspect was transported to the local hospital with two broken
arms, a broken leg, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions and assorted
lacerations including a broken nose and jaw… injuries he sustained when
he fell trying to run after stabbing the Marine.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was held until police
arrived. The Richmond County Sheriff’s office said it is investigating.

Soldiers Twas the night before Christmas

shotgun15e — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:30:55 +0000

I read this every year and it never gets old:

‘Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, in a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give, and to see just who is this home did live.

I looked all about, a strange sight I did see, no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.

No stocking by mantle, just boots filled with sand, on the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.

With medals and badges, awards of all kinds, a sober thought came through my mind.

For this house was different, it was dark and dreary; I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home.

The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder, not how I pictured a United States soldier.

Was this the hero of whom I’d just read? Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?

I realized the families that I saw this night, owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.

Soon round the world, the children would play, and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year, because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone, on a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.

The very thought brought a tear to my eye, I dropped to my knees and started to cry.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice, “Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice;

I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more, my life is my God, my Country, my Corps.”

The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep, I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours, so silent and still and we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.

I didn’t want to leave on that cold, dark night, this guardian of honor so willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure, whispered, “Carry on Santa, It’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”

One look at my watch, and I knew he was right. “Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night!”

A Marine wrote this poem. The following is his request. I think it is reasonable…

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.

NASA Tweetup for STS-133

shotgun15e — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:48:00 +0000

Well, we are on our way home, flying back to Las Vegas after a week long trip with the entire family to try and see our first ever NASA shuttle launch in person. We’ve been watching these on TV since I was in grade school and I’ve always wanted to experience one in person. For years they took off and landed and I didn’t think much about it until we had our son. Now that he’s old enough to appreciate the experience we recently decided to try and take him to a launch. A few years ago we all flew down to the space coast to try and see a launch. We really had no idea what we were doing. We made all our travel arrangements and even got VIP seating inside the Kennedy Space Center so our son could feel the excitement. Everyone I have ever talked to who has seen a launch live said it was worth the trip to see one go up. After spending several days at the Visitor Center and taking all the tours it was finally time for the big event. We got on the bus and went out to the viewing site, had an awesome view of the launch pad, and then we waited. Everything was a go for launch until a small thunderstorm appeared off in the distance and it was just close enough for NASA to scrub the launch for the day. My son was crushed. We packed everything back up and went back to our hotel. For the next two days, thunderstorms plagued the space coast and we were no closer to seeing it go and the forecast wasn’t any better in the summer months of Florida. Rejected we piled back into the plane and went home.

Fast forward 3 more years and the NASA shuttle program is winding down. Only a handful more launches and then it will be no more. Since our last visit to FL, the military had moved us out to the western side of the US and now we were a thousand more miles farther away than before on the east coast. As I compared my work calendar to the NASA calendar, it wasn’t looking good for a repeat visit to the space coast and I settled on the fact that we’d likely have to make due with trying to catch a rocket launch on the west coast at Vandenberg AFB, CA. Then came this thing called Twitter and a wonderful program put on by NASA called the NASA tweetup. Folks from all over the world could apply online via the internet and the NASA website for a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a shuttle launch up close and personal from the NASA press site viewing area. This is the exact same area that all the press are staged at and the location of all the TV cameras that we had been watching all these years. How could one pass up such a chance at that? All that was required was a twitter account and an agreement with NASA that you would post messages online about your experience during the event. Sounded like a pretty fair deal to me. I told my wife about it and we signed up. The drawing was lottery based and there were only enough slots for 150 people. Over 2,700 people from all over the world signed up for a chance to attend. Well, we live in Las Vegas so those are pretty good odds to me. We filled out the forms and crossed our fingers. The day finally came and the lucky winners were announced. I wasn’t one of them, but my wife was. How cool that one of us would get to go see the launch live from such a close distance. We were very excited. Within the next couple of days NASA put out a waiting list or alternates that might get to attend if there was fallout. Much to my surprise, I made that list. Now I just had to cross my fingers that enough of the primary winners would cancel and I might get to go too. Sure enough, a few weeks later I got an email congratulating me on picking up a spot, both my wife and I were going to NASA.

Fast forward a couple of months, all of the paperwork had been accomplished for the security clearances to get onto the Kennedy Space Center, all of the travel arrangements had been made and we were on our way to Florida. The entire group of 150 attendees had been getting together online via different websites, things were getting organized and the entire two day event had been packed with VIP tours and NASA briefings, meeting with astronauts and of course the launch itself. As we showed up to check in, we knew it was going to be a world class event when we were greeted by the event organizer, security badges in hand and a very nice gift bag full of great NASA gifts. We had our schedule, we had our badges, we were ready for a two incredible days of seeing an inside look of NASA and a spectacular shuttle launch to top it all off.

If there is one thing I have learned in over 20 years of flying and aviation is that there are many factors that are just out of your control. First there is weather. Like on our first attempt to see the shuttle launch a few years ago, weather had a major vote and mother nature won out. When it comes to safety and the lives of some of America’s best and brightest, there is just no way to justify taking unnecessary risks with the lives of the crews aboard the shuttle. As if launching a beast like the shuttle into space wasn’t complicated enough when things go perfect, you don’t need to add in additional risk with bad weather on top of all that. Next is maintenance issues. I have heard there are over a million pieces on the shuttle or something like that and for all of them to work perfectly is like getting Congress to agree on something…next to impossible…In this game, you have to be patient and roll with the punches, it’s just the cost of doing business and a fact of life.

STS-133 was scheduled to launch on Monday, 1 Nov. We arrived in Florida on Saturday and made plans to celebrate Halloween in Orlando and spend the rest of the time on the coast. However, before we even arrived in FL the delays had begun. A small leak had been found in one of the systems and it had to be repaired before they could proceed. Initially they were optimistic that they might be able to work throughout the night and keep the shuttle on it’s original timeline. I give them all the credit in the world for trying, but somethings (like rocket science) just aren’t meant to be rushed. They fixed the leak but not in time to make the Monday launch timeline. The launch would have to be slipped. The new date became Wed. Everything was shaping up nicely for a Wed launch. We spent the entire day on Monday with the group and NASA going on all the tours. You could tell this was not their first rodeo. The media tent they had arranged for us was decked out with Wifi internet, power cables, big screen video monitors and was being broadcast worldwide on NASA TV. God bless the American taxpayer. Anyone with even the slightest interest in space was getting the tour of a lifetime and seeing things rarely open to the general public. The day finished with a tour our to the launch pad for sunset pictures just 600 yards away from Discovery. The analogy of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory with everyone winning the golden ticket seemed pretty appropriate at this point.

Tuesday started off with more of the same tours. We went inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It is hard to describe the size of this facility. It can be seen for miles around in all directions, but when you see it up close and from the inside, it’s just beyond words. Someone said the VAB had not been open to the general public since 1979. In any case, we felt very fortunate to able to spend about an hour inside the VAB seeing the behind the scenes look at how the shuttle and other rockets were assembled. It was shocking and impressive.

Another tour included driving on the shuttle landing facility/runway. It’s over 15,000ft long and must be one of the longest runways in the world. I’ve landed on many runways over the past 20 years as a pilot and I’ve never seen one piece of concrete as impressive as this one. You couldn’t even see from one end to the other. We drove right past the T-38s that the shuttle pilots were flying that day to stay current just before their launch. We drove past the control tower and our tour guy proclaimed it to be the loneliest control tower in America. I can believe it. With all the TFRs around the KSC, they don’t get much traffic there.

Next on our tour was to proceed back out to the launch pad to watch the RSS retraction and give us our first real glimpse of the Discovery orbiter. It was about this time, just about 24 hours prior to launch that we started to get words that there was an additional problem with the shuttle. This time it was the engines. During one of the tests that morning something had gone wrong with one of the engines and now they were in the process of troubleshooting the cause. The launch was back on hold, another 24 hour delay.

This by itself would not have been that big of an issue for us, but that morning I had just rebooked all of our travel arrangements at a considerable additional cost. With just over 24hrs to go, it seemed like at the time all the mechanical issues had been resolved and the weather forecast was looking good for Wed. Now that the launch was on hold till atleast Thur, there was no way we could afford to rebook tickets a third time. Bad weather was starting to roll in and a front was moving through the area. The forecast for Thur (today) was not good. I think the weather guessers gave it about a 20% chance for today. We all woke up early with one last ditch chance at making the launch, but before most of us could get out of bed, NASA had already made the call that the weather was too bad and they would try again on Friday. With the final nail in the coffin, we packed our bags and headed for the airport.

As I sit in my very expensive coach seat on our return flight home, I am disappointed in not being able to see Discovery fly for the the very last time, but I am also feeling very fortunate to have been able to take part in a very special event hosted by NASA.

I can’t say enough good things about how well the entire NASA team did as our host for the few days that we were able to spend with them. This may be the last flight for Discovery, but it’s not the last flight for space or for NASA. One of these days we’ll see the marvel of space flight take place and it’ll be an honor to finally see it live.

This was written entirely on my iPad at FL360 (36,000ft) and posted through Delta’s wifi.

Over the Edge for Special Olympics

shotgun15e — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:00:06 +0000

Today is finally the day that I go Over the Edge for Special Olympics Nevada. I get to rappel down 51 stories of the outside of the Rio hotel casino and resort in downtown Las Vegas because of the power of Twitter. With less than 1000 followers, we raised over $1000 in just four days to meet our goal. Incredible. I know other folks on twitter with over 40,000 followers who could not raise that much, that fast. So not only did we accomplish our goal in record time, but our followers and friends through RTs and contributions came through in record pace, far and above what others were able to do. That blew me away. Thank you all for the support to a great cause.

One thing I promised everyone who helped me out was a small token of my appreciation with an F-15 gift from my work. I have those and they are ready to ship, I just need a few mailing addresses from all those who helped.

If you contributed money to Special Olympics, please email me at: shotgun15e@gmail.com

Include your full name, twitter username, and mailing address and I will get those in the mail to you asap. It’s the least I can do to show how much I appreciate everything you guys did in such rapid fashion to make this event for us a success.

So now off to the event, in just a few hours I’ll be rappeling off a 51 story building in the middle of Vegas!!!!! Did I mention I’VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!

Last note, one of my sponsors challenged me to walk up the 51 flight of stairs as well as rappel down the outside. Deal’s a deal ! Stand by on twitter to watch me. (good thing there is an after party!)

Cheers,

Shotgun

Help push me over the edge of the Rio in Las Vegas, 51 stories high!

shotgun15e — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:36:56 +0000

Ok folks,

Here’s the deal. I am trying to raise $1000 for Special Olympics. If I can reach that goal, they will let me rappel off the top of the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. That’s 51 stories high!

Here’s the catch, I’ve NEVER rappelled before. NEVER.

Why am I doing this? Who knows. I think it’s a good cause and I’ve always wanted to rappel.

I’ve done a few other high risk activities in my life. I’ve been a pilot for over 20 years, a licensed skydiver, and I’ve jumped off the Stratosphere on their Skyjump attraction.

We got off to a good start on Twitter this morning. Within the first hour we had already raised almost 25% of our goal. We just need a few more folks to help out and we will have made it. Please help out. No amount is too small.

As an added incentive and show of appreciation to all those who donate, I will be sending each of you a little gift from work. I know the ultimate thanks would be to have the ability to give everyone a ride in the F-15E, but that’s just not possible. So the best I can do is a small gift from our squadron to show my appreciation. If I get enough donations, I’ll hold a raffle for a special gift which I’ll announce at the jump on 8 Oct.

Lastly, for everyone who donates, you’ll get a special shoutout/mention on the T-shirt that I’ll be wearing for the event. I’ll have it special made just for Special Olympics and you can have your name or @Twitter name listed on it to recognize everyone who made this possible.

Not much time remaining before the event, so please click on the link below and help us out.

Much appreciated.

v/r,

Shotgun

CLICK HERE TO DONATE: http://bit.ly/cXkGzn

UPDATE: WE ARE ALMOST THERE! 76% of our goal has been raised in just 3 days. Let’s spread the word, share this blog, retweet, etc and get us over the top this weekend! Thank you to everyone who has already donated; we’re almost there!!!

Who was the First US fighter ace of World War II ?

shotgun15e — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:06:05 +0000

This question comes up from from time to time because of a unique distinction in how our early service members got involved in the fight during World War II.

The answer to the question is, it depends, it’s actually a trick question that must be clarified to answer accurately.

One, it needs to be better stated, Who was the first American ace in World War II ? if one only cares about nationality. If you read the military history and you ask the question, Who was the first US Army Air Corps ace during World War II ? You’ll get a different answer. Sounds confusing, because it is.

I’ll start with the later to try and explain all this. If you read military history, specifically the US Army Air Corps documents, they list Lt Col Boyd “Buzz” Wagner as their first ace in WWII. He was flying P-40s in the Pacific and got his kills against the Japanese in December of 1941. Most folks who read that are surprised that it wasn’t against the Germans in the European theater.

Other history books make other claims with slightly different assumptions. If we go back and ask, who was the first “American”, now the answer switches to William R. Dunn. Dunn got his kills against the Germans in July-Aug of 1941, more than 4 months before Wagner. So what gives? Why the confusion?

Dunn was an American, but he was not technically in the US Army Air Corps in 1941. He was actually in the Royal Air Force and was part of the original “Eagle Squadron” (71 sq). American fighter pilots had come over to the UK prior to the official involvement of the US Army Air Corps and flew in Eagle squadrons until the US officially became involved and then they transferred back into normal US designated fighter squadrons.

Now hopefully that’s clear as to why folks read both names in the history books as being our first ace in the war.

Why do I care? Well, I’ve had the pleasure in serving in both squadrons that these two aces came from. Buzz Wagner was in the 17th Pursuit Squadron (now the 17th Weapons Squadron). William Dunn was in the 71sq (now the 334th Fighter squadron); both which happen to be currently flying the F-15E Strike Eagle. What are the odds of that?

To top it all off, I just found out that Lt Col Buzz Wagner’s remains have been recovered an a long over due memorial service is being planned for him in Johnstown, PA on 23 Oct of this year. Just a little over a month from now. With the pending approval of the USAF, we are hoping to do a missing many flyby to honor Lt Col Buzz Wagner. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be able to officially announce our support for this long overdue ceremony.

Stay tuned for more words.

Shotgun

My 9/11

shotgun15e — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 05:10:51 +0000

Nine years ago today I was stationed at Royal Air Force base Lakenheath, UK flying the F-15E Strike Eagle in the 48th Fighter Wing, 494th Fighter Squadron. It was a normal day and due to the time zone difference we had already flown a morning sortie and had gone to the Officer’s Club on base for lunch. My wife had met me there and we had sat down to enjoy some time together before I had to be back at the squadron. The normal TV in the squadron always had the news on but the volume was never turned up; instead the club usually played some music off their CD player. I’ll never forget someone getting our attention to the TV behind the bar when they news broke in to show one of the World Trade Center towers heavily damaged with thick black smoke pouring out of the upper floors. It was a shocking sight that the entire world would see before the end of the day.

As the entire room’s attention focused on the news, we turned the volume up to hear the broadcaster announce that an airplane of some type had crashed into the tower. No other information was known at the time. They didn’t specify the type of plane or how it had happened, just the fact that some type of plane had crashed. In 2001, I had already been a pilot for over 10 years. The weather in NYC that day was perfect. Not a cloud to be seen anywhere on the TV. I knew in my gut from that moment that the crash was deliberate. I turned to my wife and said, “that’s a creative way to blow up the towers”. I had been thinking back to a previous attempt to take down the towers when a van filled with explosives had been driven into the underground parking lot and exploded. Security on street level had been increased significantly since then, making it all but impossible to duplicate that act. It only made sense that to generate a similar effect you could bypass all that security by attacking the towers from the air. My initial thought was that a terrorist had taken a small plane and crashed it deliberately into one of the upper floors to make a statement.

That had reminded me of a small plane that had been crashed into the White House a few years earlier when I used to live near Washington DC. That had made the evening news and I was so curious I went down to take a look at the wreckage. I managed to get to the White House before they had moved any of the wreckage away. The plane had crumbled up next to the building and done very little damage. (Small planes can’t pack very much explosive power, even when fully loaded with fuel). Based on that previous observation I figured this time the plane must have been packed with explosives to cause the kind of damage to the WTC tower we were seeing on TV.

After watching the news for a few minutes, I knew my life was about to change drastically for the foreseeable future. I had been around long enough to know that with any type of terrorist attack, the US was likely to respond with force. Being in the UK, we were already several thousand miles closer to potential targets than our US based forces, so it was logical that we might be quickly tasked to response to such an attack. I had a short discussion with my wife about what was likely to occur in the next few hours and that it would probably be best if she went home until I could call her with an update. We said goodbye and she left for home as I headed back to the squadron.

I arrived back at the squadron and some folks hadn’t even gotten the news yet. The full scale of the mornings events on the east coast hadn’t even occurred yet, so we were still just learning about the first attack on the WTC towers. As I started to inform my squadron mates on the initial news of the crash, we started getting details in that it was a commercial plane involved. The moment the news sank in that the terrorists had hijacked a commercial airliner and crashed it into the tower killing everyone on board, we knew what lay ahead for us. It’s called war.

Most of us had been deployed to combat before. Alot of the squadron had been involved in Operation Allied Force, Operation Southern Watch, Operation Northern Watch, and even a couple had been around since Desert Storm. We all knew this was going to be the beginning of the next “Operation”. As we were all trying to figure out the scope of the attack, the news broke real time of the second plane hitting the other tower. The feeling of shock and disbelief hit all of us as quickly as a punch in the gut. As news of the Pentagon crash reached us it finally start to sink in that this was bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. At that point it wasn’t just an attack that we were watching on TV, it was an attack on all of us.

The base went to it’s highest alert levels to defend itself against a possible attack. We had practiced drills like this before, but this time it was for real. I had never seen anything like it before. The entire base went on total lock down. I’m glad my wife was already home because folks still on base weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The base was secure. It would take an army to get through our security forces. We still had jets that were out flying local training missions. They were told to immediately return as fast as possible and conduct a combat arrival to minimize risk of being shot at. Crews flying at the time didn’t know all the details, but they knew something big must have happened to be given those instructions. They lit the afterburners and all came back to base supersonic. In fact, the sonic booms caused the local police to get calls of possible bomb explosions which generated much confusion for several hours. After we had safely recovered all the wings fighters back to base, they were immediately reconfigured for combat. Live missiles and weapons were loaded and the fighter wing started to prepare for offensive combat operations. Our long range fuel tanks were uploaded under the wings and each jet was fully loaded with fuel for a possible long range strike mission. As our jets were being configured for war, our aircrew were being prepped for a possible deployment.

We initiated a squadron recall, contacting every person in the unit. Confirming their location and position to make sure everyone was ok. Most were already at work, some were on leave and not in the local area. All leave was cancelled and folks started coming back to base. Some were told to stay home and start packing. Others already at work were told to call home and have our wives start packing us up. Most of us already had a deployment bag ready. It was a hit and run bag that we could grab with no notice and take with us. It would get us by for a week or two, but given the time, most would like to grab a few more things. Next was to pack the squadron. Each office in the squadron is ready to deploy. Most shops or offices in the squadron keep a hit and run locker that can be loaded on a transport in pretty short order. When given the word, we started loading our lockers on a pallet out behind the squadron. When the pallet was ready, it would be loaded onto to a cargo plane or tanker capable of carrying it with us to our destination. None of us knew where we were going, how long we’d be gone, or when we’d be coming back. All we knew was this attack wasn’t go to go unanswered and we’d be ready to launch as soon as the word came down.

Within a few short hours, we were ready to launch. The squadron was packed, our bags were ready, the jets were fueled, we watched the news. The base was still locked down and we all sat and watched the news as the full details were now becoming clear as 4 jets had been hijacked and crashed and the entire airspace over the United States had been shut down. We stayed in our ready rooms until it was too late for us to launch that day. At some point it became clear to our leadership that we had time to go home and get some sleep, we probably weren’t going to be leaving that day. When the call was made, we all left for home, leaving just a few at the squadron to monitor the phones, just in case.

Arriving home, you can only imagine the shared concern our families had over what had that day, as well as what future lay ahead. My bags were neatly waiting for me by the front door. Just to be safe, I put them in the trunk of the car. I packed a few extra things in a spare bag and threw that in the car as well. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had gotten a call in the middle of the night telling us to come in, it was go time.

We went to sleep that night, Sept 11th, 2001, knowing that the world had changed. It wouldn’t be long before our jets would be flying combat missions over Afghanistan. They were there in 2001, they are still there today, and they will continue to be there in the future as long as they are needed to answer our nations calling. Little did I know that day at lunch in the Officer’s Club, that in the next 9 years, I would spend almost 3 years deployed to the Middle East spread over 5 different deployments.

It has been a major part of our life. For an old guy like me, it’s consumed almost 25% of my life. For some of our younger members, it’s almost half. For some’s military service, it’s all they know. It’s not something we remember once a year, it’s something we live every day. Four of my friends have been killed in combat and those memories will never fade.

As long as there are extreme people in this world that want nothing more than to utterly destroy our way of life, we must never forget that day, nine years ago today, 9/11/01. May those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country never be forgotten.

Freedom is not free.