Yep, another one already.
PERSPECTIVE
By Wilton Strickland
On the same morning in mid-January '73, when I returned to normal
duties in my B-52H unit at Kincheloe AFB, MI, after flying bombing missions
in B-52D's from Guam and Thailand, an inspection team initiated an
Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) of the unit.
At some time that morning, I was standing in the hallway of our
operations building chatting with friends about the joys of being safely
back at home after dodging SAMs over Hanoi, when our wing commander, Col.
Bob Herres, approached and said to me, "Wilt, we may have to ask you to fly
the ORI mission. Do you think you can handle it?"
(A bit of digression is necessary. Normally, B-52 crewmembers would
study the ORI mission in great detail for weeks in preparation for one of a
Strategic Air Command (SAC) unit's most important events - to fly an ORI
mission, a simulated emergency, nuclear war order mission, including air
refueling, celestial navigation, air-to-ground missile (with nuclear
warhead) programming and simulated launch, low level navigation and
simulated nuclear bombing on a route and bomb scoring sites never seen
before by the crews. Every aspect of a unit, including administration,
maintenance, supply, ground transportation, security, civil engineering,
weapons loading, records, flight operations, tactical doctrine, control and
employment of nuclear weapons, medical, - everything- was graded by an
inspection team from higher headquarters to determine its readiness to go to
war. After extensive study and preparation for the ORI mission, crews would
present a detailed briefing on the mission to the wing commander or his
senior representative who usually questioned the crewmen on certain details
to determine his "readiness" to fly the mission. Only then would the
crewman be "certified." There was a different ORI mission and low level
navigation route each new six-month training period - 1 Jan through 30 Jun
and 1 July through 31 Dec. Because of the limited number of inspection
teams, some units would be inspected early during a training period, and
others would be inspected late in the period - selected on a rotating basis
at random by the inspectors. Until a unit was "hit" by the inspection, air
crewmen had to re-study the mission periodically. Once a week, a crew would
be selected at random to brief the wing commander or his senior
representative again. This time, though, I had just returned to duty in the
H model aircraft and did not know anything about the specific details of
this particular ORI mission that may have been different from the usual.)
I replied to The Colonel, "It's quite ironic that just a few days ago, I
was wishing for a good, tough ORI mission to fly. How many SAM sites are on
that route?"
He assured me there were none.
I assured him that I could certainly "handle it," then. "From the
perspective of the Linebacker II missions I was flying just a few days ago,
a really "tough" ORI, simulated war mission should be quite enjoyable. Just
give me the usual pre-mission briefings, and I'll be ready to fly it with
pleasure."
Thusly, the CO "certified" me standing there in the hall - neither he
nor I mentioned any detail about the mission.
So, yes, I flew the mission. 'Even played a couple of excerpts from my
"Patton" tape (George C. Scott as Patton) over the inter-plane radio while
taxiing to takeoff and during the flight, such as, "I'd be proud to lead you
wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere."
Another excerpt, "Some of you boys I know are wondering whether or not
you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that
you will all do your duty."
As we were shutting down engines and equipment after landing, Colonel
Herres rushed aboard the aircraft, stuck his head up beside me and said,
"Wilt, I'll have to confiscate your tape."
I replied, "What tape?"
He said, "You know what tape."
Then, as he started laughing, "When the first Patton comment came on
the radio, I nearly had a heart attack until the Inspector General (IG) in
the car with me started laughing and talking about how the comments were
such good morale boosters and an indication of the unit's high esprit de
corps."
The Colonel had been concerned that such comments on the radio during
such a critical phase of the unit's inspection may have been viewed as a
lack of professionalism and discipline. As he was backing down the entrance
ladder, he yelled to me, "A masterful stroke, Wilt! ATTABOY!"
BTW, the unit got an "Outstanding" on the inspection - not because of
my Patton tape, of course, but 'cause the entire unit really did very well.
There were many other good reasons, of course, but the unit's
outstanding performance likely contributed significantly to The Colonel's
promotion to B/G a few months later and a few years after that, promotion to
General and an appointment as the first Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those
individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no
control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
