Part VII of my thank you list...

starts at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS.  Today it has no active duty mission other than being a training base, but when I arrived there in January of 1982 there were line units there.  Two flying squadrons that flew C-130 aircraft and three maintenance squadrons that maintained those planes.  I was assigned to one of those maintenance units.

The first person from Keesler that I want to thank is a woman who I will only describe as "M".  She was a NCO in one of the maintenance units and we met at the base bowling alley.  We dated for a while and then something interesting happened.  While we were having this relationship and I was spending nights in her bed, she got asked for a date by another man and she said "yes" because she'd liked him before she and I had met.  We spent the night before the date in her bed and she brought me home with her after work the next night while she got ready for her date.  She told me to stay and she'd be home in a few hours and then we would "have some fun".  I did, she did and we did.  The next morning she told me she and I were done because she was going after this other guy.  I ended up being a groomsman at their wedding.  What did I learn?  A lot of things which I suspect are pretty obvious.

Then there was my immediate supervisor upon my arrival, although I was there to ultimately replace him (he was leaving in five months).  I thought "Fast Eddie" had things wired, but this guy knew everyone and everything on the entire base.  He should have, he'd been there five years.  He introduced me to every single person he had a "connection" with and they all agreed they'd do for me what they'd done for him.  He got me completely connected with all the right people in a few weeks.  It was awesome and I thank him for it.

The first sergeant in the unit when I arrived retired weeks later and we waited months to get a replacement.  SMSgt Gary Soltis finally showed up.  Actually he was a MSgt but on the promotion list.  It was his second assignment as a first sergeant.  He was single and loved...I mean really loved, to hang out in strip clubs.  That's how I found out that at that time, all the strip clubs in Biloxi were on Camellia Street, one block South of the only Jewish temple in the city.  I can't say he MADE me go with him to those clubs on a number of occasions, but it would have been a bad career move to not go.  He bought a house on the "back bay" and tried to get me to buy one on the same street.  He tried dating some of the dancers he met, but only one ever showed any interest and that one only briefly.  We ate lunch together many days in the mess hall until I moved off-base and started going home to run at lunch. 

He strongly encouraged me to join the Air Force Sergeants Association and to volunteer to work the group's table at the NCO club.  He did the same in pushing me to join the base's Enlisted Advisory Committee, which was also a great career move.  But he was a lousy manager and supervisor and I learned from him that even when you're able to motivate and push your people in the right directions, that doesn't make you a good manager otherwise.  You have to learn how to, and work at, managing and supervising.  He was a good example of how to do some things and how not to do some things.

There was a military cop (they're called Security Police in the Air Force) I became good friends with.  Being a military cop was a secondary skill I had to perform three days per quarter, and thanks to my relationship with him, I began doing a lot of volunteer shifts working in law enforcement at night, while doing my other military job during the day.  It was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to get better at, and thanks to him I did.  Not long after I started doing the volunteer shifts, the supervisors paid me the ultimate compliment, letting me go out on patrol alone.  Secondary skill SPs weren't normally allowed to do that.  Thanks to Dan, I got to do that.

Colonel Moake was the Director of Maintenance, the boss of all three maintenance squadron commanders.  I didn't have much contact with him, but every single time I got a favorable communication (letter of recognition and so on), they all crossed his desk.  Every single time, he added his own letter or endorsement.  When I did have contact with him, he always noted my volunteer work and community involvement and told me I set a fine example.  He taught me that most of what we does goes unrecognized when we do it right and that people need to be told they are doing a good job.  Goodness knows we tell people when they've done a bad job often enough.

Another woman I got to know I'll call "C".  She was a single parent and when she came to work for me, was pregnant with yet another man's child.  A man she'd already moved on past.  She was looking for another man to marry at that moment.  I don't know if I was on her list or not, but I made it clear that as her supervisor, we would have a strictly professional relationship.  I heard she did get married within a year after my departure from the area.  I often wonder how many men and how many kids she finally went through. 

Then there was the last of the women I supervised who I'm going to mention.  I'll refer to her as "R" and when I met her she was unorganized and not a great enlisted person.  I like to think I helped get her on the right track.  Maybe it wasn't me, but someone did something right, because she made the military a career and was promoted to a higher rank than I achieved in my modest ten year career.  I like to think I played a small role in her success, although she did all the work.  I just tried to pass on what I'd learned.  What she taught me was that no matter where you start off, you can get there in the end if you work hard enough.

There was a woman who was a fellow member of the Enlisted Advisory Council and she invited me to her wedding because we were friendly.  I didn't know how to properly handle the wedding invite and response card, so I got bold and asked her, fessing up my ignorance.  She sat me down and spent fifteen minutes educating me in the art of handling and using invitations.  An invaluable lesson.

Thanks to Bryan and Sherry Armbrust, a very happily married couple that I became friends with.  I was close with Sherry while here at Keesler and didn't know Bryan well, but he and I became good friends while we were stationed in South Korea.  Sherry wrote me faithfully while I was in South Korea as well.  Both were instrumental in re-kindling my interest in journalism and radio and I thank them for their friendship and help.

I'm sure I'm leaving people off of this list.  "Z.W. Taylor" who was mentioned in a prior list was still a great role model, influence and friend during this time.  A lot of people were supportive during this tour of duty.  Civilian employees in base administration, personnel and finance are also missing from this list due to my inability to remember their names. 

Next list will be from my tour of duty in South Korea, in a place called Kwang Ju.