Retired with 30 years service from Verizon Telecommunications since June 30, 2009. The company was in the process of selling off to Frontier Communications here in West Virginia, so in order to keep my benefits and get the best "buyout," I left. Not currently employed, just living the "good life," enjoying grandchildren, walk 2 miles daily, mountain bike, caving/spelunking, fly fishing, sightseeing, shortwave listening, traveling, camping, hiking, computers, etc. Working on getting my "camp" fixed up in Summersville, WV. I hurt my back while shoveling heavy snow during the Winter of 2013-2014 bulging three disks in my lower back so I had to give up running. Still have much to occupy my time and looking forward to doing many new things too.
1976-1977, 112X0, 4017th Combat Crew Training Squadron (Cadre)
Best Moment Receiving my Staff Sergeant rank, Aircrew Wings, and graduating training.
Worst Moment During our 'Check Flight' we experienced some emergencies but were able to handle them and landed safely. During the 'Check Flight', our crew was alone, I mean no instructors. We lost #2 Engine to a fire and also had smoke in the ventilation system. I assisted the pilots by pulling various circuit breakers to isolate and make safe the problems. We had to descend to below 25K feet to go off oxygen and to remove the rear door to clear the smoke. This all happened after the refueling portion of our mission so the 'Check Flight' was acceptable and I graduated instead of dieing.
Other Memories We did a lot of flying, offloading fuel to a wide variety of aircraft. I used to ride my bicycle to class on base. During the flying phase of training, my Instructor Boom Operator (IBO) would pick me up at the trailer park on his motorcycle to take me to the base because we flew all hours of the day and night.