Forum: Air Force Life

A recent post got me thinking....

The post mentioned Chuck Yeager & Bob Hoover as being "great men", granted they were both great aviators and great pioneers, but having met both men (briefly, so my opinion is limited) I would not categorize either as "great men".

Based on your own personal experiences what one person falls into the category of "Great Man (or Woman)" in your book?

My vote goes to Captain John Posner (#3) (now Brigadier General), he was the epitome of what I thought an Air Force officer should be. He was a "real" person that you could talk to about anything / everything. He convinced / inspired me to finish school and that no goal was out of reach. He was the type of pilot that if he happened to see you "off-base" would come over and talk to you rather than pretend he didn't see you.

The only negative comment I have about him is that he used to fly those airplanes that have one too many engines and the "training tails".

Smitty

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Last edited by vinnie on Jan 22, 2007 - 11:01 PM; edited 1 time in total

Col Leroy Stutz, POW and DCM. Seems like the Vietnam era guys ran the USAF alot better. Google or Yahoo on him.

For me in the Enlisted grades it was Chief Larry Davies (Deceased) (Luke AFB 1985 to 1988) - lead by example, talked to you as a "person" not a subordinate and he cared, he was always there for the 'troops", he was a "Chiefs - Chief" in my book.

Officer grades, I have a few in mind but one 'stands" out as the best I ever met or knew, Major General (MG) Billy "G" McCoy, my Ex Squadron Commander - 78th Snakes at RAF Woodbridge (I crewed his F4), later he became the 12th AF Commander (at Luke, same time frame as Chief Davies, to have two men of this caliber there was amazing for us all) and later General McCoy later went to Nellis AFB as the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing Commander when I was on the Thunderbirds.

A true leader and human being in every sense of the word...The Best in my book, the absolute best!

My choice for senior leadership would be LIEUTENANT GENERAL BRUCE A. WRIGHT. He was the 614th ops CC back @ TJ when we went to Desert Shield / Storm. A true leader even to this day. He is Commander, U.S. Forces Japan, and Commander, 5th Air Force, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Also include in here Col Jerry Nelson our vice wing CC at TJ, But I speak for most when I say he was the Wing Commander as far as the 614th went. He also deployed with us.

Vinnie I have not heard Col Stutz's name since Macdill. He was another good one.

stutler wrote:

My choice for senior leadership would be LIEUTENANT GENERAL BRUCE A. WRIGHT. He was the 614th ops CC back @ TJ when we went to Desert Shield / Storm. A true leader even to this day. He is Commander, U.S. Forces Japan, and Commander, 5th Air Force, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Also include in here Col Jerry Nelson our vice wing CC at TJ, But I speak for most when I say he was the Wing Commander as far as the 614th went. He also deployed with us.

Vinnie I have not heard Col Stutz's name since Macdill. He was another good one.

I will happily add my vote for Gen. 'Orville' Wright and Col. 'Jed' Nelson (Ret.) they are the two leaders that I encountered in the AF that I would have followed just about anywhere.

Then LtCol Bruce Wright, 614TFS Commander, from Lou Drendel's book "Viper F-16", Squadron Signals Publications.

Col Jerry Nelson, 401TFW(P) Commander, photo from Col. Gary Lane, then Capt and 401AGS Commander.

I too remember Col. Stutz from MacDill, but only by name.

Mike

Col Leroy Stutz is second to none in my book. As a crew chief I met lots of great flyers, Mike Penrod, Mike Robinson, Dan Scase but Col Stutz stands alone. He was my first commander and later on did the honors to retire me. Not many remember all that you did during your career, but he did and then some. If I have a hero to look up to, it is Col Stutz, he taught me plenty of Air Force and life.
My hats to you Col Stutz!
Very Happy

Msgt Milton Pinkney, his favorite saying was " my a$$ is like bubblegum, the more it gets chewed the tougher it gets" Made my year at the Kun a whole lot better.

vinnie wrote:

Msgt Milton Pinkney, his favorite saying was " my a$$ is like bubblegum, the more it gets chewed the tougher it gets" Made my year at the Kun a whole lot better.

Boy, another name from the past, He was my supervisor at Macdill. He had a great laugh. As far as acrew chief goes, I would also throw in Tim Stavely who is a chief now out somewhere in vegas. Many maint pro's of the year, below the zone plus a damn good crew dawg. Started me out on the right track.

Yeah Tim and I hung out alot at the Kun, taught him how to play golf, hope to see him again.

Quote:

Officer grades, I have a few in mind but one 'stands" out as the best I ever met or knew, Major General (MG) Billy "G" McCoy, my Ex Squadron Commander - 78th Snakes at RAF Woodbridge (I crewed his F4), later he became the 12th AF Commander (at Luke, same time frame as Chief Davies, to have two men of this caliber there was amazing for us all) and later General McCoy later went to Nellis AFB as the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing Commander when I was on the Thunderbirds.

My God, I have'nt heard that name in a month of sundays. I have to agree with this.The man was not just a great leader, he actually would listen to what you had to say and not just blow you off because you were a junior grade NCO.
I had completely forgotten the man til now. WOW what a wave of memories flooding my head. Thumb

Thanx Meathook !!

My mentor (before mentoring became "cool") was Sgt Alan L. "Mike" Thomas. On my first day at Shaw AFB, I walked into Spec Flight and was greeted by another outstanding individual, TSgt Curley McQueen (later SEA of the 57th Fighter Wing, I walked into his office sixteen years after the day I first met him and he took one look at me, smiled, and said "Colonel, I'll have to call you back, I've got an important visitor.") Curley introduced me to Mike Thomas. Mike's first words to me were, "I'm Sgt Thomas and I run A-Shop on day shift. If you don't like the way I do things, we can go outside and roll around in the dirt for a while."

Mike taught me everything I know about integrity and aircraft maintenance. He took me under his wing and taught me everything about boresighting F-16s, which is one of the ways I make a living today. We went our seperate ways after working together for four years at Shaw, but got back together at MacDill three years later. We were both SSgts by then, and I made TSgt before he did. He was the first to shake my hand.

The more I think of the 363rd at Shaw, the more I realize what a magic time that was. I worked with guys like Mike Thomas, Roy Pleasant, Jose Santos, Mike Turley, Randy Durkee, Curley McQueen, and lots of others. That was a great unit for a while.

Best Regards,

Roy Pleasant and I were on the team together, I would agree, Roy is a good man, same with Joe, he and I met "Ronnie" at the same time, now works here at Hill (Contractor)....small world some times...but all good men.

Last edited by Driver on Dec 03, 2007 - 04:25 PM; edited 1 time in total

Jose and I had many good times on the road....

At Nellis we had TSgt Charles "Bud" Beard" (now MSgt) he just recently came from the Thunderbirds and when he came to our unit he ran it like he was still in the T-Birds. Guy was a hard @$$, tough, and I ain't gonna lie ALOT of gripes about him were had after work. But he was fair and he knew his stuff. They're was nothing he didn't know or couldn't do(maintenance wise) and he was always
moving. We also had this flight chief named TSgt Dwyer. A little crazy but always had the best interests of the troops in mind and was always doing his best to boost morale. There was also an expediter named TSgt Mercado who was the easiest guy to talk to. Tsgt Carl Miller too. Also an awesome guy. Lots of great people at a not so great place.

Forum: Air Force Life

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