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Old 05-23-2015, 06:28 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
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You are correct. And the story goes on, while the 335th says goodbye to a dearly loved CO:


North of Dallas, Texas: 0845 Hours:


Corvette Flight was orbiting at 26,000 feet over North Texas, and the aircrews could see other aircraft orbiting, then being cleared to strike. However, none had anti-armor loads, while their flight and a Marine F-4 flight just above them did. And in all four Corvette Flight aircraft, tempers were running short.

Major Matt Wiser, the flight lead and the CO of the 335th TFS, glanced at his watch. “0845. We need to strike somebody and get back,” he said to his WSO.

“Don't get paid for bringing ordnance home,” First Lieutenant Lisa “Goalie” Eichhorn said. “How long have we been here?”

“Since 7:30,” Major Wiser, call sign Guru, said. “Can't stay here all day. I”ll call Hillsboro.” Hillsboro was the call sign for an EC-130E Airborne Command Post that directed the FACs and ground-based Air Liaison Teams with ground forces. “Hillsboro, Corvette One-one.”

“Corvette One-one, Hillsboro, go.” the controller replied.

“Any tasking for us? If not, we have prebriefed secondary targets and can go after those,” Guru said.

“Stand by, Corvette.”

“You said it ten minutes ago, fella,” Guru muttered.

“Hey, Lead?” Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, called. “Anything?”

“Nada, Two,” Guru replied. “Yeah, I know, we got targets to service and then a place to be.”

“Roger that, Lead,” Kara replied.

“Corvette One-one, Hillboro,” the ABCC controller replied. “Contact Nail Six-One for tasking.”

“Roger, Hillsboro,” Guru replied. “Contact Nail Six-One.”

“Hey, Hillsboro, this is Shamrock Zero-eight,” the Marine flight elader called. “Can we get in on Corvette's action?”

While the Marines were talking with Hillsboro, Guru called the FAC. “Nail Six-One, Corvette One-one. How copy?”

“Read you, Corvette,” Nail replied. “Say aircraft and type of ordnance please.”

“Corvette Flight has four Foxtrot-Four Echoes, with twelve Rockeyes and full twenty-mike-mike each airplane.”

“Copy that, Corvette,” Nail said. “We have an armored column moving north on F.M. 548 headed for Route 276. They're yours.”

“Roger that, Nail,” Guru replied. “Corvette, on me,” Guru said, and he took his F-4 down. The others followed. As they went in, Guru saw an A-7K orbiting overhead. That would be the FAC.

“Corvette, Nail, expect regimental level air defense,” Nail said. That meant ZSU-23-4s and SA-9 or SA-13 SAMs, plus shoulder-fired missiles.

“Copy,” Guru replied. “Corvettes, music on, switches on, and time to go to work,”

“Two,” Kara.

“Three,” Lieutenant Valerie “Sweaty” Blanchard.

“Four,” Lieutenant Nathan “Hoser” West.”

“Roger that,” Guru said. “Nail, can you mark the target?”

“That's affirmative, Corvette,” Nail replied. 'Can you give me two passes?”

“Nail, Corvette, that's a negative,” replied Guru. “One pass only.”

“Roger Corvette,” Nail said. 'Marking the target.”

Corvette Flight watched as the A-7K rolled in, and fired two white phosphorous rockets to mark the lead elements of the armored column. As the A-7 pulled up, tracer fire and a SAM came up after the FAC, but missed. “All right, people!” Guru said. “One pass, south to north.” He turned to get lined up for his attack run.

“Switches set,” Goalie said. “All set back here.”

“Good girl,” Guru said, “Corvette Lead in hot!” He rolled in on his run, picking out the leading vehicles. God, a whole armored regiment on the move....This won't be your morning, Ivan. Guru picked out the regimental advanced guard and lined up some tanks in his pipper. “HACK!” Twelve Rockeye CBUs came off the racks, then he pulled away. “Lead's off target.”

Below, A Soviet army captain was leading the advanced guard of the 292nd Guards Tank Regiment, 72nd Gaurds Motor-Rifle Division. The division had been shot up at Wichita in May, and had been in reserve with the rest of 1st Guards Army, but now, they were back at the front, and the division had been sent to shore up the 204th MRD, which was a mobilization-only unit, equipped with old T-54s and open-topped BTR-60s, and was getting shot to pieces. His men were mostly veterans, and were eager to get back into action, and show these Americans that the Soviet Army never gave up. The captain looked up from the commander's hatch on his T-64BK command tank and saw a dot approaching his unit at high speed, and three more behind it. He yelled into his throat microphone, “AIRCRAFT ALARM!” Then Guru's F-4 flew overhead and the CBUs came off the aircraft.

Guru pulled out and rolled left so that he could see how his bombs did. He and Goalie were looking as the CBUs exploded, and a number of vehicles exploded in fireballs. “SHACK!”

“Good hits, Corvette Lead,” Nail said.

“Thanks, Nail,” Guru said as he headed north.

“Two's in hot!” Kara said as she came in.

“Triple-A coming up,” First Lieutenant Judd “Brainiac” Brewster, Kara's GIB, said.

“No radar,” Kara said. She lined up the advanced guard's 122-mm SP guns. “HACK!”

The Soviet captain watched as several tanks fell out of line, burning, and just as one crew bailed out of a burning tank, it exploded, killing them, and sending shrapnel flying. He ducked, and as his tank drove forward, he stood up in his hatch and looked to his rear. Just then, Kara's bird came over and released its bombs, and he saw the CBU bomblets explode on and around his artillery battery.

“Good hits!” Brainiac said as Kara rolled away. “And secondaries!”

“All right!” Kara replied as she set course north. “Two off target,” she called, then asked, “Anything behind us?”

“Just Sweaty rolling in.”

“Three's in!” Sweaty called, and she rolled in on the target. She picked out the center of the column, where some tanks and APCs were mixed together. Sweaty ignored the tracer fire from several tank machine guns as she rolled in. Lining up a pair of tanks in the pipper, she muttered, “Not today...and HACK!” Twelve more Rockeyes landed on the Soviet column as her F-4 pulled away.

The Soviet captain ducked again as Sweaty's F-4 came over, and this time,a rain of bomblets landed behind his tank. He had been tucked in behind the lead tank company and a company of BMP-1Ms had been right behind his own tank, and just behind the motor-rifle troops was the second tank company.. It was that company was hit, and several APCs and tanks took hits in their thin roof armor and they went up in fireballs. Grimacing, the captain ordered his driver to keep moving. The sooner the advanced guard was out of this air strike, the better.

“Righteous!” First Lieutenant Bryan “Preacher” Simmonds, Sweaty's WSO, called.

“Good hits?” Sweaty asked as she banked away. “Three's off target.”

“Great hits, and we got a few secondaries,” Preacher called.

“Flak or SAMs?” Sweaty asked as she turned the F-4 north.

“Negative,”

“Four in hot!' Hoser called. He spotted what looked like an SA-9 launch vehicle and several APCs deploying, and to him, that was an inviting target. He lined them up in his pipper....

Just then, the SA-9 fired, head on at him, and his GIB, First Lieutenant Kathy “KT” Thornton, called, “SAM, Twelve O'clock!”

“Not enough,” Hoser said. The missile flew by their plane, and he hit the pickle button. “HACK!” Again, Rockeye CBUs came off, and this time, the CBUs tore into the SAM track and the APCs, exploding the SA-9 vehicle and killing a ZSU-23 for good measure, while also killing several tanks that had gotten off the road to disperse.

“Good hits!” KT called, and she involuntarily ducked as some tracers flew over the F-4.

“”Four's off,” Hoser called, taking the F-4 north.

“Copy that, Four,” Guru called. “Egress and meet up over Lavon Lake, then we're gone.”

Behind them, the advanced guard of the 292nd Guards Tank Regiment was halted, and many of its vehicles were either knocked out or were damaged. The captain grimaced, wondering how he'd inform the regimental commander, when his tank ran over an unexploded CBU bomblet. The blast tore off the left track, and the tank slid into a ditch. The Captain shook his head. It was turning out to be a miserable day, and it wasn't even midmorning. He called his regimental commander, who ordered him to halt in place and await reinforcements and assistance. Just then, from the south, came four more F-4s.....the flight from VMFA-333 was rolling in.....


Over Lavon Lake, Guru was orbiting, and waiting. First Kara, then Sweaty, then Hoser, all came up. Then Guru contacted Nail. “Nail Six-One, Corvette One-one. Got a BDA for us?”

“Corvette, Nail. I give you a four-decimal zero. All bombs on target. Thanks a bunch.”

“Copy that Nail, and you're welcome. We are outbound for home plate.” Guru then set course back to Sheppard.

“What time is it?” Sweaty asked. “We're cutting it close.”

Guru glanced at his watch. “0925,” he replied. “Twenty minutes there, then who knows how long in the pattern.”

“Yeah,” Goalie said. “Well, we'll be there. Even if everyone in this flight is in sweaty flight suits.”

“Remember what LeMay told a recon driver in the Cuban Missile Crisis? He said that he'd never question anyone's appearance if he'd just returned from a combat mission.”

“They told us that at the Academy,” Goalie said.

It was still twenty minutes until Corvette Flight was in the Sheppard traffic pattern. There were two other 335th flights ahead of them, and all had four aircraft, Guru was pleased to see. After several Marine flights of both Phantoms and Hornets left, then it was their turn to land. After touching down, the flight taxied away, and as they did so, the crews popped their canopies. Then they taxied into their dispersal area and then their revetments.

Guru shut down the engines, then took off his helmet. “0955,” he said.

“Shit, you're right!” Goalie said, glancing at her own watch. “We'd better get over there.” She indicated a hangar where the service was being held.

Sergeant Crowley, the crew chief, came up with the crew ladder. “Sir, you'd better get over there,”

“You are so right, Sergeant,” Guru said. He, then Goalie, climbed down from the aircraft. They had a quick look around 512, then Guru said, “She's working like a champ, Sergeant, Too bad you guys have to get her turned around...”

A Dodge Crew-Cab pickup pulled up to the revetment just as Kara, Sweaty, Hoser, and the GIBs arrived at 512's revetment. It was Master Sergeant Ross, the senior NCO. “Get in, sir! I'll get you all over there.”

“Let's go,” Guru said, and all four crews piled into the pickup, and Ross drove over to the hangar. There was already a crowd of AF and Marine personnel there, waiting, When Guru and the others got out of the truck, still with helmets and flight gear, he noticed General Tanner and Colonel Brady talking with Capt. Mark Ellis, the Executive Officer of the 335th. “General,” he said, saluting.

“Major,” Tanner returned the salute. “Well, if our friend Colonel Rivers is watching, and I have no reason to doubt it, he's no doubt smiling with approval. Half of those at his own memorial service show up in sweaty flight suits and haven't even gotten out of their flight gear.”

“Yes, sir,” Guru said.

“Still got a couple of minutes, Major,” Tanner said. “How'd it go out there?”

“Made the lead element of an armored regiment go away, sir,” Guru said. “Some flak, but not much.”

“I'll go along with that, sir,” Kara said. “Hardly anything came up at us.”

“General,” Ellis said, “Licon's been taking impromptu debriefs as people trickle in. But sir, that can wait. The Major's flight is the last in.”

“Let's go, Major,” Tanner said.

“Yes, sir,” Guru replied.

General Tanner led them into the hangar, where folding chairs had been set up for Colonel Rivers' memorial service. There was a lectern up front, with both American and Air Force flags flanking it. One of the chaplain's assistants directed them to their seats, with the General seated next to both Guru and Colonel Brady. Tanner looked around, and saw how everyone was dressed. “I think he'd be pleased.”

“Sir?” Guru asked.

“Enlisted mechanics and ordnance people in their grimy work uniforms, other enlisted and ground officers in BDUs, and the aircrew in flight suits. Hell, Major, you and two other flights didn't even have time to get out of your flight gear.”

“Yes, sir. But General, I think he'd like it that way. Since we're going back out not long after it's over.”

“That you are, Major,” Tanner said. He was in BDUs himself.

Guru nodded, then saw one officer in dress blues. “Sir, there's one who we all know and hate who 's dressed up.”

“Well, Major, expecting him to go with the flow might be a waste of time, but the effort has to be made,” the General replied, referring to Major Frank Carson.

Guru nodded, “Yes, sir,” then he noticed the Chaplain coming with the squadron honor guard. “Sir, it's starting.”

The Star Spangled Banner began to play, and everyone stood to attention and saluted. The Chaplain came in, followed by Master Sergeant Ross, then the squadron honor guard. The Chaplain went to the lectern, while the honor guard flanked the lectern. Then he spoke. “Welcome everyone.” Commander James Champion, USN, CC, said. “I see the 'come as you are' feeling isn't just limited to the Marines,” noticing the dress of the audience. “Please be seated.”

The audience took their seats, then a recording of Amazing Grace began to play. When it was finished, the Chaplain continued “Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask thee to admit the soul of Lieutenant Colonel Dean Rivers into your loving arms. Colonel Rivers gave his life in the service of his country, to free those suffering under the jackboot of an oppressive and uncaring occupier, and to protect those who are still free. Comfort his family, who need your blessing as they deal with the loss of a husband and father, Comfort also his fellow airmen, especially those in his squadron, as they deal with the loss of a beloved commanding officer and dear friend. And give your protection to those who are carrying on with the mission he began, as they go into harm's way. Amen.”

“Amen,” the audience repeated.

“Thank you for coming,” the Chaplain said. “Though I didn't know Colonel Rivers as well as most of you, we did have conversations. He was a devoted father, husband, and commanding officer, who is missed not only by his family, but by you. He wasn't just a commanding officer, but a father figure to you all. He is missed by everyone who knew him, and and when he reported to Saint Peter, he didn't need to say much, just 'One more airman reporting, sir. I've served my time in hell.'” The chaplain paused, then nodded. “Though when he got to the Pearly Gates, he no doubt found them guarded by United States Marines,” the Chaplain smiled at the Marine officers in attendance. “But with God's blessing, he will watch over you, as you carry on in his stead.” He nodded to General Tanner. “General, if you'll say a few words?”

General Tanner nodded, then went to the lectern. “Chaplain, everyone. What can you say when you lose someone who was not only a devoted aide, but an outstanding squadron commander? Not much. Dean Rivers was the best aide I've ever had the pleasure to have, and he was always ready, with a work ethic that would've pleased any corporate CEO or the Air Force Chief of Staff. Though when he came to the 335th, he realized that a lot of what he'd learned didn't apply in a war zone, so he became more like Robin Olds than Curtis LeMay,” and there was quite a bit of laughter at that from the audience.

“Dean did things his way, and when they got results, that was all that mattered. And now he's gone. We can take comfort in knowing that though the job's not done, we're on the way to getting it done,” Tanner said. He then looked up towards the hangar ceiling. “And don't worry about Linda and the kids. I'll make sure they're taken care of, and you can count on it.” The General nodded. “Chaplain,” He then went and sat back in his seat.

“Thank you, General,” the Chaplain said. “Major Wiser? Could you come up and say a few words?”

Guru gulped. Though he'd been to all too many of these, he never knew what to say. But he nodded, then went to the lectern. “Thank you, Chaplain. General, Colonel Brady, everybody. Colonel Rivers wasn't just a commanding officer, he was a father figure to everyone in the unit. Whether you were a veteran, or a brand new pilot, WSO, or airman new to the squadron, if you needed to talk about something bothering you? He made time to talk. All you had to do was knock on his office door, and if he wasn't busy? He'd find a few minutes to listen to you and give some friendly advice. He took care of his people, didn't let being an Academy product go to his head, was one of the boys after hours, and when it was his turn to buy a round? He did it like anyone else. And when the female pilots and GIBs came into the squadron? He didn't care. As long as they did their jobs, what did that matter to him? All he saw were pilots and WSOs who wanted to get on with the job of winning the war, and that's what mattered. He listened to the advice the NCOs gave, and found time to talk to the enlisted airmen who make sure those of us who fly and fight can do our jobs. He treated them the same way he would've have wanted if he was a subordinate. And he'll be missed.

“When I came back from my E&E, he asked me if anything was bothering me before getting back in the saddle. We sat down, and I told him that I'd seen and done things that no one should ever have to. Not having been in those circumstances, he could only say this: 'Who am I to judge? You did what you had to do in order to get out of it. Don't let it get to you, and get with the business at hand.' Well, I did just that, followed his advice, and well.....He knew when it was time to be a commanding officer, and when it was time to be one of the boys. He also enjoyed a good laugh, and when it was his time to pay for a round, he cheerfully paid for the beer. Though I imagine that he's having a hard time upstairs explaining to the likes of George Patton or Hap Arnold how he handled the wildest, craziest, and yet, one of the best fighter pilots he'd ever seen,” Guru said, nodding at Kara, and there was some laughter at that. “And I know you're with us as we finish the job you helped start. You were with Sandi Jenkins when she splashed that Hip, and thanks.” He looked up. “GBU, Colonel, and Godspeed.” Guru then went back to his seat.

“Good job, Major,” Tanner whispered.

“Thank you, sir,” Guru said. “I never know what to say at these things.”

“You're not the only one.”

The Chaplain went back to the lectern. “Let us pray,” he said, reciting the Lord's Prayer. Then a recording of Amazing Grace was played, then he nodded to a Marine Gunnery Sergeant. The Gunny went to the open hangar door, where a squad of seven Marines were waiting.

“Squad! Present Arms!'

The riflemen presented their M-16s.

“Ready, aim, fire!” The Gunny said. The first volley rang out. “Fire!” The second volley. “Fire!” then the final one. Then a Marine bugler played Taps. And everyone came to attention and saluted.

“This concludes the service. Thank you for coming.” the Chaplain said.

As the crowd broke up and headed back to their jobs, Guru talked to General Tanner. “General, the next person who says they get used to these things will be the first.”

“You're right on that, Major. Anyone who says they do is either uncaring or a liar,” Tanner said.

“Sir, one thing before we head back. The November list of officers?”

“Should be out today, tomorrow latest,” Tanner said. “Some of your people are likely on it.”

“Yes, sir,” Major Wiser said. “At least I'm hoping.”

“Okay, Major. Get your flight debriefed, get something to eat, and get back out.” Tanner ordered. “I'll see you when you get back.”

“Sir, are you...”

“I'll be on base rest of the day. I won't leave for Nellis until this evening,” Tanner replied.

“Yes, sir,” Guru said. He saluted, and Tanner returned it. He knew he'd been dismissed, and went over to his flight. “Well?”

“Not bad,” Goalie said. “I would've been, god, I don't know what I would've said.”

“Same here,” Kara said, and the others nodded.

“Okay,” Guru said. “Let's get back into game mode.” He saw 1st Lt. Darren Licon, the SIO, and waved him over. “Darren, how soon can we debrief?”

“Ten minutes, Major,” Licon said.

“Okay, meet us in the briefing room,” Guru said.

“On my way,” Licon said.

“Break's over, people!” Guru said to his squadron. “Time to get back into the game.”

Ellis nodded, while Sergeant Ross' voice boomed out. “You heard the man. Let's go, people!”
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