The Box and The Letter

On August 1st, 1969, he was stationed at Utapao Royal Thai Air Force Base situated on the shore of Thailands western Gulf of Siam.  They had been married for two months. They had met a little more than a year earlier when she was at a Rapid City, South Dakota bar with friends celebrating her 19th birthday. He was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near there and was 23. 

That day, he wrote her a letter that went like this...

"I was recalling the time you and I built that dam at the cabin. I was really grooving on you that day and was thinking something like; If I am not already, I hope I fall in love with her because she is definitely the girl I'd love to marry. She's got warmth when you need it - Enthusiasm when you need it - Class when you need it - She's a hick when you need it - She's got insight when you want it - She's naive when it's nice to be that way and wise when it's necessary. There's more but I've run out of words. Nope - it's not the booze talking because I've just finished my first. 

Yours and Yours and Yours & still in Love With You,"

(When he returned from Thailand, they would spend their first year together at March Air Force Base, Riverside, California.  Then, he would then be assigned to Thailand once again for a year in Udorn, Thailand. She would return home to Rapid City and while there, complete school as a Radiology Technician.  During those times, they would exchange dozens of letters and later cassette tapes. This note is an excerpt from one of those early letters.  Almost 57 years later, he would come across it among many others she had placed in a box for safe keeping. The box travelled with them through 9 moves over the next 15 years while they remained with the Air Force, finally settling in Sacramento, California in 1987.)

 

A Series of Fortunate Events

Event #1:  1963 - 17-year old brand spanking new high school graduate - straight "A" student in Naivete' 101 (Actual GPA was 2.0 - I didn't deserve it).  Parents signed for me to join Air Force.  While in basic training, was tested and selected for Defense Language School in Monterey.  Filled out forms for security clearance and omitted arrest and conviction at 15 for "driving car without owner's consent."  Shortly after, was sent to technical training to become public health technician instead.  While processing into the school, was handed my records folder to take to another check-in point.  Peeked in folder and noticed they had discovered my omission about getting busted. Yet, they waived a "discharge for fraudulent enlistment." Went on to serve four-year commitment and left service at age 21.  Great adventures and great way to grow up...some.

Event #2:  1967 - Back home after first hitch, Seattle seemed too small.  Not happy with work opportunities. After a few months, re-signed with Air Force.  They wanted me to go to Intelligence school so I filled out another security clearance questionnaire and this time, listed my arrest at 15.  It worked. I got a Top Secret SCI clearance and went through Photo Interpreter and Combat Intelligence training at Lowry Air Force base, Denver Colorado.

Event #3:  1969 - Met and married Julieann Marie Thomas to begin 53-year plus relationship.  Be still my heart. Also assigned to Utapao Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand where I built strike charts for B-52 bombers.

Event #4:  Promotions were slow (it was probably me) and, after being selected for second tour in Southeast Asia within one year of return to States I was allowed to decline the assignment.  This meant I was ineligible for promotion and was due to be discharged from the service.  Air Force promptly promoted me by accident.  I was set up for nice potential bonus so I asked to withdraw my declination statement and volunteered to return to Southeast Asia.  It worked, I reenlisted and I promptly went back to Thailand (Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base) where I worked as a photo interpreter picking out targets for air crews. 

Event #5: Passed College Level Entrance Program tests and was almost a sophomore before I took actual college classes (probably learned something from my love of reading...in spite of myself).  Began night classes in Thailand, continued them in next assignment and when I got close enough, I requested full time college under the Air Force's "Bootstrap" program.  Was selected, and we moved from Phoenix to San Bernardino where I completed Chapman College in ten months of night school then back again to Phoenix.  Yes it was fast... three and a half years start to finish. 

Event #6: 1973 - While back in Phoenix after graduation, I found out the Air Force Education folks had failed to have me acknowledge 3:1 payback time for Bootstrap education so I could leave quickly if I wanted. My third (gulp!) hitch, more than half way through a career, was almost up. It would have totaled 12 years; first four goofing around, second four settling down and third four finally getting serious about education. Then I was free to pursue any direction.  

Event #7: I had enjoyed my time in the Air Force so I applied for a commission in the Medical Service Corps. I had decided if that didn't work I would leave and perhaps pursue an MBA.

Event #8: 1975 - While home on leave, an Air force pal tending our Phoenix home called and said I had received a letter from the Medical Service Corps. He asked if I wanted him to open and read it to me. I said "yes" and in front of Julieann, my folks and brother he read the letter notifying me I had been selected. To receive that terrific news in their presence was pretty amazing.

Event #9: While at first assignment, I heard of opportunities to pursue Air Force sponsored Master's Degree in Healthcare Administration.  I asked around and a more senior officer told me; "I applied three times and got selected the third time."  I figured I had better start my three attempts then and applied right away.  My timing was good, I got lucky and was selected...first try.

Event #10: 1979 - Finished Master's program (fortunately) at Medical College of Virginia then assigned to Strategic Air Command's Fairchild hospital in Spokane, Washington.  Son Tyler Thomas was born there... in that same hospital. Julieann followed me to work to have our baby.

Event #11: 1980 - Boss at Fairchild, venerable Colonel Paul McNally had to leave for several months of Air War College and picked me to serve as temporary hospital administrator in his place.  Following visit by Strategic Air Command senior staff, Colonel Gottlieb and company, I was invited to assume Administrator job at northern Michigan hospital.  We had been at Fairchild less than a year.  I asked Julieann what she thought and didn't need a verbal response as I noticed tears in her eyes...not of happiness. I regretfully turned it down.  A few months later, right at our first year anniversary there, I was again offered the Administrator position, this time at the Air Force hospital in Great Falls, Montana. Julieann then held back the tears as I am pretty sure she knew how much I wanted that job. Son Tyler was right at a year old when we left Spokane. Julieann loved Spokane and the home we bought there. It was but one of many hardships she successfully faced during our career of moving really fast from place to place.   

Event #12: 1984 - As I approached the average 3-4 year tenure at Great Falls, Father's health was failing and I applied for a humanitarian assignment to be closer to family in Seattle area.  Found out conditions didn't qualify but MSC assignments officer (thank you Colonel Rutledge) relented and let us go anyway.

Event #13: After a few months in Seattle area and while visiting at parents home, I got a call from my former commander in Great Falls.  He asked if I "was sitting down."  I said "Yes" and he proceeded to tell me I had been promoted to Major three years below the primary zone, an event that occurred for Air Force officers approximately one percent of the time. I was actually nearing 20-year eligibility to leave the Air Force then but could not resist the promotion.  Pretty astonishing event and I would soon find out how huge a part luck had in it.

Event #14: As we approached one year in the Seattle area, I was interviewed for a job assisting with Medical Service Corps assignments and career development.  We moved to San Antonio, moved into a beautiful Spanish-style home on the base and over the next three years I loved working for and with the great Lieutenant Colonel Paul Murrell on career development and assignments for the 1,200 active duty Medical Service Corps officers stationed all over the world.

Event #15: While there I also gained real time experience concerning officer promotion boards. I learned in any single board, there might be a handful of officer records that senior selection committee officers would focus on for potential one, two, or three year early promotion. The few, the small percentage selected would be from that group and the decision was made on all factors available with the exception being the persons being considered were not actually present.  Performance reports (typically "fire walled" and pretty much perfect); education (military and civilian); and increasing job responsibility were key. Also, a current 8x10 photo. I figured officers could position themselves near the very top by focussing on those factors and from that point, it was a coin toss. I knew full well the good fortune involved and soon incorporated that information into career development briefings for fellow Medical Service Corps officers world-wide. Working title; "Aim high and get lucky." 

Event #16: 1987 - Nearing the three year point of that assignment, I started considering next steps. I applied to again be a Hospital Administrator as I loved the work. I was accepted for the position at the Ellsworth Air Force base hospital near Julieann's home town in South Dakota.  I was grateful for that and was once again left with a decision to take that job or retire from the Air Force and explore health care administration positions in the civil sector.  To help us with that, Julieann and I separately listed what we felt were the top ten good things we anticipated from leaving or staying.  Surprisingly, the results were very much the same.  Not long after, I considered that I had spent more than half my life to that point in the Air Force and it was time to find out what civilian life was like. I know I was pushing my luck but "aim high" right? Julieann agreed and we left.

Event #17: 1988 - Daughter Samantha Marie was born about a year after we left the Air Force.  I enjoyed telling folks I misinterpreted the meaning of leaving the Air Force to "start a new life."

Events #18-22:  1988-2023 - I watched my son and daughter grow and prosper for more than 40 and 30 years respectively and they continue to this day. I had another satisfying career as a consultant, most with my own corporation. With Julie's encouragement I bought a Harley Davidson and went through four of them in a 20-year span. I got to love, and learned to play hundreds of Texas Hold'em poker tournaments. I was able to write a couple of books focussing on memoirs of family, motorcycles and life's good fortune. The two are soon to be condensed and edited into one memoir, "Hayseed." 

So there you have it.  I have a wonderful family and I have all these events loaded in my bucket. Of course a lot went on before and hopefully a lot will go on after but this series of fortunate events continues to dazzle me.  As Julieann has often said; I have had a "charmed life" and the most fortunate event of all is that she has been with me, she has encouraged me at every step and she has motivated me to live it.

RandallC...You've Been Found!

The Internet, invented by the famous chadman, Al Gore, has this amazing power to answer virtually all questions. Also, to "Google" something is now considered a verb in all respectable circles. This is a well earned distinction I would say.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought again of an old friend I worked with in Udorn Thailand many years ago. We were part of a group of Photo Interpreters working in Air Force Intelligence. Our specialty was interpreting reconnaissance photography. That and drinking Singha...Thai beer.

We had special light tables for loading and reviewing

L-R; Yours Truly, Oscar Tisby Jr., Tom Beamon,
Randall Craft. Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base.
Thailand, 1972.  Oscar is all decked out in honorary
Thai flowers because he is headed home.

cans of film. The cans were fresh from F-4 Phantom missions. Cameras on the planes were positioned to give us a three dimensional "stereo" view of the terrain below. This helped us spot North Vietnamese targets such as anti-aircraft artillery, surface to air missiles sites and supply trucks.

Randall C was one of the best, if not the best of us. Whenever I would spot something on film and wasn't sure quite what it was I would consult him. Sometimes we would argue the finer points; "'That is a probable occupied 57 millimeter site!" "No, that is a possible occupied 57 millimeter site!"

Whatever we would agree on would be pencilled into photo interpretation reports and sent to key punch operators who would get the reports in the system. From there, they would be sent to military agencies in Southeast Asia who were responsible for tracking enemy movements and setting up targets for bombing missions.  

Oscar Tisby was one of our crew.  Oscar was the fastest keypunch operator (typist) I have ever seen. He was also one of the happiest people on the planet. When Oscar got our reports, he would key them in like lightening, using huge fingers that dwarfed the keyboard.

Tom B, Randall C, Tom C, Jeff ?
Our own little bar right behind our Photo Recce shop
Udor RTAFB, 1972 

We also had our own little homemade bar, complete with ping-pong table out in back of our main building and we would often retire there after working a grave shift.

RandallC and I had a few outside adventures while at Udorn as well. Once, we got off grave shift and hit the on base Thai restaurant for a quick breakfast with a Singha beer on the side.  For some reason we then decided to rent a motorcycle - even though I would say neither of us were experienced riders. I had been on one before and knew how to shift the gears so I was self-elected to handle the controls with Randall C on the back.  

We had a fairly uneventful trip speeding up and down the highway as I recall, except at one point we decided to stop somewhere and have another beer.  We spotted this Thai bar alongside the highway and headed for it.  As we pulled up in front, I noticed the front door was open and really had no sill to speak of (it could have had a dirt floor but I don't exactly recall). With that, I just rode the bike right inside the bar, put the kickstand down and RandallC and I proceeded to have a beer. Luckily, the Thai management were pretty amused by the event. RandallC had an infectious smile (cheese eating grin might be a more apt description) and that is most likely what saved us.

I was privileged to work with those great guys and a couple of weeks ago I Googled Randall  C.  I found him and now we are back in touch after more than 35 years.  Wow!!!

P.S. I am sad to say I also Googled Oscar shortly after posting this blog entry. I found him in his home state of Indiana...among the obituaries. Oscar passed away just a few weeks ago, on the 6th of March. Oscar Tisby Jr. spent one four year hitch in the Air Force and then rejoined his family in Indiana. He retired from Bethlehem Steel and was 60 years old when he passed. Oscar was a great gentleman and I hope to see him again one day...I will sip a glass of fine wine tonight in his honor. Rest In Peace Sir.  (I couldn't find Tom Beamon - where are you Tom?!)