AIR FORCE NOW

[Music] [Music] Smith you're really gonna have to get into the books on those emergency procedures this is the second time that you've almost blown it yes sir I know I'll hit the books you know the regs require that I fail you right here but I want to get you through the program baby sir Parker your crew scheduled for arrest now what are you doing in here none of us good sleep sir that fight last night threw us off well you know you're scheduled out Ordo 100 will be this the syllabus calls for a an instrument right today but we're gonna get you started on your low-level stuff down I haven't had the ground training yet for a little step down look boss won't mind if we change things around a little bit we need to get you mission qual as soon as possible there anything behind the activator no this is not in there all right I'm gonna sign it off close it up and from now on you keep a tighter rein on your tools [Music] [Music] to change things [Music] you know you're scheduled out of the 100 will be this [Music] [Music] I love to fly the job is very very challenging the 7th axe is an integral part of Tactical Air commands heavy aircraft unit I'm Colonel Steve Foster the commander of the 7th airborne command and control squadron the 7th acts primary mission is the command and control of tactical air resources in the air to ground war [Music] we basically are the link between the tactical air control center and the forward air controller who does the direct controlling of the aircraft the seventh axe is also unique in the fact that it has several aircrew positions that don't exist another aircraft for example in the back we have the director of airborne battle staff known as the DAV's the role of the DAV's is basically just a coordinator we direct the battle staff and we have approximately 11 highly experienced people that work for us it is very important to have a tactical background because most of our work is done with fighter aircrafts and it is essential that we understand the pilot we do not ever try to take away from the pilot we're trying to make our forces more effective and their job safer the Intel section is unique and the fact that it is one of those few opportunities for an intelligence officer and intelligence technician to actually apply their knowledge in an ongoing fluid battlefield situations in this position we can be deployed on a moment's notice to go anywhere in the world respond to a crisis situation and I'm responsible for listening to intelligence better with size being interpret analyzed and used to nominate target down to the operation section where they will take care of that statement Thanks Bucs primary responsibility is to ensure the air tasking order is accomplished I tracked the strike aircraft ensuring that they meet their time on target that's considerably different mainly due to the fact we have no radar on board and the primary job of a weapons controller is dope duty usually ours was 100% communications we are a communications platform we have some of the most experienced radio operators in the airforce and basically they make our jobs if it's any easier we have 108 and list of people flying in the organization flying on the airborne battlefield command and control center is a unique experience and on the course of the year's time you might be gone a hundred hundred twenty 180 days a year it's an experience that you can't pass up my hands [Music] [Music] this predicted job the most important thing is that we get to support tactical air force that day is to get the balls on target [Music] aerial combat was like hunting a lion only this time the lion can hunt you right back it's big-game hunting to its absolute epitome I thought I would be very very fortunate just to know a few of the Aces and all of a sudden I found myself involved pretty heavily and shooting down in the air top and ended up at the period as the leading ace at the beginning of World War two we had a known enemy and there he was and so we knew that that was an enemy that we had to go against and we had to become victorious but when you take off and you get into actual combat with another airplane you don't really think of it in terms that there's there are human beings in that machine it's an object in the sky that's against Jen you want to get rid of it and it's only in in very few circumstances when you actually are close enough so that you see and are exposed to that human being that it really becomes a situation where you're now involved in the emotion of having killed another human being the day I got shot down we had been on a bomber escort mission and we had been released from escorting the Bombers to pick targets of opportunity we were heading toward Paris I happened to look down to ground and I saw the railroad started down to attack and came up behind it and course fired and I was going so fast that I over ran it and I was shot down everything that was happening to me from that point looked like a great Zee movie that I didn't really want to be in I didn't want to go to the theater in the first place and I got involved with the French on the ground within about 24 hours they structured a mission to pick me and three french fries up and fly us back into freedom so I got orders transferring me back United States right away and couldn't stay on in combat and came back home I had heard that there was a group headed up by a guy that a lot of us will recall a lot in my age group in the days of Terry and the Pirates that famous comic strip during war the hero was a guy named flip korkin and he was actually an Air Force colonel named Phil Cochran I asked if I could be assigned of that and within the time of course orders came to you and I got a sign of the air commandos and find myself in the Pacific I only shot down one Japanese aircraft I only saw about three well I had been in the Pentagon working for the secretary the Air Force when the Korean War started that to reach it's at height I transferred to Korea and went into combat there [Music] we were trying to establish the capabilities of the Sabre jet to drop dimes in North Korea and if we could do this and maybe we would attract the MiG's to come up and fight with us and they may be able to get more next that was really good by who cares about bombs the bottom line was let's shoot down their MiG's the pilots that we're up against were Russian we knew that because we listened to their air ground air-to-air communication it was all in Russian we were outnumbered tremendously but we had such a success ratio that it was just incredible in the annals of warfare we shot down 14 MiG's to everyone f-86 we lost if you could get next to a Meg you were pretty assured that you weren't gonna have any trouble and you're gonna get shot down of course that sounds funny considering the fact that I was shot down but I can use the weak excuse that I was shot down by ground fire not like in here crap as I turned around I looked down on the ground and I saw a truck going down the highway and I thought well I just knocked that truck off and have a big story to tell the guys when I get home in the bar tonight I got hit by ground fire the cockpit filled with smoke I called on the radio said he's pitiful Pryor you know I've been hit of course that was it I was captured and the thoughts that go through your mind is God what have I done today I mean dear God why are you after me I've been a good guy as they began to question me they came forth with an accusation that I had been conducting germ warfare against them and they were charging me as an international criminal war criminal each time I was taken back to myself I'd try to reflect and try to figure out what was going on and I could see that brainwashing thing that was happening to me they were keeping me awake for long periods of time constant interrogation practically no sleep at all and I couldn't concentrate on things and I knew it I knew my mind was slow I decided that they were going to get to me I was going to do something that would be harmful to my country and to the free world and make a confession that I knew was false and so I decided to to commit suicide and I have a lot of warning for young people these days who want to commit suicide if you're if they're gonna try it they shouldn't try it by slicing their wrists because it hurts there's no question about it anyway I did that I finally cut - and I have blood doing pretty good and of course the guards came rushing in with flashlights and they saw the blood and came out and got me they laid off of me for about 10 days and fed me and for Vania Slee and then at the end of 10 days approximately they said okay we're gonna start again I've probably made about a 10 page confession and in that I put in all kinds of funny stuff so that anybody could tell it was a phony confession and there had been cores and involved and I had been living in solitary confinement the whole time hadn't talked to an American or a or a Caucasian at all or for about 16 months we were the last group of prisoners to be exchanged during the prisoner war exchange I was met by the senior intelligence personnel 5th Air Force whose first comment was my god but we didn't know you were alive a handful of prisoners had to show cause why they should be retained in the military service several left several continued to stay on and in my case I got orders to go to a special weapons course at Sandia which is a big atomic energy nuclear war kind of thing which was sort of an absorbent they're sort of saying you're ok we're gonna let you know some more secrets I look back on the military service as my fondest days when I really enjoyed myself I think the military service is the noble service because it has the highest form of integrity of any profession we need integrity I did the best I could do I believe in America and I believe that it needs to be defended and and I was willing to to put my life on the line to make sure that democracy prevails and I would do it again tomorrow this afternoon yet I'm a little little old now to pull nine G's but still if if it's required then I think we all ought to we all ought to take a look around us and say we got it made here in this country and we've got to preserve that for our young people in the next issue of air force now over 25,000 college students are pursuing Air Force Commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps the University of Southern California is part of the plan Air Force medical personnel must go through medical readiness training each year visit Wilfred Hall Medical Center and see combat readiness in the making we live a day in the life of a Vietnam warrior the f-105 thunderchief all this and more coming soon in Air Force now [Music]