I arrived at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska,
on June 1st. I was scared. I met Tim Anders, my boss, and Tony Graham, Tim's boss, who spit while he talked and had such a confusing way of speaking, Tim had to interpret for me at first. The first time I saw Karen, I vaguely remember her walking up behind Debby Trumble and putting her arm over her like she wanted to choke her. More on Karen later...
Two weeks later we ran 1 1/2 miles for our annual
fitness assessment. I was concerned
because I'd never run more than a mile in my life, had only done a little weight lifting since my arrival at Offutt, and
I'd pulled a muscle in Denver. I had the fastest time in my group,
(I was young) and was famous for a day.
Then, there was a big 'showdown' with the
fastest runners in the squadron called the
'fleet feet' race. The Air Force always
tries to think of cool names, and it's very annoying. I would've called it the, 'I don't suck at EVERYTHING,' run. The trophy would be some naked, muscular, Greek-looking guy not sucking. It'd be easy to find a trophy like that. Straws weren't invented until 1888.
I took off early, having never raced before, more afraid of being embarrassed by losing than thinking how great it would be to win. I struggled to hold the lead. I was seeing red and I burned out at the
finish. My time was 8:30, and I lost by three
seconds. So, I got second...*sigh*
Minutes later the very first operational B-1B Lancer flew through Offutt on its way to Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. I'd just enough time to sprint to my room, grab my camera, run outside and see this green bolt of lightning streak over my dormitory at 600 miles an hour. It was so fast I thought it was a fighter. The B-1B looks small, nimble, and too fast to be a strategic bomber, but in fact it can carry twice the payload of the larger B-52. A crowd gathered on the runway to see this historical event.
The B-1B was to fly out the next morning but that came and went and not a word was heard about what had happened to it. A few days later while walking around the flightline after sunset, I caught its silhouette in a hangar. Without fanfare (or warning) the B-1B flew out of Offutt about a week late. Rumor was the pilot, a General, dropped a flap on the high
