Cole, Neil R.
Born in Omaha NE on 4 March 1944, I grew up on two farms in eastern NE. I went to a one-room schoolhouse through eight grade. I then attended high-school in Plattsmouth NE, graduating in 1961, and enrolled at the University of Nebraska as a Mechanical Engineering student. Karen and I got married in August 1965, and we’re hoping, after 53 years, that it is going to work out. Having been in ROTC, I got commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the Air Force just after graduating with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1966.
In February 1967 I reported to Vance AFB to be a student in the 68E Undergraduate Pilot Training class. Thirteen months later I graduated with distinction from UPT and chose the C-141 as the airplane I wanted to fly. I was assigned to the 15th Military Airlift Squadron at Norton AFB in San Bernardino CA. After initial training at Tinker AFB OK, we arrived, along with our one-month old daughter, in San Bernardino in June 1968. While there I flew mostly missions in support of the Vietnam conflict. I upgraded to aircraft commander while still a 1st Lt, which turned out to be a good thing because when I got my assignment to fly EC-121Rs at Korat AB Thailand, my orders identified me as an aircraft commander. However, when I went to McClellan AFB for C-121 training, I had to keep reminding the instructors that I needed to be trained as an aircraft commander, not a copilot. After completing Jungle Survival School in the Philippines, I reported to Korat AB in June 1970. The EC-121R mission was electronic monitoring of Igloo White sensors along the Ho Chi Minh trail in South Vietnam. Each mission was 13 hours long. Our unit later picked up another mission – to provide Airborne Command and Control capability over Cambodia. These missions were only 10 hours long. The end result was I accumulated over 1100 hours in the C-121 in just over a year. I left Korat AB in July 1971 and was sent back to the 15th MAS at Norton AFB to again fly C-141s. However, there were over 60 pilots ahead of me to requalify in the airplane; so after six months of not flying, I was sent to Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery AL. After SOS I finally got checked out as a C-141 aircraft commander again and flew the same Pacific missions as before. In 1973 I got sent to a rated supplement assignment in R&D Civil Engineering at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton OH. It turned out to be project management for the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patt. After a year, I was centrally identified to attend the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patt to get a masters degree in aeronautical engineering. I started classes in 1974, and graduated with distinction in late 1975. I then became a test project manager in the KC-10 System Program Office at Wright-Patt. While at Wright-Patt my only flying was in a C-118. In 1979 I was again assigned to the 15th MAS at Norton AFB to fly C-141s. Having no Vietnam conflict to support, our missions were mostly support to US military locations throughout the Pacific region. In 1982 I was assigned to the MAC Worldwide Command and Control Upgrade Program at Scott AFB IL. There I oversaw a small number of (nominally five) people that were interfacing with contractors supporting, and developing and manufacturing equipment for, the program. We were also responsible for making presentations to MAC locations worldwide and to Pentagon people as required, and providing support for justifying our part of the overall program budget, estimated to be $1.1 Billion. After two years, this organization was dismantled because the commander of the Air Force Communications Command convinced our MAC commander that the upgrade program belonged in his command. All of the people from the dismantled unit were distributed to other jobs at MAC and AFCC. I got sent to AFCC to be over a much larger, but less productive, group doing what our small group had done very well. In August 1987 my fun meter pegged out and I retired as a Lt Col, and went to work as a test manager on the C-17 program at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach CA. During my 12 years at McDonnell Douglas, which got bought by Boeing, I was on the C-17 program, in commercial flight test, in processes and procedures, and in the commercial Total Quality Management System organization. I happily retired from Boeing in March 1999. We then sold our house in Fountain Valley CA, and became full-time RVers for the next 11 years. We’ve traveled in all of the lower 48 states and Alaska, and in all of the southern provinces in Canada. Deciding we needed to find a place to live when we grew up, and because Karen needed new knees, we bought a house in St George UT, and moved into it in 2010. We’re now very active in the Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in St George, and are members of two wine clubs. We leave there in the summers to get away from the heat, and to satisfy our RVing fix. We’re loving retirement, and it’s a good thing we’re no longer employed because we don’t have time to work.