Kecskes, Stephen (Andy) A. (Deceased)
During the period between pilot training and advanced school, married Jane Garis on the Ides of March and we have been together for 50 years now. We have two children and two adorable twin grandchildren (boy/girl now 3-years old).
Upon leaving pilot training traveled to Oklahoma for C-141 school along with Charley Arms and then on to Norton AFB, CA as a jumping off point for Vietnam. Assigned to C-119G gun ships, we went to Columbus, OH, for training before I went to Phan Rang for my combat tour. Jane moved to San Diego for this period working for a brokerage company to keep busy.
While in theater upgraded to flight examiner, earned 11 air medals and 2 DFCs for combat operations. Luckily my aircraft only took one 50-cal hit during the entire tour, however, on my last mission a mini-gun malfunction ended up putting several rounds of our own ammo into the outboard part of the left wing. Fortunately, none hit anything vital, like gas tanks, and we made back to base.
Since I was a MAC asset I was assigned to C-141s at Charleston AFB, SC, on return to CONUS. Became involved in combat airlift missions (CAM) and worked my way up to flight examiner. This was fun since you were flying close formation at 500′ with a 3-ship cell and doing heavy equipment or troop drops versus droning over the ocean for hours at a time. This was also the time our son was born just before leaving on the next assignment.
Left Charleston for Yokota AB, Japan, on a 4-year tour as an 22nd AF mission controller that eventually turned into a 610 MASS base command post controller after the 22nd AF section was closed down. Flew C/VC-118s as an attached pilot since I had all that C-119 reciprocal experience.
The next assignment was my rated supplement with the AF Audit Agency at Travis AFB, CA, for 3-years. I had been out of C-141s so long I could not fly as an attached pilot plus the agency wouldn’t support the necessary time off for flying. Our daughter was born here about 6-months before our next overseas tour. I managed to wrangle a C-140 assignment at Ramstein AB, Germany coming out of the agency. Interesting in that I was a replacement for Charley Arms after all these years. Flew throughout Europe and northern Africa carrying VIPs until tapped for duty at the 322nd ALW as a mission control room supervisor. Went back to the squadron flying CT-39s to pass along my theater knowledge to the new, young pilots coming in from CONUS as their first real world assignment. Transitioned to the C-12 as replacements for the CT-39s for the last year of six in Europe.
My last assignment was as a C-12 flight examiner at Norton AFB. I retired in the summer of 1986 and went to work as an internal auditor for a bank in San Diego. Eventually moved into the credit union world until I retired again in 2015 from being an independent contractor providing internal audit services.
From 2010-2014 did a complete restoration of a Schweizer 1-26A single place sailplane that I still have and fly at a local glider club north of Austin, TX, where we moved in late 2016. Our family is now all in one place again.