Jerry A. Goodson

My life of adventure started before I graduated high school.

Foot in the Door

Towards the end of 1994, I was repeating my junior year of high school in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement, Texas. The runway shared between Lockheed Martin and Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base was the only thing separating my house from the base. I could walk out the front door of my father's house and look to my right and see a gate to enter Lockheed Martin. I had a buddy who drove a forklift for the commissary on base who told me I could get a job on base with "MWR" (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) as a civilian, and I could get on base and enjoy the MWR facilities such as the bowling alley.

I didn't have a vehicle, or even a driver's license. I did, however, ride the fool out of my bicycle all over the west side of the metroplex, and the base was just around the runway. I set out and turned in an application for an opening they had for a dishwasher at the Carswell Club.

The Carswell Club

The Carswell Club was previously the "O club", or "Officer's Club" when the base was the active duty Carswell Air Force Base. It had been "shut down" and taken over by the Navy as a "joint reserve base". That didn't make much sense to me, as there were still several active duty units on the base. I've been on other active bases, and it didn't look any different. However, after the "active duty" base was "shut down", the NCO (non-commissioned officer) club was closed and they merged with the officer's club to make the Carswell Club.

The club had a fancy ballroom for events that were held for various military functions, a large restaurant-style dining area, and two separate bars. The kitchen always seemed to be busy with one type of event or another, from cooking for fancy military events, to catering to reservists drilling, to weekly specialty dinner nights (Mongolian nights were one of my favorites). They employed an amazing chef named Claude Fennell who made the best Chicken Cordon Bleu and wine butter that has ever crossed anybody's lips. Mr. Fennell was amazing beyond his culinary talents and probably warrants a book written about him. Mr. Fennell was a veteran who served in Vietnam, but he worked at the club as a civilian. There were some other civilian employees, but most of the bar staff and wait staff were active duty military working to make extra money.

Washing dishes was no small task. It was fast-paced to ensure there were clean dishes to serve everyone, particularly when there was an event in the ballroom at the same time as dinner in the dining room. On those occasions, they tried to schedule two dishwashers. Even then, it was fast-paced.

After work and the kitchen was closed, I would hang out with co-workers or retired officers in the bar for a while to catch my breath and relax before riding my bicycle home. I was always trying to sweet-talk the bartenders into serving me alcohol... which, to my dismay, NEVER happened. Still, it was so cool that I got to hang out in a bar with a bunch of military folks before my 18th birthday!

Signing Up

I was slithering my through high school only because I knew it was important to finish. I put as little effort into high school as I could get away with. I was sleeping in English IV one day, and was awakened by the counselor. She came into the classroom trying to recruit students to take the ASVAB test the school was hosting in the library. I has already been awakened from my nap, and I didn't want to hear the teacher yapping about whatever it was she was trying to teach, so I went to take the test.

I didn't know why I was taking the test, but I knew a few things. First, it got me out of class, and second, it didn't "count" towards my grade. The test was over two hundred questions and I believe I had two or three hours to take the test. I didn't feel intimidated by the military men from each branch walking around to make sure we weren't cheating. I finished it in less than half an hour, and the counselor let me leave for the rest of the day. SCORE!

A week or so later, my phone started blowing up! I would come home from school to messages on the answering machine for me. I rarely received phone calls, so it was a little overwhelming to receive that many calls in one day. The calls were from recruiters in all branches.

At the time, I thought I wanted to be a bad ass Marine. I called them first, and the recruiter started telling me about the "delayed entry program" I could sign up for during my senior year. I told him I would call him back next year after I became a senior. I returned all the phone calls because I felt it was the right thing to do. When I returned the phone call to the Army Reserves recruiter, she started telling me about the "delayed entry-split option" program. She told me I could join the Army Reserves right now, start drilling once a month, go to Army Basic Combat Training during the summer, come back and finish my senior year, then go to Advanced Individual Training after I graduated high school. It was the "right now" option that intrigued me, so that's what I did!

I went to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) in Dallas, Texas, overlooking the Grassy Knoll where President Kennedy was assassinated on December 14, 1994. After getting poked and prodded all day, I signed the dotted line and took the oath. I was in the US Army Reserves!

I went to my new unit the next day... the 607th Military Police Battalion on Crestline Drive in the cultural district of Fort Worth. I got my military identification card and they ordered me a uniform. Drill was that weekend, and the unit administrator told me I didn't have to come this month, but if I did, I would get paid. Of COURSE I went! When I showed up on Saturday morning, my uniform had come in.

Staff Sergeant Kelly Miller

The first time I returned to work as a dishwasher since joining the Reserves, I was beyond excited to tell a waitress I worked with. Kelly Miller was a gorgeous waitress that I crushed on hard. She was an active duty Marine that worked at the club to keep herself busy and out of trouble. She was married and had kids, but they hadn't yet moved down from Illinois when they moved her unit to Fort Worth. Instead of being bored in the barracks, she filled her off-duty time with waitressing at the club.

She was a bit older than I was, as well, and I would say she "mothered" me more than anything. I'm sure she knew I was crushing on her, and she probably thought it was cute. I can't imagine her not knowing she was the "hot Marine", but she was such a sweetheart.

After I told her about joining the Reserves, she asked me when I would get my ID card and a uniform. I told her I already had both! She told me she wanted to see me wearing my uniform. I told her I would go home and change right now, but while she was laughing, she told me she would let me know when she wanted to see it... but it wouldn't be today.

Space A

Every day I worked with her, I would ask Kelly when she wanted to see me in uniform. I made a point to only mention it once each day in an effort to avoid annoying her, and each time, she would just tell me she would let me know and wink at me.

I turned eighteen right after Christmas, and my dad took me to the driver's license office. I passed the written and driving test, and now I had a driver's license. In 1994, that's all that was required to get a license after turning eighteen. I didn't need any kind of formal driver education.

Now, I could drive myself on base. I could flash my military ID instead of my civilian MWR ID. I could shop at the military exchanges because I was in the military! I still couldn't shop at the Class 6, the military liquor store, though. The legal drinking age was twenty-one. I learned that I could only purchase liquor on base if the base was located within fifty miles of where I could legally purchase alcohol. NAS Fort Worth JRB wasn't even close.

But, I digress. Not long after we rang in 1995 as the new year, the day came when Kelly told me she wanted to see me in uniform. She told me to come by her barracks on Friday afternoon a week or two after New Years Day. I left school early to be at her place at the time she told me to be there. When I arrived, she wasn't there, but I didn't wait long before she pulled into the parking lot. She was in uniform and she told me to get in her car because she was taking me to work with her.

We parked in the common parking lot, but I had to show my military ID card to get into the secured area. We went into a very large hangar and she showed me around the shop where she worked. I don't know exactly what she did, she just told me she worked in "avionics".

One thing I do remember about the shop was a large "X" made with masking tape a few steps inside the door. She purposely walked around the "X", and my mom raised ugly kids, not stupid ones, so I followed her footsteps precisely. I asked what happens if someone steps on the "X", and Kelly told me they would get "stacked", meaning everybody in the shop would dog pile on top of the unwitting victim.

Kelly took my ID card and disappeared for a few minutes. She came back and returned my ID card, then proceeded to take me to a C-130. There were crew members doing "stuff" to the plane while Kelly took me all around and through the bird. I was having a heyday with the tour. I popped off how I'd like to fly on a C-130, and that's when Kelly dropped the proverbial bomb. She said, "Well, today's your lucky day. You'll be flying to Champagne, Illinois, to pick up some reservists that are coming here to drill. I'll see you in a few hours."

I was super excited by now! I told her, "I want to kiss you right now!"

She laughed and said, "Well, you can't or we would both be in a lot of trouble!"

Flying in the C-130 was amazing! I was the only non-crew person on board when we flew up there, and I had full access to the whole plane, to include the flight deck. The weather was nice when we left Texas, but we landed in snow! It was a neat trip for me, because we landed at what once was Chanute Air Force Base. I had been there during Christmas break when I was in second grade because that's where my father was going to tech school when he joined the Air Force Reserves. It was cold then, too!

After we picked up the reserves, I had to ride with everyone in the cargo bay, which was fine with me. I'm flying in a C-130!

After we landed, Kelly picked me up and we had dinner. I was STARVING! She explained how "Space A" (space available) travel works. Now that I'm in the military, I can travel in an empty seat for FREE!

Major Bob's Last Flight

Some time went by. Kelly got promoted to Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt), and her family finally moved down to Texas from Chicago, Illinois. Kelly moved into an apartment off base with her family, and didn't work at the Carswell Club as much. The school year was winding down, and I was getting ready to ship out for Basic Training in a couple of months. One night, Kelly was working and she asked if I wanted to fly on a mission. Of COURSE I wanted to fly!

She started off by telling me that "Major Bob" was retiring, and this would be his final flight before he retires. If I'm being honest, I didn't really know Major Bob Owens, but Kelly seemed to admire him. I don't know to what extent, but his retiring seemed to be a pretty big deal to her.

This flight was going to be a lot more fun than the few flights I took previously. The (training) mission was to fly from NAS Fort Worth JRB to Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. We wouldn't land there, but we would meet up with some F-16 jets that would escort us on a low altitude flight to Gray Army Airfield in Fort Hood, Texas. We would land at Fort Hood and do a "combat drop". Then, we would take off and fly low back to Dyess Air Force Base. Once there, the fighters would break off, and we would return to NAS Fort Worth JRB.

This time, I drove straight to the VMGR 234 hangar. Kelly wasn't there, and that was a little bit of a bummer. I met up with Major Bob and just hung out until it was time to depart. I rode in the cockpit the whole mission. It was super cool flying so low, so fast, and watching the F-16s zooming around us!

The "combat drop" wasn't what I thought it would be. We landed, taxied to an area not far from the runway, dropped the ramp, and the loadmaster just pushed it out of the back of the plane. We closed the ramp, taxied to the runway, then took off. I don't know what was on the pallet, but it didn't seem to be much of training to me. Who knows?

It was getting dark as we approached Dyess Air Force Base. The F-16s peeled off, and we turned to fly back to Fort Worth.

Major Bob was starting to get a little concerned. I learned the tower at NAS Fort Worth JRB closes each night. If there are no controllers in the tower, Major Bob would have to set us down somewhere else. I asked Major Bob if we could land at DFW Airport, and he asked if I had $500 in my pocket. He told me DFW Airport charges to land there. Major Bob contacted the controllers and let them know he was inbound, but was running a little late. The controllers told him they would hang around until he landed.

As we made our approach, Major Bob said, "We're lined up to land on the taxiway.  I've always wanted to do that."

His co-pilot didn't say a word, but he sure seemed uncomfortable. It was dark and I'm not a pilot, so from the jump seat where I was sitting, I couldn't tell if we were lined up for the runway or the taxiway. I just took him at his word. I listened to Major Bob and his co-pilot discussing their landing procedures talking about flaps, trim, landing gear, and all of the other normal pilot stuff.

At the last minute, Major Bob kicks that big ole plane over to the left, then back to the right, and we landed... on the runway. I asked Major Bob why he "chickened out", and he replied, "Thoughts of Leavenworth raced through my head, and I don't think that would be much fun."

His co-pilot interjected, "...but it would have been legendary," and I swear I heard relief in his voice.

As we taxied to park the plane, Major Bob thanked the controllers for sticking around and invited them to meet him at the Carswell Club to buy them a beer. They politely declined saying they had a long day and were ready to go home. I thanked Major Bob for letting me tag along on such a fun flight, and I offered to buy him a beer. He was gracious in declining my offer. Kelly would later explain the impropriety of a private buying a beer for a field grade officer.