WEBVTT 00:01.330 --> 00:04.480 My name is Michael J . Cook . Colonel 00:04.480 --> 00:07.519 retired United States Air Force . I 00:07.519 --> 00:10.149 served 4 times in the 55th . 00:11.760 --> 00:15.149 1974 to 1976 . 00:16.440 --> 00:18.870 1982 , 1987 . 00:20.549 --> 00:24.350 1991 to 1995 00:24.930 --> 00:28.040 and 1998 to 1999 . 00:29.250 --> 00:32.810 I started as a captain of IP on the RC 00:32.810 --> 00:36.540 135 . Uh , when I returned to 00:36.540 --> 00:40.250 flying in 1982 , I was a major . Got 00:40.250 --> 00:42.472 promoted lieutenant colonel . I was the 00:42.472 --> 00:45.700 ops officer of the thirty-eighth 00:45.700 --> 00:47.700 Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron . 00:49.340 --> 00:51.173 Then I left to become a squadron 00:51.173 --> 00:53.284 commander at McConnell Air Force Base 00:53.284 --> 00:56.099 and tankers . Then I went to command 00:56.099 --> 00:59.540 the 922nd strategic squadron in Athens , 00:59.619 --> 01:02.380 Greece . As part of an OL for the 01:02.380 --> 01:05.949 fifty-fifth wing . I got promoted to 01:05.949 --> 01:08.510 colonel there . I came back here and 01:08.510 --> 01:11.360 served as the fifty-fifth . Operations 01:11.360 --> 01:14.349 group command deputy commander . And I 01:14.349 --> 01:16.349 went and spent 6 months as a deputy 01:16.349 --> 01:18.459 commander in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia . 01:20.059 --> 01:22.170 Then I got a plus job as the area the 01:22.170 --> 01:25.309 shade of Greece . And then I returned 01:25.309 --> 01:28.150 here to finish up my career as a chief 01:28.150 --> 01:31.849 of staff of the fifty-fifth wing . Uh , 01:32.040 --> 01:34.207 what I remember most was arriving here 01:34.207 --> 01:37.440 in '74 after spending four years in KC 01:37.440 --> 01:41.199 135 on Okinawa . And the challenge 01:41.199 --> 01:44.150 is to become an air refilling pilot . 01:45.839 --> 01:49.370 My first operations . Mission was 01:49.370 --> 01:53.300 23 hours and 47 minutes . Which 01:53.300 --> 01:55.660 I was not expecting my lungs before had 01:55.660 --> 01:59.629 been 12 hours in the KC . Um , 02:00.930 --> 02:02.986 During that same timeframe , this is 02:02.986 --> 02:05.097 early in my career , I got out of the 02:05.097 --> 02:07.208 airplane and deployed to Athens and I 02:07.208 --> 02:09.097 was told I was going to take some 02:09.097 --> 02:12.889 passengers . To uh Mildenhall . I did . 02:14.259 --> 02:17.289 And I figured that the wing would let 02:18.979 --> 02:21.146 Hellenicon know that that was gonna be 02:21.146 --> 02:24.520 late . Well , they didn't . So I'm 02:24.520 --> 02:26.576 having breakfast at the Club and the 02:26.576 --> 02:29.720 RAF Nolan Hall , and I get a phone call 02:29.720 --> 02:33.080 from the commander in Athens wanting to 02:33.080 --> 02:35.413 know where in the hell his airplane was . 02:35.413 --> 02:38.429 They had not briefed him on what . I 02:38.429 --> 02:42.190 was doing So , anyway , we 02:42.190 --> 02:45.029 flew a 10.5 hour missions out of um 02:45.389 --> 02:48.190 Mildenhall every day unrefueled in the 02:48.190 --> 02:51.619 RC-135 , and that was the M model . 02:52.039 --> 02:55.149 Uh , it was a very slick airplane , no 02:55.149 --> 02:58.910 cheeks , just a hog dose and All manual 02:58.910 --> 03:00.966 operation in the , in the back end . 03:02.179 --> 03:05.220 Then when I returned uh to 03:05.220 --> 03:08.080 RC's , I was sitting in my office . I 03:08.080 --> 03:10.580 was the chief of Sandoval and I got 03:10.580 --> 03:14.259 called by the late John King that told 03:14.259 --> 03:16.460 me I'd been in crew rest the last 24 03:16.460 --> 03:19.809 hours and to get ready and go fly . So 03:20.460 --> 03:22.809 my crew and I got together , we went to 03:22.809 --> 03:26.199 Lincoln . I flew out of Lincoln on the 03:26.199 --> 03:29.509 first sortie in support of 03:29.509 --> 03:32.970 uh urgent Fury , our invasion of 03:32.970 --> 03:36.539 Grenada . And flew about 25 hours on 03:36.539 --> 03:39.919 that sorting before we came home . Um , 03:42.080 --> 03:44.139 So other than that , I just rotated 03:44.139 --> 03:47.009 between Athens and Kadina . 03:48.589 --> 03:51.789 Uh , when I was the commander of the 03:51.789 --> 03:55.789 922nd at uh Hellenicon , we closed the 03:55.789 --> 03:59.740 base . And we moved the operation to 03:59.740 --> 04:03.270 Suda Bay . Uh , right in the middle of 04:03.270 --> 04:05.437 Desert Storm without skipping a beat . 04:05.437 --> 04:07.919 In fact , we opened up a second front 04:08.509 --> 04:10.860 with the RCs I had in uh northern 04:10.860 --> 04:13.419 Turkey in Turkey over northern Iraq . 04:14.940 --> 04:16.940 Well , that's pretty uneventful . I 04:16.940 --> 04:20.239 came back here and was uh Of group uh 04:21.619 --> 04:24.140 Deputy commander under Colonel Dave 04:24.140 --> 04:28.070 Wolf . Which was uh which was 04:28.070 --> 04:32.040 very interesting . Uh , Then 04:32.040 --> 04:34.350 when I came back up again , I became 04:34.350 --> 04:38.109 the chief of staff of the wing . And uh 04:38.769 --> 04:40.850 We had a few problems with Stratcom 04:40.850 --> 04:42.850 because they thought they owned the 04:42.850 --> 04:46.700 world . So , uh , one story I 04:46.700 --> 04:48.940 had with them , uh , they wanted to 04:48.940 --> 04:50.940 control all the billeting on base . 04:50.940 --> 04:52.579 Well , we paid for it on the 04:52.579 --> 04:55.660 fifty-fifth . So I said , well , we're 04:55.660 --> 04:57.827 gonna put an end to this . So I called 04:57.827 --> 05:01.019 um their chief of staff . Who was also 05:01.019 --> 05:04.279 an Air Force colonel , Stratcom . And 05:04.279 --> 05:06.446 the young lady picked up the phone and 05:06.446 --> 05:08.339 she says , Yes , I said this is a 05:08.339 --> 05:11.279 Colonel Cook . I'm the uh . Chief of 05:11.279 --> 05:13.557 staff , 5th Wing I need to talk to you . 05:14.160 --> 05:17.940 Colonel Aty Fratz . And she says , 05:18.119 --> 05:20.063 I didn't get your name , sir . Who 05:20.063 --> 05:22.341 shall I say , Brigadier General Select . 05:23.459 --> 05:27.059 It's calling ? So I said , what brings 05:27.059 --> 05:30.570 a service for you in here ? Airman , 05:31.049 --> 05:33.382 well , sir , I'm the Air Force . I said , 05:33.382 --> 05:35.327 do you know what we call Brigadier 05:35.327 --> 05:37.549 General Schlecks in the Air Force ? She 05:37.549 --> 05:39.769 said What ? I said , Colonel . 05:41.549 --> 05:44.739 I said , check your list and uh who's 05:44.739 --> 05:47.017 the number one kernel on base data ran . 05:48.980 --> 05:51.899 She said , I see a Michael J . Cook . I 05:51.899 --> 05:54.010 said , well that's why I want to talk 05:54.010 --> 05:56.121 to the colonel . So we sorted out the 05:56.121 --> 05:58.500 building problem that was costing us 05:58.500 --> 06:01.140 money because we didn't have anybody in 06:01.140 --> 06:04.570 our , in our building rooms . But I 06:04.570 --> 06:07.049 have the uh pleasure of flying with the 06:07.049 --> 06:10.070 finest men and women . In the United 06:10.070 --> 06:12.126 States Air Force , United States Air 06:12.126 --> 06:14.181 Force here in the fifty-fifth wing , 06:14.181 --> 06:16.014 whether it's a 5-fifth strategic 06:16.014 --> 06:18.269 reconnaissance wing or the fifty-fifth 06:18.269 --> 06:20.325 wing . There's just a great bunch of 06:20.325 --> 06:23.910 people up to and including you folks 06:23.910 --> 06:25.950 that I've met in in the short past 06:25.950 --> 06:29.619 there . And uh I logged 06:29.619 --> 06:32.890 about 5000 hours of RC 135 time . 06:33.859 --> 06:36.739 Uh , that did not include the 2500 06:36.739 --> 06:40.679 hours . I had in tankers . So that's 06:40.679 --> 06:42.730 a brief history of my time in the 06:43.589 --> 06:47.119 Fighting 55th . And I've seen it go 06:47.119 --> 06:50.420 from strategic recon swing . To just a 06:50.420 --> 06:54.040 way So That's 06:54.489 --> 06:56.656 about all I've got to say unless you . 06:57.190 --> 06:59.829 We got some Questions . 07:01.880 --> 07:02.429 Thank you .