Page 22 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2018-2

Exciting Week for Two Active Duty DFCS Tucson Members
Cols. Kim Campbell and Scott Campbell Change of Commands
By Chuck Sweeney
Before I describe the events of the week of 25 June 2018 that occurred at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, I’ll start with some background for those of you who don’t know Kim and Scott Campbell. They are married to each other, are both active duty USAF Colonels as well as A-10 pilots and as far as we know, they are the only husband and wife pilots who both have been awarded a DFC.
Kim “Killer Chick or KC” was awarded her DFC for action in Iraq on 7 April, 2003 when she was hit by a SA-7 missile after shooting up Iraqi Republican Guard troops in contact with US troops in Baghdad. Although the A-10 was badly damaged, including no hydraulics, she was able to fly it back to Kuwait in the manual reversion mode and land safely, which is an extremely rare occurrence.
Scott “Soup” Campbell was awarded three DFCs in
four days in Afghanistan from 4-7 March 2002, which
included an eleven-hour mission landing at night at an
austere, blacked out, classified base and flying two more harrowing missions from that base.
Their complete stories, including pictures, are in the DFCS book “On Heroic Wings: Stories of the Distinguished Flying Cross”, and their citations are on www.dfcsociety.org .
The first event of the week occurred on Monday afternoon, June 25th, when Kim flew her last A-10 flight. Once she pulled off the taxiway, she had to taxi under the water arching from the two fire trucks parked one on each side. Once she was parked and shut down, she was greeted by family and friends. Scott had a well shaken bottle of champagne while others had fire extinguishers to make sure that Kim was completely soaked after reaching the ground.
Four DFCS Board members were present at the next event on Wednesday afternoon. Bruce Huffman and Marty Lenzini live in Tucson while Greg Mac Neil and I flew in from San Diego to participate in the events and enjoy the Huffman family hospitality. I was a little worried about the Tucson weather, but for the three days it was a relatively moderate 103o.
For this event Scott was also making his last A- 10 flight. It was really fun watching everything and since we were wearing our DFCS hats and shirts, we met another active duty DFCS member besides the Campbells. He had just arrived at the base recently and Marty talked to him about coming to the Tucson Chapter meeting.
Col. Kim “Killer Chick” Campbell gets a champagne soaking from husband Scott “Soup” Campbell after her last flight as an A-10 pilot and Commander of the 612th Theater Operations Group and the 474th Expeditionary Group.
Col. Scott “Soup” Campbell’s last A-10 flight before relinquishing command of the 355th Fighter Wing.
WINTER 2018 / DFCS News Magazine / 23