Page 4 - Desert Lightning News, So. AZ Edition, Nov. 3 2017
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4                                                                 November 2017                                                  Desert Lightning News

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                by STEPHEN DELGADO                                   “It was a serious and heavy-duty exercise, which involved                                                                                   Courtesy photo
                                                                  convoying with nuclear weapons,” he said. “Although the
                                        Thunderbolt staff writer  nukes were training weapons, actual war was simulated,         Retired Chief Master Sgt. Donald Robinson
                                                                  and every aircraft capable of flying was ready to go. A major
   In January 1975, the music of Elton John and Barry             part of the exercise was dropping simulated nukes.”            then on to Kadena Air Base, Japan, where he was promoted
Manilow topped the music charts. The Waltons, All in the                                                                         to chief master sergeant and then to Luke in 2003 for his
Family and The Jeffersons were popular television shows,             After two years in England, Robinson went to Cannon         swan song. Robinson’s career afforded him the opportunity
and Gerald Ford was president of the United States.               AFB to work on F-111D and E models. As was common              to work on a plethora of aircraft, which included the F-105,
                                                                  during the Cold War, it was a high-tempo atmosphere.           F-111, F-15, F-16 and AWACS.
   That same month, a 23-year-old man from Pennsylvania
joined the Air Force and began a three-decade-long career            “We simulated deploying to forward-operating bases. I          He hung up the uniform in 2005 with three decades of
that took him to many places in the world on his journey          was there for 11 months, and we were busy daily.”              service.
to becoming a chief.
                                                                     It was at Cannon, Robinson decided to make the Air             However, it wasn’t a typical laid-back retirement for him.
   Donald Robinson served in the Air Force from 1975 to           Force a career.                                                He worked short stints at Lowes, Lockheed Martin and
2005. At 23, he was ready for a change that would lead him                                                                       the U.S. Post Office, before joining Veterans Affairs, where
in a new direction.                                                  It was back to Upper Heyford AB for round two, but the      he has been for a decade, continuing to serve his country.
                                                                  tour lasted six years — 1979 to ‘85. Along with the assign-
   “I’d been working mostly construction jobs for five years      ment came more rank and responsibility.
and decided I needed a change,” he said. “I was laid-off from
my last job, so I went to see a recruiter and took the test. I       “I was promoted to staff and technical sergeant while
felt there was good training and opportunities for advance-       at Heyford,” he said. “I was more engaged with my higher
ment as long as I did what was required, so I enlisted.”          rank and had a variety of jobs, which included crew chief,
                                                                  maintenance training instructor and senior controller.”
   The majority of his career —1975 to 1991 — was dur-
ing the Cold War when the world was often on the edge                Attention to detail was a must. It was vital Airmen knew
of nuclear war and tensions were felt around the world.           how to do their job.

   An experience early in his career inspired this young             “There were two people at all times to provide checks
crew chief with a sense of profound patriotism.                   and balances because we were responsible for the aircraft,”
                                                                  he said. “We would watch each other in order to prevent
   “I didn’t know what deep patriotism meant until an in-         mistakes.”
cident in Korea,” Robinson said. “I was at George Air Force
Base, California. We were tasked with loading weapons                Robinson considers his time in England as special.
onto aircraft as a show of force. This experience taught me          “My years in England provided me with an unforget-
the real meaning of patriotism. I realized that being in the      table experience,” he said. “The Brits had so much respect
military wasn’t a nine-to-five job.                               for us. It was a family oriented atmosphere. I recall a time
                                                                  when my car broke down, and I was walking to the base
   “We were ready to go to war and tasked with a show of          and almost immediately a town person picked me up and
force of U.S. military might,” he said.                           drove me to the base.”
                                                                     Then it was time to return to Cannon AFB for a trio of
   After George AFB, he crossed the Atlantic to Upper Hey-        years, where he was promoted to master sergeant, and then
ford Air Base, England, for a two-year assignment, which          he was off to another part of the world for a completely
began an 11-year period of back-and-forth assignments             different type of assignment
between there and Cannon AFB, New Mexico.                            “I went to Izmir, Turkey, for a NATO assignment from
                                                                  1988 to 1991,” he said. “It wasn’t on a base, but there was
   The first stop in England was quite a memorable one,           a recreation center, hospital, school and other support ser-
Robinson recalls.                                                 vices. Izmir was a safe place to live at that time.”
                                                                     However, when Operation Desert Storm launched in
   “I arrived at Upper Heyford Tuesday, and a major exer-         1991, terrorism activity increased and it was no longer safe
cise was set to start the following day. I hadn’t signed in at    sending him back to Cannon working on F-111 aircraft and
my new base and everywhere I looked, I saw people with
gas masks, chemical protection suits and helmets. At the
time, I was not aware of the exercise.

                                                                                                                                 Harry Schlosser,
                                                                                                                                       M.D.

                                                                                                                                     U.S.A.F. Colonel,
                                                                                                                                           Retired

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