The Everyday Veteran Podcast: Bill Young

In this episode we talk with Retired Air Force Major Bill Young. Bill had an amazing career in the Air Force as a Meteorologist taking part of some historic events. One event that Bill talks about is when he was the head Meteorologist for the very first NASA Space Shuttle mission and it's safe return to Earth.  Bill is an extremely humble man who does great work in the Coachella Valley supporting Military, Veterans, and their families. Below is a brief bio of Bill.

William (Bill) Robert Young

Born December 27, 1947 in Foxboro Massachusetts

Family moved to California in Fall of 1959.

Graduated High School … Santiago High, Garden Grove, Calif in 1965

AFROTC at Colorado State

Graduated in January 1970 with degree in Social Studies (Mechanical Engineering Major most of time at CSU but switched majors to start studying meteorology for Air Force) and commissioned as a Second Lt in Air Force

Spent all of 1970 at Texas A&M in basic meteorology program

1971 to 1974:  Dobbins AFB, Georgia.  Forecaster/worked with C-5 program.  Many of the original astronauts passed through our weather station during this time.

1974-1976:  AF Global Weather Center, Offutt AFB, Nebraska.  Assistant weather team chief.  Forecast weather for bases all over the world including support to resources in Viet Nam

1977:  Back to Texas A&M to get Master’s Degree in Meteorology

1978-1981:  Los Angeles AFS, California.  Working with Space Division.  Meteorologist in charge of support to the Space Transportation System (STS) more commonly known as the Space Shuttle.  At Edwards AFB for landing of STS-1 in April 1981. Put together weather support plan for the Space Shuttle.

1981-1984:  Commander of the weather station in Giebelstadt Germany in support of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (Wurzburg)  Staff weather officer to commanding General of 3rd Infantry Division. Many field exercises during this period.

1984-1990:  Current Operations Officer for the 5th Weather Squadron located at Ft McPherson, GA in support of Army bases in USA and FORCES Command. While there was a briefer for General Collin Powell. Lots of assistance visits to Army Posts all across America.

Retired in January 1990 and started working for a private weather company (Strategic Weather Services later changed to Planalytics) in July/August.  Company headquartered in Valley Forge Pennsylvania but with a weather forecast office in Palm Springs which was just starting and I was asked to head up.  Worked for them until about 2006.  Spent 2 years at company headquarters including 2001 where I was located at the time of 9/11.  Weather forecasts for big businesses, helping them plan their long range sales projections.

Since retirement, I have been on the Advisory Board of the local Salvation Army (about 14-15 years) and active in the Air Force Association and the American Legion.  Also been blessed to be on the veterans committees for Congresswomen Mary Bono Mack and then Congressman Raul Ruiz as well as Supervisor Manuel Perez. While working with the Salvation Army, we started the Veterans Easy Access Program (VEAP) and accomplished 9 live Veterans Expos and a monthly e-mail newsletter, the ReadBack which updates local veterans on what is happening locally and on a national level. Hope to return to having live veterans expos once again in 2022.

Married since 1982 to Deanna/ no children

Transcript

EVP05: Bill Young 

[00:00:00] Pat: Welcome to the everyday veteran podcast. I'm your host Marine veteran Pat Keplinger the mission of this podcast is to educate, motivate, and inspire you and your family to live your best life post-military service. Join me tonight. As we talk to retired Air Force Major Bill Young. Bill is going to talk to us about his time in the air force as a meteorologist and a very special assignment as a meteorologist in charge for the space transportation system.

Also known as the space shuttle bill currently lives in the Coachella valley, which is near Palm Springs, California, and is still very active in the veteran community. 

Welcome to the everyday veteran podcast. I'm Pat Keplinger and with me tonight, we've got Bill Young Air Force veteran Bill. Bill, welcome to the podcast.

[00:00:43] Bill: Thank you, Patrick.

[00:00:44] Pat: Thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you grew up. 

[00:00:50] Bill: I was born in Massachusetts, a little town outside of Boston. And for my first 12 years, new England was my world, Boston red Sox, and all the things that go with that.

And then at age 12, my dad who was in world war two and actually was in the Pacific theater. Uh, and, and he worked in, in, uh, in the, uh, uh, aircraft industry and all the opportunities were in California. This was 1959. So he moved this whole family to California, to orange county. And that's where I grew up.

I went to high school and, uh, and actually really developed into where I was and where I wanted to be. Cause it was a black different in California than it was in a small town in Massachusetts. 

I had a big culture shock for you and in orange county back then is not what it is now, 

right? 

[00:01:40] Bill: No, but the west coast and California and the beach, it was a whole different, this was, this was in the, mostly the sixties, uh, growing up in California.

At that time Massachusetts was ultra conservative. I mean, they were just, you know, it had ages and ages of people living in the same homes in the same towns. And you move to California where everybody seems like they had just moved there in the last five, 10 years. So I got to meet and mingle with people that were much different than the people you grew up with in California

and it has two-cents. 

[00:02:15] Pat: And then what was it like to have the real orange county with all the oranges and all that compared to now? What do you think of how it's 

[00:02:23] Bill: turned out? We went back there. I couldn't live there now. It's so crowded. I, we lived on, on west street and if you don't know about west street, west street is the street that goes by Disneyland and in garden Grove.

And it was a two lane street across from our house. That was a big orange. And I used to walk to school and I'd walk by a strawberry, uh, fields and, uh, all kinds of agriculture, uh, that was in orange county. Uh, so it was much different scene that is today. I mean, that's very farm Disneyland. We're just getting started and you could go there for a buck or sometimes you can go in for free, uh, and into those places, 

[00:03:03] Pat: not so much anymore, not so much anymore.

Yeah. And so high school, did you, were you being in a sports or what type of things did you do throughout high school? 

[00:03:13] Bill: Uh, I was not, I was not really good in sports. I did play basketball. I was six foot when I was in high school. So it may be big enough to be a backup player. And, uh, you know, I, I was put into play defense and rebound.

I was never the star or the shooter. Any points that I got were just, you know, Uh, I was a good student. I was, uh, you know, I took all the college courses. I had good rates. Uh, so I had a choice of some colleges I could go to. I applied to the air force academy and didn't make it, I got accepted to the coast guard academy, which I decided I didn't want to go to.

And I ended up going to Colorado state university and going through air force ROTC. 

[00:03:55] Pat: Great. And then, so was that something that you from the air force, is that something that you'd want it to do for a long time or what was the thinking behind that? 

[00:04:05] Bill: It was kind of two things. One, my dad was in the air force.

My uncle was in the air force, uh, when actually army air Corps and my dad was him. Um, so I, I had a lean that way and then I wanted to fly planes. I, my eyes were still at that still. Okay. At that time. And then they suddenly didn't become okay. So while I was in ROTC, I wasn't allowed to go into the file pilot program.

And I debated whether to get out, uh, but then they did. And they decided that they needed people as either navigators. You still had navigators then, or as weather officers. And they talked me into being a weather officer. I had taken, never taken a class in weather. I didn't know what any of that involved, but I was an engineering student.

So I had the, uh, the math and the science to qualify for it. So I changed my major to that and graduated from, uh, Colorado state with a bachelor's and then commissioned me out of there as a second Lieutenant, right in the middle of the Vietnam war. 

[00:05:00] Pat: Wow. What year was that? 19 60, 19 69. And so when you were, you're getting ready to go to college and even through college, the Vietnam war was happening.

Right. Was that something that you thought about of, okay, so I'm going through college. I'm going to be an officer in the air force. There's a very real chance of me actually being a part of. 

[00:05:21] Bill: Oh, yeah. Everybody in the RTC units knew that face, especially when I was part qualified the earlier years. I mean, it was almost like your odds of ending up in Vietnam.

Some point are like 90%. So, uh, but once I changed to a weather officer, it, it changed. I didn't have a lot of whether officers in Vietnam, most of the support we got outside the country. So it was a lot, it was a different dynamic. I would still be support in Vietnam, but not in country. And at that same time on the college campus, all the unrest was going on once you know, about the late sixties.

But, uh, there was a lot of protests about the war there. Even some ROTC buildings that got burned down at some campuses, always had a problem, but not while I was there. 

[00:06:07] Pat: And then your, your parents, were they encouraging you to join the service or was it one of those things where they, you're going to make up your own mind, whatever you do, or how did that look like?

[00:06:18] Bill: My mom and dad were always encouraging whatever I wanted to do. Um, I don't think with Vietnam going on, they were terribly enthused about it, but, you know, I think they were happier when that got switched to weather then when I was in pilot. But, uh, I, I think they never, never tried to discourage me about what I really wanted to do.

And I, and I did change my mind a number of times in college, as far as my major. So, and they stuck by me. And even if it was less expensive than those days that I've worked several jobs to help get through college, I couldn't have done it without my parents. So I ended up going through college and not having any debt at the end, which you know, today's world, that's almost 

impossible.

[00:07:00] Pat: It's pretty amazing after you graduated, became a second Lieutenant in the air force, uh, and then weathermen. So did you go to follow on training before you went to weather school? Or how does that work in the air 

force?

[00:07:13] Bill: I, since I didn't have a degree in weather, they sent me to Texas a and M for one year.

And, you know, as an officer and I, and I, I went to a, one-year condensed a bachelor's degree for weather that Texas state down. And the only condition was I had to wear my uniform once a week. And this is on a campus. This is the Texas a and M the old days. And they taught all their, everybody was an ROTC, went to Texas a and M you were male, and you went to ROTC date, just started to switch to you had co-ed there and you wear your uniform and you try to walk across campus.

And even as a second Lieutenant, they were taught to salute any. So it was like a minefield getting from your, where you parked your car to getting to the meteorology building with my first experience as a, as an officer. And I learned a lot of made a lot of good friends there. And then from there they then assigned me to my first real site.

And, and so do you consider yourself an Aggie? Just, just got to ask 

that that's a complicated question because I went back and got a master's degree at Texas tech. I went there twice, so you're going hear daggy. I consider 

[00:08:21] Pat: myself an egg. Oh, okay. Okay. And how was it being on the campus being in the air force?

Um, did anybody give you any, any flack about being an air force, uh, on the campus or 

[00:08:32] Bill: no, they, they were ROTC actually is multi-units air force and army. So they had, they had quite a few on air force ROTC. And you made a lot of friends. It's the largest ROTC unit on any college campus. So it's even. But not everybody's in the core.

Uh, it still is the largest ROTC. 

[00:08:55] Pat: Were you in the Corps? Cadets being a second Lieutenant and going back for, to score. 

[00:09:01] Bill: I was active duty air force. Okay. So the course what programs they, they were still, you know, cadets and I was at that's why they, that's why they went jump across the street to the salute.

Any officer? Uh, it wasn't just me. Was there a taught that if you see a real officer you're supposed to give your body away, you salute them and then you stick your hand out and you introduce yourself. So it was, it was 

[00:09:26] Pat: interesting. Good. And then after, after, uh, there, where were you stationed? 

[00:09:32] Bill: I was my first time.

It was at Dobbins air force base, which is in, uh, near Atlanta, Georgia. And that's where they have the. The C5 before, it's the big place, the gigantic cargo points. And we supported them. It was right across from now Navy Atlanta. So there was a dual runway and I was learning to be a weather forecast. So I think they, and the way most military does things is they assign you a master Sergeant to teach you, I mean, these are the guys that really run the military and they know what's going on.

So I learned to be a good weather forecaster from this message. This master Sergeant had probably 20 years of service. Uh, and he knew all the ins and outs of how to be in the military or the right foods. And don'ts rather than being trained by another officer, that was the way they, they taught us. . 

[00:10:26] Pat: And did you have folks underneath you?

I, I mean, I know that in terms of rank, the mass Sergeant was below you, but did you have command of, of airmen or. 

[00:10:36] Bill: No none at that point, they, uh, actually I became a first Lieutenant at six months after I got there. Cause it was like at that time it was a year and a half. And you went from second to first.

So I made first with that fairly soon after I got there. But no, they, there were, I think two of us young officers and we had nobody that we were over. Uh, there was a commanding officer who was, if you think a captain at that time. And then there was one other assistant that he had, and those two officers were supposedly in charge.

But the, the master Sergeant and the chief master Sergeant were the ones who really ran the weather station. The officers interacted with the base provided briefings. And then they, they got the latest from the chief master surgeons, master Sergeant as to what was going on and pretty much whatever they said was what, 

[00:11:26] Pat: and any, any funny particular stories while you were there about the weather?

I know that, uh, sometimes the weather can be unpredictable, but I'm sure that you're an expert. Reading 

[00:11:36] Bill: the weather. This was, uh, Atlanta, Georgia. This was in the early seventies. It was in the height of the astronaut program and, and the, and most people remember those early astronauts, the initial ones, but they were mostly stationed out of Houston and they were, they would fly back and forth.

They had a plane assigned to exclusive to them. They would fly back and forth from Houston to Washington, DC to business. And they were pretty much treated like the Royal VIP's of the air force, I guess, any of the services at that point. And they would fly inevitably fly through Atlanta as a stopover.

And I, I remember I w I was afraid to ask for their autographs at the time, there was just like, you know, movie stars and they would come in and be filling out the weather brief forms. They had to get to whether the brief probably can fly. And they'd say, it looks like maybe thunder storms out there and I'd look up.

For clouds and I couldn't, firstly, I didn't know what they were doing, but they wanted to lay over in Atlanta overnight. So they wanted me to write thunderstorms in area on the bottom and then they could use their judgment to say, well, we overnighted because of thunderstorms. So after awhile we caught onto that and we knew, but they said that, you know, they just wanted to have a night in Atlanta.

So we just went ahead and put on the storm scenario on the bottom of the forecast sheet. 

[00:13:04] Pat: Oh, that's funny. And the weather in Atlanta sometimes could be pretty temperamental. Right? I mean, you can, I'm assuming it's somewhat like Florida where it's all of a sudden, just something can blow in all of a sudden 

[00:13:17] Bill: yeah.

It's, Atlanta's in the Northern part of Georgia. So it not only gets the big funder storms and it gets some snow in the winter and some ice, ice storms actually. So it's really a interesting blend of whether or not, how does severe weather wonder why it says. Uh, a little bit of everything and yeah, big thunderstorms.

[00:13:38] Pat: Did you enjoy your time there? 

[00:13:40] Bill: I did. That was, you know, I was my first time in college. I was kinda on my own, but it was different. This was the first time on my own with my own funds. Not much a second Lieutenant didn't make much money. Then I had to share a apartment with another guy cause I couldn't afford it by myself.

And, uh, and I had a really, I, you know, you know how it is when you go to college and when you, uh, first time you, uh, don't have a lot of money, so you eat whatever you can find, make things, stretch, buy the cheapest brand of whatever. So yeah, I was, I was skimping officer's clubs at that time were great deals.

Their lunches were almost free. So I would eat the officer's club. A lot. One of my best friends was a, yeah, was another forecaster who was a staff Sergeant. And he used to take me over to the NCO club and I found that even had better food than the officer's club. We usually go over there sometimes. Nope.

Nobody ever said anything. They knew the young officers, uh, respecting the sprayed saving and that, and so the NCO is, were great to us. I enjoyed it. Atlanta was different the first time I'd ever been there. It's a nice city. I had a good time. 

[00:14:52] Pat: How are you treated and being in the military in Georgia?

Did you notice anything or especially during the seventies? 

[00:15:02] Bill: Yeah, I, I guess, uh, having been raised in California and we had, you know, divert, the other young officer that I used to share with time with was from Puerto Rico and he was, he was a great guy. I remember we had little, uh, re uh, trips that went back and forth to Puerto Rico and we call them the rum run.

It was mainly the drop supplies down there to the base there and bring stuff back. And he, and I would bum a ride on there and he he'd take me over to where his family. I remember driving around San Juan when this narrow streets was amazing. But you know, first thing you learn in the military is that the military is very diverse and you learn that the guys who've got your back, the guys who can do the job, those are good guys.

Those are your friends and the ones that can't see up. So, you know, if you kind of draw the line that way, not on, based on anything about age or religion or whatever else it's, who can do the job. 

[00:15:59] Pat: Right. And what about out in town was the local population pretty accepting of military 

[00:16:06] Bill: folks? I think they were, I mean, Dobbins was in Marietta, which is north of Atlanta.

And I didn't go into Atlanta all the time. Very rarely. Uh, I didn't think there probably was things going on that I wasn't aware of. Obviously, you know, a young kid and his first time out on its own. Uh, I, I wasn't aware of any major problems. Um, but it, it, it just seemed like I was trying to just try to survive, I guess.

Uh, I, I wasn't aware of any, any, uh, protests problems. I think the community knew that we were good for them and they were good for us. And so everybody got along 

[00:16:45] Pat: and then after Georgia, where'd you go, 

[00:16:49] Bill: then I got my assignment to air force global weather central. This is the place whether it's done from all over the world, like putting a sport to Vietnam and set off an air force base.

And off of the air force base, of course, is where they have the, uh, the, uh, general that's always in the air. And so they have a whole area where I think there's like 15 generals with their homes along the central area. And they're from army and air force Navy. And they rotate in flying in the plane. So there's always somebody in that command center flying off the ground at any time, please something happens.

And global with a central is the counterpart. We did weather on demand for anybody anywhere, anytime. And we were one of the first to get the, uh, the satellite pictures, the weather, satellite pictures, and they were still classified them. Nobody, you have to have a top secret clearance to be able to with the weather satellites.

So that's when I got my top secret background investigation clearance, and I was, uh, uh, assistant team sheet on the floor, man. I worked shifts and, uh, we had, I think four day shifts, two off four night shifts, two off. So you lose track of them. You know, what day of the week it is sometimes thinking what time of the day it is, but, but it was a good job.

I met a lot of really great people there and I learned a lot about weather there cause we did, uh, we did upper error, all parents icing and special forecasts. We did forecast for areas where we really didn't even have any. But we had to make a forecast. So you became an, then we didn't have the information you have today to the radars and the sophisticated, uh, satellites of today.

We didn't have, these were, these were very, uh, what's the right word for it. They were, they, they were, they were very crude compared to today's stylize. And we would try to piece something together to get a whole picture. And we put that underneath and acetate. And then from there, we try to draw where we're on the front store and then just use a extrapolation to move the fronts along and then put the weather along the front.

And that's how you make you forecast no computer making a 14. 

[00:18:59] Pat: That's amazing. So how did you take, take us through how, if you needed, uh, if you had, if you got a request from across the world, Vietnam or some other country for weather forecast, how do you get that information back to where you guys are at.

[00:19:19] Bill: We had, we had sophisticated stuff like teletype machines. I mean, it wasn't, uh, the types of communication that today it would come in through, we have a, we had a classified section that I wasn't even allowed to go to. They would get the requests, the requests would come out to the floor where we were and would just say, we need weather for this flight from here to here.

And the two end points. So we would, we would go, we had an upper air section where we could look at the clouds and the turbulence, and we would take that off of that, put it on the forecast, make a forecast for both end points. We had an Asian section that did just Asian forecast and a European section in Europe.

And so you'd go around to all these areas, compile all that data. Then you give it back from this, this top secret section and they were responsible for transforming that or getting that information, communicate it. Now we had some computers, I mean, some of the computers. Brown brown, some numbers on the upper air winds.

That was a real critical thing for most of these flights. So, but that was about the limit of the computers 

[00:20:23] Pat: where the flights, uh, classified as well, or just the, the weather. What part of the process was, was top secret. 

[00:20:30] Bill: Some of the flights were classified depending on what their mission was. Uh, somewhere were just general forecasts.

Like if they were having a particular, um, uh, project particular, uh, program going on some kind of a, uh, an attack in Vietnam and it was scheduled, you know, a week in advance, we would monitor that for the whole week and then get them a forecast like the day before. So they knew what the weather was, you know, from, from the bombing missions or from whatever missions they had that I left recovery missions, helicopters.

So. We would get information like that. And that of course was classified. They wouldn't tell us anything only that this is what you need to do, get it to us. And we'll we'll do the rest. 

[00:21:16] Pat: Was it pretty exciting at that time? 

[00:21:21] Bill: It was at first, I think when I first got there, I was really excited, but after a while it was just, you know, doing the same thing over and over again.

And we weren't really briefed on what the missions were or where this data was going to. We just knew that we needed weather for these particular areas. So we weren't in on what was going on. I mean, sometimes when you would do a forecast and then maybe reading the paper three or four days later, that something happened, you said, oh, I bet that with what we made that forecast for.

Oh, 

[00:21:49] Pat: interesting. Interesting. And how long were you there for? 

[00:21:53] Bill: I was there for about three 

[00:21:54] Pat: years, three years. And then AF after that, what was kind of the next move for you? And at this time, were you still a first Lieutenant? Did you promote to captain? 

[00:22:03] Bill: I w I was promoted to captain captain. Okay. Uh, and, and, uh, yeah, captain about the middle of the time I was there.

I mean, the light up you make first Lieutenant and captain pretty quick in the air force. And then, then it gets really slow after them, especially in weather. Cause they don't, they don't even have a general. So the highest shooting ever make is full Colonel and that's, they only have so many slots for that.

So w w we knew going in that, you know, if our goal was to make it to major, that was, that was the goal. Cause then, you know, then you were guaranteed in 20 years, we tend to, Colonel was be nice, but that depended on getting the right assignments like Pentagon and some other things. So I, you know, at this, at this point, my goal was I wanted to, to advance my education.

So when I cut out I'll be better prepared and they did send me to Texas a and M after GWC to get my master's degree. No. Okay. Can I spent a year there getting my master's degree? 

[00:23:00] Pat: Yeah. And then, so how was it going back to H and M as a Catholic. Vice Lieutenant. Did you notice a difference and was it nice to be back 

[00:23:10] Bill: there?

There were more girls on the campus, a lot more girls. Yeah. It was slowly evolving into a, into a fully coed campus. Of course though. And a lot of those girls were in the ROTC. I mean, the things that the whole thing had changed, I think from what we thought of in the military was starting to evolve into, you know, who is the best person for them.

And in the air force, a lot of the ladies are better fliers than the man, because first of all, they had the right size and shape. They can fit in the planes better than we can if we get to bigger. So, uh, they found real quick that, you know, that's a, uh, a bonus that they have. If you can find a sharp young lady, who's motivated, wants to be a pilot.

You know, you got a lot of advantages there. So there were a lot of ladies now at the campus, they say, of course it is. It's it's, it's a huge campus. I mean, it's, it's, there's so many people packed in there. Parking is horrible that the meteorology oceanography building, it's the largest building on campus.

And so that's an interesting one. You can always pick out our building from anywhere, anywhere from distance away, where, where it is, 

[00:24:20] Pat: and you're a college station, right. The main campus. Okay. Okay. And so after, after you got your master's, where was the next step for you? 

[00:24:31] Bill: The, the reason for the masters is at least at that time, wasn't a space program was starting to really evolve and they wanted meteorologists to get their masters so they could add that to what they were doing.

So my next assignment was at Los Angeles, not Los Angeles air force base, as well as Los Angeles, therefor station at the time. And that was where the hub of the shuttle program and the GPS programs were both being developed right at that time. 19 78, 79, 80 81. And, uh, and so they sent me there and they had a small staff, whether officer group there that their main job was to support these programs.

And they assigned one officer to each program. And I got assigned to the special program. Wow. My best friend was on the GPS program. And, and, and at the time I went there, they ha they had, there was no Watchers yet. This was before STS one, but we didn't, we didn't call it the space shuttle. We called it space transportation system STS.

And, uh, I still, while they were labeled STS one STFC they have the last, the first one yet. And, uh, uh, our job was to write a, with a support plan. And that meant, we had to think of all the contingencies where weather would impact the space show, obviously. And that included the space based. But space was the minor compared to the takeoffs and landings where weather would impact.

Especially, you know, wins or icing or thunderstorms storms, a lot of things. So the way the support plan set up all the contingencies of what could happen and came up with a go no-go and then a gray area. The go, no go was, they couldn't, they couldn't change that. But the gray area, the launch control specialist could consider other factors that make a decision.

So, and we had to write that in there. I was, it wasn't something I was really keen on having, but that's how they wanted it to be laid out. So I spent the time I was there writing the weather support plan, helping to set up a weather station in Houston to support the space show. And then, uh, they extended my stay.

It was normally three years, but they extended me in the half year cause they wanted me to be there for the first watch. So I was there and at Edwards air force base, when the first show came down, we were measuring the noise and the sound cause they were afraid. Uh, the Sonic booms would be breaking windows and doing all kinds of things.

And in fact, they, that's why they developed that little butterfly loop that you see when it comes here, it doesn't just come straight here. And it does a little Cloverleaf type pattern and that bleeds off some of the sounds so that when it lands, it's just like a normal Panasonic boom for a flight. 

[00:27:18] Pat: So excited.

So you, you were part of 

[00:27:20] Bill: the first launch. I have a flag in front of me on the wall here. This was floated on that really a little tiny play from the picture of the shuttle take off and landing. Uh, and, uh, yeah, it was a special. Wow. And then I also had my little, uh, the little, uh, uh, parking permit that I had.

When I got into Edward's thing, you got to have this thing that said you were a official support team for STS one. Wow. I have that too. 

[00:27:53] Pat: Was that like, just to be part of that program and to watch it come back and just to be there for that history? 

[00:28:00] Bill: I, you know, I think all the excitement of the spatial level is gone now, but in those times it was, it was a front page, headline news, the idea we were going to launch something in space flight around, up there, and then come back land and then use it again.

I mean, that, that concept at the time was, you know, people kind of believed that we could do that and they, it wasn't totally reusable because I don't know if you remember about the space shuttle. Uh, it was three components. It had the shuttle itself, it had an external tank, which was just full of fuel and it had two solid rocket boots.

And the external tank dropped off right away and burned up. So you had to replace that every time the solid rocket boosters are the ones that after these turtle tanks is done. Got it. Actually, you have to orbit and those parachuted down and supposedly they can reuse those. A lot of them were not reduceable, but they could use most of them.

Yes. Were they able to find the property walking back? 

[00:29:02] Pat: Were they able to find those, those parts pretty well? Or was it just kind of a guessing game at that point? 

[00:29:07] Bill: Well, yeah, all of those external tank and boosters, um, there were companies that, uh, just made just those parts. So they, they knew in advance, they had a stockpile of boosters and external tanks to use.

So the main thing was the shelves and they just had just so many of those. So you didn't want them going and they had the humans inside of them. So you didn't want anything to happen to that? As we know, two of them didn't make it back. And I ended up one, one was customer problem with icing on the, uh, on the shuttle.

People, people don't realize that space shuttle is made up for coated with these tiles and the tiles are not tiles like you have in your kitchen, they're made out of styrofoam and all it is all they're there for is just to, uh, uh, cut down the heat on the body of the shuttle. It's like an installation only in reverse.

I mean, it's, it's to bleed off the heat and each one of those tiles is a different shape. It has to fit perfectly or the outside of the shuttle to keep it from burning out. And, and, and upon the second shot that second shuttle that, uh, didn't make it back. Some of those tiles were damaged on takeoff and that's where, why they have the problem with the shuttle when it came into land 

[00:30:30] Pat: and they didn't, they didn't know that was a reason why.

Yeah. Yeah. So when you were doing your, your weather forecasting and creating the plans, did you take that into consideration? The, what the weather due to the aircraft and in all the components of that too? Or was it really just, you have to fly through this weather? How did that work?

[00:30:56] Bill: Yeah, we well know a lot of these things we could, we could figure out in advance. Um, but some of these things we, we kind of learned as we went along, um, like I mentioned, we had the go-no-go parameters, but there are things we knew as far as wins. And I used the thunderstorms. You just couldn't tolerate that.

And there were levels that we knew weren't going to be a problem, especially most of the launches were at Patrick air force base in, uh, in Florida. Okay. Patrick air force base the Cape and arable every faces and launched from Cape Canaveral, although they had planned on building a launch facility in Vandenberg and they never got to do that. Uh, they started it never got finished. It, the idea of being that you watch some shuttles into polo orbit and some of the equatorial Arbor, and you want to have a one watch of water.

So I ended up using, uh,

for almost all of the shuttle watches and then Edwards for, uh, for landings. Um, so we, we knew a lot of basic things about the shuttle. We knew how it was built. We knew I can tolerate as far as sales. And we made all those rules rules up based on that then as we did, we'd never done this before. So after a few flights, we, we modified some of those things.

And the first shuttle that, uh, that was destroyed on takeoff, the one with the, uh, the teacher onboard. And, uh, they lost with thunderstorms closer than we were comfortable with, but it was in that gray area. And, uh, and so they had no problem with that. And after that, they expanded the number on out. Uh, there's always an element of risk.

I mean, we knew more, we went into this, you know, if we could get through all the shuttles they had planned and not have one single major accident, that would be a miracle because there's so many components, so many parts to use these things that, uh, and so many things that can go wrong. And if you think of the technology, this is technology and the early seventies.

That's what a I'm 45, 50 years ago, you know, it, we know a whole lot more now than we did that. So these people that are working on the shuttles, how to parts now that the private industry ones, uh, they they've learned a whole lot from all the mistakes and all the things in the new technology that we never knew.

I mean, they had a, they had a developed things like what, what food did they eat when they had space and, and, and, and all the things that are as strong would have to do while he's out there. And I think our modern technology, our computers, uh, took a giant leap forward from where we were at the beginning of the shelf programs, where we were at the end, mainly because of the space psychology.

[00:33:53] Pat: And it's amazing the technology we carry in our pockets every single day. Absolutely. And, and, and what, how that compares to back then, it's just, it's amazing. 

[00:34:03] Bill: Absolutely. Yeah. If you think about the kinds of phones that we were using on the ground, but we had guys flying in this. Yeah, it's amazing that we could do what we did back then.

[00:34:14] Pat: Wow. So exciting. What was the, what was your, the best part of that experience? Was it, was it once there, you knew they were coming in and safe or that they've actually landed? What, what part of that was your favorite part?

[00:34:31] Bill: Well, you know, I guess seeing the first shuttle, I mean, you work on something for three years, you know, and you have people skeptics saying, there's no way this can happen. Uh, actually seeing it take off and, and hearing, you know, the command controls say that they're safely up there and they're doing the mission.

And then, and then getting them back safely. I mean, that whole part, that first shuttle wasn't up for very long. It had had a minor mission compared to all the later missions where they actually placed satellites in space and did repairs to, uh, uh, the stuff we have up there. Uh, it was a pretty minor mission, but it did prove that we could do it.

Everybody. That was part of that on that day, when it landed at Edwards air force base was really proud of that. I mean, for me, I got to work with some people that were amazing scientists and a spacial program was not just an air force program. It was, it was also a, uh, a DOD, it was a civilian, it was a government, everybody was partnering in it and working together.

So you, when you sat in a meeting, you had representatives from all those different areas. And, uh, and people were actually working together and there was real conflict. There was a discussion. Uh, there were decisions made, but, uh, it was, it was a very friendly, very, uh, focused environment to work in. And I, I, I enjoyed that.

I was, I come once in a lifetime time, uh, opportunity to work on something like that, that that's historic. 

[00:36:07] Pat: What did you do after that? Where you, at this point, you're still a captain or re promoted to major. At this point, 

[00:36:14] Bill: I was at the very end. I was promoted, but it didn't take place until I moved to my next assignment.

Uh, I had originally had a Messiah to Panama, the air force base down there, up here near the canal phone. I was going to be the weather officer for itself Southern command. And because they extended my time in the six months for the special program, the extra six months, they changed that assignment and sent me to Germany to be the weather officer supporting the third division.

The third 

[00:36:53] Pat: from Germany, you were supporting the who? I'm sorry. 

[00:36:56] Bill: The third interview is. Um, Carmen Army's third army has no weather off, no weather stations or officers of their own. They all have their weather support is provided by the air force. So interesting. So there's a at, uh, at any army post that has helicopters or mediation, there's usually a air force weather station that supports them.

And it's actually attached to that unit. And you wear, I wore the third, if innovation patch on my , I was for all intents and purposes, the commanders, whether officers. So whenever you needed a briefing, I would do that as well as the commander of the weather station. 

[00:37:36] Pat: Wow. That's exciting. How was Germany?

[00:37:41] Bill: for me, that was my first assignment supporting the army. And that was like a culture shock and it was not my first time in Germany, Europe, you know, in Europe. So there's a lot of different things going on at once. In an environment as a scientist where, you know, I was focused on one thing. I now had all of the things that come with being a commander, which means you've got, you know, 20, 25 people working for you, that you are responsible for them all the way from no basic airman up to a second Lieutenant.

And they all have their problems, all their, not wanting to be away from home. And, you know, I'm able to, in this, it was very hard to communicate with your family back in those days. It wasn't, you didn't have a cell phone like today, you got to go on base and, and, and get one of their phones. And our differential was so great that sometimes you made your calls home at one in the morning.

Um, so I had all these young people with all of their problems. Whenever they got sick, they got lonely. Whenever they got in trouble with the local German police, uh, I had, uh, you know, take care of those problems. That was a challenge. Germany was wonderful. The German people for the most part are great. Uh, the young people are sometimes a little confused as to why we were there.

Older German population loved having us there and treated us very good. 

[00:39:08] Pat: Was this the first time that you were responsible for airman or had you had been responsible in the past? 

[00:39:16] Bill: This is the first time I really had a command position and this was put it in context. This was, this was, uh, 81 to 84 and the Berlin wall was still up.

There was still more than just the Berlin wall and the wall divided all of these Germany from west Germany. So, uh, we were very aware of what was going on and we did a lot of exercises to pair if something did happen between west Germany and east Germany. Mm. 

[00:39:44] Pat: What was the air? What was the air in. In Germany at that time.

Was it just, was it very know, was everybody kind of on their toes thinking about something going off or w what was that like? I 

[00:40:02] Bill: think, I think most of the population, uh, this is long enough since the end of the war, but still during the time when there was occupation, for most of the people had adapted to the state, they were in a lot of them still had relatives that were in east Germany.

So that was always on the mind. The young people were, you know, my cousin, people are most everywhere and they were protesting all kinds of things. Uh, but it, it, it was, uh, it was not that tense. Although, as an officer, the first thing they did when I got there was they put me in a helicopter and flew me over a lot in the.

Because they wanted us to know what we were, uh, therefore you could see both sides of the wall devastation on the east side and not all the farms in the lush villages on the other side. And sometimes the wall went right through the middle of some of the towns. Wow. Uh, I also got briefed on, cause I had a top secret sci back as the background investigation, uh, clearance all the Cola countries that I couldn't go to.

So it was, it was, it was interesting. 

[00:41:13] Pat: Did you get to travel around Europe at all 

[00:41:15] Bill: while you're there? We did. Interesting thing is too that, uh, you know, I had married Deanna, uh, after I was a year in Germany. We had been dating before I went over there and uh, uh, my, one of my beliefs, the home, I went home and we got married and she couldn't join me for six months because she had to go through all the process of getting clear.

But for me, if there was just a lot going on, but, but when she got there, then we, yes, we did do a lot of touring. We got to go to England and Italy and to France, I even got to bring my mom and dad over for about a week and took them to some of these countries to do centering. So, and it was not terribly expensive then I'm sure it's a lot more expensive now, but the military had some great tours that you could take for very small amounts and do these and the buses over there.

And the train system is wonderful. So yeah, touring is, is, uh, is nice. So 

[00:42:17] Pat: how did you Indiana mean? 

[00:42:20] Bill: Well, she worked at the jet propulsion lab while I was working at Los Angeles air force station. Um, and we just kind of connected. I mean, number one, jumped postal lab worked on a lot of the space shuttle program to.

Uh, and weeks ahead of off and on relationship alive was here. And then when I was over there, uh, we started writing letters back and forth, and then we started doing phone calls at great expense. And, uh, yeah, it just kind of evolved. 

[00:42:53] Pat: And how long have you guys been married now? 

[00:42:55] Bill: Uh, we'll be celebrating our 40th year next 

[00:42:59] Pat: year.

Congratulations. That's amazing. And then Germany, uh, how many years were you there in Germany? 

Uh, 

[00:43:06] Bill: over there for three 

[00:43:07] Pat: years. Three years. And then come back home to the states or what was the next step? Yes. And how was that transition back from being in Germany for three years? Coming back to the United States.

[00:43:22] Bill: It's interesting because you get used to in Germany, uh, people do things totally different. First of all, first thing I think Deanna went to was. Because over in Germany, at least at that time, I don't, you know, jury's probably much different now, but this was in the early eighties. Uh, the Germans bought their food almost every day.

They bought everything fresh. There was not, not a supermarket like we have here. And, and the things like McDonald's. I remember when I was there, they opened the first McDonald's in the area and the lines were amazing and they sold beer at the McDonald's. No, really. So it was a lot, culture shock is big. I mean, you come back and things are just, we are so blessed.

We have an abundance of everything here. And even in countries as sophisticated as Germany, it's not even close. 

[00:44:12] Pat: And when you came back, were where were you stationed and are you getting closer to the end of your yes, 

[00:44:19] Bill: I, I was stationed at almost like deja VU. I started at Dobbins air force base in north Atlanta, and I was assigned to Fort McPhearson and south.

Which is a fifth weather squadron, which is this weather squadron that supports all of the army weather stations in the United States.

How was it? That was the, the, the current operations officer, which is the one responsible for doing inspections of all those weather stations traveling. So a lot of, a lot of traveling we had at Fort Ord, Fort Lewis, uh, I'll pick up every four major Fort that has aviation from east coast to west coast, north to south.

We, we had to visit them once every year or two. 

[00:45:11] Pat: Would you get to take Deanna with you or did she have to stay home? No, I 

[00:45:15] Bill: had, we had a, a team. It wasn't just me. It would be, uh, an admin special. It would be a, uh, a Sergeant, uh, chief master Sergeant. And that would be somebody who looked at the forecasting as a security person.

So there would be a five man team. And I was in charge of, I would meet with the commander of the weather station and we would sit down and go over his books and all of his rules and we'd talk to his customers to make sure it was satisfying their needs. Meanwhile, all the other ones that the chief master Sergeant would talk to all of the enlisted guys and make sure they were happy.

Uh, and then we write a report, including action items for them to do when we got back. 

[00:45:58] Pat: So everybody 

[00:45:58] Bill: knew you were coming, you know, we weren't as bad as the assay as the, uh, the big inspection. So the ones that they pulled on you and shoot you up, we were there and we used to say, this we're here to help you.

We didn't try to help them. I mean, we were preparing them for major inspections. Uh, my trying to fix the things that they needed a little help on. Especially our young, we had a young officer who was in charge of what the station kind of boost him up and show him some techniques that he could use with his, uh, with his clients.

Because a lot of, most of them, I know most air force people, uh, only get if they do one or two assignments with an army in their career. And it is a whole different thing you're supporting instead of supporting jets are now supporting mostly helicopters and the needs are way different as far as what they want you to do and say when you brief them.

[00:46:55] Pat: And so at this point, you're, you're nearing the end of your career. What, uh, what made you get out? Was it just you hit your 20 year or what were your thoughts kind of on this next transition piece? 

[00:47:08] Bill: It was, it was a number of things. I think it was my 20 year. And then I was at the point where I was now in my earliest.

And I thought, and I'm doing this calculation in my head that I have time for another career before I get to 65. And that'd be more hireable now than I might be in 10 more years. So I was thinking that this is the right time and the right place. We'd get, keep our medical benefits. We have a pension and I can go out and find a job in the civilian life that, uh, that maybe we can stay in one place and, uh, and enjoy some time.

[00:47:50] Pat: Where did you guys end up moving once you got out? 

[00:47:54] Bill: Well, the first part of it was, it wasn't as simple as I thought it was, you know, I thought I'd just throw out a few resumes and I get hired within 30 days, it took six or seven months. And I, the first thing you learn is, is, you know, you may think you're, you've got all the boxes.

But, uh, you know, there's a lot of businesses out there that don't think you're quite right for their jobs. So you have to learn about rejection, which, you know, for me, I, you know, when you've been kind of protected by the air force and the military, all of these 20 years, uh, you now are in the real world where it's not always going to happen just the way you want it to happen.

So you have to prepare that it's, it's, it's a process to find that job. I, I, I'm sure some people can walk right into another job, but I think a lot of, a lot of people getting out, uh, find it difficult to find that first job. And it took us, it took me six, seven months, and I finally chose a job. I had, it's funny.

I went six, seven months and had almost no offers. And then I had three offers. All the ones I had almost all at once. One was to be a climatologist in California, out, out on the coast that appealed to me. One was working for a company that did a weather for shipping. It was up to you with San Francisco.

And then the third one was for a brand new company called strategic weather services, which was in Palm Springs. And the brand new company was a company formerly owned by a gentleman named Dr. Crick. Dr. Crick was the guy who made the DNA forecast. He was a Colonel in the military in world war two, and he made, he was the primary person who made the D-Day forecast.

And he had formed a company that did weather for industry by helping them predict what would be, uh, their sales based on weather. So that company was bought then by some other people. And they were looking for a meteorologist to work being in charge of their first office, which was in Palm Springs. And it actually paid the least out of the three.

Uh, but it, I liked the idea that it was a child. And it was something different. I know the other two jobs I've been doing a lot of what I had always done. Uh, in one case that'd be working with the federal government. And so it'd be kind of stuck into a slab or it was controlled. And the other one, uh, the one in San Francisco would have been working shifts.

So after a lot of discussion, we chose the one in Palm Springs, which was strategic more the services, which does weather for companies by correlating weather and sales, and then providing a forecast. 

[00:50:39] Pat: Very interesting. So the idea was to measure sales based off of the F four. So how did, how did that work did not 

[00:50:48] Bill: predict?

We w one thing got to Crick had pretty much we added to is one of the largest clap climate faces, uh, databases, any property. Uh, I think, I think only the government has, uh, a bigger climate database. I need you to do is you put that all in the computer and then you run a bunch of correlations. And your head, but all you're really doing is you're looking at historically what happens.

And then you take, uh, um, projections based on trends and, and a bunch of cycles. And we factor in that there are weather cycles, like the sunspot cycle, and those are all factored in. So the computer, Brian's all this stuff together. And then out of that comes a prediction. And then you take that and you correlate it to the sales data sales data.

And, you know, if the company gives us the sales, they say going back, you know, five, 10 years, we can see the ups and downs. And so you try to factor out, you know, other things like, you know, economic type things as best you can, but you look at how the weather impacted their sales. And then instead of, uh, like say, uh, Kmart, uh, selling their snow tires, And projecting the same amounts for Detroit, for Chicago and for Austin, they can look at each of those cities independently and, and stock different routes.

[00:52:10] Pat: How good or how good were you guys doing at predicting that? 

[00:52:14] Bill: Uh, but one thing you got to think about is we don't have to be exact, all you want is the trend to be right more than last year, less than last year, about the same. I, you know, they're not looking for you to give them an exact number. They just want to know the worst thing you can do is overstock.

And then you got to sell it at a discount. So they're just looking to move the stuff around to where the most likely places to put their stock and, and had the least leftover at the end of the season. 

[00:52:46] Pat: But you guys are the first company to do this. 

[00:52:51] Bill: I don't know. I don't know if we're the first, I think we're probably the first to.

This kind of a basis with this kind of a system it's still in business today. It's not a longer call strategic weather services called planet clinics. Their headquarters is back outside of Philadelphia, near valley forge. And I actually spent a couple of years back there and working out of that operation cause they closed the one here in Palm Springs.

One thing about weather is that kind of information. You can do it from anywhere. It's all done by computer and in correlation. So they could have put me in Bismarck, North Dakota and run the same computers there. But originally we were in Palm Springs and we had an office here for the weather and they had the sales office back in valley forge, but then they consolidated 

[00:53:37] Pat: and you guys moved back to Pennsylvania.

And then 

[00:53:41] Bill: how did you guys do different school? Moved back for two years. Two years. Okay. Then at the end of the two years, I sat down with the boss that hired me and he wanted me to get more into sales and at this stage of my life and my. I didn't want to do sales. Uh, we had a small leftover office back here that is just grinding some data and he left me to come.

He let me come back here and work part time for about three years before I, we retired. 

[00:54:08] Pat: Oh, okay. And then you fully retired back in the Palm Springs area? Yes. And, and how was that? So you did a full career in the military. Then you did a five, five years at this company or how many 

[00:54:21] Bill: years? No, actually it was about 14 or 15.

10, 15? Yeah. 

[00:54:26] Pat: Okay. And then now you're retiring, retiring. What was that like? Just to, to stop working? Palm Springs is a great place to do that, but I was that, 

[00:54:40] Bill: uh, I'm not kind of person that can really retire. You have to have to start filling their time with. Uh, I had a friend that was, uh, working with the salvation army and he, he got me to go over to when they opened the brand new salvation army Corps building over in cathedral city to go to the opening and then, uh, had me join the advisory board.

So I, I, I joined up with them on their advisory board and I've been on that advisory board ever since that's one big chunk of the time. I also am the, uh, vice chair of the air force association. I belong to the American Legion, um, and the event over time with the salvation army. And we, we developed a veterans program, uh, veterans, easy access program, which was our goal was to help a veteran, uh, in any stage it was compliant for, you know, just getting out of the service, uh, later in life, um, health problems just to identify the, uh, service providers that day.

Uh, contacted would help them, uh, the quickest. And we want them to avoid this idea that you've got to go to a web page that may be more complex or complicated than a lot of the older veterans can navigate and have them talk to somebody directly or at least get with minimal moves, get to somebody that can help them.

So is the access program then over time where you can come up with the idea of having the veteran's expo, which brings together the service providers at one place and, you know, 30 to 40, uh, exhibitors sometimes more. And, uh, and, and let the veterans go through and talk one-on-one with the service providers the same time, honor, some veterans and do some other things that we did a meal and all kinds of other stuff.

We did. We did a nine of those until the, uh, COVID came along. We're now working on sophisticated weapons. That, uh, well, how all of those providers information and try to make it easy for people to step through that one information 

[00:56:52] Pat: you mentioned, you know, you rattled off a bunch of veteran service organizations, but you are well-known throughout the Coachella valley for all the work that you guys do that you specifically do in the advocate.

Uh, you know, being an advocate for veterans and, um, you know, that's where we met out in the Coachella valley and, um, you know, you're, you're one of those guys bill that, that people know they can trust. And they know that, you know, if, if they need help, if they're going to call bill young and what you guys do for the community out there is pretty amazing.

And the Veep is the veterans easy access program is, is an amazing program that helps so many folks and I've got. To experience a couple of those, you know, uh, watching those. And it's a great time you learn something every, every year. And it is a way to bring, you know, all those veterans and families and active, even active duty members from the Coachella valley together.

And, you know, it's something that I think that it was a service that really wasn't wasn't there. I mean, the VA you have the VA out there, you've got, you know, these, these other little programs, but you brought them all together. And, um, tell us a little bit about what that's like, and, and just for one of those events that you do, what's the preparation like in, in, in the things that you have to get that 

[00:58:16] Bill: you want to run into that first, I'd be remiss.

If I didn't mention my wife, Deanna does a monthly email newsletter. She puts her heart and soul into it has all the information from veterans smiling, you know, local area nationally. It has events has flyers for events, and she gets that out to, uh, I believe her distribution list is between five and 600.

Wow. And some of those, uh, are further distributed. Like when American Legion, they redistribute it to all their members. So we're real proud of that. And that's a lot of her effort and it does that with the blessing of the salvation army, which also works with us as far as the veteran expo. Uh, we usually start probably six or seven months in advance.

Uh, obviously you gotta, you gotta make sure that you have the facility reserved. You've gotta make sure you've got the sponsors lined up so that there's no costs. We, we make it. So there's no cost to the exhibitors, no cost to the, uh, attendees and they get, uh, food entertainment and all it probably see all the vendors there.

Um, we have a, uh, a steering committee group that oversees that that includes people from. American Legion, VFW cal-vet, Sunline transit, local transportation people, and there's a bunch of others on disabled American, the pets, they sit on that committee and they provide insight and context and then help make it work.

But, but it is a six month process. And as it gets closer, just to make sure we, we do call it timing sheet, and it's usually about six pages. And it times out every minute from the time that we opened the doors to the time they closed it, because we have a flag raising ceremony at the beginning, that's done very professionally.

We have a full Colonel that oversees that, and then everything else is timed out so that we can get everything done in the time that we're allowed to with some time kind of organization to it. So it takes a lot of effort, a lot of great people to make it work. I had a number of people. Tell me the thing.

Um, you know, in our current environment, it's just not practical. I I'm blessed that the captain parks who's the commander over at the salvation army. Uh, he believes in face-to-face. So he's anxious to some point, get back to having one who's even suggested maybe up a smaller version and have it at the salvation army, uh, next year.

Uh, if that's the best we can do, but we like to get, especially older veterans, they're just not comfortable with some of the technology and face-to-face is the best way to deal with them, to just get them in front of somebody gets an trust built up between them and a provider, and then let them go from there to get their, uh, their needs taken care of.

[01:01:06] Pat: And your work that you do in the Coachella valley for veterans specifically, uh, you're chosen to be, um, on the Congressmen's and I, I won't say his name, but a local Congressmen's veteran advisory board. And, um, you know, I know that that he used you as one of those voice guiding voices throughout his term, multiple terms, um, to help create legislation advocate for, for veterans and their families.

Tell us a little bit about your experience working on that side. 

[01:01:40] Bill: I'm also on the supervisors, the county supervisors too. Well, both of them are, you know, we're blessed that they both have been wonderful advocates for veterans and Hey, they do so much there. They're always listening and open to things, even, even when we come in and rant and rave because something's not working right.

Uh, they have a great team of people working for them that makes it easy for us. Uh, they have people who understand us that are veterans on, on their staffs. Um, so it's, it's usually a free flow thing. Uh, I know that they have a thousand other things that they can be. Uh, and it's nice when they do have the time to sit down and work with us.

Um, um, the Carlos, can you speak up, how's a rezone veterans about, I hope we can get back to doing that again, because it was, uh, it was, uh, much look for, or to imagine. And I think it did a lot of good 

[01:02:39] Pat: and that's veterans university and, uh, uh, one of them, you were honored, you got a pretty big honor, kind of one of those, w you tell us a little bit about that?

[01:02:50] Bill: Well, you know, there have been several people before me that I know the car has been thought very highly of and he honored them. And then he named he named, uh, the award for one of those unfortunately passed away and it was an amazing honor and a surprise that he would choose me. I mean, I believe me, there are guys here that spend more hours than I do every week, agonizing and worrying about veterans and doing what they can to help them.

Um, and know we're just blessed. I mean, the, the people, uh, a gentleman who works for the DAV, he's probably on five or six boards committees, and I think he's, that's all he does, I think is just spend time helping veterans. Um, there's a, there's a lot of new projects in the works. We're about to get a, uh, a brand new clinic.

Our clinic is small that we have now, and they're building they're in the process of renovating and making a bigger one. So there's a lot going on to help veterans in this valley. I, I just I've been blessed. Nope. I like we talked about at the beginning of this, I'm not somebody who can sit and do nothing.

So this has been nice for me because it's something that I feel strongly about and. Uh, responsive and I get to do fun stuff that I enjoy doing. So, uh, yeah, it's, it's, you know, veterans, veterans have, and will always have a special place in my heart because I know what they went through. I know that it's, you know, you can't keep it.

It's hard to explain to somebody who's never served, um, what, what you have to go through in the military and what you put up with in the military and, and, and what you get relatively paid a little for when you start looking at what your counterparts get paid for and paid for the same thing. And yet they do it, I'd say 90% of them do it with a big heart love in this country.

And so anything I can do to help this small, 

[01:05:01] Pat: and you do a lot, though, you do a lot. And, um, so what are some of the things that you can look back on in your career? In the military that you can look back on and say, you know, those were some really good learning points that I have taken with me throughout my life so far that you can help the next generation kind of take some of those nuggets.

What would, what would those be? 

[01:05:30] Bill: Well, you know, one thing that, one thing the military does that I think is great is they all give you a lot of responsibility right away. If you show you can handle it. And that's, that's nice. I mean, it's nice that they encourage you. They trust you. They push you a little bit as it's, it makes for very much self-confidence.

It also means that you get to work with as diverse a group of people as anybody does, and you get to see, uh, the very best and you get to see the very worst. I mean, there are people like in anywhere you got guys that can do the job and guys that can't do the job. At least my experience in the military is nobody ever pointed to somebody because they were, you know, uh, a different color or different religion and said, you know, I don't want that guy working with me.

They would, they would only point to him and say, that guy can do the job. That guy is struggling. He needs more help. And that's, to me, that's something that, you know, I think everybody in this country could benefit by learning that, you know, working together as a team, a true team, that things depend on that working well, that team concept working well or, or, or there are bad consequences, you know, I think most of America has never put in that situation.

They don't understand what it takes to be part of something like that. Yeah, no, I always think back in my 20 years that that's, that's what made me, who I am. That's what shaped me. And I always wonder, you know, what would I have been like if I hadn't served in the military. Strange advocates. It says it would probably do everybody, every young person, good to spend one or two years, at least from the military.

When they get out of there out of high school or got out of college just to kind of shape them and let them get a different view of the world before they go out and do other things. 

[01:07:24] Pat: What advice would you have for the young folks that are getting ready to get into the military or thinking about joining the military?

What, what would you tell them? 

[01:07:34] Bill: I would tell them, you know, the first thing is, you know, make it, make it loud and clear. What's your passion is what you want to do. Don't sit back. There are opportunities in every area in the military. I don't care. What's your, what you'd like to do. I mean, obviously need technology and computer people, but there's, you know, we have weather people, we have admin people, we have everything.

So if you have an area that you are, are passionate about, or that you'd like to be, learn more. Be vocal about it when you first get in and let them know, you know, this is where I want to go. I have, I have a plan for my life and I'd like to get to this, how do I get there? You know? Uh, and then, and then be open to the education possibilities.

I think that's one of the greatest things about the military is whether you do it while you're in the service or you wait till you get out, get that education that there, you know, you can, you can get that w uh, courtesy of the military, and that makes your life a whole lot better and a whole lot easier.

And then just, you know, enjoy, I, I liked the idea that we got moved and had traveled. It's easy to get stuck in one place in your life and never move and never see the world in the military. You're going to see the world. It may not see the, all the places you want to see, but you're going to see the world enjoy that.

When I was at offered air force base in Omaha, Nebraska people said, oh, what did you do in Omaha? Nebraska, Nebraska is a great city. I found a lot of good things. 

[01:09:03] Pat: I think that's, that's, that's a great lesson is, is bloom where you're, where you're planted. Right. And, you know, uh, for a lot of Marines, they get stationed over in Okinawa, Japan, and you have one side that absolutely loves it because they get to go experience the culture and they get to go on, you know, trips and experience all these different things.

And then you have the other side who just kind of stay back home and, you know, don't really use it to the fullest and, and, and really anywhere you go in Nebraska, you can find some, some really neat experiences. And, uh, so that's, that's some great advice. What about, 

[01:09:39] Bill: and you're in Germany, I counted the same thing.

There were a lot of young troops who stayed in the barracks and never went out in the country. The country that people were very welcoming. They had things called Volks marches, which are a little town once a year, we'd have a walk and you would sign up for the walk, pay a smaller. I do this full walk and be five or 10 K or whatever it was and went through the back country and through the villages.

And at the end of the walk, they would have a band and, uh, uh, uh, beer and that soul and, you know, all kinds of stuff. And you interact with the people. And it was always a good experience. Even if you couldn't understand what they were saying, it was, everybody was happy and everyone was having a good time.

And you, you didn't experience Germany unless you get some of those things. But a lot of young people didn't, they stayed in the barracks by themselves, the expensive stereo system, and complained about being injured. 

[01:10:35] Pat: And in Germany, what's some of the best advice that you can give those young folks or even those getting ready to retire, advice about that transition and, and, um, looking for their new.

[01:10:51] Bill: Alright, I would, I would advise them, you know, start early. Don't wait till you get out, start living for a job. I mean, have a plan. And now you have people actually that there are parts of your units that that's their whole job is to help you with that transition, make, make good use of it. Go to all the meetings, talk to the people, reach out and, and, and see where there's interest in the fields that you want.

Do it, do it, you know, six months before, uh, most, most people know when they're going to be getting out, you know? Well in advance don't, don't wait until the last minute. It's, it's, it's going to be a, it's going to be a little bit of a shock, because I remember when I was in the military, you didn't think about things like, you know, uh, the dentist or, or even the, where am I going to get my groceries?

I mean, everything was there for you. It's not going to be that way you get out. So just understand that it's going to be a transition. It's going to be different. It's not a bad thing. It's just different. 

[01:11:54] Pat: What was the hardest part of your transition? 

[01:11:57] Bill: But for me, it was that six or seven months, not having a job and starting to worry about whether I was going to get a job.

We ate up a big chunk of our savings on time. So yeah, that was, that was, that was a difficult, uh, we, we kind of had a plan and then at the end, when we didn't have any jobs lined up, it was kind of like, well, we'll take the best offer. We, we had, we had actually made a list of cities that we wanted to move to and none of those jobs.

So yeah, I guess you gotta, the other thing is, you know, be, be flexible because even if you think you've got it all planned out, you know, be open to other, other options and. 

[01:12:37] Pat: Now, what about the families? Now? You had mentioned that with, you know, moving around a lot and, um, you know, those of us that were in the military or that are in the military, it's, it's kind of about us, right?

I mean, we've, this is our job. Um, and sometimes we can forget about our families and, and what they have to do, you know, moving every couple of years and meeting new people. Tell us a little bit about, um, what that was like for you guys and any advice that you can share with, with that piece. 

[01:13:10] Bill: Yeah. I, you know, for me, it's probably a little different, I know a lot of these guys are having families when they get in the military.

You know, I got married while I was in the military. The first thing I did to my wife, who had a good job at jet propulsion lab is move her to Germany. Not only now, is she in another country? And in the military, but she's not even in the air force. So she's talking with joining she's she's on an army post.

And so it was, it was a tremendous culture shock for her. I mean, way more than for me, I at least had some familiarity with how the military structure was and the army wasn't all that different. You know, they have commissaries if he PX, it's just like, so I, I was more comfortable with the change than she was.

And you, you do have to defend consideration. I, I, when I was out, uh, on my field maneuvers, which sometimes lasted a week, uh, because I was the senior officer in the stairwell that I was in the army, uh, made the officer's wife in charge of the discipline for that stairwell, uh, which was very difficult for her.

Um, so there are, there was a lot of things that come up that, uh, If you're not used to them, it's a different world. And I think if your family is going to be there, you need to sit down with them and, and, and, and just kind of talk to them about that. We're going to have some really good times we're going to do some really interesting things, but here's the things that are going to come up.

There's going to be times when I'm going to be away for awhile. I mean, you guys, when you got your assignments, so with Afghanistan or Iraq, uh, I never, I never had to do that. And, uh, and that's gotta be really challenging on a family. So I think the important thing is to, you know, real early in the process, talk about what can happen and what are we going to do about it and have a plan, uh, you know, be prepared because it's going to be challenging.

And, uh, yeah, it's just a different way. And if they're not used to that, um, that's, that's going to be tough. And then the same for them when they, when they get out of the service, because they're going to feel a comfort zone of the military family protecting them. And when they're as taken away, that's going to be a challenge too.

So when you leave the service, you've got your own challenges, but they're going to have their challenges too. And you can't overlook that 

[01:15:40] Pat: some great advice. Thank you for that though. So any parting shots for the folks out there listening, uh, any experiences that you wanted to share or last parting advice that you want to give up?

[01:15:54] Bill: I just, you know, the military is what you make of it. I think for most people, if they go into it with a positive attitude, it could be a really great experience. It can be. And the nice thing about it is it's not your whole life. Um, for most people you have time you're young enough. Over your career, you can have a whole second career and then you can have the security of your medical and a pension.

I mean, that's what a blessing in life. How, how many times or places can you do that? So, uh, it's, it's, it's an option. It's not for everybody, but if you, if you enjoy it and you enjoy working with a great group of people and it's even more technology driven now than it was when I was in there. So for young people, I think the technology shouldn't be to get to work with some of the very latest technology.

How can you beat that? So I think everybody, every young person should at least look at the option and understand what it means before they say, oh, I don't want to be in the military and go out there and shoot people and do all these other things. That's not, not what the military is about. Right. 

[01:17:01] Pat: Right.

Well, great bill. I really appreciate your time. If anybody wants to get connected to you or learn more about, about deep and the things that you're doing over in the Coachella valley, how would they get in touch with you? Or how would they find out more information? 

[01:17:16] Bill: I think it, the easiest way is just to, to email me, uh, it's a major bill, one@aol.com.

That's M a J O R B I L L the number one, not spelled out@aol.com. And I know that if they're interested, I'll even send them a copy of the read back. And that kind of tells a lot of things that are going on in this area. And we open, you know, the repack is open both ways. If, if somebody is out there and they have an activity or an event that they'd like to promote this military type, um, we'd be glad to promote it, or they have a story to tell.

Um, that's you think other people would like to hear? We'd love to publish that to. 

[01:18:01] Pat: Perfect. Well, bill, thanks again so much for being here tonight. Appreciate your time. Thank you for your service and all that you do for the veterans in the community. So thank you so much. 

[01:18:12] Bill: Thank you, Patrick folic for your service too.

I hope everybody in college has that cause you you're a great guy too. 

[01:18:18] Pat: Thank you. Appreciate it. Well, we'll talk to you soon, bill. Thanks so much again. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed. We'll see you again.