The planes will keep on flying

Bob Wood doesn’t goof off very often, but he’s thinking about making a career of it soon. Robert E. Wood, director of maintenance for Laughlin’s 47th Flying Training Wing, is stepping away from a 38-year career with the U.S. Air Force. His tenure took Wood around the world, and to pinnacles of achievement, but now retirement, the golf course, and Lake Amistad beckon. Considering how aggressive are Laughlin’s twin challenges of growth and change, Wood could wait for another 38 years and probably never find a convenient time to retire, if only from a workload perspective. And, even as he approaches his departure on the last day of 2006, Wood talked with LIVE!, Sept. 27, about projects coming up that he will leave to the next chief. But the enhancements in flight and the technologies that go with them have always had Wood and his co-workers scrambling to keep up, and they’ve done so with the quality and efficacy that result in general admiration for him and the people with whom he surrounds himself. The responsibilities include all aspects of maintenance, but the current Laughlin fleet of 238 aircraft is prodigious and paramount. He believes Laughlin’s is the largest fleet of aircraft in the Air Force. “We fly more sorties here in a month than most fighter wings fly in a year.” Wood grew up in the tiny burg of Danbury, Texas, population 610, as he remembers it then, about 40 miles due south of Houston’s sprawl. His appreciation for “how things work” may have rubbed off from his dad, a heavy equipment operator for Brazoria County and, later, the City of Angleton, Texas. “Other than Mansanto, Dow Chemical and the county, there wasn’t much to do there then,” Wood chuckled. He recalls comedian Justin Wilson’s social commentary, “He said, ‘All they raised was swamp seed and cattle,’ meaning if you didn’t eat rice and beef, and drink beer, you were considered a commie.” In high school he had interest, but little talent, for drama. “Since I couldn’t speak or act, I worked backstage with sets and lighting.” But a draft notice in 1968, and the encouragement of teacher Irene McMillan drove him to take the Air Force Qualifications Test, in which he predictably scored high in mechanics and electronics. “I really did enjoy those,” Wood smiled, “and I guess that’s why I’m still doing it 38 years later.” Another mentor in high school was Gene Bigbee, Wood’s shop teacher. “He was pretty much full-blooded Indian, and a war hero, and a big influence on me, teaching me to weld; mechanics have pretty much been a big part of my life.” Other mentors? Wood looked a little dizzy at the question. “Just too many to mention, I guess.” “But the day I graduated from high school was the day I left home,” Wood said. He had worked for Container Corporation of America, throwing and storing cardboard boxes. Later he became an ironworker, and finally worked in the marine section of the State of Texas Transportation Department. Enlistment in the Air Force in March, 1968, got him to Amarillo Air Force Base in “airman basic.” The base, like many since, was in the process of closing, so he and his co-trainees slept where space was available. He recalls truckloads of “hulled out” helicopters being “de-milled,” all usable parts removed, all identifying insignia destroyed, before tossed to the scrapheap. Ensuing assignments took Wood to training, maintenance, supervision, and management positions at Sheppard Air Force Base, near Wichita Falls, Texas, Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Korat Air Base, Thailand, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Torrejon Air Base, Spain, and finally to Laughlin in 1990. Along the way, Wood garnered awards and decorations for his superior performance in a perplexing variety of skill areas. In 1975, he was Basic Military Training Instructor of the Year for the Air Force. In 1983, Wood received the Commander’s Trophy for the Air Education and Training Command headquartered at Randolph. In 1995, Wood was accorded the Air Force’s coveted Senior Civilian Manager of the Year award, and in 2004 he was recognized by the Air Force Association as Outstanding Civilian Senior Manager. There are many more such accolades on his curriculum vitae, as well as a long batchlist of prestigious medals and ribbons, some awarded multiple times. Wood began his last location assignment, here at Laughlin, in 1989 as a maintenance support branch manager, and rose through the ranks and three promotions to his current job as director. A significant part of the directorate’s responsibility is oversight on Laughlin’s Engine Regional Repair Center (ERRC) managed directly by Lear Siegler Services, Inc. (LSI). The center rebuilds and repairs jet engines not only for Laughlin, but also for Randolph, Sheppard, and Vance Air Force Base, Okla. Bob Bishop is LSI’s contract manager of the ERRC. Bishop spoke respectfully, Thursday (Oct. 5), of Wood’s ability to balance the frantic pace and quality control that ensure pilot safety. “Bob has the overall management responsibility, from a command standpoint, for our operation. He makes sure the government get its money worth, but at the same time he makes sure we have the things we need to operate here. So he’s been a real asset to getting the job done. He expects quality work, but he knows that to achieve that we’ve got to have a fully functioning facility and fully operational equipment to get our job done. “You’re always getting new airplanes, and, with them, you always get some new equipment, but you’ve got to have what’s necessary to keep up with new standards of maintenance for the old airplanes, too. The basis of Bob Wood’s support is that you don’t need to go beg to get what you need to get the job done,” said Bishop. Wood’s admiration for Bishop’s operation is equal. “They’re one of the best and most outstanding contractors I’ve ever seen,” said Wood. The next major project for Laughlin maintenance and aircraft modifications is completion of modernization of the T-38C “Talon” fighter jet trainers. Last year, all Talons at Laughlin were upgraded with more efficient and powerful engines, including a re-designed fuselage-mounted engine intake. In addition, each T-38 became the “C” model with installation of modern instruments, replacing old dials and switches, and a “glass cockpit” that allows pilots to read those instruments seemingly on the canopy glass before them without having to glance down from the field of view. Now, it’s time for another manifestation of pilot safety: Getting out of the cockpit in all manner of emergency situations. Wood said a new ejection seat has been designed that matches the “zero-zero” performance of the seat already installed as “factory equipment” in the T-6 “Texan II” trainer. The new T-38 seat is being built by the 60-year-old Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, Ltd., headquartered in England. The seat’s “zero-zero” rating signifies that, even in an aircraft at “zero” altitude and “zero” speed (i.e., motionless on the ground), an ejecting pilot will be rocketed out of the cockpit, and sent airborne sufficiently high to allow parachute deployment for a safe landing. Wood said the new Martin-Baker seat will be installed in all Laughlin’s T-38Cs, totaling 91 in the base’s inventory when all the incoming jets arrive from Moody Air Force Base, Ga. for this base’s new mission in “Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals.” No one who’s lasted in a meaningful position of command and responsibility as long as Bob Wood has leaves an unblemished record of popularity. But one person in particular Wood will miss is Hilda Vasquez, his executive assistant for 14 years. Vasquez briefly took another job in the wing headquarters command office, but she returned to work with Wood in short order. “I’ve been an executive assistant here since 1987,” Vasquez said softly, “and with Bob since 1992, and, yes, I came back. I really liked it better over here.” Wood reflected on his career and his retirement: “Well, we’ve saved more than we’ve spent. I guess that’s why we’ve been around so long ... ...At 12 midnight on New Year’s Eve, I’ll have two things to celebrate. ...Maybe I’ll go see Yellowstone National Park, or those Giant Sequoias out in California, before they get burned up ... ... I sure hope people give me fishing lures and golf balls, instead of another plaque.”