Friday, January 11, 2008

Special Duty

Now that my assignment is over, I can share what I was doing this week. I was serving as an escort for two conferences involved general officers meeting with the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff. It was a tremendous experience. I served as the personal escort for two retired 4 star generals. One was the second most ranking general at the conference. He was quite a joy to talk with. He started his service in Europe during WWII flying Spitfires, Hurricanes, and Mustangs. He has accomplished what would take most people three lifetimes to accomplish.

My primary duty was transportation to and from the airports and being on hand for response to needs that might pop up. For a part of the day I was tasked with standing in a hall way next to the conference room to keep an eye out which enabled me to hear briefings given by the Chief and the Secretary. I even had the opportunity to have a short conversation with the Secretary.

They were long days up at 0400 and to be after midnight, with periods of nothing much going on punctuated by hyper activity to get something done, but it was a tremendous opportunity to speak with some key leaders from our past who are still quite involved in things and to hear what our chief leaders are about today.

A great week!

A story about the conference can be found here.