VFW AL WebCOM Network

Friday, April 27, 2007 at 06:13 PM

by alabama

by Jodi L. Jordan

SHALIMAR, Fla. (AFRNS) -- Enlisted Airmen who maintain the F-16 Fighting Falcon jets flown by Thunderbird pilots often work behind the scenes while crowds enjoy the air demonstration team's shows.  Recently, the enlisted Thunderbirds and a very special group of admirers made a personal connection - not at an air show but because of an air show cancellation.

The Sunshine State was not living up to its name April 14.  Impending severe weather caused officials at nearby Eglin Air Force Base to cancel a much-anticipated air show, including the Thunderbirds' performance, set for that day. Faced with some unexpected and unusual free time, more than 20 enlisted members of the team made a surprise visit to Hawthorn House, the Air Force Enlisted Village's assisted-living residence for widows of retired enlisted Airmen. Hawthorn House residents learned of the visit less than an hour before the Airmen were to arrive. 

Anxious women gathered in the building's foyer, peering out the glass doors, each trying to be the first to see the team members.  "Are they here yet?" asked one resident as she leaned on her walker.  "Is that them?" asked another from her motorized wheelchair, when she saw a van pass.

Soon the Airmen arrived, sharply dressed in their signature blue flight suits.  Handshakes turned to hugs as the team went around the room, kneeling to talk to residents who could not stand, posing for pictures and signing Thunderbirds programs the Airmen had brought as gifts.

"I just want to thank you all so much for what you do," said Dian Haynes, a Hawthorn House resident, as she embraced one young airman.  "I just love you all for it."

The visit was the result of a dinner the night before between Senior Master Sgt. Frank Dailey, who works at nearby Hurlburt Field, and Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Webster, the line chief for the Thunderbirds.  Sergeants Dailey and Webster were classmates at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the friends had decided to have dinner together the night before the air show.  The team had been given tours of many of the facilities on Eglin, but they were not scheduled to see the Air Force Enlisted Village, one of the four official charities of the Air Force. 

 "I told Kevin he had to go see it," Sergeant Dailey said.  "The ladies who live at the enlisted village are our national treasures.  They had to keep the families going in a time when it was very tough to be an Air Force wife, while their husbands were serving our country.  They deserve our utmost respect and admiration for what they gave to the Air Force, too."

Sergeant Dailey, a long-time supporter of the AFEV, insisted that he and Sergeant Webster drive by the campus that night so that the team would know how to find the place if the anticipated severe weather caused a cancellation the next day.  When that scenario unfolded April 14, Sergeant Webster called Sergeant Dailey, and they set up the visit with the staff of the AFEV.

"I think the most significant thing for me and for many of the guys who made the visit was the opportunity to see where our donations are going," said Staff Sgt. Kristi Machado, an aerial photographer with the Thunderbirds.  "Throughout our Air Force career, we're asked to donate to different organizations, and we do.  But getting to see the facility and meet the people who are supported by those donations was a wonderful thing."

Following the April 15 air show, Sergeants Webster and Machado, and another group of enlisted team members, returned to the Hawthorn House for one more visit.  They brought with them three signed Thunderbirds lithographs for each of the AFEV's three locations, and more than $800 that the Airmen had raised overnight to donate to the enlisted village.

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