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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Longest Serving Airman Retires, From Age 17-60 |
| 2011-12-01 |
| As the sun sets on the career of Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers, he looks back with a sense of accomplishment. Flowers, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller, is set to retire from the Air Force on Jan. 1, 2012. With 46 years of service to his country, Flowers is the longest serving Airman and currently the longest serving Air Force officer who began their service since the creation of the U.S. Air Force in 1947. "When you start at age 17, you can get a lot done by the time you are 60," Flowers said. A Kinston, N.C., native, Flowers was raised by his grandparents, who were sharecroppers. He credits humble beginnings as the foundation that carried him to where he is today. "Being raised by grandparents who instilled the morals, the values, the integrity of doing the right thing and treating people the way you want to be treated has been important," he said. "I credit a lot of my makeup, morals and ethical values and attitudes to them." These values guided Flowers to perform his best in school and propelled him to graduate high school at 17. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 I saw another story that appeared recently in several locations that awed me: A wonderful story about a Marine who was one of the last to leave the Embassy in Saigon, and is still serving as an E-6 Psyops soldier in Afghanistan. A Doctor in the civilian world no less, and still runs his 2 mile in just over 12 minutes! Staff Sgt. Don Nicholas disproves the old refrain: Old soldiers do not, in fact, fade away. They re-enlist. At 59, Sgt. Nicholas is the oldest of the 6,000 soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division in eastern Afghanistan, the Army says. And he is probably one of the very few Vietnam vets now back for more in Afghanistan. He's certainly the only one who saw first-hand the ugly end of that war from the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon. "It's really not a fascination with war itself," Sgt. Nicholas explains. "It's more trying to keep people from getting killed. I'm taking the spot of some 19-year-old." Raised in Magnolia, Ohio, Sgt. Nicholas dropped out of high school and joined the Marines in 1971, expecting—almost hoping—to go to Vietnam. At the time he was a believer in the domino theory. He remembers telling a local TV reporter at the recruiting station that he didn't want his children "living under communism." More |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-12-01 16:03 |
| #1 As a former SAC weenie ("To err is human, to forgive is not SAC policy."), kudos and thanks to General Flowers. Obviously entered as an enlisted man and "bootstrapped" himself into the Officer Corps (How do you pronounce that again?).... |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2011-12-01 14:31 |