931st Airmen fly 'coach' class to AOR

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st ARG Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Of the many servicemembers five college football coaches recently visited, none spent more time with them than nine Airmen from McConnell AFB. Four of the nine are members of the 931st Air Refueling Group.

The five NCAA head coaches--Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, Georgia's Mark Richt, Miami's Randy Shannon, and Yale's Jack Siedlecki--flew aboard one of McConnell's KC-135 Stratotankers to and from Southwest Asia during Coaches Tour 2008, a first-of-its-kind Armed Forces Entertainment event. The coaches boarded the tanker at Scott AFB, Ill. on May 21, and spent more than 35 hours flying with the McConnell crew during the week-long tour.

"We actually got to know them," Capt. Eric Junkins said. "They're all genuinely nice guys...all you want to do is ask them questions and you find out all they want to do is ask you questions."

Captain Junkins is a pilot for the 18th Air Refueling Squadron, the flying squadron of the 931st ARG. The other 18th ARS pilot assigned to the mission, Capt. Keith "Kip" Anderson, said he too was impressed by how "down to earth" the coaches all were, noting "there were no egos."

Staff Sgt. Jon Barber, crew chief, 931st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, was at a cookout at the start of the tour when Tuberville came over and sat down.

"We ate and talked about football," Sergeant Barber said.

Tuberville's Auburn Tigers are in the NCAA's Southeastern Conference with Sergeant Barber's favorite, the Florida Gators, as are Richt's Georgia Bulldogs. A self-proclaimed "big SEC guy," Sergeant Barber reveled hearing what his rivals' coaches had to say.

"I was really impressed with them," the Kernersville, N.C. native said, referring to all five coaches on the tour. "They were approachable."

The 18th ARS' Tech. Sgt. Chris "Hollywood" Norris volunteered for one of two boom operator positions allocated for the tour. Sergeant Norris, a college football junkie who watched "a lot" of last season's games on TV while deployed overseas, demonstrated a midair refueling for the coaches. Ivan Maisel, an ESPN reporter who kept an online diary of the trip, included Sergeant Norris' interaction with Coach Weis during the demo in a separate ESPN.com article.

Even for a flyer nicknamed "Hollywood," the trip was a bit surreal at first.

"You see these guys on TV," Sergeant Norris said, "and then I get the chance to just walk up and talk to them."

There were plenty of discussions about the ins and outs of the 2007 season. It was talking about things other than football, however, that Sergeant Norris said he enjoyed the most. Talks about the toll military life takes on families; about the toll football seasons take on the coaches' families; about young troops taking on mountains of responsibility when college kids the same age can't make it to class on time.

"Can you imagine your players doing this?" Sergeant Norris asked some of the coaches, "this" being military life. Their collective answer, as written by Maisel in an online excerpt: "If only I could bring my team over here to meet these guys..."

The flip side to spending so much time in the air with the coaches was a lack of time to do little else. The McConnell Airmen were pretty much "invited to everything," Junkins said, but they were usually on crew rest (sleeping) when the coaches visited troops, coached a flag football game, toured a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, chased a U-2 spy plane, and talked to injured troops in a military hospital.

But the coaches were sure to save some of the schwag they brought to the different bases they visited for the Airmen that got them there. Sergeant Barber even made an "exception to the (Gators only) rule" in his home, giving Notre Dame and Auburn paraphernalia to his children to wear.

In the tradition of military leaders, Coach Tuberville handed out his own Auburn coins. Proverbs 3: 5-6 was inscribed on the back, Sergeant Barber said. Tuberville's father drove tanks during World War II for the U.S. Army.

For Captain Junkins, an Atlanta, Ga., native, hours of conversation with Richt (leader of Junkins' beloved Georgia Bulldogs) during the long trip home was his gift.

Richt gave the captain a signed football. But it's not for Captains Junkins. It will be for his first son, who Mrs. Captain Junkins is due to deliver in a few weeks.

Related Links
Coaches Tour 2008 slideshow (click the headline "Coach Tuberville Travels to the Middle East")

Charlie Weis Diary From Visit With U.S. Troops, with photos and video 

Miami coach Randy Shannon reflects on trip to see soldiers

Coaches' Tour 2008 kicks off at Scott

NCAA coaches 'touchdown' in AOR

Coaches Tour 2008 News Release from Armed Forces Entertainment