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315 AW’s first Tuskegee Airmen Career Day inspires local teens

  • Published
  • By Michael Dukes
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

The 315th Airlift Wing held its first Tuskegee Airmen Career Day drawing over 130 local teenage boys to Joint Base Charleston, S.C. to learn about careers in aviation Feb. 24, 2016.

The event also celebrated the story of the first black pilots in the American military – the Tuskegee Airmen.

“What we’re trying to show the young people today is that this is what the Tuskegee Airmen did for us and that we are standing on the shoulders of the Tuskegee Airmen,” said Lt. Col Terry Troutman, guest speaker kicking off the day’s events, and former 317th Airlift Squadron pilot.

The 14-17-year-old boys from 17 Lowcountry schools toured a C-17 Globemaster III and participated in a military career fair to learn about career fields they may not have known exist.  The boys talked to Reserve and active duty Airmen in security forces, aeromedical evacuation , aircraft maintenance, pilots, loadmasters, aerial porters, medical specialists, combat camera, and more.

“A lot of times when they see aircraft they think that they need to be pilots in order to be a part of the Air Force Reserve… but they don’t,” said Maj. Kimberly Champagne, 315th Airlift Wing Diversity Inclusion program manager.

“Our Tuskegee Airmen Career day is really about showing the diversity of jobs and interests that we have here at the Air Force base,” Champagne added.

1st Lt. Jordan Barnes, 317th AS pilot, is a perfect example of the success of the 315th AW’s outreach programs.  Through events like this, and with the help from role-models like Troutman, Barnes was once in the same shoes as the teens participating in the day’s events.  “It’s important to give back,” he said. “This is how I got my start – going to static tours like this and talking to individuals like myself.”

Jalen Lloyd, a freshman at Berkeley High School said he appreciated the event and the people he talked to.  “To see what people go through every day and hearing what they do is a really good benefit,” he said.

Besides talking to those who wear the Air Force uniform and learning about their jobs and experiences, the students experienced hands-on demonstrations with specialist like the 315th Security Force Squadron’s Ravens, who are charged with protecting the aircraft and aircrew at locations outside the United States.  The students donned flack vests, helmets and held rubber training M-9, and M-4 weapons.

At the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron’s table the boys saw medical litters, some bearing mannequin patients, and others stacked with medical monitors and life-saving gear.

The 628th Security Forces Squadron had a K-9 team on hand and the base’s explosive ordinance disposal team showed students the 80-pound “bomb suit” they wear while dealing with explosives.

Everett Smith, an 8th grader from Jerry Zucker Middle School, was one of the only students strong enough to try the suit on. When a local TV news reported asked him what was the most impressive thing he learned today he responded, “That they are actually able to wear this suit and walk around in it.”

Event organizers created the Tuskegee Airmen Career Day in the spirit of the Joint Base Charleston Women in Aviation Career Day which has been held annually for the past eight years for local school girls. 

“I want boys and girls to know that they can be part of the Air Force Reserve based on any opportunity that they want for themselves,” Champagne said.

During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen – as part of the first U.S. test group that some expected to show black men were not capable of  following orders and flying aircraft in a combat setting – left no doubt as to their capability and courage. They persevered and overcame the diversity challenges of the time to prove themselves beyond capable of doing the job.

They flew over 15,500 combat sorties over the skies of North Africa, Sicily, Italy and central Europe as bomber escorts. Their actions earned them more than 95 Distinguished Flying Crosses and one Airman was awarded two.

Twenty years after the Tuskegee Airmen, retired Chief Master Sgt. Herman Hampton, a member of the Hiram Mann Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen in Walterboro, S.C. said their contributions were instrumental to him and today’s Air Force.  “”Without them accomplishing what they did, I’d never had been able to do what I did.” Hampton was a loadmaster on a C-141 Starlifter at then Charleston Air Force Base.