Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is
retired US Air Force Master Sergeant Bernie Oder. He served twenty three years in
uniform, most of it as a combat controller, and much of that time
was spent with Air Force Special Operations Command. He played a major role in
planning and the seizure of the Riojato Airfield in Panama as part of Operation Just
Cause in nineteen eighty nine. He also served in Grenada, Desert Storm,
and Bosnia. And Bernie, thank you very much for being with us.
Where were you born and raised? I was born in lowtown in Ohio called
Bellfountain or belly Fontaine. And was there a history of military service in your
family? My dad and my uncle's all served in the Second World War in
what branches? Marine, Corps and Navy? Why did you decide to join
the Air Force? In nineteen seventy two was the last year the draft,
and unfortunately Okaloosa County had to give up three bodies. My name was number
one in the list, so I had no choice. I had to go
into service. So that's when I went down to the Air Force recruiter and
said, can I join They said, sure, what did they do with
you? Then? Where'd you go for training? Well? I went to
went in became a supply clerk, went out to Texas in California for schooling,
Denver, Colorado also, and then was stationed at a variety of places,
mostly in the Philippines. And then during the end of Vietnam conflict,
how'd you make the shift from supply clerk to combat controller? When I was
in the Philippines, the combat controllers would come in and get supplies and quipping
and stuff. And I met a bunch of them, and they said,
you ought to look at join it, you know, And started doing pt
with them and started liking what they did, and I said, and then
the Air Force says, hey, you can cross train if you'd like,
And I said, certainly, so they allowed me to cross treat. Explain
what a combat controller is. A combat controller is in the Air Force.
It's a licensed air traffic controller. You have to get through Air Traffic control
school first and then you get to go to jump school. And basically you're
a forward air controller. So whenever anyone needs an airplane or a helicopter or
whatever to talk to, they have us and we're licensed aircraft controllers. Same
way too with the humanitarian efforts. Whenever a hurricane or earthquake would happened,
we would go in and established clear the airfare to make sure it's safe and
start landing, resupply your aircraft. And you mentioned parachuting, so what tell
me about that training. Well, you go through the Army Jump School Fort
Benning Static Lying School. I also went through the airport or the Army excuse
me, a halo school high altitude low opening, and then also went through
the dive school and was a dive supervisor so I could do it all that
come naturally to you. Well, it was always exciting, which again I
was like challenge and stuff like that. So yeah, to me, yeah,
I wanted to do something the average person didn't do or wouldn't want to
do, and most of my family thought I was crazy anyway, jump out
of a good airplane. So from the heights to the depths, you had
it covered. So let's discuss some of your missions now, beginning with Granada
an Operation Urgent Fury in nineteen eighty three, what was your role in planning
and executing that? We were again, I was signed at assoc haird corters
down here, and then also we worked a lot with the Joint Special Operations
Command Jaysock, and the call came down that we were to go in and
rescue the medical students. So I got deployed up to Fort Bragg Pope Air
Force Space, met up with the guys up there, divide up our role.
My job was on the air land I we brought in the communications vehicle,
which was basically a jeep, and so once they seized the airfield,
I landed me and then I pulled out the radios on the vehicle and we
started communicating that way. How did that unfold over the next few days?
Well, wait, very well, I mean it was very interesting to be
again working with all the other sister services, the Navy, the Marine Corps
and stuff like that. Some bumps in the road, we learned a lot
of facts. That's where they stood up us so calm and stuff like that
to make it more of a team concept, and also rehearse from practice together,
which a lot of times we didn't do that. So we'd be on
the radio trying to talk to Navy airplanes or Navy helicopters or Marine Corps helicopters,
and they wouldn't respond, so we had to learn to do that better.
Is that a rough transition or well, it made it easier when they
stood up the different commands because now we all came under the same umbrella instead
of being the Blue Water Navy or the Marine Corps and the Air Force guys.
No, no, Now we were all a soa calm. So it
created a team concept. We started working with the other almost daily, if
not weekly, and so we got to know each other and what each show
was brought to the party and stuff. Well, let's move to Panama.
Now, before you were team leader in the airfield seizure at Riojato, you
were extraordinarily influential in the planning in terms of combat controllers and para rescuers.
We walk me through that. We were deployed working with the ranger battalions and
I got called into the skiff the Crisis Action Office and said, we got
to start looking at this scenario. And that's when they started pulling out maps
and drawings and of Riojato and Teresta Kuma and t Squared we used to call
it, and some other places. So we started to divide him up,
Who's going to take which role, who's going to take which mission, who
needs support or whatever like that. So yeah, I'd planned it for quite
a while. A matter of fact, we had rehearsed it just prior.
I mean literally we were driving back from Fort Benning we got the call to
turn around and go back to Port Benning. We were going to do it
for real. But yeah, we had practiced it just literally days before we
actually went and did it. We just talked about the Joint Operations Now in
the better communication, when you're putting together a significant plan like this, how
does that communication work? Who do you report to? Who reports to you?
Well, again, we all fell under the Joint Special Operations Command,
so when they put us all together into skiffs, the Navy Seals would come
in, the rangers and stuff like. We'd all get together and start looking
at Okay, who's going to take which role, how do we want to
attack this, or how do we plan to attack this? Where the seals
wanted to go in by boat to Petia the airfield there and stuff like that.
So we had to put two controllers with that, and the other guys
were going to air jump in, and we said, okay, we'll take
over the guys at Chasak would take over Trista Kuman and the guys and Herbert
would take over Rio Hato. So we divided up that same way the range
of battalions. They split the range of battalions up so how many would need
it in each location and stuff like that. So it also depends too,
Like the eighty second airboard came in after a riot, I mean Trista Kuman
Rio Hata We stayed there for the first three days if I remember correctly,
because we did and get reinforced right away. Of course, that regather they
thought was going to be in Panama City, but we took over that when
just in case he got away. He wouldn't There was a big airfield there.
They didn't want him to escape. Talk about the role of the para
rescue, right, they're they're the best combat medics out there as far as
we're concerned. Again, they go through some of the best trauma medicines they
get, and yeah, they become very valuable. Again, we had some
numerous guys got hit and hurt, Riohado and stuff, and the PJAS were
right there. We also air landed them what they had to can't remember the
name of the ram or. They had a rapid vehicle that they used lack
an ambulance, so they could pick guys up and move around. And when
we'd need more help than they'd come in and bring a hellic operating we'd load
them up and they could get out that way. It's talking a little more
detail now about the mission itself. How did you get in position? What
was the what was the formation that you needed to Well, we we had
an airfield seizure team was on the lead aircraft. There, we have two
of them. There's a primary an alternative. I was on the lead aircraft.
I was the fifth guy out the right door of the airplane. By
the way, that airplane sitting in at the air park at Hurlbert Field now
it's a museum piece. But then there was four of my guys on that
first airplane. The second airplane had four guys as backup, so that way,
again something would happen and then we'd brought in. We also had guys
with command and controls the very different battalions, ranger battalion commanders and vice commanders,
and also the close air support, the gun ships and the attack helicopters
were also there. We also provided that information, but we jumped in like
that. That night was interesting. When we left Fort Benning it was snowing,
and yet eighteen hours later we're jumping into the Jungles and Panama, so
which quite a transition going from snow to cold, but we did it.
But it went really well, I mean a real quick story. My first
guy out. We had motorcycles. They call them bike chasers, so they
push the motorcycle out. My guy goes out. Okay, everything goes out.
I go out. The next guy, the second guy by chaser goes
out. He calls on the radio. He's got a broken leg. I
said, okay, fine, and I'm still trying to reach my first guy
and he doesn't answer. So I'm assuming the worse and so my back third,
backup role. I had to physically run the runway with full combat here
to make sure there was no booby traps, which there were. There was
a deuce and a half park there to make sure we couldn't take the airfield
that way airplane run into it. Of course, between the rangers of myself
we were able to get it moved and hot wired and get it out of
the way. Make a long story short we got the one guy broken leg.
He was he was the PJA. He was fixing guys crawling around and
we got him. Mad A backed out and the next morning was his son
came up. I called my other guy. I said one more time and
I called him. He's operating isscues echo golf that you know, this is
Oscar Romeo. If you can hear me, key the radio twice and all
of a sudden click click what it was when he jumped in, he landed
in a tree and it snapped off his communications. He could he could hear
us, but he couldn't transmit. So I'm thinking he's dead or whatever.
And besides it, he's hanging ninety feet in a tree and the Panamanians a
runnerneath them, so it didn't quite want to engage him by himself. But
yeah, that was an interesting He finally showed up the next morning. The
sun was coming up and he showed up all smiles and stuff. So yeah,
it was. It was a lot of good time. Nobody on our
team got seriously hurt. Yeah, we had the one PJA Brokey's legs.
Some of the rangers weren't so fortunate. We did have three Kia's there and
stuff. So just the story of the PJA with a broken leg crawling to
render eight is just such a perfect encapsulation of devotion to duty. Yep.
And he also be honest with and he wasn't really excited about when they got
him back to the Howard Air Force Base at the hospital there and they came
in to give him purple heart. He wasn't really excited about, Well,
it was an accident, a parachute jump, but still qualified. You did
her and he did her into purple heart for that. So when you've planned
an operations as much as you did in this situation and then you're leading it
and you're about to jump, are you just focused on execution? Are you
thinking about anything that scenario that you hadn't game planned for? What's well?
Yeah, I mean we again, we had just rehearsed it here and a
matter of fact, we did it out here at Eglin and stuff and everything.
Were it smoothinge Both my bike chasers were got the bikes, parachute got
on and right away we all rallied up, you know, not not one
single glitch. And so I'm thinking, Okay, we've just rehearsed this.
Everything went well, we're going to do it now for real, no big
deal, just like any other football team. Okay, we've practiced this,
weear we could do this. And then within the first five minutes of getting
on the ground, I went, wait a minute. Two of the guys
who were here before I can't you know, one's doubt a broken leg,
and one I can't talk to. This is not the scenario practice, I
said. Okay again, because we always do what if? What if these
two guys did. My third role besides team leader an air traff controller,
was to clear the runway. So yeah, but yeah, maybe it goes
through your mind you think, well, this is not the way we rehearsed
it. But you can't call time out. It's not like the NFL or
Oh, time out, let's take a break and listen. No, no,
it's sorry. You know, we've got to just keep going and do
what we got to do. Then, in terms of actually controlling the air
traffic once you've seized it, how does that go? Well, we again,
it's up to the ranger commander. It's hib because he's the one who's
control of fight and stuff like that. So that's where we have a guy
one of our guys with him as a as a communications guy and who whenever
the commander says okay it's safe, you can bring airplanes in, then we
bring We'll call the airplane and say okay, you're clear to land. How
long did it take this operation? Not normally a normally air field sisure we
used to practice. We wanted to be able once we lay out the airplane
within thirty minutes to be able to land the first airplane. Now Rio Hato
didn't go that well because again there was a lot more fighting going on.
So yeah, the scenario it turned into being closer to an hour before the
commander, the ranger commander said okay you can land the first airplane. Because
and then again the reason bringing more airplanes is you bring in more beans,
bullets and band aids. You've got vehicles, you've got guys with more guns
and ammunition. Also, it gives you a chance to get anybody that's hurt
or wounded. We could load them up and get them out of there and
stuff like that. Also, we understand when we say run clearly, it's
invisible lighting. Unless you've got night vision on, you can't see the lights.
So it's not like the bad guys, Oh, you're lighting this up
like you see in an international run with no no, it's all pure black
and unless you got night vision you can't see the lights and stuff. So
so once that hour is over and you've succeeded in your endeavors, what are
you focused on at that point? Well, again, it's again, we
can bring in more airplanes or helicopters, or if we need more, you
know, if the rangers say we need more forty milliman mike mike grenade,
we want more plasma or what do you whatever they need, we would call
and say, hey, bring this to us. Also during the night,
and actually even through the next day, we were still getting randomly attacked.
We'd be gun fights that Panamanians would come back, or a couple of times
they'd launched mortars. We had an airplane on the ground and all of a
sudden mortar hit nearby, and when we got him out of there right away,
and of course and the rangers went and found the mortar guy. But
yeah, so there's things was happening and stuff like that. Wounded. Also,
we had some civilians showed up accidentally. There was a road that we
cut across this runway and why they would choose to come down there when they're
all this gunfighting going on. But we stopped him, got him out of
there, and turned around and said, you know, go away. You
know you don't want to be hearing stuff now. Because you were successful.
You prevented I believe a number of units of the Panamanian Defense Forces from really
effectively engaging in the fight. How significant was that in the larger plan of
just cause? Well, exactly because we want to do we want to do
is minimum damage and collateral damage. We didn't We didn't want to level the
city. We didn't. This was the Barracks training base, one of their
special forces bases. We didn't want to go in there and level the place
because we wanted them Hopefully once we got Noriego go, they would say,
okay, yeah, we understand, we work with the Americans, we like
Americans, stuff like that. So, yeah, we try to as much
as possible out Sometimes that all didn't always work. If you're taking fire from
guys inside of the building or an airplane hangar or whatever, well okay we
can, We're allowed to defend ourselves and stuff like that. So so this
is a number of days that this operation plays out. Eventually Noriega's taken into
custody. How did the Panamanian Defense forces react at that point, Well,
they did, they realized what was going on and stuff like that, and
also they had lost the fight. We had taken over everything and we'd shut
everything down. Or there's also we understand we also took over that international airport,
so our guys time at rollers. There's commercial airlines coming in. Well,
so we had to get on the radios and talk to the headquarters there
and tell them, you don't want to come here. We're in the middle
of some things going on. You we don't need a seven thirty seven or
seven forties landing in the middle of the even bara daylight there. The terminals
not operational where there's things going on and stuff like that. So it was
interesting that way. Also chasing Noriega, we chased him around. I say
we my I didn't, but some of my guys helped do that. Yeah,
chased him around until we finally caught him. Yeah. How many days
later was that? I want? It was about He held up for a
while with the bishop there and stuff, and we had him surrounded and he
lasted a couple more days before they he finally we we enticed him between loud
music and a lot of lights. He couldn't sleep and he couldn't you know,
so he finally, Okay, I'm not getting away with this, so
he finally I want to say, this was about four or five days later.
How long did you stay there? How long did we stay? I
was there for about the full five days and stuff. Now we got pulled
out of Hatto would take him back to Howard for a restued creviation, also
rearming in case they needed to go somewhere else. It was nice because a
couple of the guys we had were great cooks. So they went into the
commissary and they put us up in billeting and they went into this one base
housing and they cooked us all Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, Earth Christmas turkeys,
bashemtise. We had to. We fed all of us like of course we
were all missing it because we were there, but stuff. But yeah,
it was very fun and interesting to do that. What we come back.
Master Sergeant Odor is off to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm and later
to Bosnia. Our guest has retired US Air Force Master Sergeant Bernie Odor.
I'm Greg Corumbas and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm
Greg Corumbas. Our guest in this edition has retired US Air Force Master Sergeant
Bernie Odor. We've heard about his service and planning and executing military operations in
Granada and especially during Operation Just Cause Panama. Now we move ahead a few
months to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Master Sergeant Odor is off to the
Persian Gulf, and this time his job brings some new wrinkles. Thanks to
a massive coalition built up to evict Saddam Hussang Riohato or Panama was strictly an
Americans forces. When we went to the Desert Storm, we all of a
sudden, now we're working with French, British, Dutch, English or England.
You know. So I had worked previously with all these different countries.
So again when it came time to okay, I need to put one or
two guys with the Sas and British ass guys, or a couple of guys
with the Egyptians who were a couple of guys with the Dutch had been Dani
should setting people and stuff like that, and the other thing advantages because we
speak airmanship. We can talk to airplanes where a lot of other guys don't
do that. So if they need anything beans, bullets or band aids,
they turn around and look one of our guys and say, hey, go
get me I need some more of this or that, and yeah, they
would make the call on the radio and next thing you know, it would
be air dropped or air landed or helicoptered in or whatever they needed. So
it was very interesting and ad aspect of it, dirking with the all the
four nationals and stuff, especially at headquarters there the air operations that are.
I saw the British guys walk in and they knew me and I knew them.
And then next thing you know that I get called over and they said,
hey, they want you by name. I said, yeah, I
worked with these guys before. Well some of the colonels I work. They
said, who are these guys because they didn't wear name tags and stuff like
I saw. There's some of the guys I've worked with. It's no big
deal and stuff. So but it's a smaller community in the special ops like
that that we all work together and done things together, so we knew each
other. So now combat controller and pair of rescue. Is these are elite
positions and is it unique to our Air Force that these other countries didn't have
those roles? Well, yes it is. It was. And now although
a lot of the four countries are starting to develop their own version of combat
control and a pair of rescue because they see what the advantage of having us
around. And then and they started this even dirt back into Vietnam, the
ties and stuff like that, realized what a combat controller or a pair of
rescuing could do. So they started modeling some of their guys and which a
matter of fact, they come out here to some of our schools and stuff
like that. In the same way as South America when we were doing the
drug interdictions and stuff like that, because of the guns and ships and satellite
infantry and stuff like that, we were intel wise, they would come over
here and learned how to do all that with us. I've certainly spoken to
some people who don't like the idea of Americans serving under foreign commands. So
did that come up and how did you deal with it? Well, yeah,
I mean it's always one of those you know. And well, in
the same way with our own command whenever other guys would come in and ask
for certain one of us by name, and who are those guys, and
well you don't need to know who they are, and so so yeah,
you can get a little tricky sometimes. I had a base commander out here
one and well, we came back from crenative and we got called in to
get our medals and he said, I didn't know you guys were gone.
Yes, sir, you didn't. He's, well, I need to know
that. Well, okay, it's not my part of the chain of command
to inform you. I get a phone call from you know people, and
I we go do things, same way with working foreign nationals, yes,
to say, hopefully the right guys have your back and stuff. So but
yeah, it could be interesting sometimes dealing with Also, sometimes you go with
places and you're not you know, you can't really say who you are and
what you're doing there and stuff. More than a few times I wore surveying
clothes and did things and stuff. So now in desert store and formerly began,
did you take on a different role and if so, what did you
do that role there? Because of my planning and interface time, they left
me at the headquarters the whole time, so I had to interface with all
the foreign nationals to make sure you know. And then another scenario, I'll
give you another scample. We had some guys went with the British guys on
a British helicopter and flew into Iraq. Well, they don't have the friend
or foe information on their helicopter. So my job besides being so when they
F fifteen slow down and wanted to shoot it, I said, no,
no, that's I know who that is. Don't shoot that helicopter down.
Well we need to know, you don't need to know, just don't shoot
that when I know who that is, leave it alone and stuff. So
it made it very interesting because again, not everybody needs to know what you're
doing and where you're doing or where you're doing stuff like that. And then
the same issue happened in Bosnia. I assume when you're working with the UN
Tornado, same type of challenge, that it play out much differently than it
in the desert. No, not really. I mean, well it was
interesting could working with the Canadians and the French and stuff like that. So
yeah, it made it different. Each of them have a little different philosophy
on how they do things, and also also their own rules of engagement.
One group I was with, whenever the first shot was fired, I turned
around to see where it was going on, and I couldn't find them.
They had left. Well, their rules were if the shots fired, they
had they went down in the basement. Well I said, okay, that's
not the peacekeeping role. I'm here to provide. I'm here too, So
I called back to headquarters and say, okay, we're you know, getting
shot at Da da da da. So, yeah, it made it interesting
to deal with these different ones. So the different rules of engagement. So,
but you got to adjust. I mean you just okay, let's I'll
do what I have to do it. Fortunately, again, we have great
communications, satellite communication. I could call back and say, okay, hey,
I'm at the corner and so and so and so and so, and
we just got shot at and you know, it's no big deal. It
wasn't even that close around. I mean, so it was. But their
rules were they heard a gunshot, they had to get to the basement.
And you retired in nineteen ninety five, So the conflict in the Balkans was
still going on at that point. And that's about twelve years after Granada,
which kind of triggered the US Special Ops Command. In that twelve years,
how much improvement and refinement. Oh, it was immense. I mean we
grew by leaps and bounds and the other thing. What was nice about it?
Again, one of my many many rules I had was also a logistics
supply guy. Well, when so Calm stood up, they got their own
checkbook. So if the Air Force wouldn't buy us something, we could go
to so Calm and they say, yeah, we'll buy those for you.
Also, they standardized it. It wouldn't be well, you're going to carry
a thirty eight, No, you're going to carry forty five. The pistols
that is, you know, their air Force wanted thirty eight, The Army
likes the forty fives. The Marines wanted to nine millimeter. No, no,
we're going to standardize this. That way we go. We all have
the same weapon, we all have the same AMMO. There is this,
you know the same way through radio communications, you know, they everybody wanted
their own. No, we're going to standardize this so we can. Now
you may have your own frequency, your encryption, but still we're going to
standardize it. Where my battery work in your radio, and your radio would
work in my battery. So yeah, so that leaps a bound. It
helps us. There also a major again we started training all the time together.
Instead of being isolated once in a blue moon, it was almost monthly
we were training with these guys. So it's obviously this cross branch cooperation and
has been now for forty years. But it feels like just from a cultural
perspective that people are aware of the Seals, they're aware of Delta Force and
Green Berets and so forth. Air Force Special Ops doesn't seem to get as
much attention. So what do people need to know about the legacy and the
ongoing excellent Well, and you're right. Part of one of the schoolhouses we
have here is the Special Tactics Training Squadron and that's where the young guys come
in and they spent a full year out here and get there what they call
their five levels that are being printing out their operators. Well, we go
out there at every graduation a half four year and these guys don't realize the
Combat Control has been around for seventy years. Were at we're celebrating our seven
anniversity as combat Control most people don't, which is fine. It was there's
not like three hundred of us in the world, so yeah, there's not
like we're thousands, you know, and so and again, a lot of
time we don't need to know. Like say, I'm most time. My
standard cover story on anything. We were on a training mission in Georgia when
everybody come back from somewhere my parents or somebody, my wife, no,
no training mission, and all of a sudden the medals would come down and
you were there. No, I was on, So it's you know,
it's so you know, it's not one of we're not big high profile guys,
although I say that tongue in cheek. There is rumors of a movie
going to be made about Masters and John Chapman an Afghanistan who got the Medal
of Honor. So yeah, that that should be good a movie coming out.
What did you do after your retirement? Well, because I knew communications,
I got hired on with Motorola then General Dynamics to sell the same radios
and newer versions of the radios. And because I knew what a J six
was or at O six, or a captain in the Navy compared to a
captain in the Air Force. It made logical that, hey, okay,
I know these guys. And then also internationally, I mean, grat there's
some restrictions here, but a lot of the eye there, five eyes were
allowed a lot of the same equipment. So I got to go around and
the British and SAS and those guys, and you know, so, hey,
listen here there's a new our newer, upgraded G version or the radio.
And you know so that that's what I did. I mean, and
here, twenty three years in the service, you put together an incredible skill
set. You are now a city councilman in Mary Esther, Florida. In
terms of the skills you developed for planning and executing plans. How is that
translated to? Well, it's been. It was funny. I finally retired,
retired the second time from the Motorola General Dynamics here and selling communications.
Also do the FAA air trap control radios. And I was out walking one
day and saw they were going to have a council meeting. So I stopped.
I said, you know, I've lived here twenty years. I had
to go to one of those. And next thing I know, after about
ten months, they asked me they had an opening. They said, hey,
you need to apply and come in and I said, okay, I'm
not sure. I'll let me go home. Talk to my wife and she
goes, yeah, I get you out of the house. Gives you something
to do. So and it does. And a lot of the same budgets
where you know, every year we have to have a balanced budget. We're
not all do deficit fending. You know, nobody likes paying taxes, but
then again, everybody likes to have drinking water and be able to flush the
toilets. And I want five foot sidewalks and not three foot sidewalks. Well,
and some of the pipes are in the ground or seventy years old.
We need to upgrade. I mean you look around the world here. Yeah,
clean drinking water is priceless. So yeah, we're tackling so yeah,
it's very similar to what I did in military. Working together, what's the
best options? Looking at all the different options, what do we want to
do? What how do we get out there is to the average citizen.
Does realize we're just not going to spend thirty million dollars. No, No,
we need to address this issue and make sure we do it right and
make it last for the next one hundred years. And that's the type of
thing that might not make a lot of sexy headlines, but it's going to
be well, you're right time until the water doesn't, you know, is
not drinkable, then that's the headline we don't want. And that's why I
said, we need to attack this, you know, and okay, let's
get it planned together, because yeah, we don't want to be on the
news that or a sewage spill into the sound. No, we don't.
We don't want that kind of headline. Would rather let's be proactive and everybody
can still drink the water. Yes, last couple of questions here, Bernie,
what are you most proud of from your time in the service? Oh?
Well, probably the most proudest was when we were actually back to Grenado,
when we went down there and rescued all those medical students that was also
a medical school, so they we had a we all got a copy of
a letter signed by all the different professors and moms and dads and and some
was young as six years old thanking us for come rescuing them. That says
it all right there. And why would you describe the camaraderie within the special
opps community and within the Air Force especially, And that's the one thing everybody
asked me if I miss being gone all the time, And it didn't miss
all the deployments and the short notice, you know, and just the pager
backdown pagers or the phone go off and wife, when are you going to?
When are you coming back? Might be three days, might be three
hours, might be there. I don't know. I don't even know where
I'm going yet, you know. So, but it's it's with the team,
guys, being with the guys and now girls for that matter. That
that camaraderie that you can't like. I say, that was another big adjustment
from leaving the military. We would get paid thousands of dollars before we deploy.
Well I could leave it laying on a table with and no come back
to three days later. You're still every penny it would be laying here,
which in the Savellan world you really can't leave twenty five hundred dollars laying on
a table and come back three lads that you know. So that was an
adjustment that, oh, okay, we're not all into this for everybody.
So Bernie, it's been a pleasure talking to you today. What does it
mean to you to have the American Veterans Center hear your story and those of
other veterans. I'm all for it. I mean I can remember when the
guys come back from Vietnam and how they were so disrespected and stuff like that,
and am fortunate Americans. We've had it way too good for way too
I know you have a very short memory. Yeah, some of us have
paid the price. Well, sir, We thank you very much for your
service to our country. We thank you for your time today, but most
of all those many years of excellent service to our country. We appreciate it.
Thank you very much. Retired at US Air Force, Master Sergeant Bernie
Oder served twenty three years in uniform, most of it as a combat controller
within Air Force Special Operations, and he played a major role in planning and
the seizure of Riojato Airfield in Panama as part of Operation Just Cause in nineteen
eighty nine. We also served in Grenada, Desert Storm, and Bosnia.
I'm Greg Corumbas and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbas,
and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American Veterans
Center. For more information, please visit American Veterans Center dot org. You
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