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Grissom boom operator spends 10K hours in flight

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  One of Grissom's in-flight refueling technicians recently surpassed 10,000 hours -- nearly five years -- working at over 30,000 feet.

Albeit extremely rare for in-flight refueling technicians, better known as boom operators, Senior Master Sgt. Paul "Doogie" Houser, 434th Operations Support Squadron, passed the 10K hours flying mark April 5 while on a mission refueling a B-52 from the 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

And just how everything has a beginning, and at some point in a career filled with over 10,000 hours in the air, there was hour one. For Sergeant Houser, hour one almost never happened.

"I cross trained from maintenance in 1980 when I came here to Grissom on active duty," explained Sergeant Houser, who originally joined the regular Air Force in 1976 as a maintainer. "I was at the end of my first enlistment, so I decided I'd either cross train to a flying job or get out."

The flying position Sergeant Houser said he was initially eyeballing was a flight engineer spot, but that path was blocked for him. None of that mattered though when he stepped onboard a KC-135 Stratotanker in 1979 and his world was changed.

"I'd gotten a flight on a tanker to go with our A-7s on a 'turkey shoot' from Arizona to Florida," he reminisced, explaining that a turkey shoot is a type of fighter aircraft competition. "That was my first ride, and it was enough that I knew if I could get a flying position, I'd stay in."

After cross training to become a boom operator at Castle AFB, Calif., Sergeant Houser spent five more years in the regular Air Force before deciding to join the Air Force Reserve.

"I came in during the Vietnam GI Bill era, and that expired in 1989, so it was use it or lose it," he said, explaining that he joined the Reserve to pursue his education. "I was able to walk across the street with no break in service; I left active duty one day and started with the Reserve the next."

After joining the Reserve, Sergeant Houser stuck to his plan and put his GI Bill benefits to work, attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation technology from Purdue University.

And, while his career has taken him all over the world and garnered numerous accomplishments, he said his greatest memories come from his mobilizations and deployments.

"My first mobilization for (Operation) Desert Storm stands out because of the number of aircraft involved," stated Sergeant Houser. "I remember on one five-ship formation, there was a flight of 40 F-16s, and we each had eight.

"It was pretty impressive seeing them all pop up together through the clouds," he added. "I'll probably never see that again."

And while the Desert Storm deployment stuck out in his mind, Sergeant Houser said his recent deployments to Southwest Asia in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom were no less memorable or challenging.

"We did a lot of flying in the 60 days I was there," he explained about his most recent deployment. "We flew a year's worth of flying in just 60 days, so that helped me reach the 10,000 hours a whole lot faster."

However, getting to that 10,000-hour mark was never a conscious effort or part of his overall plan.

"I really didn't think about it until I came back from (Southwest Asia) two years ago," elaborated Sergeant Houser, who added what was a part of his plan was being making an impact in the world.

He said that part of this attitude stemmed from his early days in the Strategic Air Command where he spent much of his time on alert on the ground rather than flying and from hearing stories from Vietnam veteran boom operators about their missions.

"When I first came in, I used to hear all the stories from the Vietnam guys about flying out of Thailand, he said. "In SAC people were chomping at the bit to go; one third of your life was spent on alert, so we were all anxious to fly operational missions."

And, while his desire to make an impact had its roots in stories from Vietnam and the SAC days, Sergeant Houser, who is now an instructor boom operator and in-flight refueling manager with the 434th OSS, said he sees the same desire in Airmen he serves with today.

"You find most people in the tanker business are into doing something that has impact," he elaborated. "When you refuel an aircraft with a bomb on it and you see it comes back without that bomb, you realize you helped the cause; you got the mission done that day."

Getting the mission done is exactly what Sergeant Houser did for 10,000 hours, even on his B-52 refueling mission April 5, where he returned home to friends, family and coworkers gathered to greet him on the chilly flight line.

"I was only expecting a couple guys from the shop to come out, not the reception I got," said Sergeant Houser, who added that he's extremely grateful to his family for their support of his career.

"My wife and the kids have been very supportive," he said. "I've had to miss out on important events, but they understood I was doing something important, which is huge."

Sergeant Houser said he also wanted to thank the 434th Maintenance Group maintainers at Grissom as well as all 434th Air Refueling Wing Airmen.

"Our aircraft are so well maintained, it made it easy to rack up the 10,000 hour s in them," said the former maintainer. "Really all the people in this unit are the best; I wouldn't want to go anywhere else."

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command.

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