Buff Down In Guam

[BossHogg]

Mike "Bull" Dodson... What can I tell you about this guy? He bought his Dad a 41K dollar truck, just because. When I was with him at Pope his Mom had cancer and passed. He would come off the rotator and spend all of his leave until the next deployment at her side. He was made from a time gone by in life and in the Air Force -- guys like this are found one at a time. Your problems were his problems -- even if it meant he had to drop his problems. I saw his selfless character at Pope AFB when he was a navigator and I witnessed it first hand at Sheppard AFB at ENJJPT. He would never complain about carring an extra burden. I would see him struggling with his own daily grind, stop to help a new navigator at Pope or take care of problems as SRO at Sheppard, and he would get hammered on his flight or ground job the next day -- but it never mattered to him -- success always meant that you did well. A good dude defined is a guy that makes life better without you knowing why, how, or who was doing it. That was Bull's card -- in most cases you never even knew that he went to bat for you or took a bullet for the team -- he never needed to advertise it because him knowing was enough for him. He was a leader -- the Air Force tries to manufacture these kinds of traits and attitudes but it is like trying to build a diamond. You may get close but you will never achieve the quality of the real thing.

I spoke to his wife and if you can make a service for him -- it would mean the world to her and their families. I am hurting too bad to talk about the good stories but this is just two that I keep thinking about. We had both got the good deal card to go to ENJJPT and we were in the same class. I was giving the morning flight brief. It is a very formal brief and part of the hazing of UPT is to sit at attention and listen to the brief. Well, I hate formality and really all things serious for that matter, so at the start of the brief, I yelled, "MICHAEL DODSON." In his best effort to look sharp because all eyes snapped to him, Bull stood up stiff as a board and at attention, and I said, "TERRIBLE HAIRCUT -- please sit down." He had just got what hair that he had buzzed off the day before, and the whole class errupted in laughter, Bull cut me his best, "You dirty son-of-a-bitch," and that started our reign of bringing some C-130 flavor to ENJJPT. He got me back about a month later as I walked through a dark parking lot. I was looking the other way and he sped up to me, slammed on brakes, and honked the horn. It was in the middle of some fancy hotel parking lot when we were TDY with a whole bunch of people watching at the front desk. A pilot is always to be cool and collected. I dropped the bag I was carrying, leaped in the air, and ran like a little girl and everyone laughed as I tried to tell them, "I f!!*@ing tripped, you didn't scare me!"

I hope to see you all at a service.

Edited July 25, 2008 by BossHogg

[Guest Mudflaps]

This is my first and probably last post to this forum. I signed up because I would like to share a few words about our fallen friends who gave their lives to make certain this world was a better place. This event, this tragedy, is a solid reminder that what we do is not 100% safe. We will continue to fly, we will continue to do the job so our children can live in a free and just world and do not have to carry on our work. We will honor their memories by flying, fighting, and remembering.

Chris Cooper - A fellow Texas grad, which should indicate his intelligence and fine taste in schools. He was a true warrior, engaged in the fight against terrorism on the ground as well as in the air. He was experienced, thoughtful, and truly a nice person who sought to make his squadron better. He was willing to listen as well as instruct, always using his wisdom and breadth of experience to teach young aviators. Hook 'em Horns, brother.

Josh Shepherd - I was an instructor at the FTU when he was a student. I have seen and flown with many students, but Josh was a rising star and a natural aviator. After every brief, I could count on Josh to come to the podium and ask at least a dozen questions when other students quickly made their way to the next event. He was deeply proud of his squadron and willing to engage in spirit missions for the benefit of his squadron mates (much to the detriment of our squadron's bar). He was truly a class act and will be missed by those who knew him.

B-Dub - The best radar I've ever know and undeniably the one person who held our organization together in a time of crisis and doubt. He rallied the flight commanders to tell us about the loss of our senior leadership in the wake of the nuclear incident late last year. He was always calm, collected, and displayed the quiet dignity of a natural born leader. In the jet, he was without peer. I flew with him on several occasions and his knowledge coupled with his instructor abilities ensured he was the squadron's most popular radar. Crewdogs will always check the schedule to see who they are flying with and that can make or break morale. If B-Dub was on your jet, you knew you were going to have fun and learn something. I still cannot, will not, believe he is gone.

To the rest of the crew, much has been said and written which I will not repeat. You will not be forgotten.

To the entire crew of Raider 21, rest in peace.

[MKopack]

Reading these last several pages makes this old Vet proud that there are people like the crew of Raider 21 serving today, as well as all of you who have been writing about them.

Salute,

Mike Kopack

[Guest Mike Brogan]

The memorial for the crewdogs of Raider 21 was held today at Hoban Hall at Barksdale AFB. The family members of the fallen flew in from all over the country, and we were also joined by many of our former B-52 crewdogs who currently fly B-2, and teach UPT or UNT.

The story covering the memorial service is on Barksdale's website.

7/25/2008 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --

The Barksdale community joined family and friends Friday to honor the Airmen of Raider 21, a B-52 that crashed off the coast of Guam leaving no survivors.

Attendees packed the Hoban Hall memorial service to pay tribute to the lives of Maj. Christopher Cooper, Maj. Brent Williams, Capt. Michael Dodson, 1st Lt. Robert Gerren and 1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd. A sixth officer, Col. George Martin, stationed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was also part of the crew.

"Our nation suffered a heartbreaking loss this week," said Col. Robert Wheeler, 2d Bomb Wing commander. "These husbands, fathers, brothers and sons made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country."

Outside the gate, area residents echoed his sentiment by demonstrating support for Barksdale with flags at half staff, condolence messages on commercial signs, and flower arrangements. An informal memorial--cards, flowers, and ribbons--emerged outside Barksdale's North gate.

To conclude the "celebration of life" attendees watched a spirited B-52 video presentation that Colonel Wheeler said, "Captured the essence of what they believed in--what they stood for as American Airmen."

The Barksdale members were deployed to Guam with the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron as part of the DoD's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific.

"Monday morning, July 21st, Raider 21 was cleared for takeoff. There's no way they could have known it would be their last mission," said Colonel Wheeler. "They spent their last minutes doing what they loved, flying in defense of our nation--it was not in vain."

I was in attendance along with nearly every other Barksdale aviator, and I thought the memorial service was a fitting tribute to a great group of warriors. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our fallen comrades. Witnessing the depth of their grief was one of the most heart-wrenching experiences of my life. We'll honor the memories of our fallen brothers by pressing on and continuing to bring the fight to the enemy in defense of this great nation as we always have.

Godspeed Raider 21...

Cam

[AFCS_Actuator]

I met Capt Dodson at Barksdale while I was casual there. He was flying as co-pilot for a sortie I got to sandbag on before I PCS'd for UPT. He was a stand-up guy. He was more than willing to show me what the duties of a co-pilot were and gave some sound advice regarding UPT. Following our flight he gave me his 20th BS coin as a souveneir. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family.

[Guest Sparky]

I flew in to Barksdale this weekend for the memorial and it was a heart warming tear jerking experience to say the least. We honored these fallen warriors in true irish style. We started at the O'club immediately following the memorial, and all ended up down town continuing to celebrate the lives of these amazing individuals. I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of B-Dub's family, it was immediately evident that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. His family knew I was flying out of Barksdale today and they made it a point to come to baseops prior to my departure. We sat outside for a good half hour telling stories and remembering B-Dub...we all laughed, and we all cried. It was a great experience, and somehow helped me more than anything else so far. I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank the 12th Flying Training Wing Commander and Operations Group Commander. Some of you may already know, but they authorized the flight of an Air Force T-43 (B-737) from Randolph to Barksdale (out-n-back) specifically to carry all those that knew one of the Raidr 21 crew and they all attended the memorial service. Thanks also to Coppa (562nd Instructor Navigator) for getting that ball rolling...sorry I didn't ride along with you guys, but I didn't want to miss out on grieving the loss and celebrating the lives of these American Heros.

To the crew of Raidr 21....you will not be forgotten.

[backseatdriver]

First and foremost, a toast...

Was Maj Williams an instructor at Randolph back in '04?

[Guest Sparky]

First and foremost, a toast...

Was Maj Williams an instructor at Randolph back in '04?

Yes

[HERK_Nav]

For whoever made the memorial/tribute for the service... Would you mind sharing it here for those of us who couldn't make the services?

[BQZip01]

I went to school with Chris at the University of Texas, he was a year behind me in ROTC. That would have put him in a college grad year of '96. Great dude, very soft spoken, we hung out a bunch. Never had a bad thing to say about anyone. He'll be missed

Rest in peace Chris.

At times like these, it puts simple college rivalries in perspective (I'm an Aggie). Hook 'em, Gig 'em, and God speed Chris.

Does anyone know what classes "Shaman" and Rob Gerren were in at Randolph?

Godspeed. Him Him

I heard they both graduated last year in the April timeframe

[Guest RJEwo]

Rob went to P-Cola and was in my EWO class. We graduated last March. RIP.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

The time has come for us to honor the crew of RAIDR 21 with their final farewell. Tomorrow at 1400 the group memorial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery. I would like to start off by thanking our brothers from Little Rock for sacrificing a couple of training sorties and creating a long day of work to stop here at Barksdale to grab a load of us and haul us to the east coast. Thank you! Since July 21st our community has been in and out of mourning and I have watched many deal with this in different ways. We have been a part of six different funerals in the wake of NOREs, ORIs, and now an NSI. Our community is strong and we have been able to focus on the task at hand but never lost sight of the respects owed to our fallen comrades. This final chapter is much needed and much anticipated. We will unite once again at a place unlike any other and finally put our brothers, emotions, and tears to rest one final time.

Finally I would like to thank the families of RAIDR 21, I have never met anyone as strong as you all. Without the strength that you showed us we would have failed, we would have failed in our day-to-day duties and more importantly we would have failed in the honoring of our brothers. Hopefully we were able to convey to you just how much each and every one of these fine heroes meant to us.

Please take a second or two tomorrow and raise your glasses in memory of all of those who have given their lives while serving our great nation.

[Guest Gonads]

The time has come for us to honor the crew of RAIDR 21 with their final farewell. Tomorrow at 1400 the group memorial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery. I would like to start off by thanking our brothers from Little Rock for sacrificing a couple of training sorties and creating a long day of work to stop here at Barksdale to grab a load of us and haul us to the east coast. Thank you! Since July 21st our community has been in and out of mourning and I have watched many deal with this in different ways. We have been a part of six different funerals in the wake of NOREs, ORIs, and now an NSI. Our community is strong and we have been able to focus on the task at hand but never lost sight of the respects owed to our fallen comrades. This final chapter is much needed and much anticipated. We will unite once again at a place unlike any other and finally put our brothers, emotions, and tears to rest one final time.

Finally I would like to thank the families of RAIDR 21, I have never met anyone as strong as you all. Without the strength that you showed us we would have failed, we would have failed in our day-to-day duties and more importantly we would have failed in the honoring of our brothers. Hopefully we were able to convey to you just how much each and every one of these fine heroes meant to us.

Please take a second or two tomorrow and raise your glasses in memory of all of those who have given their lives while serving our great nation.

From the far Northern Planes,

A Toast to the Host of those who love the vastness of the sky...

[afnav]

My condolences from all the B-52 bretheren with clipped wings here in Offutt's Bldg. 500. Words do not say enough.

A picture of 0053 hangs 30 feet down the hallway from my office. It would be nice if they could hang a small memorial picture beneath it, but only a few here know that that was the jet.

For those still flying, take care and be safe.

Edited November 14, 2008 by afnav

[HossHarris]

My condolences from all the B-52 bretheren with clipped wings here in Offutt's Bldg. 500. Words do not say enough.

A picture of 0053 hangs 30 feet down the hallway from my office. It would be nice if they could hang a small memorial picture beneath it, but only a few here know that that was the jet.

For those still flying, take care and be safe.

You are the "they" in this equation ... get a picture or plaque and make it happen.

[B52gator]

To the KBAD bros and to the BUFF community in general, we have been through A LOT of shit over the past year or so, I am proud to see that we stuck together as Team BUFF, did well on our inspections, and took care of the BUFF family.

Any idea when the report will be out? Been nearly 4 months, I know these things take time.

[B52gator]

yeah but is the report out? i am no longer "in the loop".

[Steve Davies]

yeah but is the report out? i am no longer "in the loop".

No, it is not.

[lj35driver]

I met Chris Cooper years ago when he was still 1Lt Cooper. I was an enlisted crew member on AWACS at a Red Flag exercise and was offered a couple of flights on the B-52. I was within a few months of submitting my package for OTS/UPT and was trying to get as much exposure to the different airframes before I settled on a goal.

Chris was the copilot of the first crew I was scheduled to fly with. We arrived at our jet, 0029, to find that it had been incorrectly fueled. I'll never forget Chris furiously working his W&B computer and discovering that we'd need at least an hour to correct the fuel situation which meant our jet would be scrubbed for that go. Before I knew what was going on he was undoing my lapbelt and grabbing me out of the IP seat and leading me towards the door. Chris managed to get me in the other jet just before they began cranking engines. If it weren't for that, I probably would've never had that rare opportunity.

After the mass debrief, Chris took the time to talk to me about what I wanted out of pilot training should I get there. He talked up the BUFF alot of course but passed on something more important-choosing a lifestyle and not necessarily a particular jet. I took that with me and threw that out to a lot of my buds in UPT who were struggling with which track to work towards and ultimately what airframe they asked for in the end. It demonstrated a lot of maturity from a young copilot not only from the pilot perspective, but also as an officer, and a person.

His name stuck in the back of of my head when they released the crew names, but I didn't know why until I saw their pictures in this thread. I hate that it took this long for me to realize that someone who had a positive impact on my career had passed. Thanks Chris.

[Guest Boom]

RIP Raider 21

https://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123124756

[BQZip01]

:salut: :salut: :salut:

[Scooter14]

Wow, that's the most heartbreaking picture I've seen in a while.

Raider 21

[Techsan]

Wow, that's the most heartbreaking picture I've seen in a while.

Raider 21

I'll 2nd that.

[B52gator]

Report to be released today for those of us not in the know...

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/...gation_021209w/

B-52 crash investigation to be released Friday

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer

Posted : Thursday Feb 12, 2009 18:20:03 EST

The results of an investigation into the fatal crash of a B-52H Stratofortress bomber will be made public at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Air Combat Command announced Thursday.

The July 21 crash into the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Guam claimed the lives of all six airmen onboard. It was the Air Force’s worst accident in 2008.

Shortly after the crash, aircrew family members said they were told there had been no distress call before the plane went down.

Lost in the crash were aircraft commander Maj. Chris Cooper, 33; co-pilot Capt. Michael Dodson, 31; electronic warfare officer 1st Lt. Robert Duane Gerren, 32; navigator 1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd, 26; navigator Maj. Brent Williams, 37; and flight surgeon Col. George Martin, 51. All were deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., except for Martin, who was assigned to the medical group at Andersen Air Force Base.

Before the accident, a B-52 had not crashed since 1994, when a pilot from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., put the eight-engine jet into aerobatic maneuver, sending the jet into an uncontrollable dive.

[Bergman]

From airforcetimes.com...

Stabilizer malfunction blamed in B-52 crash

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer

Posted : Friday Feb 13, 2009 11:18:34 EST

Malfunctioning parts and late recognition of spiraling problems likely led to the fatal crash of a B-52H Stratofortress in July, an Air Force accident investigation board concluded in a report issued Feb. 13.

The July 21 crash off the coast of Guam killed all six airmen onboard.

The problem parts, investigators decided, were the bomber’s rear stabilizers — the large horizontal fins at the jet’s tail that help angle the B-52H up or down.

Although the inquiry could not determine what led to the stabilizer problem, the board said it believed the stabilizers malfunctioned while the bomber was in a fast descent from 14,000 feet to 1,000 feet.

“Even an experienced aircrew could have found it difficult to recognize, assess and recover from the very rapidly developing situation involving the rear stabilizer trim,” board president Brig. Gen. Mark Barrett concluded.

The bomber did not carry a flight data recorder, so the investigation team pieced together events leading up to the crash from air traffic control radar information and from parts recovered from the ocean floor by remote-controlled Navy submarines.

One recovered part was a component called a jackscrew that helps control the stabilizers. The jackscrew revealed the stabilizer trim was set at 4.5 to 5 degrees nose down, but parts that could have helped determine why the stabilizers were pointed down were not recovered.

Based on flight simulations, the investigative team determined the flight was normal until the jet turned left and began to descend about 33 miles west of Guam.

As the 48-year-old bomber dove toward the Pacific at a speed of more than 240 mph, the stabilizers suddenly unhinged, putting the jet into a dive with the nose pointed down 30 degrees and more.

One of the pilots likely tried to level the stabilizers manually using a control wheel in the cockpit that moves the stabilizer 1 degree every two to three seconds, the report said. However, because the plane was already low, there wasn’t enough time to level the stabilizers.

At least three crew members tried to bail out seconds before the plane hit the water, but the plane’s speed, altitude and angle already were past the point where they could survive the ejection.

Lost in the crash were pilot Maj. Chris Cooper, 33; co-pilot Capt. Michael Dodson, 31; electronic warfare officer 1st Lt. Robert Gerren, 32; navigator 1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd, 26; radar navigator Maj. Brent Williams, 37; and flight surgeon Col. George Martin, 51. All were deployed to Guam from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., except for Martin, who was assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.