the longhorn airman - university of texas at austin

AFROTC DETACHMENT 825—THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

The Longhorn Airman 20 OCTOBER 2008 Volume I Issue 2

the LONGHORN AIRMAN

Photos by Elizabeth Hitzfeld On September 21st, 2008 two teams from UT’s Air Force ROTC, Det. 825 competed in the Silicon Labs Austin Mara-thon Relay. The event consisted of five different legs all adding up to a full marathon. The first leg was 11k followed by 10k, 11k, and two 5k legs. The first team was “Longhorn AFROTC” consisting of Matthew Stalford, Kelly Heinbaugh, Eugene Ledet, Vincent “Trey” Levraea, and Adam Zillweger. Out of over 350 teams they placed 42nd with an overall time of 3:15:59. The “UT AFROTC” team consisting of Eric Hitzfeld, Farren Sullivan, Derrick J. “DJ” Pargas, David Cunningham, and Dustin Hanson took 55th place with a combined time of 3:25:17. It was a great opportunity to display Air Force pride within the community and for future Air Force leaders to grow in their fitness and strengthen their espirit de corps! Go Air Force!!! C/3c Eric L. Hitzfeld, MSS/SEO

Clockwise from upper left: A. Zillweger, T. Levraea, F. Sullivan, M. Stalford, D. Hanson, G. Ledet, E. Hitzfeld, D. Cunningham, K. Heinbaugh, D. Pargas.

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AFROTC DETACHMENT 825—THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN AFROTC DETACHMENT 825—THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

the LONGHORN AIRMAN

Have you ever pushed your body and mind to the limit and brink of exhaustion? Most people won’t in an entire lifetime. Participating in THUDS made me do this for the first time in my life and leaves me wanting to do it over and over again. I joined THUDS my first semester of Air Force ROTC at UT, not really knowing what it was about. All I knew was that it was a physi-cal challenge, completely optional and outside the Detachment. I decided I wanted to strive for fitness excellence! So I tried out. To become a member of THUDS you have

to complete an INDOC. This is a single work-out outside ROTC workouts, done by current members and candidates. I can’t say much about the INDOC, but I can say it was one of the most revealing work-outs of my life. I cannot wait to complete the next INDOC with the upcoming candidates, just to experience it again. I learned so much about myself and my fellow THUDS’ team members. THUDS offers additional workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings outside the Detachment’s regular PTs. These

additional workouts prepare us for the Marine MudRun in November and for an Iron Man competition in the spring. THUDS is more than just preparing for events; it was started to make individuals strive for excellence, develop unimaginable team-work, and build hardcore character. These are the qualities that it takes to become a leader in today’s military. Do you have what it takes to be a THUD? I challenge you!!

C/Adam Zillweger

Let me say up front, I have never run in anything this long. Ever. On March 15, 2008, six insane members of Det 825 and I attempted a mentally and physically demanding race. The Prickly Pear, a rugged 10-mile course over rough, uneven terrain, is held once a year in San Antonio, TX. To my bewildered surprise, one hour, forty-six minutes, and fifty-five grueling seconds after the start of the Prickly Pear, I finished the 10-mile race to clinch first place in the 19 and under division. At the time, the only thing I could think about was to actually complete therace, much less finish first. I’ll be honest, right before the race I began to doubt this whole

Prickly Pear 10-Miler

THUDS

The Longhorn Airman is published quarterly; it is not an official publication of the Air Force, Air Force ROTC or The Univeristy of Texas at Austin; the opinions expressed in this publication do not represent any of these entities. No state or federal funds were used to print this newsletter. The Longhorn Airman was created with Adobe InDesign software. Nan Bradford-Reid, Editor

Answer to last issue’s trivia question: On 1 August 1966, Charles Whitman murdered his mother and wife and barricaded himself on the observation deck of the UT Tower with a small arsenal and enough supplies to last several days. By the end of the day, a total of 17, including Whitman and an unborn child, were dead or fatally injured and 31 others wounded. Up to this time, ambulances were only operated by funeral homes, so these and an armored truck were the only emergency vehicles available to transport the wounded to Brackenridge Hospital. In response to this and the Watts riots of the early 60s, emergency medical services and the task forces known as SWAT teams were established.

Next month’s question: 1955 marks the birth of a special UT symbol. What is it and who taught it to Longhorn fans?

Photo by Matt Stalford

(cont’d on page 3)


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the LONGHORN AIRMANrunning for 10 miles thing. After I finished, I’d confirmed my resolve in the belief that I never wanted to run anything like this again. Ever. Thinking about it now, I liked being able to hang out with everyone else from the Det who went to the race, to visit their homes, and eat together, but the greatest feeling I had about this whole shenanigan was at the end of the race. I looked at everyone else, worn out, breathless, hungry, constipated, energy-de-prived, and dead tired, knowing that I looked and felt every bit as bad as anyone else. I also knew it was worth it.

C3c Deeandrea Burgos

Cadets Collins, Hitzfeld, Bevo, Stalford, Zarsky, Cunningham, and Cameron show their Longhorn spirit durning the UT-Missouri game. Photo by Elizabeth Hitzfeld.

(con’td from page 2)

Hail and Farewell!Before 2008 is over, we say goodbye to two of our cadre. Major José Loya and Major Tammie Catazaro retire from our Air Force with more than 28 and 23 years, respectively, of outstanding service to our Nation. Major Loya leaves behind a legacy of consummate instructor—his passion for teaching cadets was and is inspirational. Major Catazaro, as Com-mandant of Cadets for the last two years, taught cadets by her example and dedica-tion how to be a truly professional, caring leader. José and Tammie—you have made an inestimable and positive impact on our Air Force because of your commitment to the cadets of Detachment 825. I am grateful for your contributions here and privileged to have served with you. Clear skies always.

Col Chris “Mort” Bowman

Maj José Loya Maj Tammie Catazaro

Fall 2008 FTX TEAMWORK

Cadet Andrea Collins gives a lift to Cadet Jon Morehouse, while Cadet Sean Zarsky steadies the assembly

Cadet Bull flashes his infamous grin while Cadets Betros, M. Banuelos, Liederbach, and Georgia hoist Cadet Deason up a wall.

Soggy cadets celebrate a job well done.Photos by TSgt Tracy Donnell

If you see an uncredited photo, please let Miss Nan know, so we can give credit

where it’s due!

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AFROTC DETACHMENT 825—THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN AFROTC DETACHMENT 825—THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

the LONGHORN AIRMAN On October 11th, 2008, I had the privi-lege of helping the 2d Bomb Wing pay tribute to two aircrew members who lost their lives in a B-52 accident near Guam in July. Major Christopher Cooper and Ma-jor Brent Williams perished in the crash, along with their crewmates. Chris “Fire-ball” Cooper was the pilot and a ’97 AF-ROTC graduate from UT; Brent “Bdub” Williams was the radar navigator and a ’94 University of Oklahoma graduate. In their honor, the Bomb Wing wanted to work a B-52 flyby for the UT-OU football game. I was asked to help…and the opportunity proved to be the coolest thing I’ve ever done in the Air Force… That is the only way I can describe my experience at the Texas-OU football game in Dallas. And I’ve done some cool pro-tocol stuff, to include meeting the Chair-man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Staff of the Air Force. But honoring some of our own, and being there with the families of our fallen comrades during the ceremony – that takes the top! In the Air Force, you never know when you’ll get to be part of something special… This all started a few years ago, when I met Capt Bob Hixson at Air Force Instruc-tor School. We discovered we were going to teach ROTC at rival schools. He is at OU, and I am here at UT. Immediately the friendly joking began, and from the start, we said we would have to meet in Dallas for “THE” game. Then Capt Hixson called me in the fall 2008…to discuss the flyby… the 2d Bomb Wing leadership had given clear direction on what they wanted to happen: “At the infamous Red River Rivalry a tribute will be paid to the two men during the national anthem; a B-52 flown from Barksdale by Major’s Cooper and Wil-liams’ comrades will soar over the crowd in their memory. Family members of the two men and military friends will be in attendance.” Capt Hixson coordinated all the details for this momentous event and then invited me to join him at the game and help in mission execution! On Friday, 10 October we went to the Cotton Bowl to do a dry run. We met with folks from OU and the State Fair and got a general feel for the stadium and Fair Park. We decided the best thing we could do on Saturday morning was help get the Cooper and Williams family from the pre-reception to the game, since 100,000 fans would be trying to get to the game at the same time. Once inside the stadium on Saturday morning, it was crazy! We were in the

OU end zone. We had both teams and coaching staff running on and off the field, the school mascots near us, the OU band to our right, football officials, security, police, cheerleaders and thousands of OU fans at our back! It was insanely noisy; the fans were so loud. When the announcer honored “Fireball” and “Bdub” and ex-plained the flyby, most did not hear why a B-52 Buff would roar over the Cotton Bowl. But the families knew… Just as the OU band finished the Na-tional Anthem…we held our breath… we knew it was coming…and then the B-52 came into view…on time, on target! We watched in awe as it dipped its wing tip to the crowd…we were shaking, so proud to be watching OUR Air Force do what it does best…and then it roared off like only a huge bomber can do! The crowd went wild cheering…it only took a few seconds… and all the months of hard work, phone calls, emails, and coordina-tion to make this happen were forgotten. We looked around - family members were crying and hugging each other… we were so excited, so proud, so thankful! We all knew we had just witnessed something amazing! The families were thrilled and very grateful! They thanked us repeatedly as they quickly headed off to their seats to watch Texas beat OU! Never under estimate what you can do

in this Air Force; you’ll never know what you’ll be asked to do next!

Capt Heidi Potter, USAF

Honoring Fallen Comrades

B-52, over the Pacific in 2007, piloted by the Major Chris Cooper Photo courtesy the Cooper Family

Captains Heidi Potter and Bob Hixson agree to disagree.

Photo courtesy Bob Hixson

Cadets Davis, Levraea and M. Stalford...yes, we must claim them.

Photo courtesy Bob Hixson


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We want to email this newsletter to all Det 825 alumni. Help us by passing it along to your buds. Have them send us their email address at [email protected]. We’ll get ‘em on our distro list.

We’ve added a “heritage” section to our website. Check it out http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~afwebpg/heritage.htmIf you have an ROTC commissioning photo and would like to have it included on the webpage, please forward

to the address above.

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Summer Leadership School

I saw the movie Major Payne as a child and always thought it was a really funny movie; never did I think that I would have the opportunity to be in his shoes. This past summer I was invited to be a Cadet Training Officer (CTO) at a Sum-mer Leadership School near Fort Hood. I was a Flight Commander for about 30 high school age Junior ROTC Cadets. This experience was extremely benefi-cial to me as a cadet and future officer. I learned so much about accountability, leadership, chain of command, training environments, and so many other areas of character building aspects essential to becoming successful. The JROTC cadets looked up to me as a leader and were all eyes and ears when I taught them everything I knew. This is a very rewarding feeling when younger people with the same goals strive to shape themselves to be just like you. Be a role model, it’s worth it.

C/Adam Zillweger

Arnies for the Better

At Detachment 825 our goals are all the same: become a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force. During the time spent at the detachment you can participate in numerous activities and organizations, one of which is the John H. Payne Squadron of Arnold Air Society, or “Arnies.” When a cadet takes the time to go through the candidate process to become an Arnie, he or she learns so much more than in ROTC alone. I just finished my candidate semester and I’m not allowed to talk about the process, so everything will be new and exciting for incoming candi-dates. The events, the traditions, the society itself are all one big sidetrack that will keep you wanting more from Arnies and ROTC itself. Performing better on inspec-tions, knowing all knowledge, and being a part of a brotherly organization are hardly enough to describe the antics involved every semester with the incoming class. To any incoming sophomores, or fresh-man with some classes already under their belt, I would highly recommend joining Arnies. Take it from me, being from the best class Arnies ever had, the Regulators, changed me as a cadet. For the better? I think so, but at least we made it through and we can proudly say we’re AAS.

C/3c Elinore Ray, AAS PA

On 23 September, Col. Bowman promot-ed Dan Showalter from 1st Lieutenant to Captain. Captain Showalter is earning his master’s in Aerospace Engineering through the Air Force Institute of Technol-ogy Civilian Institution Program.

Photo by N. Reid

Upcoming Events October

28, 30–Warrior Week31–Broomball

November8—Mud Run10–Maj Loya’s Retirement11–Vet’s Day POW/MIA 24 hr run Joint Formal Retreat ceremony14–Dining Out22–AFOQT

December4—Tri-service run, Awards Day Change of Command Senior Send-off5—Maj Catazaro’s Retirement 19–Commissioning

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~afwebpgfor details.

Daedalian Flight CFIP

The Daedalian Foundation is considered to be America’s premier fraternal organi-zation of military pilots. The Cadet Flight Indoctrination Program (CFIP) is con-ducted by a four-way partnership between the Daedalian Foundation, one or more Daedalian flights, a certified FAA flight training facility, and the selected candi-dates. Its purpose is to identify, screen, and select eligible applicants for participa-tion in a flight designed to enhance their motivation to pursue a career in military aviation. Each year flight training scholar-ships are offered to a handful of students, both high school and college. The scholar-ships fund the formal ground and flight training necessary to achieve a successful solo flight in an appropriate aviation air-craft. This past summer, four Austin-area students and I were lucky enough to take advantage of this opportunity. The different phases of the program include an application process/prepara-tion, cadet selection, ground school, flight camp, and hopefully a solo flight. This

Correction from last issue: Photos of Field Day by TSgt Tracy Donnell

past summer the ground school and flight training were conducted out of George-town Municipal Airport, through a private-ly owned company by the name of Pilot’s Choice Aviation. The training we received was in a Tomahawk PA-38—definitely first-class. We each received hands-on learning and patience from our instructors required for a successful solo flight. Overall, my experience with the Dae-dalians and the people of Pilot’s Choice Aviation was awesome. I am very proud to have successfully completed a solo flight, and I am very thankful for the opportunity.

C/3c Andrew Stalford

Hot off the press…Congratulations to Cadets Burgos,

DiPaola, Hanson, and Stout for earning T-6 Texan flights at Randolph AFB…Look for stories and photos from the experience in next edition of the Longhorn Airman…

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This past summer, UT Austin alumna and Air Force ROTC graduate Lt Beth Kaufhold was in navigator instrument training with the Navy at NAS Pensacola, Florida. A portion of the training requires several cross-country flights in the joint training aircraft T-6 Texan II using vari-ous aviation navigation techniques. On Sunday, 13 July, Lt Kaufhold and a few of her fellow trainees made a short stop at the Signature FBO at Austin Bergstrom International Airport on their way back during one of their cross-country flights. Several cadets and Lt Kaufhold’s fam-ily, who live in Austin, met her flight at the FBO. After introducing her instruc-tor and several of her flight mates, we were allowed to climb up on the wing of the T-6 and look inside the cockpit. She briefly explained to each person about the instruments in the cockpit and told us a little about the training program. The students answered our questions for about 20 minutes before they proclaimed they needed relief from the long flight. We all went inside, chatted some more, said our good-byes, and then left. Another perk of this adventure was that when we arrived at the FBO before Lt Kaufhold’s flight arrived, there was a C-130 Hercules aircraft making their final preparations to depart the airport. Some of the aircrew of the C-130 were just milling about inside the FBO and several cadets struck up a conversation with them and ended up convincing the crew to let us take a quick tour of the inside of the aircraft. We got to see in the cockpit, walk down the length of the cargo com-partment, and jump the four feet to the ground out of the rear ramp. In the end, everyone who came out had a good time just talking, getting to “catch up” with Lt Kaufhold, checking out the T-6s, and getting to tour a C-130! Richard Pope, C/LtCol, AFROTC

T-6 Texan IIs in Austin!the LONGHORN AIRMAN

Cadets Pope, M. Stalford, Zillweger, A. Stalford, and Bull pose with the versatile Hercules C-130

Cadets Pope and Zillweger get the “grand tour” from the crew.Photos courtesy of James Bull

Don’t just read! SING!!

The Eyes of Texas are upon you, All the livelong day.The Eyes of Texas are upon you, You cannot get away.Do not think you can escape themAt night or early in the morn -

The Eyes of Texas are upon you Til Gabriel blows his horn.

the longhorn airman - university of texas at austin

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