This is Yokota Air Base in Japan, circa 1992. It was my first duty assignment after training. If you think it's a weird paint job on the C-5 than you are just too young :-)
I dug out this photo because I just got a great e-mail from someone I was stationed with back then. He was a Staff Sergeant and I was a Second Lieutenant. We've kept in touch over the years and from time to time he has asked for recommendations when applying for new civilian positions. His e-mail shared that he had just been notified he got the job. Yay!
In the course of updating each other on our families, he said, "From my perspective it looks like that bubbly, smiling, energetic butter bar and cocky, smart ass SSgt we both knew in 1992 are doing pretty well these days...LOL!"
Truth be told, I spent most of that assignment at Yokota scared to death! My Captain flight commander left within a couple months of my arrival and wasn't replaced for almost a year. I had an 80-person flight responsible for air traffic control and airfield management at the primary airlift hub in Japan. One thing I was confident about what that I had NO IDEA what I was doing. But I had good people around me, super smart NCOs that wanted to see me and our unit succeed, and an upbeat attitude. I learned soooooo much, thanks to the "smart ass SSgt" and many others :-)
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