Wing weenies! The always maligned, never appreciated force behind the force.

From the wing commander who went to Omaha to explain our screwups, to the guys from current ops changing out the bags for the SIOP ‘Rev’ on New Years Eve, they had the unenviable job of paperwork. We sometimes forgot that most of ‘them’ used to be ‘us.’

And the list of those who kept us alive is long:

• The weather and base ops folks who briefed us
• the inflight kitchens who had to come up with something that would still be edible eighteen hours (or thirty in today’s world) later
• transportation’s buses where we hid from the heat/cold during last minute maintenance
• and the oxygen masks, survival kits, and parachutes provided by—their name says it all—life support
• Last, certainly not least, the cops! Where do you get guys who’ll accept responsibility for a nuclear loaded machine, day and night, blazing heat or freezing cold, and challenge the wing commander if he’s not showing a valid line badge?

Every base needs its ‘housekeeping’ functions: hospital, civil engineers, services, and so on. But B-52 operations frequently lay unique and difficult requirements on these folks. Their stories are part of the mosaic that is the history of the Stratofort.

But the bed rock of our support were our spouses. They kept the world on an even keel while the rest of us—aircrew, maintainers, support, everyone—fought our country’s wars for fifty-plus years. They were, and are, an important part of the B-52 story!

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