For more information on the 512th Fighter Squadron, “Dragons” – visit:
http://www.512dragons.org/index.htm
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- The U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) Command patch; and although I wasn’t officially attached to the 512th Fighter Squadron, “Dragons” – I spent a lot of time down in the squadron working Weapons and Tactics issues with them.
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- The 86th Wing patch at Ramstein AB, Germany; while working with the 512th FS and 526th FS in 1993, it became obvious that the, “Peace Dividend” that politicians talked about was unraveling with the Bosnian War well underway by March of 1993.
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- The 512th Fighter Squadron, “Dragons” patch – “Vigilare Pro Pace” or On Guard for Peace – is one of the most classic and best designed squadron patches ever created. (For more details visit: www.512dragons.org)
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- My 512th FS, “Dragons” name tag; and because of the Bosnian War that had been brewing in the Balkans since the fall of the Wall in 1989, there was a sense of urgency that kept everyone focused – similar to when I had been at Hahn AB prior to the Gulf War – and since these name tags weren’t required at the moment, they literally got forgotten in the many other details that had a lot higher priority at that time, and before I knew it the assignment was cut short a year later and they were never worn.
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- My “Doctor” callsign name tag; these name tags were just placed on my, “to-do” list and never saw velcro or were worn – and became an early casualty of my many tasks, duties and responsibilities – and more than my career was literally on the line as the, “Peace Dividend” continued to unravel in the Balkans…so I just wore my 86th OSS name tags down at the 512th FS and figured I’d get these ready when I had time…and that time simply never arrived.
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- The 512th FS, “Dragons” scarf; as I was involved in multiple programs and was now the, “Operations Group Quality Program Officer” with no official Air Force Quality Program available to use from USAFE or the Air Force – one of my biggest requirements early on was to read the original books of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and other, “Quality Management” advocates – so that I could write an original Quality Program and then personally sell it to the OG/CC and the Commanders of the Seven Operations Group squadrons at Ramstein AB, Germany.
