The Legend of the 118th/105th's New 'H' Models

[118th AES Retired]

“The Legend of How the 118th/105th TAW Got New Planesâ€

As Told By: MSgt. James L. Reynolds (ret)

118th AES Tennessee Air Guard

When I began my service with the Tennessee Air National Guard in 1984, I “cut my teeth†on the C-130 ‘A’ models. By the time I retired in 2004, we had transitioned to C-130 H-2 Models, and in between I logged time on the C-9A, KC-135, C-141, C-5A, as well as the C-130 ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘E’, and ‘H’ models. Yet this is the story of how we finally got new ‘H’ models in 1989-1990.

Major General Carl Wallace was perhaps the best Adjutant General to have ever served the State of Tennessee. He is remembered as “a soldier’s soldierâ€, or in my case, “an airman’s soldierâ€.

There are two things that General Wallace is perhaps noted for: One was his straightforward speaking of his mind, and the other is that he always made it a point to visit all of Tennessee’s Guard Units during their annual training.

As I stated in the introduction, when I entered my period of service in 1984, the Tennessee Air Guard was still flying ‘A’ model C-130s. The majority of those of us who were crewmembers were younger than the airplanes we were flying on as all were built between 1953 and 1957.

Each year when General Wallace would visit and hold his open forum with the troops, the question of the day was always the same, “General, when are we going to get new airplanes?â€

Finally, in about 1988, the General was able to answer, “Next year!â€.

Now what I am about to tell you comes from eyewitness accounts, and my own recollection of history. Most of this story is based on the words of General Wallace himself, and in some cases, it has been necessary to paraphrase the General’s words.

Many times, it always seemed that the Pentagon viewed the Tennessee Air Guard (and most Guard Units) as “step-childrenâ€. Most everything we had in the way of equipment was “hand-me-down†equipment and was usually worn out by the time it filtered into the guard system. In my own unit, our “equipment†consisted basically of a few litters, an old Sam Suction, a broken Bird respirator, and a foot locker full of old bandages.

All of the ‘A’ models had seen time in Viet Nam and many were said to have flown for the CIA under the cover of Air America. Many had been replaced with other ‘A’ models over the years as the CAMS crews were no longer able to patch up the old ones or their airframe life simply ran out. Were it not for a fantastic group of CAMS personnel, our old ‘A’s wouldn’t have been able to stay up and running as long as they did.

In 1988, Tennessee had a very powerful U.S. Senator in Washington by the name of James Sasser who served in the U.S. Senate from 1977-1995. While in the Senate, Sasser served as the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee; Chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Construction’ Chairman of the Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on International Finance and Military Policy; Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on General Services, Federalism, and the District of Columbia; and chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch.

In other words, “Senator Sasser was powerful in Washington!â€

Senator Sasser was also a friend of General Wallace and of the National Guard. He wanted to see the Tennessee Air Guard get new planes as bad as any of us did.

According to General Wallace’s account, the Pentagon had assured the General that Tennessee would get replacements for the ‘A’ models. The only thing was that the replacements would not be new airplanes, but more “hand-me-down†airplanes that would come about as a result of the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission decisions.

General Wallace said that he told the Pentagon that “Hell no! Tennessee was going to get %&$! new airplanes!â€

About this time, the U.S. was deeply pushing the so-called “War on Drugs†and was spending billions of dollars on this cause.

Allegedly, Senator Sasser threw in an amendment to a bill involving the “War on Drugs†and the money was earmarked to buy 16 brand new C-130 ‘H-2’ model planes for Tennessee. And so it was, that the new airplanes began arriving in 1989-1990.

The USAF also decided that under the BRAC recommendations, they would be downsizing many units. They were taking four airplanes from squadrons with 16 airplanes in this downsizing. This is where they were going to get the airplanes that the Pentagon originally offered.

When the USAF came to Tennessee and said that they wanted 4 of the new airplanes back, General Wallace was livid!

And so the new question asked of General Wallace was, “General, is the USAF going to take four of our new planes?â€

General Wallace’s reply was, “Hell no! I told the Pentagon that those &$%!* airplanes belong to Tennessee; not the Pentagon and that they were purchased with money outside of the Pentagon budget. They can’t have them!â€

The legend continues that the Pentagon didn’t take the planes, but what they did do was to cut the funding for the flying hours for those planes.

Not to worry though; General Wallace had an answer for that too:

“I got me a U.S. Senator who controls money and we’ll get the money to operate those planes just the same as we got the money to buy them:, said Wallace.

Things went well until Senator Sasser was beaten by Fred Dalton Thompson in his bid for re-election.

Then, the Pentagon eventually took away the 4 planes.

Today, the ‘H’ models are all leaving the base thanks to the recommendations of the 2005 BRAC recommendations, and Nashville almost lost its C-130 mission altogether. Today, Nashville is once again receiving “hand-me-down†equipment from the Pentagon.

Payback?

All I know is that I have many fond memories of flying the old ‘A’ models, as well as the newer C-130s that came about. I also know that no matter what mission and equipment the Pentagon gives the 118th/105th, the Tennessee Air National Guard will always outperform the rest of the units. I also know that the CAMS guys will do the best with what they have and will keep the birds airborne.