Thoughts and Writings from the furnace by Kent Weathersby

Engage Anyway

Last night over dinner at a Greenwich Village restaurant, one of my guests asked me if I had ever had a scary experience in the air. I said yes – only once.

I was a crew member on a KC-135 air refueling tanker flying over South Vietnam. Our mission was to loiter in a holding pattern in case a fighter returning from a mission over Hanoi or Haiphong needed fuel to make it back to base. One night, we were directed to head north to meet an F-4 D Phantom which had used up most of its fuel evading surface-to-air missiles after leaving the target area. The weather was really bad at the rendezvous point with heavy rain and lightning.

The F-4 did not have enough fuel for us to maneuver to clearer skies. Approaching him in the turbulence, we turned in the direction of his home base while he tucked in behind us so our boom operator could transfer enough fuel for him to make it home.

When the boom operator attempted to engage the fighter’s fueling receptacle, which was inches behind the back-seater’s head, with the fuel nozzle on the boom, it would not latch in place. That meant that while our tanker and the fighter were being bounced around in a storm at night, our boom operator had to hold the nozzle in the receptacle by shear finesse. The risk of a collision was very real and seemed imminent.

Aborting the operation would have meant a flame-out for the fighter, a bailout for the pilots, and the possible capture of two US Airmen in hostile territory.

The fuel transfer was successfully completed and the fighter pulled up on our right wingtip from where the pilots nodded a thank you before diving for home.

Most of us can say that we have been in, or know someone who has been in, a stormy situation with individuals who could have been abandoned. Our hearts may not have been in staying, but walking out physically or emotionally would have been disastrous for someone.

Conflicts at work, within families, and in friendships can present painful choices with dire consequences hanging in the balance. Throwing relationships away may seem like the easiest path for us but it could be ruinous for others.

Making the choice to stay the course might be painful but it could mean the difference between life and death for a marriage, a home, a friendship, or a broken heart. Making the selfless choice to engage anyway could, in time, mean restoration, fulfillment, and happiness for all concerned.

“I will never leave you or forsake you says the Lord.”

Kent