Sacrificin' grandmas

Grannie Annie and I had the pleasure of dining with one of McCook's treasures last week. The lady was Linda Aldrich, Col. USAF Retired. Linda's dad Ray worked as an engineer at the Bureau of Reclamation. Her mother, Gladys, a stay-at-home mom, raised Linda and her sister as they were educated in the McCook Schools. Good people.

Linda was in town to decorate her relatives' graves in respect to Memorial Day upcoming in a week or so. For the two of us it was a chance to keep in touch and honor each other's career in blue. Grannie and I were happy to accept a dinner date and visit about a wonderful time yet so different from our present day lives.

It is hard to think of vivacious Linda as retired and that traditional thought of decreasing life's activities certainly doesn't describe her and husband's "life in a whirlwind" at their home on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. One of the Colonel's last assignments before retirement was to be in charge of Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) at the University of Colorado-Boulder and 13 affiliated colleges. Now she just keeps track of "her cadets" as they progress through their Air Force careers. Reminds me of a mother hen lovingly clucking as she keeps an eye on her eager young chickens.

The explosion in numbers of women in the military to the percentages we see today was just beginning to take place as this old retired Lt. Col. finished my own Air Force career. For instance, the first class to include women graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1980, the year that I retired. Air Force women were first allowed to attend pilot training in 1976, the year that the first ladies became Academy cadets so I never had the pleasure of flying with any of them.

Not having worked much with the ladies in blue and perhaps having somewhat the attitude of a male chauvinist pig I always wondered why a woman would want to pursue a career as a military officer, especially as a pilot. Oh yes, I had interacted with them as clerks in units, in their traditional roles in medical jobs and even an occasional intelligence officer, but having women on flight crews and as fighter pilots?

Okay, why would a woman be willing to give up having children and raising a family to do a job requiring long absences from home and risking loss of life in combat? I didn't begrudge women the opportunity; I just didn't understand why a woman would choose that kind of life. I really didn't appreciate the wily ability of modern American women to do the traditional role of mom and family and pursue a full time military career.

Enter Linda Aldrich, molded right here in McCook. Although she was much younger than me I was aware of her from reports by my mom as her parents and my folks were good friends. I knew Linda went off to the University of Nebraska and she was making for herself a traditional life.

Then mom wrote that Linda had been accepted to Officer Training School (OTS) a few years after finishing college. Hmm. We never served together but next thing I knew she was a "briefer" at Headquarters Strategic Air Command near Omaha my own parent command.

The Air Force opened the career field of Missile Launch Officers to women about the time that women were allowed to become pilots. Yo, what is this? A familiar name on the list of the first six women to become Minuteman II ICBM launch control officers -- one Capt. Linda Aldrich! All right! I proudly knew that person. And what's this? Her daughter also joined the Air Force and became a navigator on the KC-135. Ray and Gladys were proud and oh, how the world had changed. I'm still impressed!

Enter the real world. Linda has retired to an active busy life in the middle of the country. Her daughter, now married with three children, is still associated with the Air Force. She is currently deployed to the ongoing crisis (war?) in the Middle East. Her husband is also active duty military so what to do with the children still younger than teens? Ah ha! Grandma Linda (or is the proper appellation 'Grandmother'? After all she is a Colonel!) who has agreed to sacrifice and travel to live with her grandkids in Virginia so they can continue life near normal with their mother gone. Never underestimate the power of a woman to pursue life and get 'er done. Where there is a will, there is a way and modern women make me proud. I salute their spunk!

Now next weekend we celebrate Memorial Day. When you partake in the ceremonies to honor those who have passed in the service of our country remember it is both men and women in uniform today serving to protect our freedoms. May God bless them all.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail