LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Imagine working for the same company for 50 years and working under eleven different Commander in Chiefs. That is exactly what Gene Osborne, 1st Fighter Wing Plans, Programs and Evaluations administrator, accomplished by serving his country.
To honor Mr. Osborne's 30-year career as an active-duty servicemember and 20-year career as a Department of Defense civilian, Langley's XP office held a luncheon featuring a visit by Brig. Gen. Mark Barrett and Col. Jeffrey Pritchard, 1st Fighter Wing commander and vice commander.
General Barrett and Colonel Prichard's visit to the luncheon reinforced the significance of such an extensive career dedicated to the Air Force, which began March 19, 1958.
"I had no idea that day would begin a career filled with life-changing events and accomplishments," Mr. Osborne said.
Mr. Osborne grew up in Fort Hill, S.C., a small textile mill town, where he took care of his two younger brothers.
After high school, Mr. Osborne became an engineering major at Clemson University. He decided to join the Air Force after two years of college.
Mr. Osborne joked that he would beat the military to the punch by enlisting just before being drafted. At the time, the Korean War had just ended and Cold War tensions had begun to escalate.
Like Airmen before him, Mr. Osborne attended basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He trained for four weeks before being pulled out to train as an aircraft mechanic. The Air Force needed aircraft mechanics, so Airmen were taken out of BMT early to learn their craft.
Once he graduated from techical school, Mr. Osborne was stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona from to 1958 through 1962, just before the start of the Vietnam War.
"I enjoyed being at Luke AFB," said Mr. Osborne. "It's where I met my wife Mildred. We were meant to be," he said with a smile.
He met his wife while attending a young adult group at a local church. They married Dec. 23, 1962, in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Mr. Osborne's Air Force career was moving forward. He was drafted into the Manpower Validation Program, base level engineering team. He went to school, trained and received orders to Langley Air Force Base for his first assignment under the new program.
His job was to develop manpower standards using industrial engineering concepts for the Air Force. At Langley, he volunteered to go to Kadena Air Force Base, Japan.
After a recent promotion to staff sergeant, he and Mildred packed up their belongings and flew to Okinawa, Japan for a three-year tour.
"My family and I did our fair share of sightseeing and touring in Japan," said Mr. Osborne. "We loved the food, traveled to Neko Mountain and had our first daughter, Linda."
From 1967 to 1984, Mr. Osborne lived stateside, moving as he received orders. Between duty stations in Minnesota and Colorado, the Osborne family grew with two new additions, Cathy and Margo, born in 1968 and 1972.
With a growing family, Mr. Osborne decided to stay in the Air Force, and throughout the years, he was promoted to technical sergeant, master sergeant and senior master sergeant.
He had worked under seven different presidents and been on active duty during the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Martin Luther King assassination, the Watergate Scandal and the end of the Cold War.
In 1984, Mr. Osborne received orders to Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, where his family lived in an off-base apartment, getting a firsthand experience of the German culture.
"We traveled a lot and toured while we were in Germany," he said. "Our daughters learned to speak German and would talk with the land lady all the time," Mr. Osborne said.
"Mildred and I visited Holland and Switzerland, and I took trips to Spain and Italy on my own. She and the girls visited England too," he added.
Mr. Osborne's final orders sent him to Langley, as Manpower Engineering Team superintendent, leaving Germany just before the Berlin Wall fell.
He retired from active duty April 1, 1988, as a senior master sergeant, after 30 years of service. A year after his retirement, he took a civilian position at Langley's Air Combat Command Logistics Analysis because he enjoyed working with the Air Force. His wife Mildred also got a job in Logistics Analysis as a secretary.
The couple worked in that office for nine years. Mildred retired in 1999, and Mr. Osborne began working in Wing Plans and Administration, a job similar to the one he had while on active duty.
According to Mr. Osborne, the Air Force he knew while on active duty and the Air Force he knows now are very different.
"Missions from the Cold War to the present day have evolved; we've gone from having missile threats to terrorist threats. We have a different enemy now," Mr. Osborne said.
He also notes a difference in the attitude Americans have toward servicemembers. In the early years of his Air Force career, during the Vietnam War era, a lot of people had negative feelings toward the military.
"The way people feel about the Air Force has changed over the years," Mr. Osborne said. "At first there was love for the Air Force but during the Vietnam War, it turned into hate. Now the feeling of love has come back around, people welcome us."
Another difference since 1958 is the look of the Air Force uniforms. When he first enlisted, the blues were made of heavier wool and included a jungle hat and short pants for warmer weather.
"The Air Force made quite a few innovations with technology also," Mr. Osborne said. "Besides the obvious upgrades with newer aircraft, we now use computers and Internet. Back then, we didn't have those technologies, so we used punch cards for data on aircraft."
Mr. Osborne also witnessed reorganization at all Air Force levels, including Major Command, wing, and maintenance and base operation support units.
The one thing that has not changed during the last fifty years, however, is Mr. Osborne's loyalty to the Air Force.
"Helping maintain base plans and developing wing exercises, is something that I love doing," Mr. Osborne said. "At my office, I'm the go-to person. I just enjoy being a part of the Air Force family."
Maj. Richard Foster, 1st Fighter Wing Plans, Programs and Evaluations chief, agrees that Mr. Osborne is in fact, the XP go-to-person.
"The great thing about having a guy like Gene around is his amazing depth of knowledge," Major Foster said. "As we review and revise our wing plans and programs, Gene can tell us everything about each plan, its evolution and the reason why each choice was made. His extensive experience is invaluable to the 1st Fighter Wing."
Mr. Osborne was also commended by Capt. John Rogers, deputy chief of Plans, Programs and Evaluations.
"His selfless dedication to our country serves as an inspiration to all of us," Captain Rogers said. "Gene is a pillar of the Air force family and an irreplaceable member of Team Langley."