Thursday, March 23, 2023 - We depart the Tiffin Maintenance Facility in Red Bay, Alabama on our way to Maxwell AFB, Alabama. We are on our way to the Gulf Coast and this is the first. stop along the way.  We only plan to stay overnight at Maxwell as we travel south to the Gulf Coast. We plan to spend two weeks on the Gulf Coast before heading for Brunswick, Georgia to see Brandon, Mandy and the kids.

We decided to take a drive around the base at Maxwell. This base is the home of the United States Air War College and Kay and I drove to Montgomery back in 1978 (or 79) where I attended Squadron Officer School or "SOS." We lived in an apartment for about three months as I attended SOS in Temporary Duty status (TDY) as part of a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Castle AFB, in Merced, California. It was and exciting time for us since Mandy was about three years old and Will was about 1.5 years old. We lived in an apartment while I attended class, and then drove to California when the training was complete. In order to get promoted to Major, you need to have a class like SOS. I had taken the course by correspondence, but taking it in residence is considered more significant for promotion. Besides SOS, located at Maxwell is Air Command and Staff College or ACSC. I ended up taking a comparable course called National Security Management by correspondence. ACSC and NSM are both needed to make Lieutenant Colonel along with a major command, Strategic Air Command (SAC), assignment. The Air War College is also a major component of the Maxwell school.

Kay and I were able to travel out into the Alabama countryside for a little exposure to the population of 1978. The people were friendly, but tended to expound a slightly different philosophy towards African Americans then we did in the Air Force and in our daily lives. An "eye opener."

Friday, March 24, 2023 -We departed Maxwell AFB for Eglin AFB on the Florida pan-handle. This looked like a drive of about four hours. The weather was overcast, but with pleasant temperatures.