This past weekend, 3 long-time FASF Members (who are also Daedalians) attended Holloman AFB’s 314th Fighter Squadron’s Graduation of Class 24-CBH.
All three of these FASF members are active members of the El Paso, TX Daedalian Flight 24. They fulfilled a long-standing tradition when they awarded their Flight’s Top Leadership Trophy to the student who was selected, by both the faculty and the student body, to be the Squadron’s top leader.
This time, the Leadership Award went to Major Kolton “MELT” Warren, who, before entering the USAF Flight Training Program, was an active JAG Officer, which means the USAF now has a new F-16 Viper Fighter Pilot – – – who is also a lawyer. This was a first for the Leadership Awardee group.
Pictured below, thanks to Colonel Alan Fisher, are the three FASF members and Major Warren. In the second photo below, you can also see Colonel Miles “Cowboy” Crowell, who awarded the coveted Red River Rat award to another graduating student. “Cowboy” is both a FASF member and a Daedalian, but lives in Alamogordo, NM, and works at Holloman AFB as a Civilian Contractor.
L to R: Ric Lambart, Col. Alan Fisher (USAF Ret.), Major Warren (Leadership Award Winner), and Daedalian Flight Captain, Col. Mario Campos (USAF Ret.). Col. Campos is holding the Leadership Award Plaque.
L to R: Major Warren, Col. Campos, Ric Lambart, and “Cowboy” Crowell (Checking his cell phone). Cowboy was a fighter pilot in the Vietnam Conflict, flew in the infamous Red River Valley, which is why he most often presents the River Rat Award. [The “River Rat” award is bestowed upon the student with whom his fellow student fighter pilots would most want to have flying on their wing in combat. The river in the title is the “Red River” and the North Vietnamese Valley through which it flows. The pilots who flew in that theater during Vietnam were affectionately called the “River Rats.”]