The legend continues: 332nd AEW premieres Red Tails in AOR

Published Jan. 27, 2012
By Maj. Jillian B. Torango
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- It takes a team to be successful, and it takes a team of Airmen whose combined hard work and dedication culminate in a successful military air mission. Whether 1943 or 2012--the decade may have changed but the mission of the 332nd remains the same...ensure air superiority.

What does it take to earn the prestigious title of 'Tuskegee Airman'? According to Col. Charles E. McGee, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen and a decorated veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam, it takes someone who thinks of them self as part of something bigger, someone who is willing to commit to action and above all, someone who won't accept excuses.

"Actions are still important...and I think that [filmmaker] George Lucas has done a great job of putting this story together and emphasizing some of the important lessons of the 332nd experience," said McGee when talking about the newly-released Red Tails movie. "You do the right thing with no excuses--standards are important."

The colonel also believes that this movie will open people's eyes to the fact that history really is relevant to today's fight.

"I think it should bring home the lessons of yesteryear are still important to the tasks that are assigned even today," he said. "We need to understand our history and we need to carry forward with the lessons learned so long ago."

This is one of the main reasons that The East Coast Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. donated the money for a theater full of 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Airmen to view the initial showing of Red Tails in the area of responsibility Jan. 27.

"Our chapter wanted to make sure the Tuskegee Airmen of today saw the movie, to see what they are a part of, to see their history," said Lt. Col. Sara Custer, 332nd Expeditionary Force Support Squadron Commander and member of the East Coast Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc.

According to Mr. Major Anderson, who was an enlisted Tuskegee Airman, the Red Tails movie was true to life and vividly brought him back to the 1940s.

"The movie is about the years prior to 1944 when the Tuskegee Airmen were fighter pilots," he said. It was just after these years that the group returned from Europe to learn how to become bombardier pilots."

It was then at Godman Field, Ky. when Anderson joined the group. Just as Red Tails of today, those Airmen were proud to do their job not only well, but the best they could do. This is why he didn't understand the historical significance of the Tuskegee Airmen until much later in his life.

"I didn't realize I was a member of such an historic group. To be honest with you, it was many years after I was discharged from the Air Force that I really learned about all of the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen," Anderson said.

Anderson believes the movie Red Tails paints a vivid picture of those accomplishments by combining the stories of real-life Tuskegee Airmen into its on-screen characters. Many of the original Red Tails were invited by President and Mrs. Obama to watch the film at the White House, along with the actors who portrayed their stories on screen.

Though the characters are fictionalized, the Red Tails believe the actors and George Lucas brought their actual experiences to life on the screen.

"Even though it is a story, the film tells our experiences and it will give people a new insight into those experiences," said McGee.

For those Airmen who aren't into studying military history, this film provides an opportunity to have a big-budget Hollywood motion picture starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrance Howard show us our heritage instead of the all-too-common slide presentations or dry military journals.

"This was an excellent movie and I felt like it actually connected us to what they did back then," said Tech. Sgt. Mitchell Scott, 332nd EFSS NCO in charge of fitness and recreation who is deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and is a native of Clarksville, Tenn. "On a personal level, being a black American, it really helped open my eyes to what the 332nd did for all of us...it made me want to go back and study my history."

McGee believes that knowing your heritage and understanding the sacrifices that our predecessors made is critical for Airmen serving now.

"I think it is especially important to know from where you came and that the standards are still important even today," McGee said.

And it is with a sense of pride that McGee passes that Red Tail heritage down to the Airmen who are currently assigned to the 332nd.

"Red Tails of today doesn't detract from our status of yesteryear I don't mind that they call themselves that -- it is distinctive and meaningful," said McGee.

In fact, the colonel believes the current Red Tails are doing the moniker justice and had only one thing to pass along to them--in the tradition of the original Tuskegee Airmen--"Continue seeking excellence!"