SOUTHWEST ASIA -- He didn’t come from a long line of family members in the military, he first saw military might his freshman year of high school when he watched the first days of Operation Desert Storm on television.
Following the famed events that inspired the film “Black Hawk Down,” Timothy ‘Chachi’ Pachasa, a Kansas City, Missouri native, saw an opportunity to see the world.
“I went to the recruiter and they had pamphlets for Battlefield Airmen and that’s all she wrote,” said Pachasa, a man with a larger than life personality, an ear-to ear smile and a wealth of Air Force knowledge.
He became a Tactical Air Control Party Airman, an Air Force liaison attached to Army units that call in air strikes on enemy positions.
“I really came in to jump out of planes, that’s what was on the brochure,” Pachasa said smiling.
After spending a few years in the TACP career field and a couple of deployments later, Pachasa wasn’t hitting his stride the way he could have been due to some personal and attitude issues.
“My supervisor talked to me and said ‘Chachi, you’re one of my favorite guys but I’m going to kick you out in a month,” said Pachasa. ‘“You need to shape up and fly right. You’re good at your job but I’m not putting up with your antics.”’
For Pachasa, a leader mentoring him instead of just yelling was the beginning of a whole new career.
“He’s one of the first supervisors who put out an expectation and it was unwavering,” continued Pachasa. “So I changed my ways, it legitimately happened over night. I started spit-shining my boots again, I put creases in my uniform and I gave a s---.”
TACP Airmen are primarily stationed on Army installations and work closely with Soldiers on a daily basis. Pachasa believes his time spent with the sister service helped him become the leader he is today.
“To be in an Air Force construct and get to see how the Army applies their leadership style, in garrison and deployed, and having those Soldiering experiences, it has shaped me greatly,” he said.
“The closer you get to the end of the kill chain is where I see a lot of true leadership,” he continued. “Going out on missions where, no kidding, lives are on the line, you really understand how people really do or don’t care about each other. In infantry or special-operations or battlefield Airmen units, I don’t think it’s the job that makes them good leaders, it is the environment that they are put in that generates this teamwork and comradery that is hard to find in any other place.”
Despite the grueling and demanding nature of his job, Pachasa continually focuses on staying positive and upbeat.
“I’ve never needed an alarm clock,” said Pachasa. “I wake up and I’m happy. No coffee, no nothing, just ready to attack the world.”
Pachasa has spent all but five years of his 24 years in the Air Force in a taxing, mission focused career field.
“I haven’t just liked my job, I’ve loved my job,” he said with a smirk. “Whether as a TACP or as a command chief, I’ve truly loved my job and it’s very easy to get up every day doing that.”
Pachasa is currently on his 11th deployment and his second year-long stay away from his wife and two children in the past 10 years.
“We met long distance, we dated long distance, we married long distance,” said Pachasa speaking about his wife, Allison. “October will be our 10-year anniversary and just counting deployments, I’ve spent over a third of our marriage deployed or overseas.
“I really want to focus on being a dad.”
At the end of his time here at The Rock, Pachasa will be turning in his command chief star to serve as a superintendent at a TACP squadron at Fort Hood, Texas.
“When my service started to come with an asterisk, it was time for me to hang it up,” he said. “When I have my two sons together, I look at my 12 year old and I instantly see the things that I missed with him that I am unwilling to miss with my 3 year old.
“I think I owe that to them,” he added after reflecting for a moment.
Although he has enjoyed his time as a command chief, Pachasa is looking forward to returning to his roots in the TACP career field.
“I have been away from an operational squadron for over five years,” he said. “The best part about being a TACP is you don’t have any guess work, you can see first-hand the affect you’re having on warfare.”
He will take with him the knowledge and experiences of being a command chief and hopefully bring new ideas too.
“One thing I would like to do is go back in time and talk to my supervisors point blank and be like ‘hey man, I’m going to be a chief one day. Do you think you could treat me a little bit better, or do you have to yell at me simply because I’m an Airman?”’ said Pachasa. ‘“Would you speak to me differently if you knew I would become a chief? Would you treat me better and groom me and hopefully see in me what I will eventually become.’ I want all of us to speak to our Airmen that way.”
After a year in Texas, Pachasa plans to retire to Phoenix, Arizona to focus on being a husband and father, while enjoying life, and plans to teach leadership in his free time.
“If I had to choose what was on my tombstone, it would say, ‘family man and TACP,” he said. “Whatever I do past this, being a TACP will always be my life’s work and no matter what I do past this, my family will always be my life’s purpose.”