Newspaper Page Text
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
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Brandon Arnall shares a laugh with his daughter Makensie Arnall as she sits atop
returning soldiers’ baggage.
HOMECOMING
From page 1A
without him there and won
dering what it would be like
when father and daughter
met.
What did the staff ser
AFRC vice commander Batbie retires
Special to the HHJ
ROBINS AIR FORCE
BASE - Maj. Gen. John J.
Batbie Jr., Air Force Reserve
Command vice commander,
retired after nearly 39 years
of military service in a cere
mony Friday at the Museum
of Aviation in Warner
Robins.
Retired Lt. Gen. James E.
Sherrard 111, former Air
Force Reserve chief and
AFRC commander, officiat
ed the ceremony. Batbie’s
retirement will take effect
March 15.
Maj. Gen. David Tanzi,
AFRC’s 10th Air Force com
mander, will assume respon
sibility for the daily opera
tions of the command dur
ing a commander’s confer
ence today following the
retirement ceremony.
“Needless to say, the oper
ations tempo for this com
mand was near its peak
when I returned to AFRC’s
headquarters as the vice
commander in November of
2001,” Batbie said. “The
credit for AFRC’s continued
success goes to the more
than 76,000 reservists and
4,000 civilians I had the
Families of Guardsmen killed
in Unadilla crash settle suit
By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -
The families of five Virginia
National Guardsmen killed
when their transport plane
crashed in Georgia four
years ago settled their law
suit Monday against the air
craft’s manufacturers.
The families will receive
$3.75 million from the com
panies that made and main
tained the C-23 B+ Sherpa
cargo plane and its parts:
Montreal-based Bombardier
Inc. and its subsidiary, plane
maker Short Brothers PLC;
Duncan Aviation Inc. of
Lincoln, Neb.; and Rockwell
International of Milwaukee
and its former subsidiary
Rockwell Collins Inc. of
Cedar Rapids, lowa.
Eighteen Virginia
Guardsman and their three
Florida pilots died when the
plane crashed near
Unadilla, on a flight from
Hulbert Field in the Florida
Panhandle to Oceana, Va.,
on March 3, 2001. The
Virginia Guardsmen were
heading home after a two
week training stint. The 18
geant think upon meeting
her?
There is no need to inter
rupt him with such an obvi
ous question when the
answer is writ large upon
"’innifilF Jam
MAJ. GEN. JOHN J.
BATBIE
privilege to work with.”
As the vice commander,
Batbie oversaw the day-to
day operations for the Air
Force Reserve Command
and its headquarters here.
AFRC has about 76,100
reservists who train and
deploy regularly. The com
mand is composed of three
numbered Air Forces divid
ed into 36 wings, three fly-
other families are represent
ed in two other lawsuits that
have not been settled.
Military investigators
blamed the crash on the
crew for improper loading,
but the general who ordered
the probe later blamed bad
weather and equipment
malfunctions.
“This was not the pilot’s
fault,” Sean Cronin, an
attorney representing the
families, said Monday.
Short Brothers made the
plane in Northern Ireland,
Bombardier converted the
civilian plane for the mili
tary in Bridgeport, W.Va.,
Duncan helped with the con
version and handled mainte
nance, and Rockwell made
an autopilot.
The aircraft had been
modified for the U.S. mili
tary by cutting six feet from
its length and making a
change in the tail.
“These modifications had
a substantial effect on the
stability of the aircraft, yet
the design was never fully
tested and the National
Guard was never warned of
the potentially catastrophic
his face.
Any more than there is
need to break into the many
other happy returns
swirling around this one
family.
ing groups, one space group,
four space operations
squadrons and 620 mission
support units. He reported
to Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley,
Air Force Reserve chief and
AFRC commander, who
serves on the Air Staff at the
Pentagon.
Batbie began his military
career in 1966 as a U.S.
Army armor officer and hel
icopter pilot. He joined the
Air Force Reserve in 1972 as
a helicopter pilot and
became a fixed wing pilot in
1979 after graduating from
the Air Force Fixed Wing
Qualification Course at
Sheppard AFB, Texas. As a
command pilot, he accumu
lated more than 5,000 flight
hours in the A-10, A-37, KC
-10, KC-135, AH-IG, HH-34J
and CH-3E.
During his career, he had
numerous supervisory and
command positions, includ
ing director of operations;
squadron, group, wing and
numbered Air Force com
mander; and director of
Mobilization and Reserve
Component Affairs for U.S.
European Command. Prior
to Bradley’s nomination,
problems,” said Bob
Spohrer, a pilot and an air
craft accident attorney.
There were also problems
with the weather radar and
autopilot systems onboard,
he said.
Spohrer said the settle
ment would have to be
approved by probate judges
in Virginia.
Attorney Ron Sprague,
who represents Bombardier,
said, “I think it was a rea
sonable settlement. It was
certainly a tragic accident.”
Attorneys for Duncan
Aviation and Rockwell
Collins did not immediately
return telephone calls seek
ing comment.
The families involved in
the settlement were those of
Staff Sgt. Paul J. Blancato;
Master Sgt. Eric C.
Buhlman; Staff Sgt. Randy
V Johnson; Staff Sgt. John
L. Sincavage; and Maj.
Frederick Watkins.
Char-Broiled
Sizzling Steaks
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HH.J Teresa D. Southern
Johna Forbeck watches Alfred Winthrop greet his basset hound, which gave birth to a
litter of five while Winthrop was deployed for three months.
The 38 members of the
group spent their time away
maintaining facilities at
Manas Air Base, which is a
few hundred kilometers
north of Afghanistan, where
Batbie served as the interim
AFRC commander after
Sherrard’s retirement in
May 2004.
In 1983, the general was
the first Air Force Reserve
officer to be assigned to
Europe as a Reserve statuto
ry tour officer. He coordinat
ed Reserve affairs in both
the plans and operations
directorates and served as
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the 376th Expeditionary Air
Wing is part of the supply
line to Operation Enduring
Freedom.
They will now enjoy a few
days off, time to catch up on
negotiator for the establish
ment of collocated operating
bases in Greece and Turkey.
He spent more than seven
years at Robins AFB. From
June 1994 to September
1998, he was director of
plans and programs. While
in that position, Batbie was
promoted to major general
July 1, 1997. After his tour
at U.S European Command,
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some small part of four
months missing time, before
resuming stateside duties.
he returned here as the vice
commander for AFRC in
November 2001.
Batbie is a graduate of
Louisiana Tech University,
Ruston, La., where he
earned his master’s degree
in business administration.
He also earned his bache
lor’s degree in the same pro
gram at Arizona State
University, Tempe, Ariz.
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