Alton Clinton Whitley, Jr

 

45^th REUNION LANCASTER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF ’64 

 

Name/Email Address: Alton Whitley/altonwhitley at mindspring dot com

Marital Status/Spouse’s Name: Married/Ann

Children/Grandchildren: Two Children.  A. C. is a CPA with Elliott-Davis in Greenville, SC.  Elizabeth (an Air Force combat veteran, now serving as an Intelligence Officer with the Air Force Reserve Unit at Charleston AFB) is an intelligence analyst at the Naval Space and Warfare Center in North Charleston.

Occupation: Retired

College/Professional Training:  BA, Clemson University, Class ‘68;  USAF Pilot Training, 1969;  MA, University of Northern Colorado, Class ‘ 76;  USAF Fighter Weapons School, 1980,  National War College, Class ’86, Adversary Tactics School 1988

Military Service(Details, Combat Tour?): Flew single seat fighter and attack aircraft for 20 of my 26 years in the Air Force.  Served two tours in Vietnam.  Flew the F-100 doing close air support on my first tour and the A-7D doing close air support and search and rescue in my second tour.  I flew the A-10 Warthog shortly after it was introduced into the Air Force inventory and eventually completed and instructed in the A-10 Fighter Weapons School.  While assigned there, I was fortunate to be selected to be part of the initial cadre that brought the F-117 stealth fighter into the Air Force inventory.  After two years in Washington, D.C., the first attending the National War College, and the second in the Pentagon, I had the opportunity to complete the Adversary Tactics School and become an “Aggressor” pilot.  I flew the F-5 in this role while I served as the commander of Red Flag, the Air Force’s premier training facility.  After a one-year tour at Langley AFB, home of USAF fighter operations, I returned to the F-117 and commanded the 37^th Fighter Wing during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  (We were the primary targets over the skies of downtown Baghdad during those nightly CNN broadcasts.)  In the interests of young kids needing a place to call home and the requirement to provide care for aging parents, we decided to return to South Carolina with a final assignment to my alma mater leading the Air Force Senior ROTC program.  I retired from the Air Force in June 1994 but continued to wear the uniform for another 14.5 years while serving as the Senior Instructor of the Air Force Junior ROTC program at nearby D. W. Daniel High School until I retired in December 2008.

Own Business? (Name, Website):  Retired

Hobbies/Interests:  Anything Clemson.  I have been active in two groups at Clemson – Tiger Brotherhood and the CLEMSON CORPS, an alumni group that helps both Air Force and Army Senior ROTC cadets with supplemental scholarships to enable them to complete their degree and earn their commission.  My wife and I really enjoy attending all sorts of Clemson athletic events.  She still works at Clemson.  (How many of you guys are married to a woman who gets paid to give advice?)  Ann and I try to make all road games in football and almost everything else at home.  I enjoy working in our yard and hope to take up golf once again now that I will have some time.  (Unfortunately, the Honey-Do list is taking precedence at the current time.) 

 

Published a Book? (Name):  While it will never be a book, I am documenting our family’s experiences – and we have had some great ones -- so we can pass them on to future generations.   

Favorite Recent Books:  The Great Depression – How We Coped, Worked and Played by Margaret Bigger;  Burying the Dead, but Not the Past by Caroline Janey

Favorite Songs/Musicians:  In Color, Jamey Johnson

Favorite Movies/Documentaries: Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Twelve O’Clock High, The War

Best Vacation Ever: Alaska, Summer 2006

Favorite Memory of High School: “Classified” in the interest of self preservation

Proudest Moments of My Life:  Marriage, the birth of our children, serving my country (and having a great time doing it) for 26 years, working with high school youngsters for 14 plus years, completing Fighter Weapons School and Adversary Tactics School, safely bringing home all our people and aircraft after an unprecedented experience in Desert Storm, seeing our kids receive their Clemson degrees, and administering the oath of office to my daughter when she was commissioned into the Air Force.   

Things I Would Like My Classmates to Know:

 

Young Version, Pilot Training 1969

 

 

Middle Aged Version Takes a Wife

 

Older Version at Desert Storm

 

Even Older Version, Post- Desert Storm

 

The Whitley Clan

 

Ann "Dotting the I" at Clemson

 

Mt McKinley

 

Especially For My Hero, Jimmy Davis