Where there's Thunder Published June 2, 2010 By Mike Strickler 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- On a typically windy, curiously cool Friday in late May, I sat with Brig. Gen. William "Thunder" Thornton and wife Lisa to try capturing their two years as commander and first lady of the 412th Test Wing. Some two hours later I had only scratched the surface of an unique couple who so easily blend service, mission and family into an incredible Air Force story. This is what we spoke of that afternoon. Why the Air Force? "There's two things that motivated me to be an AF officer; one, I wanted to fly ever since I went on an airplane ride when I was four, and I just thought that was the greatest thing," General Thornton said. "I graduated from Northeastern with a computer science degree but began at St. Louis University in aerospace engineering." "The other, was it was the early 1980s Cold War, America was on the ropes, our morale low and along comes this president (Reagan) who says 'hey, we can win this.' I really wanted to be part of that so there was no choice for me other than to join the Air Force and be part of it." I asked him what he likes about computers and Lisa, call-sign "Lightning," chimes in. "Be honest," she says. "Be honest? Do you have an answer for me?" "I know exactly what the answer is...to make money; so he could make money," Lisa said. Thunder grins, clears his throat, "It was an up and coming field and jobs were plentiful. The field was wide open. There were start-ups, friends getting together in garages and making an industry. It appealed to me and was absolutely fascinating. I worked for Raytheon during school and was involved in early computer networking; some of the protocols we wrote back then are still viable, still the same style." It was Lisa who helped him get back in touch with flying. "She asked me what I wanted to do with my life," he said. "Computers were OK but I couldn't see myself doing that forever. So she nurtured my desire to fly, even filled out the Air Force application with me; she really helped out." Bellingham, Mass. While General Thornton grew up in Bellingham, Mass., about 30 miles southwest of Boston, Lisa hails from Rochester in upstate New York. They attended Northeastern together, eight hours from home for her and "ages" away for him in abbreviated Massachusetts. "Thirty miles was way out there; they considered us hicks," Lisa said. The idea of flying for General Thornton, at first, seemed just as remote. "I grew up in a middle-class town of great people, but with my socio-economic background flying looked unobtainable," he said. "People kept saying 'wow, a pilot ... well you've got to be pretty smart for that,' and even though I was in the top 10 percent of my class that was the mentality back then." Although offered an ROTC scholarship and navigator's slot at St. Louis University, General Thornton transferred to Northeastern and computers instead, but the idea of flight and service was always there. Lisa and he filled out the application and finally the Air Force called, needing him at flight screening and Officers Training School before college graduation. "The recruiter said I had to be there in 13 days, so I took finals early and was in Texas as my class was walking across the stage; I didn't walk but was pretty happy," he said. "And his mother has never forgiven him," Lisa adds, "because hockey great Bobby Orr was the graduation guest speaker. She was sorely disappointed to miss him." General Thornton headed to Medina Annex at Lackland AFB, TX, as Lisa remained in studies at school. Both flight screening and OTS proved to be great training and then he headed from short-sleeved San Antonio right into a snowstorm at Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma, for undergraduate pilot training. Flying "It's two in the morning and I'm standing at the billeting office at Vance, snow coming down heavy and I have no transportation and no winter clothing," said General Thornton. "So the lady working the desk at the billeting office hands me her car keys and I head to squadron quarters to drop my gear and check in. I returned her car, got back to the barracks to settle in and, at 6:30 a.m., am awakened by a knock at the door; quarters inspection and I'd been there for just over four hours." Thunder smiles, "And now and I'm thinking, wow, the Air Force really is like this, inspections and everything!" "They were good, did a full inspection and helped me out by letting me know what to do, look for, things like that. I passed and then walked to the Base Exchange to buy winter clothes. It was a very exciting time." For a new pilot, General Thornton's flight training went very well and he excelled in academics and maneuvers in the T-41 Mescalero trainer. Jets, however, proved a challenge. "Initially, I had problems with air sickness in the T-37 Tweet, and that added a lot of pressure to my flying," he said. "It was an anomaly; I flew excellent check rides but motion sickness during the aerobatic portion of the program fell my chances of becoming an Air Force pilot, and I was eliminated from the flight program." Lisa chimes in with a little determination in her voice. "Bill calls me from Vance just as I'm about to be inducted into the National Honors Society at school and says he's out of flying. So I say, why not take it up the chain of command, see if they can provide an exception." "I mean what are they going to do, kick him out? They've already done that," she says. "It was that day I first learned about command authority," General Thornton remembers. "I appealed the medical decision and the Wing Commander went out on a limb for me. He put me through an unsanctioned airsickness modification program and reinstated me - without formal approval. That program became the standard practice for pilots today. In essence, I became a pioneer for today's modern air sickness program and it allowed me and many other good pilots to return to the cockpit." "I also learned a lot about support that day too," he says, looking at Lisa. "Here I was as a lieutenant telling Lisa that 'I know the Air Force' and I really didn't. It has a heart and mind and this thing called command prerogative and authority, which I never knew existed and have never forgotten." As for UPT General Thornton gained a high level of proficiency quickly that, when coupled with will power, desire and a little bit of natural ability, put him near the top of his class. He was retained as a first assignment instructor pilot, and was later named Air Training Command and Air Force instructor pilot of the year. Test Pilot Following seven years of flying the T-38 and F-16, including several deployments in support of Operation PROVIDE COMFORT, the Thorntons headed to Edwards AFB and test pilot school. "I wanted to be an astronaut," General Thornton said. "But I've always been very interested in testing things - the latest systems and latest aircraft. I loved going up, turning off the engine and putting the aircraft out of control and recovering, just very interested in that kind of flying." Lisa smiles again, knowingly. "He has a huge attraction to being the first to do something, to making a mark in the Air Force," she said. "I saw it in his transcripts from St. Louis University - straights A's in aerospace engineering - and he always had this poster of the Space Shuttle on his wall at school." "He always wanted to do something that had rarely or never been done, and the Air Force allows that to happen," she said. Thunder agrees. "Yeah, the guys who just did the X-51, the pilots flying the F-35, I'm so proud of them and absolutely jealous and green with envy. They are the right people for those jobs but I wish I was still a Captain or Major again and had those opportunities as well." Command and Support Following TPS the Thorntons headed to Quantico, VA, for Marine Command and Staff College, forgoing a similar route taken through Maxwell AFB for most Air Force officers. "TPS taught me about serving the war-fighter, and for an acquisitions professional to be truly professional, they must understand how the product will be used," said General Thornton. "So I wanted to learn about their airpower theories and their theories of combat employment while I was doing professional military education." "And, there's always a part of me that misses the war-fighting culture, the combat pilot role. So the assignment was absolutely great," he said. Lisa's role throughout the assignments included teaching and human services work in Oklahoma, Florida and Virginia, as well as raising Kelsey, Travis and Victoria, their three children. But her career, much like General Thorntons, is steeped in service. "I taught and raised three kids, but it was always important to me to do things in my own right, and not just be the commander's wife," she said. "I love social work and special education, but my passion is for our Air Force family." "She is everywhere," General Thornton laughed. "Even the rare days I have time for lunch with my wife - and I've only had that opportunity a handful of times - her schedule is busier than mine. She's made an incredible difference here, working through the key spouses, and working and managing the thrift shops that support our Airmen at a fraction of the normal cost for goods." "I thrive on our Air Force community and it brings me such joy to be a part of it," Lisa said. "I always tell people that I have two families, the one I was born into and my Air Force family. And you know it's normally the Air Force family that is there in tough times and during times of crisis and loss; our natural families are usually thousands of miles away." Thunder recalls a specific instance where Lisa took a call from the key spouses' organization about a spouse whose husband had deployed. "It's raining at 10:30 in the evening, she's got two sick kids and a flat tire," he said. "She says to me 'Bill, get over there and change a tire.' So there I am, in the rain and dark and I'm changing a tire for a woman who is mortified that the Wing commander is there helping her." "But that's family," Lisa said. "It's my biggest passion and where my energy comes from. Knowing you're making positive change makes the nation stronger and we are surrounded by people at Edwards that believe the same as I do." Leaving Edwards After more than two hours we bring the conversation to a close by discussing change; specifically, the change that comes with moving on from Edwards. "There's a long and short answer to change," said General Thornton. "The short is you've been assigned a new job and you'll be immediately immersed in a new mission area, so you have to let go because your priority now is the new job. In letting go of this command I know it's in very good hands with Colonel Dawn Dunlop taking over the reins." "The long answer is there's so much left to be done here that I wish that command was three years instead of two. Still, it's important to cycle new leaders in here and Dawn is going to do a great job. Her challenge, the persisting challenge for the 412 TW, will always be to get better in flight test, but other challenges persist as well, including the budget for the next couple of years, to continue to improve our maintenance organization; to safely generate test support sorties and to manage the F-35 test work load with all the other important work being done here." "What I've tried to do here is concentrate on our priorities and not add new programs and tasks where possible," said General Thornton. "We've been successful with organization changes in our maintenance mission, and our technical reports have gone from two years to complete to just over 40 days, and we've sustained that now for more than 18 months. Still, there's much more I would have taken on but they just weren't high enough on the priority list and you cannot do everything, you just can't. So you pick a few things, large projects and some low-hanging fruit, that will make long-term positive changes - and invest your energies in those areas." "What's truly sad about leaving is knowing that I will never work in this capacity again," he said. "Our motto - the future rises here - is the right mindset for the place where imagination meets reality, and with our natural resources, our airspace, lakebeds, low population, and the incredibly talented flight-test professionals we have here, the U.S. government and private industry can take a concept on paper, put it to metal, and make it reality." "From a paper airplane, to a real airplane, to an integrated weapon system; that's what I'll miss and what gives us our unique legacy," he said. As for the next steps the Thorntons are willing to leave it to future for now and continue to serve where needed, so long as they're still having fun. Well, maybe not just having fun; let's say so long as they feel they can make a difference. Dayton is a long way from Bellingham but they're still on the same road today, and the Thorntons have certainly made an incredible difference for us all.