Recalled officer retires -- again

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  An Airman who began his military career as a Marine Corps rifleman in 1962 is retiring for the second time.

Lt. Col. Theron Sims, who is on terminal leave, rejoined the Air Force on May 15, 2002, as part of the Rated Officer Recall Program. Colonel Sims was the service’s senior lieutenant colonel, with an Oct. 1, 1983, date of rank.

The colonel originally retired from active duty Jan. 1, 1989. He returned to the Air Force following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Colonel Sims said there are a lot of veterans in Vail, Colo., where he was living at the time.

“We asked what we could do to help,” he said.

The answer came in the form of an e-mail from the commander of 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

“He said he was having a pilot shortage, that he didn’t have enough pilots and navigators to man the combined air operations center,” Colonel Sims said. “He said if I’d come back and work in the CAOC, he could take a pilot out and put him back in the cockpit.”

Shortly after his reactivation, Colonel Sims deployed for exercises in Korea with Barksdale’s CAOC.

“One of the things (Air Force Chief of Staff) General John P. Jumper did was put the 8th Air Force CAOC into the air and space expeditionary force,” Colonel Sims said. “Instead of working in a staff job, I deployed to Korea (for an exercise) and then to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, and Al Udeid AB, Qatar.”

Colonel Sims spent six months as the CAOC’s chief of the time-sensitive targeting branch. One of the operations he “pushed” was the first combat strike using a new automated deep-operations coordination system.

The colonel followed up his Operation Iraqi Freedom duty with a 12-month assignment as executive officer to Brig. Gen. Stephen M. Goldfein, the director of operational capability requirements at the Pentagon.

Colonel Sims served two tours in Vietnam during his first active Air Force stint, flying 250 combat missions as a forward air controller in 1968, and 65 missions as a B-52 Stratofortress pilot during the 1972 “Linebacker I” campaign.

“I had mixed feelings (about him returning to active duty), but I know he’s always been very patriotic,” said the colonel’s wife, Bonnie. “It was quite different this time because I did get an e-mail from him once in a while, and phone calls, so it was not like it had been years ago.”

Colonel Sims is one of 208 former active-duty officers who returned to duty through the recall program.

“It’s been a hoot; it’s been a great two years, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “But now I’m going home, back to Vail.”