Brothers by blood, siblings by stealth

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Joe Lacdan
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. (AFPN) --  Capts. Brian and Brad Cochran took different roads to reach their dreams of flight, but those paths led to the same destination. The captains are the first brothers to qualify as B-2 Spirit pilots.

“As kids we always imagined we’d be pilots,” said Brian of the 393rd Bomb Squadron here. “I don’t think we’d ever imagined that we would be sitting on the same base, flying the same airplane.”

It is not just any plane either. Only a select few pilots qualify to fly the B-2. Currently there are fewer than 300 certified B-2 pilots on active duty.

“To be selected as a B-2 pilot isn’t an easy thing to do,” Brian said. “But to be here with a brother, that’s pretty unique. This is the most advanced weapons system on the planet. For us to be able to fly it as members of the B-2 team (and) as brothers is a great opportunity.”

Their father, Bill Cochran, now retired after 28 years of service in the Air Force, said he had fond memories of taking his youngest son, Brad, to an Air Force base flightline.

“Look Dad,” Brad would say pointing at an aircraft. “Someday, I’m going to be a pilot.”

Brad said he knew at an early age he would someday become a pilot and an Air Force officer. As a child, he said he enjoyed attending air shows and visiting military museums.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to fly,” said Brad, who is currently assigned to the 325th BS here.

During his junior year of high school, Brad joined the Civil Air Patrol. Through CAP, he received his private pilot’s license. He seemed primed to reach his goal of qualifying for pilot training. But five years later, during his junior year at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, he hit a detour.

Air Force officials had selected him for navigator training, not the pilot training he had coveted since his youth.

“I think he thought all of his hard work had been in vain,” his father said.

Brad remained undeterred. He used the selection as motivation. He spoke with his father, then a lieutenant colonel stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, who encouraged him to stay focused.

Brad continued to work hard, and focused on his training and education. During his senior year, he became the vice commander of his cadet wing.

“I think he was a little disappointed,” Brian said. “But he remembered first and foremost he wanted to become an Air Force officer. Sometimes you’re going to face adversity, but you overcome that by continuing to work hard. That’s what he did.”

Six months later, Brad got his chance. He qualified for joint specialized undergraduate pilot training at Vance AFB, Okla. He also graduated from BYU with a degree in international relations.

In July 1998, with his mother and sisters looking on, Brad stood proudly as his father and brother placed silver wings on his chest, signifying his graduation from pilot training, and officially making him an Air Force pilot. After the ceremony, his father turned to Brad and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You made it,” Bill told him with pride.

The boy who fantasized about flight had finally reached his dream.

Brian also flew as a youth, but not in a plane. He flew on a basketball court. An avid hoops player, Brian decorated his room with posters of his idols, basketball greats "Magic" Johnson and Michael Jordan. He fantasized about playing collegiate and NBA basketball.

“He loved (basketball),” said his mother, Shirley. “He lived and breathed it.”

His skills flourished, but he was hampered by one shortcoming.

Standing only 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds, much of Brian’s competition towered above him. But with a ball in his hands, Brian hovered above them with his skills, sometimes literally. Despite his lack of size, Brian could dunk on defenders, and he led his high school team in scoring.

Bill said attending high school in Panama made it difficult for colleges to scout Brian. A shoulder injury during his senior year further damaged his athletic scholarship hopes. He decided to attend BYU and try to walk onto the basketball team, but a broken collarbone while playing pickup football kept him out of tryouts.

“I wanted to be a professional athlete,” Brian said. “But it wasn’t in the cards.”

While disappointed, he decided to put away his basketball shoes and focus on education. He did not look at becoming an Air Force pilot -- yet. He spoke to his father about other options, and decided, as a freshman in the fall of 1989, to enter the medical field.

It was not until after a two-year missionary trip to Venezuela that Brian said he realized his destiny was in the Air Force.

Brian decided to apply for an Air Force pilot training program.

Competing against thousands of applicants nationwide for 130 pilot slots, he spent countless hours studying and exercising. Brian qualified for pilot training in 1995 and graduated with a double major in international relations and Spanish. He attended Euro-NATO Joint Jet pilot training at Sheppard AFB, Texas, and graduated in 1997.

During Operation Desert Fox in 1998, Brian led a six-ship formation of B-52 Stratofortress bombers, striking targets in Iraq. In Operation Allied Force, he helped destroy emerging targets in Kosovo in 1999.

He said much of his success came from his hours in the simulator and practice sorties. He said he views each practice sortie with the same intensity as a real-world combat mission, just as he played each basketball practice as if it were an actual game.

“Playing sports provided that sense of competition and the sense of striving to do my best,” Brian said.

Meanwhile, Brad, stationed at Charleston AFB, S.C., flew combat missions in Tirana, Albania. In October 2001, Night 1 of Operation Enduring Freedom, Brad led a flight of two C-17 Globemaster IIIs delivering humanitarian rations to displaced Afghans.

It was in August 2000 that Brian received some good news. He had applied as a pilot for the B-2 bomber program. He had been accepted. A short time later, Brad, who had also applied, received that same good news. He had been accepted, too.

“I was pretty excited about it, probably more than (Brian and Brad) were,” Bill said.

The B-2 was unlike any other aircraft the Cochrans had seen. It could fly 6,000 miles without refueling. It could make munitions drops undetected in enemy airspace.

“I feel very privileged flying (the B-2),” Brad said. “It’s an incredible combat aircraft.”

As the 393rd’s chief of short-range scheduling, Brian schedules sorties, continuation-training sorties, simulator sessions and leave time. Brad is the 325th’s assistant weapons and tactics officer, tracking each pilot’s weapons qualification and training.

Because they are blood relatives, Brian and Brad cannot fly in the same aircraft; however, should the need arise, they can deploy in the same formation.

Today, rarely a day goes by when the Cochran brothers do not see each other. They live two blocks apart, attend the same church, and their children have grown up together.

The Cochran brothers said they believe their years of hard work, studying, planning, preparing and training brought them to the B-2 and Whiteman.

“I’m extremely proud,” Brad said. “I’m proud to be here with my brother. It’s a great opportunity to live down the street from my brother and be able to fly this airplane. It’s great to be among the people who fly this airplane.”

“Both of us are driven in what we want to do,” Brian said. “Part of that drive comes from an inner desire to succeed”

A childhood dream and competitiveness on basketball courts may have helped.

“The kind of men they’ve become is to their credit,” said their mother. “We encouraged them and led the way, but it was up to them to follow and become who they’re going to be.”