Distant cousins reunite in desert

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • U. S. Central Air Forces-Forward Public Affairs
AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar (AFPN) --  In a deployed environment, amazing things can happen. For Lt. Col. Kevin Turnbo and Tech. Sgt. Robert Turnbo, being deployed turned into a lesson in family history.

“My first thought was, ‘Wow! There is a guy in the Air Force with the same last name and spelling as mine,’ ” said the colonel, who is deployed here as the director of information management for U.S. Central Air Forces Combined Air Operations Center. “We even look alike.”

Robert, who is deployed here as an airspace planner for the air mobility division in the center, said his first run-in with the other Turnbo's name raised questions immediately.

“I was very surprised when I saw his name on the inbound list,” the sergeant said. He is deployed from the 305th Operations Support Squadron at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. “Growing up in the Air Force and living all over the United States, I've never run into anyone with the same last name. I figured we must be related, but didn't know how.”

It was not long after the colonel arrived here from his home unit at the Texas Air National Guard headquarters in Austin, when the two met.

“I was signing into the base newcomers briefing when I was greeted by a fellow attendee on the back row -- Tech. Sgt. Turnbo,” Kevin said.

When they started discussing their past, they knew they had to be related. According to both men, it was agreed they would try to figure out their family history. Upon further research one night at a tent city recreation area, records indicated that both men’s great, great, great grandfathers were brothers. How they got that information was a struggle all on its own.

“In the late 1970s a Turnbo lived in Washington, D.C., near the National Archives and decided to do the research on family history for his children,” Robert said. “He contacted all the Turnbos he could and asked them if they were interested in getting a copy when he was done. My grandparents purchased copies for all their children, and I now have the copy -- a small paperback book including photos that belonged to my dad. I called my dad and told him about it and then had my wife mail me the book.”

Once he had the book, that is when the meeting and revelation took place, and the two found out they were distant cousins.

“Imagine the unique enjoyment of being able to piece together a family history with someone you’ve never met, which began … more than 150 years ago,” the sergeant said.

Another surprise awaited the cousins when they began discussing their careers. Robert followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the Air Force out of high school and spending the past 18 years as an air traffic controller. His father, Mickey Turnbo, retired in 1988 as a chief master sergeant after also spending 18 years as an air traffic controller. As it turned out Kevin spent nearly 10 years as an air traffic controller as well.

“It was quite a shock to all three of us,” Robert said.

But the similarities did not stop there. The colonel married a Texas native, born and raised about 10 miles from where the sergeant’s family settled in Youngsport, Texas. He is also only four years older than Robert and after seeing a picture of them, Robert’s father said you could mistake them for brothers.

“We’ve both got that slightly receding hairline, a little gray around the temples and blue eyes that are all (trademarks of the Turnbos),” the sergeant said.

Robert said it all has been pretty amazing

“It's been fun getting to know him and to be able to talk about familiar things,” he said. “It’s amazing to think that a fork in a family tree that began growing apart just before the American Civil War would rub its branches together again during a different war 150 years later in the tiny country of Qatar.”

“It’s also just nice to know I’m spending a deployment with relatives,” Kevin said. “That makes being here easier and the experience that much better.”