R.G. Head, 87, a Vietnam War veteran living in Coronado is grateful to be alive following more than 3,000 flying hours, of which 700 were in combat, during his years of service in the U.S. Air Force.
Born in Iowa in 1938, Head learned to fly at the age of 15, got his pilot’s license at 17, was his high school’s valedictorian and graduated with the second U.S. Air Force Academy class in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering science.
“I always wanted to fly,” says Head, who describes the experience with words such as freedom, individuality, adventure, technical, spacious and wonderful. “Most exciting thing in the world.”
Head’s fascination with aviation led him to the top of his pilot training class after which he flew aircraft such as the F-100s across the U.S., Japan, Korea and Turkey for three years.
Volunteering for Vietnam, Head completed 325 combat missions, as part of the 602nd Fighter Squadron in the span of a year flying A-1 Skyraiders and went on to receive several honorable recognitions. After Vietnam, Head flew F-4 Phantom IIs as an instructor pilot in Arizona.
In 1968, Head was selected for graduate education at Syracuse University in New York, where he received a master’s degree in public administration followed by a doctor of philosophy degree in political science with a dissertation titled “Decision-Making on the Air Force A-7 Attack Aircraft Program.”
Head returned to flying in 1973 as an operations manager in Thailand and the Philippines before his selection to the National War College in 1976. Thereafter, Head became a military assistant, conducting staff work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Selected as brigadier general, Head also served as the deputy commander of NATO’s 5th Allied Tactical Air Force in Vicenza, Italy before retiring in 1987 with 27 years of service.
“The whole experience shaped me,” says Head, who was selected as Coronado’s Man of the Year in 2014 and honored with a banner on the city’s Avenue of Heroes, displayed along Third and Fourth streets from Orange Avenue to Naval Air Station North Island, in 2016.
In October, Head said he is in the early stages of building the S.P.A.D. 13 model, a World War I French fighter aircraft produced by the Société anonyme Pour l’Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD), which he plans to donate to a museum.
Head said he is releasing another work titled “Hank Suerstadt, A Coronado Hero” this fall. Head said he is writing about Suerstadt, who also served in the Vietnam War, for his family who still lives in Coronado.
Head described his years serving the nation as “a thrilling experience,” adding, “It’s important to tell our stories to those young people who are thinking about what to do in life. This is one of the good things to do in life. You’re helping people. You’re traveling. You’re overseas, you learn valuable skills, you have good friends… And then afterwards, you have a sense of ‘You really made a contribution.’”
The Coronado News asked Head about his career and service after he received the Distinguished Leadership and Sacrifice Award from BLU Lapis Media in October. Answers are edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What are significant service memories or stories that shaped who you are today?
Head: In Vietnam, I participated in three big battles providing close air support to special forces and Army and Marine Corps units.
You’re living in a combat zone. I flew almost every day. The average mission was two hours long. We would attack the target and save lives, then return.
If the Viet Cong attacked a special forces camp there would be mortaring and bombing. The Army would call in and request air support, so we would get scrambled, and we’d fly off to find the place in the night, in the dark. We would drop bombs, fire cannons or rockets and try to save the unit from being killed. That was most of the time in South Vietnam.
We also had a deployment to Thailand. We’d fly from Thailand into North Vietnam, and look for downed Air Force pilots or Navy pilots. And we’d escort the helicopters going in to pick up the pilots. I had two five-hour missions over North Vietnam on the same day. If nobody rescued the pilots, they would become prisoners of war or they’d be shot. You don’t always find the person. The enemy would be shooting at us from the ground. Not every time, but sometimes. You just do your job, if you get hit, you get hit. My airplane got hit 20 times.
Q: Was it difficult to return to regular life after combat?
Head: It was a little bit. I came back in 1966. That was the time of campus uprisings. People didn’t want to get drafted. We were not welcomed back. It was very hard to even talk about it, too, to other people because some people just didn’t want to hear about it and many people opposed the war. We lost the war so it was not a happy time.
But at the same time, I was going out and giving speeches to groups that welcomed us. They appreciated what we had done. I was put on a lecture circuit, and I gave lots and lots of speeches to rotary groups and religious groups and other groups quite often. It’s very rewarding to be able to talk to a group and to get that kind of feedback.
Q: What makes your military career unique from beginning to end?
Head: In my time period, I had Cold War experience, Vietnam and later, when I was in a staff job, conflicts in the Middle East. I didn’t fight them, but I did the planning, and a lot of policy making.
When you join the military, you serve with people of all different backgrounds. We’re all together in a team.
Q: What do you wish more people knew about serving in the U.S. Air Force?
Head: The military swears an oath to the Constitution of the United States and we do things outside the United States that are important to protect against foreign enemies. We don’t do things inside the United States. It’s against the law to use military forces inside the United States. It’s very important because we don’t want to be enforcing the law on our own citizens. That’s not our job. Right now we’re seeing people deploying the National Guard into U.S. cities. The National Guard is not trained in policing, they’re trained to fight overseas enemies.
People committing to the U.S. Air Force get a chance to help protect the country, protect America, from external threats.
