COMMAERNTTARY
Mac Dill AFB Celebrat es
75th Anniversary
MAY/JUNE 2016
| TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 143
By John Wilson
Spain aboard a big C141 transport. For
part of the flight, I rode in the seat of a big
truck in the back of the plane that was
among other vehicles we were taking to
the war. We landed in Saudi Arabia after
an incredibly beautiful sunset flight across
the Mediterranean, putting down at Prince
Sultan Air Base.
Another unforgettable memory of mine
is when I visited the Memorial Wall at
the base and the US Special Operations
Command at MacDill, which coordinates
special military operations all over the
world. There was also the time that
former SOCOM Commander Admiral
William McRaven and I presented a
powerful patriotic event together in
downtown Tampa right after he had
secretly commanded the operation with
Seal Team #6 that killed Osama Bin Laden.
Having MacDill here in Tampa dates
back to World War II in 1941, the year
It is the 75th Anniversary of
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa,
and we couldn’t have a more
important organization in our
midst. In the past thirty-five years
in which I anchored the news here,
MacDill has hosted me and the rest
of the media many times. However,
I was fortunate enough to walk
through doors there that few media folks
have had opened for them. These included
a ride in an F16 jet fighter on a practice
attack run at the Avon Park test firing
range, and my flight in an F18 jet fighter
with the US Navy Blue Angels. I was also
fortunate to experience my son Mark’s
flight with the US Air Force Thunderbirds.
I spent a day in a briefing by General
George Crist and had access to the
CENTCOM operations center; and, on
another occasion, had the opportunity to
interview Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, who was there under heavy
guard. I also remember being in
CENTCOM’s war-room in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia for the start of Desert Storm, which
was led by the late General Norman
Schwarzkopf. It took an extra long flight
out of MacDill to get me there, along
with a handful of other local media
representatives from Tampa to Zaragoza,
I was born. I could have never
dreamed that someday I would
have the opportunities that
MacDill has afforded me. I also
never imagined that the base
would become so important in all
the various commands that would
be headquartered there and that it
would become so instrumental in the
defense plans of the United States. It was
only 25 years ago that some shortsighted
politicians in Washington wanted to
close this base. Fortunately, the late
Congressman Bill Young led a successful
campaign to keep the base open. We should
be thankful for all that MacDill does for
us as citizens of this community and wish
them a “Happy 75th Anniversary” for their
many jobs well done. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: John Wilson ended 50
plus years of radio and television news
broadcasting with his final goodbye on WTVT
Fox 13 on November 26, 2014, the day before
Thanksgiving.
John Wilson