Today we honor our nation’s military Veterans. Bladen County has many men and women who have served our country with their stories being left untold.
May this national holiday we call “Veterans Day” not be taken for granted. We will take time to salute a Dublin resident retired from the United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Forrest Ryckeley.
Lt. Col. Michael Ryckeley is a retired Air Force Command Pilot with 3,790 flight hours, 19 of which were combat. During his 20 year career he flew the T-37 “Tweet”, T-38 “Talon”, CT-39 “Sabreliner”, C-21 “Learjet” and the C-5 “Galaxy”.
Lt. Col. Ryckeley was born April 11, 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia to the late James Forrest and Barbara Watson Ryckeley. He married the late Lt. Col. Janice Butler Ryckeley on April 25, 1987. They have two sons, Christian Butler and Clinton Michael Ryckeley.
Lt. Col. Ryckeley earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Auburn University in December 1981 and a Master of Science Degree in Public Administration from Troy State University in 1987. Additionally, Lt. Col. Ryckeley graduated from the military’s Undergraduate Pilot Training School in 1983, Squadron Officer School in 1987 and Air Command and Staff College in 1997.
Lt. Col. Ryckeley was commissioned as an Air Force officer in December 1981 and started Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma in April 1982.
During the next 51 weeks he learned, and experienced, just how dangerous jet powered flight could be. In addition to teaching him how to fly, the Air Force expanded his vocabulary with phrases such as, “The number of landings must equal the number of takeoffs”, “Do you know where you are?” and “Now that you got it in the air, you’ve got to land it–ejecting is not an option.”
After successfully completing pilot training in April 1983, he was assigned to Detachment 4, 1402 Military Airlift Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida where he safely flew high ranking military and government officials to their destinations in CT-39 Sabreliners and C-21 Learjets. During this assignment, he was the Detachment’s Chief of Safety, receiving the Mobility Air Command’s coveted Distinguished Individual Safety Award and two personal letters of appreciation from General Ryan, Commander-in-Chief, Military Airlift Command, for “outstanding support and superior performance on operational missions”. He also flew former President Jimmy Carter into Plains, Georgia.
(The former President liked Coca-Cola Classic.)
Following Eglin, he proceeded to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware in 1986 where he flew (often air refueling) the C-5 Galaxy for five years and performed duties as a Command Post Senior Duty Controller. One of his most critical tasks was ensuring C-5 missions deploying Gulf War Desert Shield/Storm troops (one with Janice onboard) departed on-time for the war.
During this assignment, he flew troops into Panama for Operation Just Cause, the first C-5 mission supporting the Exxon Valdez disaster, the first Vice Presidential support mission to Budapest Hungary and three missions moving peacekeeping forces into Baghdad, Iraq (before the war). One of his countless Operation Desert Shield/Storm missions included very “highly creative instrument approach flying” delivering a critical air defense radar to an airfield 10 miles from the Iraqi border, two days before the start of Desert Storm’s air campaign. Further supporting Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he volunteered and deployed to Germany as an Airlift Mission Controller and later managed C-5 operations at Torrejon Air Base, Spain for over 300 aircrew members. Following Torrejon Air Base duty, he volunteered and deployed as an Airlift Duty Controller to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. While there, he coordinated continuous alert coverage of medical evacuation crews and aircraft, resulting the timely return of American hostages to freedom.
After Dover, he was assigned as an Advanced Flight Training C-5 Instructor Aircraft Commander instructing C-5 student pilots at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma in 1991. Most of his flying was “around the flagpole” teaching students how to move the massive aircraft safely through the air and on the ground. One hundred percent of his 36 students received the highest qualification level possible. He was recognized for his flying and leadership abilities by being chosen as the Altus Air Force Associations’ C-5 pilot aircrew member of the year. He was also selected as the Wing Chief of Safety mid-way through this assignment and became heavily involved in mishap prevention.
Several of his mishap prevention articles, “No One Plans to Have an Accident”, “Almost Home”, “A 30 Minute Lesson in Cockpit Resource Management”, “Safety: An Important Part of Change” and “There I was, a Victim of Circumstance”, were published Air Force-wide. He was handpicked as an investigating officer for a C-5 High Accident Potential mishap. His investigation discovered life-threatening deficiency for aircrews, which resulted in a one-time world-wide inspection of all C-5 airframes. He also led the initial multi-service investigation of a fatal joint training exercise aircraft mission.
Following Altus, he was assigned to the Air Mobility Command’s Tanker Airlift Control Center, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois in 1995. As Deputy Chief, Airlift Allocation Division he managed how the numerous requests for airlift were “racked and stacked” against the scarce airframes and aircrews available. He determined which missions were supported, and which airlift base would fly the missions. Sometimes, 80+ hour weeks were required to fill the airlift mission requests supporting the 1996 Presidential election campaign, the subsequent Presidential diplomatic tours of South American and African nations, the First Lady’s successful South African tour, and countless humanitarian relief and contingency operational missions. He was recognized for his incisive airlift management, which guaranteed scarce aircraft for a world record-setting longest nonstop airdrop.
In 1998, he and his family received orders to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Shortly after his arrival, he “pinned on” the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. At Langley, he was the deputy, and then the Chief of the Operations Branch, Operations Division of the Aerospace Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center (AC2ISRC). During this assignment, he was selected due to “best combination of professionalism, empathy, and sensitivity”, as Commander Air Combat Command’s team leader for next-of-kin briefing to surviving family members of the Nellis HH-60 helicopter tragedy. In addition, he authored two Air Force Concept of Operations (CONOPS); vital command and control capstone documents. They represented an Air Force first, sketching out futuristic vectors and identifying Air Force critical warfighter capabilities for future acquisition efforts.
In early 2001, he was assigned to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras as Squadron Director of Operations.
He supervised 188 personnel and all airfield operations. He quickly learned the two Soto Cano ways of doing a task, the Air Force way, and the Army way. In addition to supporting the Joint Task Force mission, he was able to make substantial positive policy and quality of life changes for the personnel assigned to the squadron and the base. His biggest accomplishment was discovering a deficient Interservice Support Agreement (ISA) for the Soto Cano Air Base Mission. He identified major discrepancies and inaccurate reimbursements thus saving the Air Force $2.4 million dollars annually.
On March 23, 2002, Lieutenant Colonel Ryckeley was honored with a retirement ceremony in Tar Heel for his twenty years of exemplary service.
Lieutenant Colonel Ryckeley’s decorations and awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat Readiness Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with 1 Star, Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 Stars, Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon – Pistol, Air Force Training Ribbon, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait).
Related article:
https://bladencounty.org/saluting-the-service-of-lieutenant-colonel-janice-ryckeley/
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