TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Wade Wolfe felt very much at home recently addressing teacher Nathan Lawson’s eighth-grade science class at Jarman Middle School.
Even though the vice director of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex is one of the top leaders of a more than 10,000-person workforce delivering $3.4 billion of assets each year to the Air Force and Department of Defense, he told the students there was no other place in the world he would rather be than “here, right now, today.”
After all, he’s a Jarman Rocket, too.
“In fact, I sat in this very classroom in 1980,” Mr. Wolfe said as the students passed around his Jarman school yearbook, eyeing his photo as a young Midwest City student. “I have wrestled with the decisions that you’re wrestling with right now: What do I want to do for the rest of my life?”
Mr. Wolfe and other Tinker Air Force Base professionals took time out Jan. 20 to participate in the Jarman Middle School Career Day. They were among eight professionals from various fields telling students about their personal journeys that led them to successful careers.
Mr. Wolfe, who grew up the son of a single mother on Stansell Drive in Midwest City, told students that he first thought medical school was his best choice, so he studied pre-medicine in college.
The vice director ended up, though, earning several degrees in finance, accounting and business administration. He told students that whatever careers they pursue, by either going to college or going through one of Oklahoma’s vocational-technical programs, giving yourself flexibility to make job choices is key.
“You’re all destined for something great,” Mr. Wolfe said. “It’s just are you brave enough to grab a hold of what you want? Your dreams should scare you a little bit.”
Col. Chris Mathews, 72nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander, told Ms. Kelly Brown’s eighth-grade pre-algebra and algebra I students that he “did not like school at all” through high school.
He was interested in mechanics — like fixing cars — and joined the Air Force, where he helped repair and maintain B-52 bombers. The Air Force paid him to take college classes at night and he soon discovered he liked to learn other subjects.
Later, the “big switch” happened, the colonel said. As an airplane mechanic, he said he got to know Air Force pilots who were required to have college degrees and were supposedly considered the “smartest guys” in the force.
Talking to them, he figured out that being “smart” wasn’t the whole picture. Knowledge and hard work are other factors, too.
“They didn’t even know how to change the brakes on their cars. Are you kidding me?
“Every one of you is smart,” the physician said. “You’re smart enough to go to medical school, or law school, or do whatever you want to do. The difference is the work you put into it and getting the knowledge. The real difference between an ‘A’ and a ‘C’ is time. The person getting that ‘A’ is putting more time into it. You can get an ‘A’ in anything if you study it long enough and learn it.”
Fifteen-year Air Force Capt. Eric Hineman, executive officer to Brig. Gen. Mark Johnson, OC-ALC commander, spoke about his early fascination with planes to students in Ms. Kim Miller’s U.S. history class.
He said his grades in high school were “terrible,” but took off later when he began studying aviation — a field he was passionate about. He told students to look for jobs that they like doing.
“Learn things,” the captain said. “College is not the only answer. Trade schools are good, too. My father-in-law is the president of a heating and ventilation company and he has a huge problem finding welders and guys who can use their hands.
“I know some plumbers who make more money in a couple hours than I do in a day. That’s pretty cool.”