USAFA Class Heritage

Biography

Roger J. Korenberg

My background is solid small-town Heartland.  I was raised on a farm in Northwest Iowa, and did my share of milking cows, caring for pigs and tending to chickens.  The community was mostly of Dutch, German and Scandinavian background, and I am a first generation American. The highest form of praise in that community was that someone was `a good neighbor and a hard worker.`  That creed has stuck with me.

I liked machinery, and drove tractors and pickup trucks on the farm by the age of nine.  I was always fascinated with airplanes and wanted to be a pilot.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I read an article in Air Progress magazine titled `Wanted: Teen-Age Pilots.`  The article outlined various paths to becoming a pilot, and stated that the best route was to go to the Air Force Academy, since at that time all cadets were pilot-qualified.  I was hooked!  I set my goal, and never looked back. 

My write-up in the 1963 Polaris states that I was `an uneducated Iowa farmboy.`  The last part of that is true, but I think `naïve` is closer than uneducated.  My elementary school was a one-room country school with about 15 students and my high school class graduated about 45, but I found that I could hold my own at the Academy.  With tutoring from my doolie roommate, Cal Nay, I was able to validate numerous courses at the Academy, and carried an overload schedule many semesters. I was determined to get full value out of a `free` education.

The Academy opened up a new world to me, and I tried to make the most of it.  My cadet experiences covered the whole spectrum from a Class III punishment to being on the Superintendent`s List. My most rewarding experience was as a new Second Classman serving as an Element Leader during Basic Cadet Training. My close friend Lee Lilly and I were responsible 24/7 for turning 15 young civilians into cadets, class of 1965.  I am proud of the distinguished careers that many of them had. 

The friendships that you develop at the Academy will last forever, and those friendships go beyond classmates. I have some very good friends and mentors in other classes, including other service academies. The Long Blue Line runs deep.

During a summer pilot training program at Laughlin AFB, I was told that I didn`t have `the Right Stuff` to be a pilot, so following graduation, I went to Navigator Training at Waco, TX. While at Navigator Training, one of my classmates who was in Pilot Training stopped by and told me that the same instructor pilot that told me not to go to Pilot Training had told several of our classmates the same thing.  This other classmates had not listened to the instructor, went to pilot training and were having no difficulty.  I knew then that I eventually had to make another try at Pilot Training.

After earning my navigator wings, I served on C-124 transport aircraft flying out of Charleston, SC.  My flying missions included combat support in the Congo, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Southeast Asia. During my assignment to Charleston, I married the former Jerri Campbell, from Rock Rapids, IA.  During this era, navigators were definitely second class citizens " no service schools, low performance reports, and no chance for responsible or command positions - so after three years flying C-124s, I went to pilot training at Enid, OK.  Our daughter, Karen, was born while I was in training. 

I graduated as a Distinguished Graduate and was assigned to C-141 transports flying out of Travis AFB, CA.  Following a year in C-141s at Travis AFB, I was swept up in the Vietnam War and was assigned to Special Operations CH-53 helicopters out of NKP, Thailand.  I flew combat missions with Special Forces teams operating in North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  These missions included inserting and recovering reconnaissance teams behind enemy lines, and an unsuccessful raid on a Laotian Prisoner of War camp. During one mission in North Vietnam, my helicopter took fire while hovering in a landing zone, and crashed into the trees.  Fortunately my crew and the team we were inserting suffered only minor injuries.  We were picked up by our wingman and only had to spend about a half-hour on the ground.  I injured my back in the crash, and thought I had a ticket home, but I was back flying combat in a week.  My co-pilot on that mission has remained a close friend over all the years.

Following a tour as helicopter rescue support for the Apollo Space Program at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, I attended graduate school at Dayton, Ohio and received a Master`s Degree in Aero-Mechanical engineering. Our son, Kevin, was born at Wright-Patterson AFB. 

My next assignment was as supervisor of an engineering team at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center.  This was the era of Post-Vietnam personnel draw-down and the disastrous OER quota system. The Center`s commanding general told us that our OERs would be based on the job we held and not on our performance in that job.  I was not in a`high value` job, so the tour ended with a passover to Lt. Col.

Being passed over was a deep emotional experience. Many friends offered support, but I was shocked at how some people, including classmates, suddenly didn`t really want to be associated with me. It was if the stigma of a Passover would somehow reflect on them. We `Passovers` had to turn to each other for a support group.

I was hand picked to return to the cockpit in HH-53s helicopters for Systems Command at Hickam AFB, Hawaii.  This mission involved recovery of de-orbited space capsules plus rescue support. This was the best assignment of my career. We had a real mission, money, the priority to get the mission done, and super morale. Along the way, I was promoted to Lt. Col on the fourth go-around, beating 1% odds!  That promotion was largely due to the efforts of our Group Commander, a West Point Grad.

I completed my AF career in 1989 as Director of Safety for Air Rescue Service at Sacramento, California. After 30 plus years in the Air Force, I stepped out of the cockpit with over 7,000 hours of military flying time.  I have not been back in the cockpit, but I still look up and smile when I hear an aircraft overhead.

I next worked as an Air Pollution Engineer for the State of California, Air Resources Board in Sacramento.  The job was challenging, exciting, and fast-paced.  After five years, the down-turn in the California economy plus the general deterioration in the quality of life, led our family to a decision to move back to the Midwest to be nearer our families.  We bought a 40 acre farm near California, Missouri, and I was employed by the State of Missouri as an Environmental Engineer for 17 years.  I worked with alternative energy, primarily solar and biomass, and enjoyed going to work in the morning.

I`m not a big `flag waver,` but I am proud to have served, and enjoyed my career in aviation.  `I guess we considered ourselves a different breed of cat right from the start.  We flew through the air, others walked on the ground.  It was as simple as that.`

Overall, it has been a great run!! My wife Jerri died from an accidental fall in 2019, but my family and friends helped me through that shock. I believe that I am a Free Child of God. I have survived a bout with cancer and a heart attack. I have a wonderful family, loyal friends, a strong faith, good coffee, and a big stack of books I still need to read.  Life has been good, but I still have one goal to achieve " become the oldest living member of the Class of `63!   You are the Greatest!!