KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The Tullahoma Noon Rotary Club received a special treat in its December meeting as the commander of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Col. Randel Gordon decided to hold a “Ask a Colonel Anything” for club members.

Before being installed as the 32nd commander, some of Gordon’s career highlights include serving as the Vice Wing Commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB. He was also the initial cadre Director for the Secretary of the Air Force’s Artificial Intelligence Accelerator with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, Gordon served as initial cadre for the Secretary of the Air Force’s AFWERX technology innovation team with private sector businesses and academia.

Gordon thanked the club members for letting him stop by to talk and he said since the Tullahoma community is well aware of Arnold and what’s going on, instead of a speech he would hold an “Ask a Colonel Anything” where he will jot down questions and encouraged any range of questions from what’s happening at the base to thoughts any recent developments to anything about him personally.

“I really want to know what you guys want to know,” Gordon said. “I want to make sure this is good value to you.”

“Laz” call sign

Kicking things off was how Gordon got his call sign “Laz” and how it was connect to his scariest moment in his career.

Gordon explained that a fighter pilot’s call sign is a reference to something embarrassing in front of the team, as it’s a way to build cohesion.

“Everyone does something stupid,” he said. “If everyone does something stupid together then that makes everyone feel vulnerable and be okay with one another as a team all the way through.”

He recalled a flight he did in Alaska over 20 year ago, during the time of year where it is in near-constant darkness. These conditions, per Gordon, caused his systems in the cockpit that would have told him which way was up or down failed and it started at takeoff.

“It happened right after takeoff when the jet was superheavyweight,” he said. “I thought I was in a climbing left hand turn, but in reality I was completely upside down, pointing back towards the ground somewhere around 300-400 miles per hour, only about 2,000-3,000 feet over the ground which at those speeds it doesn’t take that only for something to make impact.”

He said in that moment, everything slowed down, and he didn’t have his “life flash before your eyes” but instead he was just angry at himself and the situation and needed to figure out what to do as he just got married to his wife.

He said he got lucky when his jet flew through a hole in the clouds as he was able to see the city lights of Anchorage, Alaska above him, which was enough for him to help him figure out which way was up and down and was able to recover. Once he recovered was when Gordon felt scared.

“I realized probably if I didn’t taken the right action I probably would have second and a half before the jet hit the ground.”

He said he shares that story when he is asked why he is always happy and chipper it is because of that experience.

“When you confront your own morality, suddenly everything else doesn’t seem all that important so I don’t get phased all that easy due to that experience.”

He said he originally received the call sign “Lazarus” during a fighter pilot meeting where one of the veteran pilots shouted out “Lazarus” for Gordon. Gordon said it was shorten to “Laz” as the other pilots complained that it was too many syllables. He said some pilots don’t like their call signs but he loves his as it reminds him that no matter what happens to him on a day it won’t be as bad as that one.

Addressing “wokeness”

One of the questions that Gordon received was regarding the topic of “wokeness in the military.” According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of “woke” is to be “aware of and actively attentive important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)” and is “often used in contexts that suggest someone’s expressed beliefs about such matters are not backed with genuine concern or action.”

Gordon addressed the question by saying from his perspective, there is the caricature that is presented in national media outlets makes it more about identity politics and putting everyone in certain bins. From his perspective as a colonel, it is his job to get everyone from all walks of life and get them together to form a team.

“Together, we have a common adversary no matter who you are,” he said. “The rest of the nation looks to us to, quite frankly, have our stuff in one sock so that we can go do something to deter the adversary or if something happens we can actually go out and win. We simply do not have time for a lot of the stuff we see in pop media along the way.”

He added that the way he thinks about the topic is it is all about teambuilding, and as a commander if there’s something he can say or do to makes a member of his team to feel included and together they can have the vulnerability to talk to him about something he said or did.

“I want to hear about that, but the only way I know that is make a team that feels emotionally vulnerability.”

Visibility and the future of AEDC

Some of the other questions club members asked Gordon was in relation to how some of the latest technological advances and AEDC’s visibility.

One of the technological advances asked was in relation to pilotless planes. Gordon said he doesn’t see a world where it is completely human or machine. He added that while he sees the Air Force going to pilotless planes eventually, there will always be a need for wind tunnels, engine tunnels and testing space capabilities, with those needs are actually going up at AEDC.

“I tell a lot of Rotary groups is don’t worry about the business of Arnold going away from this area at all,” Gordon said. “We are here to stay for a very long time.”

As for AEDC’s visibility, Gordon said they had members of Edwards Air Force Base and Eglin Air Force Base visit the base not too long ago and when he asked them if they knew anything about Arnold Air Force Base, only a third of them knew, even the senior general officers. He added while they did not know much about AEDC coming in, by the time they leave they are asking how they can support it and who they need to contact.

“We convert them into allies immediately at the get-go,” Gordon said. “When I first got here I kind of had that initial reaction of ‘Gee, a lot people don’t really know who we are.’ At the same time, it’s actually a little bit of a strength because it allows us to operate and do the right things that we need to go do without getting a lot of help or scrutiny in a lot of other areas.”

With questions pertaining the relationship between the community and the base, Gordon told club members he wants to rebuild the ties that were there with the community pre-Sept. 11 and the coronavirus pandemic by doing stuff with the schools in the area, sending personnel out to interact and engage with the community and to have residents come to the base for events.

“We need to completely and totally blow up this way of thinking because I think it keeps us further apart.”

When asked about the workload at AEDC, Gordon said it is off the charts and thanked the community for its contribution to the building of AEDC and its earlier days. He said nowadays, with the current potential threats around the world, AEDC tests both planes and weapons. He added that very soon US Space Force guardians and do testing, which he said is the unique thing AEDC brings to the table.

“If it flies in the air, if it flies in space, that is Arnold,” he said.

When it came to questions regarding digital engineering, hypersonic and other technology that will make a difference, he said he loved the original vision of Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold and Dr. Theodore von Kármán had for the base, which was for the country to be on the technological forefront. Gordon said both hypersonic and space technology is going to be the technology that will keep the US in the forefront. He referred to the heat shield from the Artemis I flight was tested at the base. He added that “Top Gun: Maverick,” which he called 100% fake, was beautiful in how it was shot and the opening scene is the greatest visual representation what the Air Force means in hypersonic flight.

He wrapped up his presentation by stating he has never been in a community that loves the base as much as the community and AEDC, and said AEDC is critical in the capabilities in national security.

“I’m not getting up every morning and going ‘why are we here, what are we doing?’ It’s more like ‘let’s get to work we got stuff to do.’”

He thanked the club for having him and for supporting AEDC while stating Arnold is not going away and is increasing becoming very important to all the things that they do to keep the world safe.