 Leslie William Shrum, 1966  Les Shrum and his F-16  Les Shrum and his F-16  |
After graduation from Kimball, Les attended Arlington State (now UT Arlington) for almost one semester. In December he decided that serving his country was the thing to do, so he joined the Air Force. While in basic training, he applied to the US Air Force Academy. Seven months later, while in electronics tech school, he was selected to attend the US Air Force Academy Prep School. Upon graduation from the Prep School, he was selected to attend the US Air Force Academy. In 1972, after four years of hard work, he graduated with a B.S., and a commission in the USAF. And, two days later, he married his current (and only) wife Anita.
Following graduation, he attended pilot training at Webb AFB, Texas. Here he found his true calling (and the second love of his life) - flying. He then attended F-4C fighter training at Luke AFB, Arizona. In June, 1974, he was assigned to Bitburg AB, Germany, flying the F-4E, and sitting nuclear alert. In January, 1977, he was transferred to Hahn AB Germany, where he served until February of 1978. He and Anita traveled Europe extensively during these two assignments. The next assignment was as an Air Force air liaison officer to the Army at Fort Bragg, NC. He was chosen for this position based on previous parachute training. He also received training in the O-2 aircraft, and became an instructor pilot. In May, 1980, he attended refresher training in the F-4E aircraft, and was transferred in July to Keflavik, Iceland for a one year tour. During this period, he became an instructor pilot in the F-4E. He also managed to earn a double M.A. degree from Webster College through local on-site classes. In July, 1981, he was sent to George AFB, California, as an instructor for pilots just entering the F-4E. In April, 1984, Les resigned his active duty commission, and signed on as a full time member of the Air National Guard in Springfield, Illinois. He flew the F-4D, and insured that all part time aircrew members were fully trained for any conflict. The unit made numerous deployments within the U.S., and to Europe. In 1990, the unit upgraded to the F-16A/B, and later to the F-16C/D. Les was also certified as an instructor in the F-16A/B/C/D. The unit made further deployments to Europe and Asia. Shortly after reaching the BIG 50 in 1998, he decided to try his hand once more at being a civilian, and retired after almost 32 years of wearing the uniform. Being somewhat tentative about non-military life, he secured a position with a company providing contract services to the USAF at Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina. He worked his way through three different contracting companies before finally securing employment with Boeing as a ground instructor for aircrew training in the F-15E (just can't get away from flying). He is also an adjunct instructor for NC Wesleyan College, and Emory-Riddle. Les has never gotten around to setting up a web site, but you can reach him by e-mail at lesftrplt@aol.com (home), or leslie.w.shrum@boeing.com (work). |
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 Marc W. McCord dba CobraGraphics August 15, 2001 Copyright © 2000-2009, Marc W. McCord dba CobraGraphics. All rights reserved. CobraGraphics is the trademark of Marc W. McCord dba CobraGraphics. The textual, graphic, audio, and audio/visual material in this site is protected by United States copyright law and international treaties. You may not copy, distribute, or use these materials except for your personal, non-commercial use. Any trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All original photographic images are the exclusive property of Marc W. McCord or other designated photographers and may not be copied, duplicated, reproduced, distributed or used in any manner without prior written permission of the copyright owner under penalty of US and International laws and treaties.
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