Nov. 30, 2025
From War to Words: Colonel Robert Wemheuer's Journey from the Battlefield to the Bookstore
Send us a text In this compelling episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are honored to host Colonel Robert Wemheuer, a retired Marine Corps aviator and author of a two-part memoir chronicling his incredible journey from Vietnam to becoming a base commander. Colonel Wemheuer shares his life story, detailing the challenges he faced from a difficult childhood to his inspiring military career. He reflects on the lessons learned from his mentors, the significance of equality in the milita...
In this compelling episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are honored to host Colonel Robert Wemheuer, a retired Marine Corps aviator and author of a two-part memoir chronicling his incredible journey from Vietnam to becoming a base commander. Colonel Wemheuer shares his life story, detailing the challenges he faced from a difficult childhood to his inspiring military career. He reflects on the lessons learned from his mentors, the significance of equality in the military, and the realities of serving in Vietnam, including a harrowing encounter that highlighted the complexities of distinguishing friend from foe. Listeners will gain insights into the leadership challenges he faced, the importance of motivation, and his proudest accomplishments, including a daring rescue mission that saved a downed aircraft crew. Colonel Wemheuer also discusses the evolution of military culture and shares where to find his memoirs. Tune in for an engaging conversation filled with bravery, resilience, and a deep commitment to service. Discover more about Colonel Wemheuer and his work at www.robertwemheuerbook.com.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I and a few guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by author and retired Marine Corps aviator and base Commander Colonel Robert Wilmhower. Robert has an impressive career. He has a two part memoir discussing his career which stretches from Vietnam to being a base commander. So we're going to be talking to him about his book, his service and everything that he's up to and going to be up to. So Colonel, thank you so much for joining me.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Curtis, it's a pleasure to be with you today.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Well Curtis, I think maybe a little introduction to my life story might be relevant since that was what was one of the genesis for writing my memoir.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>But I was born in, in Chicago, Illinois. My mother, worked at the University of Illinois when she was pregnant for me at Navy Pier as a journalist. and that was right on top of the nuclear experiments that were going on for the Second World War. and she had a lot of problems with her pregnancy later in life. they attributed her problems with the pregnancy to being exposed to radioactive materials which they were using directly below her position. But I was born in October of 1943 and came, came out with a few problems if you will. I had scoliosis of the back.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>I had a sixth finger on my left hand. Had eye problems and punched in nose and a few other physical problems. was underweight. I was about 5 pounds, probably 5 ounces I think when I was born.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>But to make a long story short, I had a rough childhood and things didn't get really better until I got into my first year of high school. My father suggested that I play football and join the wrestling team, which I did. And I had a coach and a mentor who was a Marine who had served in the Joseon Reservoir in Korea. And he is the one who got me started with my career, at least pointed me in the right direction for my career in the Marine Corps. He taught me all about the Marine Corps, what Semper Fidelis meant, what the edicts were for the Marine Corps principles, like always accomplishing the mission, never quitting, and Always getting the job done. He also instilled, in me the, The principles of adapt. Improvise and overcome problems. and all. Also, One of the things that he really stressed while he was in combat was, Equality. not The other form of it, but the form of equality. Where you judge people based on their character and their merit. And not by the color of their skin or their other, Attributes like slanted eyes. In his case, he went into detail. He fought alongside a lot of Koreans.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And he said one thing he remembered he. And he instilled in me is we all bleed red. So that was, One of the things that kicked me off towards a career in the Marine Corps.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, did you have any other members in your family that was in the service or, Was it just you? And thank you for your service as well.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Well, it was an honor to serve. And yes, I had. My father's brother, Was my uncle, Joe. And, He served as a bombardier, navigator and a B17 in, World War II. And he was. I Think about on his 15th mission. And he was shot down in France. He was the only member of his crew to survive. He told me after a few cocktails one evening that, He was standing in the door and the airplane exploded. And that was all he remembered. He did wake up long enough to pull his rip cord. And the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the ground in a field in France. And cut loose his parachute and crawled into some high grass. And heard the German infantry looking for him. But they, didn't find him. And he waited till nightfall and crawled into the, Area outside the field. And, The Resistance, found him and, Took him to Paris and nursed him back to health. And he, Was repatriated to, England. And then taken back, by boat to the United States, who refused to fly. And he.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Interesting thing, he never flew again after that time, even on a commercial airplane. But, He was, The inspiration. One of the inspirations for me because he, Had a Distinguished Flying Cross, which he'd earned for his, Service. And, That impressed me. I think I was about eight years old when I saw that medal for the first time.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Is that what made you decide to fly helicopters?
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Well, that was. That was one of the reasons I wanted to be a naval aviator. And, I wanted to be the best of both lives. I wanted not only to be a Marine officer, but I also wanted to be a naval aviator. And, The helicopter end of things was Not my real first choice. we in 19, 67, were. Excuse, me. I get date here. Let me see. 1965 is when I got commissioned and went to flight school. And I was in a flight school class with 14 other second lieutenants. And we were all run through the program, all hoping for good grades so we could all fly jets. And I wanted to fly the F8UH fighter. And a number of my other classmates also wanted to fly F4s and other fixed wing jet aircraft. Well coming down, the Marine Corps said not so fast. We don't need jet pilots anymore. We need helicopter pilots. Because that was during the time when the Vietnam War had gotten a little more severe and they'd had a lot of attrition of helicopter aviators. So all 14 of us were relegated to our final training in helicopters at Pensacola Florida before we became naval aviators.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Fortunately for me, I was able to join the 1st Ch 53 Squadron, that was ever commissioned, and flew the aircraft. we deployed from the west coast in June of 19 67, and arrived in Vietnam in That about a month later. And I was really fortunate to fly the H53. Of the 14 class members that graduated with me, seven of us flew the H53 and the other seven flew the H46 which is a medium helicopter. H53 is a, a heavy helicopter. And of.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>After our first tour in Vietnam combat Tour, we had three of us left and all of three of us were pilots in the H53. Nobody in the 46 group survived the first tour in Vietnam.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about your. Your time served in Vietnam. What was that like?
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Well, Vietnam was a ah interesting place. It had a lot of hot weather, it was humid, it had jungles, it had all kinds of animals, snakes, And All kinds of things like sea snakes and All kinds of stuff that you normally would not find in the United States. But it was an interesting place. the people were very Industrious and they all wanted to live their lives, you know, as best they could.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>I think a lot of them were somewhat ambivalent to what was going on. There were groups of people that wanted to enslave them in Communism and they were other groups of people that wanted to maintain the democracy that had been set up in South Vietnam. But it was an interesting place.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>You really had to work at determining who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. I'll tell you a little story about My first tour. I was a first lieutenant and I was just gotten paid and thought I'd treat myself to a haircut and a straight razor shave. So I went into the little post exchange that they had put together with the local Vietnamese barbers, man in the exchange. And I sat down in the chair and the barber looked at me and he didn't speak much English. So I used the little hand signals and told him in effect, I want a high and tight haircut. Sort of like I got now. And then I motioned that I wanted to shave. And so he looked at me and he dotted his head up and down.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And so he proceeded to give me a very nice haircut. And I had looked a little strange, in his eyes. He had a look like I'd never seen before.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Almost sinister, and not friendly at all. And so I questioned my decision for the straight shave but decided to go through with it. So I went ahead and he did a outstanding job giving me a very nice close shave, with a nice sharp straight razor. So that paid him and went back to my My job. And that night we were attacked with rockets and mortars.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Trying to destroy the new helicopters that we just brought, into Vietnam. And several people attacked the south end of the airstrip with satchel charges. And they were trying to get across the wire. And Marine guards, terminated all of them.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>They killed them all on the wire. And they went ahead and took photos of the guys, including facial photos, as part of the intelligence gathering. They photos of the faces were distributed and I looked at the five photos and lo and behold, the barber who given me the straight razor shaved was the guy who had been killed on the wire that that night. So I was thankful to God that he didn't decide he was going to take me instead of blowing up airplanes. But that was an interesting thing. You never really knew who the good guys and the bad guys were. A lot of times.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about the biggest challenge that you faced when you were a military officer.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Oh, I think one of the biggest challenges that I faced was trying to motivate people that didn't want to be motivated. And that's a ah, challenge, that you can lead the horse to the water trough.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And a lot of times you can't make them drink no matter what type of process you try to work on them to instill, their desire to get the job done.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>a little story for you. in, 1972, I was in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii as a captain. And I was a flight, leader and a Czech pilot for instruments and other types of certifications. in the age 53, I'd had a lot of flight time, two tours in combat. And so I knew the airplane pretty well. And I was fortunate, enough to have my boss designate me to do all of these to type of things. Well, one, morning I was assigned to give a brand new first lieutenant aviator an instrument check. And he was a little bit on the cocky side. And so we, we got together and I told him what I expected. I briefed the mission, and then said the rest of it is up to you to brief how you're going to conduct the flight. And I will do everything that you ask me to, but I'm not going to do anything other than make sure that the aircraft does not get into an unsafe condition. Otherwise, it's all yours. I'll be happy to assist you whatever you want. We started out, with a standard natops, which is a normal briefing on how to handle emergencies. But this was an instrument check. This was designed to measure his ability to fly in the clouds, without looking outside. So the first thing he didn't do was even break out the instrument checklist. So I didn't say anything. We proceeded on our way and well, we took off. he managed to not copy the clearance correctly and we had to wait and call again for clearance. This went on one misstep after another. And I, bit my tongue and let him do what he needed to do. he asked me for some help once or twice. He, he did a horrible job. Make, a long story short. We came back to the airfield, landed, and I asked him, I said, you know, the first thing you do when you go in instruments is to use a checklist. And he said, it was taboo out there. It was. Conditions, are unlimited. Why would I need a checklist? This is just a Performa check. And I said, that's not how I looked at it.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And that's what I told you. You know, this is your check ride. Because if you're Going out in real conditions, I need to know if you can survive or not. So he got very belligerent and he said well I'm going to the O Club. So I said not so fast because you're not flying anymore as an aircraft commander until you go through remedial training.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>So he wasn't happy with me. Operations officer backed me up. fast forward 10 months later and we're in the coastal environment of North Vietnam, flying helicopters in airborne mine countermeasures. And this is dragging stuff around behind a helicopter to explode mines. Another interesting mission for helicopter operations. And I'm listening to the radio and here is this call on the guard frequency which is what everybody monitors. And they're calling to this aircraft.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Their call Sign was pineapple 11. Pineapple 11.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>You turn around immediately, you're headed for Chinese Communist airspace. You're within one mile of the Communist border. Turn around immediately.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And a bunch of garbled transmissions. And I heard two more calls like that and then nothing. So we finished our mission of dragging the sled around, trying to explode mines and returned to the landing, to the carrier and landed. We debriefed and I wondered what happened. So I talked to the operations officer who ah, was aware of the incident. And the same guy who I'd had on my instrument check 9 months, 10 months earlier had been the guy who had flown within about 300 yards of the Communist border. And he would have either been shot down, or forced to land and been captured. But the bottom line was he was sitting on a carrier and he didn't use the checklist to align the rmi, the direction indicator for what direction you're headed to the proper ship's line.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And that's what caused him to be 60 degrees off of heading when he was trolling around almost causing an international incident. So it's one of those things. It's difficult to motivate somebody like like that individual. Fortunately, he never flew as an aircraft commander again as far as I know, while he was in the Marine Corps. And he left shortly thereafter. The other problem that I see in motivation is one of the civilian community that I worked with. A lot of the civilians I worked with are tremendous. They were absolutely outstanding individuals. however, the bureaucracy that they work within is really a challenge. I had an individual when I was a at headquarters in the Marine Corps, running a military Construction program, for the Marine Corps. And my deputy, unfortunately had an alcohol problem. And. And He Was Becoming more and more disabled, if you will.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>He would, come to work, drunk. And he would go out to lunch drunk. And even though we tried to get him help, it took a year for me to get him, Out of my organization. In the meantime, I couldn't get anybody to replace him. The. The System. The bureaucracy would not allow me to remove his pay or to transfer him. So I had to sit there again. I couldn't get anybody to replace him.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>So that put the workload on the rest of the civilians and the military folks that I had working. So, That type of thing, trying to get people motivated and trying to get the bureaucracy to recognize that you got a job to do. And recognizing they're trying to protect their people. That I understand too. But, There's got to be a little bit of, Compromise, if you will.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, let's talk about it, because I know the military culture is different back from when you served. So what do you think about the military culture that's in place today?
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Well, I tell you, if you had asked me a year ago, I'd have told you that it was really horrible. it was, A Problem that, Has been precipitated by, If you will, a woke. Culture that, Pushed, Social programs at the detriment of mission accomplishment. And to my mind, And I go back to, The time that I was in command of a, Marine air base squadron. Which is a support unit for an, air group. Ah. And That was during the Jimmy Carter administration. Where they took the money away from the military and they put it into social programs. that probably been all right if they'd still funded, the military too, to the point. Or at least we could do our mission. we had to go, during that period to the junkyard to find parts for the equipment, that we needed to maintain to keep the air station and the air group, supported.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>You know, the Six buys the Jeeps, the refuelers.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>All of the stuff that makes helicopter or group run was my responsibility. And we had, Extremely.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Almost no money for training. One of my, corporals one day said, He Major, we got, no oil for the trucks. And I said, well, let's just drain the oil out of the other stuff and put it in there so we can at least keep enough of the, Rolling stock going to support the air group. So that was a really bad time. And I saw the same thing happen in the Obama and Biden administration where social programs and social justice type of environment took a lot of money away from military preparedness along with ruining the morale. The divisiveness of pitting one group against another was in my mind unconscionable. I believe. And I think people like Ronald Reagan who I served under and this right now Donald Trump, both have the attitude that the military is a necessary item and we need to be strong and we need to get the job accomplished. We need to keep military strength up so that we don't have never ending wars and we need to make sure that we instill in our fighting force the desire to be lethal versus always being compassionate.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well what is the proudest accomplishment that you have of your military career?
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>I got three of them really. the first one is probably the one that stands out for me and it's part of main part of the book that I wrote. And it's the saving of a downed aircraft crew from a crashed CH53 in Laos. And the story sort of goes on the 23rd of February in 1990, 1997. Sorry, senior moment here. we were flying in a operation called Lamsan 719 across the border in Laos. the Marine Corps and the army were supporting the Vietnamese army and Marines as they attempted to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. And they put ground forces in and they had no aviation assets that could support their ground assault. So the Marines and the army were pressed into service to do that. we had been involved since the operation kicked off on 8 February in putting fire support bases into Laos. This was a leapfrog type scenario where the artillery pieces would be put into fire support bases and then used to support a insertion at the next fire support base and interlocking fire support bases so that they could support the ground offensive all the way to the town of chapone, which was 60 miles, 55 miles inside Laos, which was fair amount of territory to, for the Vietnamese to take North South Vietnamese. we put a lot of howitzers in and we supplied ammunition and moved equipment and bulldozers from fire support bases to fire support bases. On the 23rd of February I was an alternate flight leader for a flight of four CH53s and we also had four Marine Cobra escort aircraft with US helicopters. And we ended up, I was the alternate flight leader. my operations officer was the flight leader. We went from Marble Mountain, which is south, of Danang, up to Khe Sanh, where the basic area for support was located. briefed of operation and got ready to execute our portion of the operation which entailed resupply of fire support bases and movements of howitzers from a fire support base to another one. My flight leader went down. He said he had mechanical problems and had to go back to Marble Mountain. So I became the flight leader that day. We went out and did our morning worth of work in resupply of ammunition and building materials to the fire support bases that were assigned. The last part of the mission was to move 105 howitzer and 155 howitzers along with attached loads of ammunition from a fire support base down south. The furthest one south to one that was further inland that was anticipated to be overrun by the North Vietnamese. So this became critical to get those eight guns moved. And we attempted to do that. We went out and we got two guns out. I got one the first time around and my wingman was shot out of the landing zone, during a attempted pickup by significant mortar fire, small arms fire and 50 caliber machine gun fire. the last man into the zone picked up the other 155 and we both moved those 155s to Hotel or excuse me, Delta One, which was about 25 miles inland. We set those guns down and went back. The Cobras had been working the area trying to suppress the fire, from the mortars and the small arms and the heavy 50 caliber fire.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And they were taking a lot of fire. They also expended almost all our ordnance and used themselves as shields for us while we were trying to get the guns out of the fire support base, out of each of the revetments which the guns were placed in. It's a big log structure that sticks up about 078ft and surrounded by sandbags. So you, when you pick the gun up, you have to lift it directly out of the, out of the gun bay. But the problem was getting a Vietnamese to come out and hook up the helicopter because the gun has to be attached to a sling and the sling has to be attached to the helicopter to lift it out. So you End up lifting that out. And if you don't have somebody to hand the sling or hook it onto the. To the hook of the helicopter then the crew chief has to reach down and get that, that sling and that makes time over the target, time over the gun a lot longer when he has to maneuver and direct you to maneuver over. Any rate we picked up two of the guns. We ended up putting those in place and coming back. The Cobra guys reloaded and we went and decided we were going to try a different approach. We were going to come in low level instead of high and try to get in and get out that way. We came in and got two more guns out and took increasingly more and more fire every time we got close to accomplishing the job. So the last two guns we set into place and they immediately started using them. We then went back to Khe Sanh area and shut down. All four of my Cobras were shot up. They had to terminate the mission. They couldn't serve, couldn't support us anymore. So I sent them home and I took my three airplanes and shut them down. We were doing battle damage assessments and the flight leader showed back up and we briefed him on what happened and that if we didn't get a lot more support, including fixed wing and artillery that we were going to lose an airplane if we don't you know get a lot of extra support. So they went in and briefed that and we got a lot more attention from the army they called it a mandatory mission. So we went back out and the Major took flight lead again and I became the alternative flight leader again. So we went back out getting towards dusk now and Wasco, Major Wasco who was the flight leader went in and He did a high spiral from 4,000ft above ground level down and was able to pick up a gun. After several attempts he got that gun out. the number two guy, his wingman went in and was able to get his gun out and I was number three. I went in and picked up. The I take that back, number two guy got shot out of the zone. He didn't, he didn't get a gun. I went in and picked up a gun and There were two guns left after we picked up ours and the other two guys tried twice again and could not get the last two guns out. We deposited our guns at Hotel One and then came back, towards South Vietnam.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Again, Major Wasco said the, he thought the other two guys, because of their lack of experience and because night was coming pretty quick, that he and I would do the last two guns and they would increase the artillery and, and fixed wing support to again try to curtail the incoming fire that was going on. So the other two departed, got gas, went home. The two of us, along with the four Army Cobras who had been assigned to us, went back and Major Wasco made another attempt to pick up a gun.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>He was at the hover for a long time, had to be driven out of the zone 3, 3 times. Finally came around and the last time he was hit with about six mortar rounds right on top of his rotor system.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>And he called, he said he was going down. And I'm sitting there at 4,000ft watching all of this and we had in the back of my aircraft a 70 foot aluminum rescue ladder. And so we were circling above as the rotors of the air downed airplane came to a halt. And I asked the crew, I said are you guys all in favor of going to get our brothers down there? And all four of them piped up and said Captain, we're, we're with you 100%. I, so I immediately rolled the machine, which is a fabulous helicopter, it does loops and rolls and we rolled into about 80 degree angle and bank and headed for our downed crew. we stopped over the old downed aircraft and the crew chief kicked out the rescue ladder out of the back and started hunting for our downed crew while we were hovering over the downed airplane. about that time, Gunner on my side, the guy named AJ Pales, was shooting at a NVA gunner, oh probably 75 meters away. They were exchanging fire and Pales gun jam. So Boganey, who was probably the best crew chief in the Marine Corps, came out of his crawl down at the back of the airplane, ran all the way forward, helped Pales get the gun unjammed and went back to looking for our people. Pales was able to suppress that enemy gunner after he got his gun and jammed.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>So we're still sitting there taking mortar fire.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>It's getting dark. the dust is rolling all over because we create a lot of dust with that big machine. we finally see our crew down there, all five of them. So they're all heading towards the rescue ladder. They know they can't climb up because things are awful Hot down there, Lots of fire, lots of ground fire. So they use their D rings and climb up a step or two and everybody gets on the rescue ladder, hooks their D rings up.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>We are on our way out of the landing zone, the pickup zone, climbing straight up, and we get to 3,000ft and we start to head towards, South Vietnam at about 30 knots, which is about 40 miles an hour with these guys hanging. We got, 30 miles to go and we needed to get to Long Bay about that time. The The fact the forward air controller who was working the mission to suppress all the gunfire, the army guy, guy, named Major Close, was doing his best to keep us from, getting shot out of the sky too. And he also came up on the radio and said, we just picked up your two pilots. And I said that that's impossible.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>We got five guys on the rescue ladder and the crew of five is what was on that airplane. Well, unbeknownst to us, the major had picked up two additional people, which was against the rules.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>But at any rate, we were, going back to Long Bay, just inside the Vietnamese border. Landed, and put the guys, you know, on the rescue ladder, down first and then landed. And everybody, believe it or not, had not received any, wounds per se. They had gotten, bumps and bruises, but no wounds. We got everybody on board and the pilot and the co pilot from the downed aircraft showed up. And the co, pilot had taken a.50 caliber round in the leg and was pretty severely bleeding. So we, got him on board. Sergeant Pagani, got him in and gave him a little sip of whiskey, that he carried along for medicinal purposes and to keep the, What do they call it, anyway, the Stuff from Getting too bad. But anyway, the major comes over and gets in and tells me, hey, Captain, we got to go 90 miles right now to Dong Ha to take care of this Lieutenant colonel who is his co pilot, who had the big wound in his leg. And we had enough gas to go the two miles to get refueled. So told the major to shut up and sit down. Which was not a good thing for a captain to do to a major. At any rate, we flew over, got our gas, went to, Quang Tree and refueled, and then flew back to Marble Mountain in the rainstorm. But it was an interesting and long day. 18 hours in the cockpit.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Yeah, the other two things, you're, asking about my, notable events in my career. One of them, the second one was at headquarters Marine Corps. we established the Land Resources Management and Environmental Branch. And this organization was sort of a brainchild of mine. And it dealt with, encroachment on military facilities. Not only Marine Corps, but other facilities. But it had to do with airports being overrun by development. It also had to do with intergovernmental encroachment like endangered species requirements and environmental requirements. But we did a lot of work with the people to protect the assets that the Marine Corps had in particular, for being able to train and to operate. Because airport basically is constructed. People move in around it, complain about the noise, want the airport closed, move somewhere else. They close it, they move and the whole cycle starts again. So we were trying to avoid that by compatible airport land use around installations. Same thing with ground installations where you have artillery and other things that are done at night. The last achievement that I had in my career was running the Marine Corps Air Station, Tustin, California.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>It was the helicopter, air station. And we during my tenure were awarded Meritorious Units Commendation for superior support of the marine sailors and civilians and dependents that lived on the air station while, supporting the air group, mission and improving their capabilities. That we had the finest enlisted mess hall in the Marine Corps. And 1988 and 1989, respectfully. And those are only two of the accomplishments, that the air station had, while I was there with my team, doing a fine job.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, we're just about out of time, so tell us where we can get your books and throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>you can find my books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble and I also have, both books are out on, on Audible. I have a website, it's Robert Wemhower books or excuse me, book.com and you can, you can go there and find out some more information about me too.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, ladies and gentlemen, RobertWilhauer.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Book.com Go check out the book. Go pick it up and read it. Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. If you want more information on the podcast, visit www.craveball337.com thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Colonel Wilmhauer, thank you for your service. Thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining me.
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> Colonel Robert Wilmhauer>Curtis. I appreciate you having me. Thank you.
00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:04.799
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the dream with Curveball Podcast. Visit www.craveball337.com until next time, keep living the dream.
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