A ‘higher cause’ drives military service

WILLIAMSBURG — “You don’t go into the military to get rich,” said Air Force Col. Joe Rohret during a Veterans Day assembly in Williamsburg Monday.

“You go into the military with a higher cause. You may not know it at the time, but you do it for a higher cause.”

Rohret grew up between Cosgrove and Oxford and graduated from Clear Creek High School in 1974, he told an audience during a Veterans Day interview at Williamsburg High School auditorium.

Rohret ended up in Williamsburg because of his wife, he said. The Williamsburg girl worked at a restaurant next to a gas station at the Oxford exit and agreed to a date with the young Rohret 50 years ago.

The couple has been married 48 years.

Rohret joined the Air Force because he wanted to fly, he said. “I had my private license.”

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Rohret entered the military during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. He served In the strategic air command and flew a tanker, an aircraft that refuels other aircraft in the air.

“You went to a building, lived with your crew,” said Rohret. The crew had to have the tanker in the air within four minutes of the klaxon sounding, said Rohret.

If a nuclear war were imminent, the Air Force Base could be a crater within 10 minutes, Rohret said.

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During Rohret’s 26 years in the Air Force, the U.S. sent troops to Granada, went to Panama to take out Manuel Noriega, bombed Libya, initiated Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom and fought the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“It was a very dynamic time,” said Rohret. “I went from the Cold War to the war on terror.”

The biggest event of his time in the military was 9-11, Rohret said. He called it worse than Pearl Harbor.

Rohret talked about having 125 pilots and copilots under his leadership. “You’re in charge of their lives,” said Rohret.

He gave the troops the knowledge and equipment they needed and sent them out to complete missions, knowing that they might not return.

“Everybody knew the mission. Everybody knew the dangers,” said Rohret. He tried to lead by example.

“I had great enlisted partners” said Rohret.

Asked by a student interviewer about a challenging time of service, Rohret took his audience back to May of 1994.

Rohret was flying Vice President Al Gore to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s presidential inauguration.

One of the African colonels was not happy that a Black man would be leader of South Africa, said Rohret. The colonel had a shoulder fired missile that he had stolen to shoot down arriving dignitaries.

Three U.S. aircraft were carrying Congressional leaders, the first lady, Gore, Colin Powell, Jesse Jackson and other officials.

The first two planes landed, and then it was Rohret’s turn.

To avoid a missile hit, Rohret told the crew that they weren’t going to turn on any lights, though it was dusk, and that if the tower asked for their position, they were to tell the tower they were three miles behind their actual location.

Rohret didn’t turn on his lights until the he reached 200 feet, where the missile wouldn’t be able to hurt them.

Another challenging landing was in divine hands, Rohret said.

“I did my last landing at Andrews.” Dulles, Washington and BWI airports were all closed because of strong winds, said Rohret.

But Andrews Air Force Base was open. After a difficult landing, John Glenn, who was sitting right behind Rohret, congratulated him.

“He’s patting me on the back saying, ‘That’s great. That’s great.” But Rohret said God landed the plan. No person is that good.

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One of Rohret’s most rewarding accomplishments was the infrastructure his troops built in Kandahar.

They lived in tents when they arrived, but by the time they left, “We had built Kandahar up to where it was now one of the major bases in that part of the world. And that was one of the most rewarding, non-flying moments.”

Rohret also found satisfaction in watching young people under his leadership moving up the ranks. “They did more than they ever thought they could.”

Having flown government officials around the world, Rohret has learned one thing: “I don’t want their job.”

“Our government’s fine,” said Rohret, despite the change in administration coming after the Nov. 5 election.

Being controlled by a civilian government is great, said Rohret. “It gives us direction.”

“It puts a little bit of stability there,” said Rohret, regardless of who’s in office.

Rohret didn’t vote during his first 10 years in the military, he said. He thought it didn’t matter, though now he believes it does.

But no matter who’s in office, the military is still there, still keeping peace, even when they have to go to war, Rohret said.

“If they leave, there is somebody else coming in just as capable. … Our government’s really stable.”

Rohret left his audience with the message delivered in 1961 by another veteran, a World War II hero who was wounded in combat.

John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you … Ask what you can do for your country.”

“You hear too much today of ‘what can I get from the government,’” said Rohret, but people in the military ask what they can do for their country. Whether they serve short-term or long-term, they asked what they could do to make this place better for the people behind them.

“Every little job, every single job, has a purpose for the cause,” Rohret said. They may whine about what’s going on, but they’re doing it for a higher cause, he said.

“Don’t shun the military,” said Rohret. “If you don’t know what you want to do, consider the military.

“It’s a higher calling whether you know it or not.”

Before leaving the stage, Rohret thanked the people who filled the auditorium for being there.

“Seeing you … gives us hope that this country is in good hands regardless of what you read on the internet.”