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State Rep. Mike Turzai: Wine law offers taste of a new day in Pennsylvania

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Letter to the Editor: Senate candidate Katie McGinty rates low on authenticity

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; This is the thing about Lt. Col. John &#8220;Slick&#8221; Baum, commander of the Air Force ROTC detachment at Wilkes University: He talks of a life of literal highs few experience as an F-16 jet pilot, yet punctuates the tales with observations grounded in the everyday world.</p><p>Take Baum&#8217;s combat missions in Iraq, at a time when news reports showed residents lining up to vote for the first time in free elections. He talked of how his flights may have helped that happen. Then, reflecting on his own past &#8212; a high school graduate from Long Island, New York, who enlisted because he couldn&#8217;t afford college but ended up with two master&#8217;s degrees &#8212; he added:</p><p>&#8220;If my flying helped a family send their kids to school, that&#8217;s what matters.&#8221;</p><p>Baum, 40, wanted to be a pilot from age 9, when he saw the movie Top Gun, a saga about that other military branch with an elite pilot school. But flight school seemed out of his reach. &#8220;I thought you had to be rich,&#8221; he said.</p><p>When he called a recruiter, he was told he either needed a college degree, or could enlist and hope. He did the latter, using a love of photography to get assigned to working on aircraft cameras.</p><p>Four-and-a-half years later, he nabbed a scholarship and got his bachelors. Another 56 weeks in flight school and he earned his wings, flying F-16s before instructing others.</p><p>Hopes of becoming one of the first to fly the new F-35 fell through, but in 2008, he got a call from a general. &#8220;It was just like a movie &#8212; &#8216;You need to be in my office, in uniform, at 8:30 a.m&#8217;.&#8221; The reason: He was to be assigned to the Thunderbirds, the Air Force&#8217;s elite aerial demonstration squadron.</p><p>He flew the show circuit for two years in 49 states, two U.S. territories and several other countries.</p><p>&#8220;We were in Thailand and a reporter said, &#8216;We&#8217;re so happy to have America here,&#8217;&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s when it hit me, when I realized the gravity and importance a Thunderbird has.&#8221;</p><p>Flying combat missions, he bore a responsibility to fellow pilots and those on the ground, he said. Flying with the Thunderbirds, he represented America.</p><p>&#8220;You go from being a tactician to being an ambassador,&#8221; he said.</p><p>He was also part of a bigger military where, to the public, the lines between branches blur. After one show, Baum was approached by an elderly lady, crying. &#8220;She said, &#8216;Thank you, my grandson is a Marine,&#8217;&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not even in the same service. He&#8217;s an infantry guy,&#8221; Baum said. &#8220;Yet his grandmother feels the connection.&#8221;</p><p>Even during his desk days at the Pentagon, parsing research reports for top brass, he found a compelling moment while compiling stories of service: Three ROTC female cadets, nursing students who by luck were among the first on scene when a fertilizer plant exploded in Texas.</p><p>&#8220;One broke an ankle pulling people out, and worked three hours after breaking it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They had to force another one to stop because of chemical burns in her lungs.</p><p>&#8220;(Service) doesn&#8217;t have to be on a battlefield,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Even the story of how he met his wife &#8212; and in turn how he landed (figuratively) at Wilkes &#8212; stems from simple connections.</p><p>His wife&#8217;s family runs the Wyoming Valley Airport, and they sponsored part of an air show in New Jersey that included the Thunderbirds. Her parents wanted to meet a Thunderbird pilot &#8212; any pilot. Instead, they met a future son-in-law.</p><p>When his wife&#8217;s parents developed health problems, Baum turned down an assignment in Japan and asked for the opening at Wilkes.</p><p>&#8220;I knew even if she was in Japan, she would mentally and emotionally be here with her parents,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The future?</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re waiting to see what&#8217;s next,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We love it in Wilkes-Barre and here at Wilkes, but I love to fly as well.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lt. Col. John Baum is a former Blue Angel pilot now heading the ROTC Detachment at Wilkes University. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_baum-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lt. Col. John Baum is a former Blue Angel pilot now heading the ROTC Detachment at Wilkes University. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

How an Air Force Thunderbird landed at Wilkes University