JOINT-BASE SAN ANTONIO-Randolph, Texas – Many members who retire from military service experience a time of regret when they miss the people they worked with, the camaraderie and the mission. But mostly they don’t come back.
It’s one of countless ways that Lt. Col. Tom Collins, 43rd Flying Training Squadron, Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, is not like other people.
The T-38 Talon instructor pilot was commissioned in 1999. When the Air Force initiated service-wide force management reductions, Collins and his wife gave the option some thought and agreed to accept an early retirement in 2014. Assigned at Columbus since 2009, they liked the base and the area, and were happy to make Columbus their home.
Collins accepted a position with a commercial airline and it seemed the family was set.
Although he and his family loved the area and community, and they were embedded in a host of outreach programs, it just didn’t feel right - not for someone with a servant’s heart. So began Collins’ journey back to the Air Force cockpit.
“Flying for an airline is a great job, but there are aspects of military service - the camaraderie, shared values and strong family support systems - that other jobs can’t compete with,” he said.
By the fall of 2017, the Air Force had begun to court retired pilots in an effort to restore critical rated manning, but as much as he missed the Air Force, that wasn’t an option for the Collins family.
“The demands on active duty pilots were too hard on our family, with our kids at home, and my wife also working full time,” he said. “I’d drop the kids at school and then I’d be gone and wouldn’t get to see them for days. I needed to be able to spend time with my family, especially with the kids so young.”
Fortunately, Collins had another option. The Air Force Reserve was hiring prior service pilots to be undergraduate flying training instructors. Collins doesn’t believe in coincidence, but when opportunities opened with the 43rd, at Columbus, it seemed miraculously ideal.
A traditional Reserve Airman on fulltime orders (on military leave from his commercial airline job), Collins is living the promise of Reserve service, and the local community is benefitting, as well.
The family is rooted in their local church, and as a Reserve member, Collins is able to commit time and effort to church-sponsored activities.
The family traveled to the Bahamas with their church on a Habitat for Humanity project, and collected food and other critically needed items to ship to Haiti and South America. One Sunday, they boxed 20-30 thousand meals for shipment.
“There’s a lot of need in the world,” Collins explained. “When we have so much, how can we not help others?”
The family commitment to service isn’t sporadic or occasional. Serving others is scheduled, just like work and family outings, because it’s just as important. Monday - every Monday - is soup kitchen day, when he and his wife join volunteers from every faith in the community to feed people in need.
Joyful service, Collins believes, must be learned young.
“When we become adults, and get caught up in the daily whirl of life, it’s hard to develop a habit of giving and serving,” he said.
So he and his wife ensure their kids have plenty of time to develop a servant’s heart.
Many churches support a program called “Operation Christmas Child,” during which congregants collect small items for needy children (often in other countries), and bring those items in shoeboxes to the church to be shipped.
Collins brings his kids to help with the process.
“For a 5-year-old to see the process first hand, and to be involved in selecting items for the shoeboxes, begins the process of understanding that it’s not all about them,” he explained.
Engaging in service and support activities that can be shared with his family is critical, and he credits his wife, Christina, with guiding their family in the right direction.
“She’s the amazing one - I’m not. She is always looking for those opportunities to serve and help others and really is the force behind our family’s involvement,” he said.
Some outreach programs are difficult to share with his family, though - especially with the little ones.
As a pilot, Collins uses his personal aircraft to fly veterans to hospitals for surgical and other medical procedures in support of an organization called “Veterans’ Airlift Command.” He’s also part of a group that supports natural disaster clean-up efforts. The time and logistics involved mean that he volunteers solo on those.
The family’s service activities take time and financial resources, but it’s worth every minute and every penny to them.
“There’s always someone out there who needs and can benefit from the smallest sign of support, and we want to be able to provide that,” he said.
Having the time and flexibility to be able to support so many outreach ministries is critical for the Collins family, and he credits the Reserve for making that possible.
“We have the best of all worlds here - this base, flying for the Reserve and AETC (Air Education and Training Command). I’m home at night, I’m not deployed, and I have time to be with my family, support my kids’ activities.This is it,” he said.