Charlie Armstrong bids AEDC farewell

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  In 1961, Charlie Armstrong, along with his elementary school classmates, visited the Shelbyville Fire Department.

That experience left a distinct impression on Armstrong, an AEDC Fire Department firefighter crew chief who is retiring from Arnold after nearly 38 years in the profession.

"Shelbyville's fire department [had] bought a new Howe fire truck," he recalled. "There was just something about it I liked and our engines over there are all white."

Fast forward to 1972. Armstrong turns 19 and marries his wife, Rita.

Armstrong's brother-in-law is a firefighter.

"He came out to the house one night and he said, 'You ever thought about being a fireman?'" Armstrong recalled. "I went back to that time I went up there in 1961 and looked at the old Howe."

His wife's uncle, who was a fireman, also encouraged Armstrong to consider going into the profession.

In 1973, Armstrong applied for and was accepted as a fireman with Shelbyville's fire department. Now, he was one of the young men driving those white fire trucks.

"I've been a fireman ever since," he said.

In 1978, Armstrong joined AEDC's fire department.

After only three months on the job, he was one of the firefighters who responded to an accident at the Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit. Tom Himbaugh, a pipefitter who was doing routine maintenance work in a heater pit, was killed when a large metal box lid fell from 48 feet and struck him on the head. Two other workers had been injured.

"We did the rescue there and I realized then how this job is more than fighting fires out here," he said.

Another experience took place took place in 1982 when solid rocket fuel from a failed rocket motor test ignited and exploded in the J-4 test cell when three Aerojet employees were in the bottom of the cell cutting up the solid fuel. The explosion killed those individuals as well as an AEDC machinist who was standing guard at the door to keep unnecessary personnel from entering the area.

"I was here the night it blew up and we had three firemen on duty down there and none of us were injured, but we were treated for the exposure to the rocket fuel," he said. "It was a bad time for the families and we had a national spotlight on us for several days."

In 1985, an explosion took place at the J-5 test cell, destroying the facility.

"I was here that night, but nobody was injured and we were thankful for that," he recalled. "The next day there was solid rocket fuel all over the ground. We had to burn off the whole area and the night before we were over there for about eight hours, just pumping the water into it. To see a 1,000 pound rocket motor explode like that is something you don't see, the power of what those things can do."

Armstrong is pragmatic about the risks inherent in an industrial setting like AEDC.

"That's what we do, we test things [here]," he said. "I've been on several engine malfunctions, one of them [was] described as a catastrophic engine failure - the jet engine actually came apart and fuel spewed all over."

He emphasized that although accidents are sometimes tragic, they do provide valuable lessons that lead to improvements in safety on base.

Armstrong enjoys his profession and appreciates the extensive training he has been provided to keep everyone safer and to hone his professional skills.

"This place has sent me to some of the best schools in the country," he said. "They sent me to college, and I've been all over the country to the best fire schools. I've been fortunate enough to be able to go to those.

In his collateral role as an emergency medical technician, Armstrong and one of his main shift partners for approximately 10 years, Lonnie Brown, have had some moving experiences.

"The last one was a unique one," Armstrong said. "There was a hunter out in the woods, at the north end of the base."

Armstrong and Brown, wearing 40 pounds of gear specifically for a possible fire emergency, were wrapping up their part in a response to a three-car accident when they got a call to help a hunter in distress.

"We get there and went back in the woods about three or four miles and this young man is standing there," Armstrong said. "He takes off running, [saying] my grandfather's back here. We still had our gear on."

Armstrong said they ran behind the young man.

"I'm thankful that we work out, we take care of ourselves," Armstrong said. "A couple of times I had to almost stop."

Armstrong was talking on the radio, to let the paramedics know where they were on base and in the woods.

"The other crew was coming, the paramedics and Assistant Chief Lombard coming behind us, and I'm thinking there's no way they can find us like that in the woods," he said.

The two firemen started CPR, with Brown getting to the victim first, who was the young man's grandfather. Armstrong sent the young man back to help the paramedics find them.

"Sure enough in about 10 minutes here he comes out of the woods with one medic and the assistant chief," Armstrong said.

The older man apparently had a heart attack and didn't survive, despite everyone's best efforts.

Armstrong said even though he is leaving AEDC, the bonds he has formed with those in his department will be his most treasured memories.

"I can't say enough about Lonnie, how good a crew member he is," Armstrong said. "We know each other's families [the] kind of things you just don't know about a lot of people.

"We [all] fight fires together, socialize sometimes, [go] in harm's way and it makes you have a bond that is hard to describe. We depend on each other to make sure that we are safe - we look out for one another. That risk is always there, but they train us and pay us to do it and I've never been scared or hesitated to do what we do."

Regarding his years of experience and formal training, he plans to put it to use when he joins the Shelbyville Fire Department next month.

"I'm going to get to share that at the end of my career back home," he said. "I want to be a blessing and a service to my community and I've kind of gone full circle to do that."

When asked why he had made firefighting a career, especially the 33 years he spent working at AEDC, Armstrong said helping others has been his focus all along.

"My motivation is helping people who are hurt and need help," he said. "I enjoy the excitement of fires and stuff like that and I'm trained to do that, but the motivation for it is serving your fellow man."

Armstrong already has years of experience partnering with other communities' fire departments on mutual aid calls, including the Tennessee National Guard. He has formed strong bonds with many of those first responders, both personal and professional.

"Chief Richard Shasteen in Tullahoma, he's a good friend of mine and I have gone there for the last six years," Armstrong said. "I've trained those guys in confined space every year and I train Shelbyville, where I'm going now to work.

"My son is a fireman there too. So, that's a motivating factor too. Not that I'm worried about him, that's not the issue at all. It's just that I just want to be in the same house he is. Also, my son-in-law is a firefighter in Murfreesboro."

Armstrong said he is looking forward to the second chapter of his career.

"I believe that God opened the doors for me," he said. "I'm going back in the training division of the fire department to share some of the things I've learned and the experiences I've had with young firefighters who are eager to do the job safer, and I hope I can do that and help share that knowledge with them."

He will still be fighting fires himself and is looking forward to that part as well.

Referring to Armstrong, Brown said, "I'm retired Air National Guard, so I've traveled all over the world and I've worked with a lot of fireman from different departments. I have never met anybody who is more passionate about and has more love for the fire department, not only his job, but the history of it and honor and respect of it, that's Charlie.

"That's why I feel I'm fortunate to drive for him and he has that same passion, that same love for everything he does, whether it's family, his religion, I mean, he's just a great person. He has those skills because he's that committed, he wants to be the best he can be."

Brown added, "I've been here 10 years [and was] fortunate to finally make it on the truck with Charlie, so I can learn from his experiences. I will miss him."