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Hercules Commander
By Bruce Dries
Retirement means
different things to different people.
For recently retired
John Boris, Coast Guard pilot and C130 flight instructor, it means
continuing doing what he loves but for a different branch of the
service.
After graduating IUP
in 1984 with a degree in Criminology, Boris joined the Baltimore Police
Department. While there, he was offered an airplane ride from an
ex-Vietnam pilot. Bitten by the flying bug, Boris began looking for a
job where he could fly for business. “I saw what the Coast Guard had to
offer, such as counter-drug operations in the Caribbean, and knew that’s
where I wanted to go,” he said. “It was interesting and exciting. If I
could fly and still use my law enforcement background, that would be the
best of both worlds.”
Boris attended
Officer Candidate School, and after receiving his commission in 1987 was
assigned to Coast Guard Group Charleston in South Carolina, serving as
Officer in Charge of the Law Enforcement Detachment. After successfully
harassing drug runners in the Caribbean, he received his Naval Aviator
designation in 1991. For the next four years, he was based in Elizabeth
City, N.C., as commander of a C-130H Hercules aircraft.
“The C-130 is really
the workhorse aircraft for anywhere in the nation,” said Boris. “Among
other things, it’s used for search and rescue, surveillance,
counter-drug ops, and hauling cargo, such as shuttling helicopters to
South America, for example.”
Weathering Many
Storms
During the 1991
Halloween nor’easter, also known as the “Perfect Storm,” Boris was
involved in a rescue attempt of a solo Japanese sailor 250 miles
southeast of Long Island. The sailboat had set off its emergency beacon
but was too far out for the Coast Guard helicopters, which did not have
the capacity to refuel en route. Only a National Guard H-60 helicopter,
which could be refueled in flight, was able to make the journey. In
advance of the helicopter’s arrival, Boris’s plane flew out to locate
the boat and guide rescuers. While waiting, he watched the sailboat roll
through sixty- to eighty-foot seas and saw it nearly capsize at least
once.
When the H-60 arrived
on the scene, its crew found the wind and rough waves made any rescue
attempt too dangerous. Eventually, with the aircraft at minimal fuel,
they were forced to leave the boat and its passenger, planning to return
in the morning when seas and sky hopefully had calmed.
Boris learned later
that the helicopter was unable to refuel because of hundred-mile-an-hour
winds and went down seventy miles from land. One of the five crewmen was
never found, but the others were rescued after six hours by a Coast
Guard cutter. The next day, a freighter was able to retrieve the sailor
from the boat. The sailboat was lost.
In 1995, Boris was
promoted to C-130H Instructor Pilot and transferred to Kodiak, Alaska,
where he continued his combination flying, instructing, and search and
rescue operations. “It was beautiful, but the weather was brutal at
times and put our piloting skills to the test,” said Boris. “I was
thrilled to be in the air rather than in the crabbing boats below.”
His leadership and
flying skills resulted in his being sent back to Elizabeth City and
appointed as head of the standardization team overseeing all Coast Guard
C-130H training. Later, he assumed the duties of executive officer of
the C-130J Aircraft Project Office in May 2003 and was in charge of
initial operational implementation of the Coast Guard’s premier
long-range surveillance aircraft.
Katrina Strikes
When Hurricane
Katrina ripped ashore in August 2005 Boris’s unit responded while the
storm was still making landfall. The C-130Js hauled in food, water,
gas-operated pumps (many areas had no electricity), personnel, and
equipment such as small boats to help rescuers get through the water.
“We were one of the
first C-130s in the area. We had to skirt around the hurricane before
finding a place to land,” Boris said. “That whole place was underwater,
just devastated. It was an incredible sight.”
The two aircraft in
the unit hauled over a third of everything that the Coast Guard brought
into the stricken areas. With an augmented crew of five (the C-130J
normally requires a crew of three), the planes flew in and out of New
Orleans and Mobile, Ala., for two weeks. Each day, the aircraft lifted
off from Clearwater, Fla., flew to Alexandria, La., to pick up supplies,
dropped the supplies off in New Orleans or Mobile, and traveled back to
Alexandria. After three or four such runs, the crew returned to
Clearwater at the end of each fifteen- to eighteen-hour day.
One trip didn’t end
with their returning to Florida. On takeoff from New Orleans, the plane
hit eleven birds, one of which went through the number-three engine.
Stranded for the night, the crew was able to find room in a New Orleans
hotel along with numerous refugees from the storm. “People were
everywhere, in the halls and lobby, sleeping wherever they could. There
were maybe forty people in the lobby with whatever they were able to
pack in their cars,” said Boris. “There were lots of kids and babies,
and people were very distraught.”
That night, Boris
heard sobbing outside his room and opened his door to find a woman
sitting in the hall. She feared that her home and possessions were lost
to the storm surge. He asked where she lived. “When she described the
area, I told her I fly over that neighborhood every day,” said Boris. He
knew that the older part of the neighborhood was flooded, but the newer
section, where the woman said she lived, was mostly above water. “I told
her that, and said she might still have a house there. She was ecstatic
and hugged me. Even though there was no guarantee that her house was
safe, just the possibility brought a smile back to her face.”
Boris getting hosed
down, a Coast Guard tradition following a pilot’s final flight.
Boris is one of only
a handful of Coast Guard commanders who flew the C-130 his entire
career. His service resulted in the award of the Meritorious Service
Medal, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, and two awards of the Coast
Guard Achievement Medal.
He now lives in
Cabot, Ark., with his wife, Julia, and their three sons. At the Little
Rock Air Force Base, Boris continues to train C-130 pilots from
different branches of the service, even though he has had offers to fly
from several airlines. “Sometimes you have to pass the torch, and let
the next guy take what you learned,” said Boris. “I’m proud that I was
able to set and meet my goals and was able to remain flying.”
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John Boris
’84
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