Retired U.S. Air Force Four-Star General Al Hansen soars at DI Speaker Series

Retired U.S. Air Force General Alfred G. Hansen earned many distinguished honors and awards throughout his decorated, 37 year military career. But the series of four stars on the shoulder boards of his uniform truly set him apart.
Of the 322 million American citizens, and 2.1 million currently serving in the active and reserve components of the U.S. Armed Forces, there are only 39 four-star generals or admirals. Hansen achieved the coveted rank in 1987.
The Daniel Island resident shared his life experiences with an attentive audience as the guest speaker at the February 3 Daniel Island Speaker Series event. As noted by Commander J. Michael Cole, USN, Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, in his introduction, General Hansen is part of an elite group with very limited membership.
“You might stand a better chance of winning the lotto,” said Cole, of the General’s prestigious four-star status. He went on to add that Hansen has accumulated more than 7,000 flying hours in aircraft such as the KC-97 Stratofreighter, the KC-135 Stratotanker, the command and control variant EC-135, and the A1 Skyraider, in which he flew 113 combat missions in Vietnam.
Interestingly, Hansen began his remarks to the crowd by revealing he didn’t go into the military for the reasons most would expect.
“I’d like to tell you the reason I joined the United States Air Force was because I was full of patriotism and I wanted to go and defend the country,” said Hansen, who was joined at the program by his wife, Donna. “…But the fact of the matter is I was in college and I ran out of money.”
In his early 20s, Hansen spoke with an Air Force recruiter who encouraged him to join, luring him in with the promise of benefits set forth in the G.I. Bill. The recruiter told him he would be able to go to school while in the Air Force and then, when he got out, pick any college and finish his degree.
“Now that sounded like a pretty good deal!” Hansen told the crowd.
In 1955, he enlisted and three weeks later was off to Sampson Air Force Base in upstate New York to begin his training. The experience wasn’t optimal, he lamented, as the temperatures were cold and the recruits didn’t initially have uniforms. But the young Hansen did very well on his Air Force qualification tests and was given an opportunity to become a pilot. He had never been in an airplane before in his life, but the idea intrigued him, so he signed up. While waiting for his first flying assignment, Hansen became a crew chief.
“That was a fancy name,” he said. “I was really a wiper. What I did was wipe the oil off the airplane so the pilot wouldn’t slide. That became very important when I flew the A1 Skyraider, because it was noted for belching oil out the side, and you had to be careful climbing up (onto the plane) because you’d fall off the wing!”
On his first flight, Hansen didn’t think he’d make it home alive.
“It was an open cockpit,” he recalled. “And whenever we made a left hand turn I was afraid I was going fall out! So I was always holding on.”
But Hansen worked past his fears and graduated from flight school at the top of his class. He soon became one of the first pilots to fly a specialized EC-135 aircraft known as an “airborne command post.” During the Cold War, the U.S. was concerned that the Soviet Union might launch a surprise attack that could wipe out the nation’s command control headquarters. The EC-135 provided an airborne solution, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hansen recalled a memorable moment that involved his first meeting with then President John F. Kennedy, who was fairly new to the office and was interested in learning more about military operations. Hansen, a captain at the time, was tasked with briefing the President at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida about the EC-135’s capabilities.
“We went down about 10 days before and twice a day I had to practice my pitch with the Colonel,” said Hansen. “Finally, on the day that President Kennedy came, he came in the open limousine…and I often wondered (later) if that was the same one that he had been assassinated in.”
Hansen shared several other stories of his brushes with noteworthy figures, including the day he met Colin Powell while the pair, both two-star generals at the time, found themselves on the same plane to New York. They struck up a conversation and realized they were both from the Bronx. Many years later, Hansen would attend Powell’s retirement celebration.
“When I was at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was a two-star military advisor to the Secretary of Defense,” recalled Hansen. “And all the briefings I gave on the formation of the U.S. Transportation Command he was there. He’s a great guy and has certainly served his country well.”
Hansen also recounted his time serving as commander at Little Rock Air Force Base, and working with then Governor Bill Clinton.
“The base had about 10,000 people at that time,” he said. “And we were the largest economic entity in the state. So Bill came out several times.”
Some of Hansen’s most memorable experiences in the Air Force came when he was deployed on secret missions. He spoke of the time he was told an airplane would be coming to pick him up and take him to Dayton, Ohio, where a reconnaissance plane loaded with specialized equipment was waiting to take him to another location. Still unsure of the mission, he arrived and flew to an airfield in New Hampshire to pick up two nuclear technicians. It was snowing heavily and Hansen told his Colonel that the conditions exceeded the peacetime requirements for take-off.
“He said ‘Don’t go,’” recalled Hansen. “But the phone rings 15 minutes later and he said ‘I talked to the General in charge and he said peacetime is waived, you’re on wartime requirements. Take off as soon as you can.’”
The plane flew to England, where Hansen was eventually briefed on what he and his crew were deployed to do. They had been tasked with conducting reconnaissance on a Soviet hydrogen bomb explosion off the coast of Northern Russia, near the Barents Sea. Hansen remembers pulling onto the runway before lifting off and seeing a vehicle approaching with lights flashing.
“A guy jumped out and gave me a classified package. He says ‘It’s on water soluble paper. If you’re captured, make sure you wet it so the codes are not compromised.’ And off he went. The tower gave us the green light and we took off and flew north.”
They stayed about 100 miles out of the area where the Russians had been testing their bombs. Soon, history would unfold before their eyes.
“By golly the Russians did set off that nuclear bomb, said Hansen. “And I tell you it was the brightest, biggest explosion…Later we found out that it was 50 to 80 megatons, which is the largest bomb ever set off…And there we were, a captain spot-promoted to major because of the mission that I was on, and we saw that and were able to capture all the data.”
Hansen was also involved in a number of other strategic missions, including the testing of atmospheric bombs on airborne communications, a raid to strike the palace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the U.S. efforts to assist Great Britain in reclaiming the Falkland Islands.
But one of Hansen’s most significant accomplishments came while he served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a body that advises the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President of the United States. While in the post, Hansen worked tirelessly to create a new U.S. Transportation Command that would provide unified, global mobility in the form of air, land and sea transport for the Department of Defense both in times of peace and war. It was contentious as not all branches of the military were on board, but Hansen eventually helped secure enough votes to pass the measure.
“I really believed in it,” he said. “….During Desert Storm they said the only way that we were able to supply the forces and troops was because of the U.S. Transportation Command. So I took a little risk, but…that’s what life is all about.”
After retiring from the military in 1989, Hansen went on to serve as executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems; President of A.G. Hansen & Associates, his own aerospace marketing and manufacturing consulting firm; and chief executive officer/president of EMS Technologies. He often shared what he described as “Hansenisms” with his management team and employees, encouraging them to communicate well, to surround themselves with the best, to not be afraid to make decisions, to be open to exceptions, to avoid having “haves and have-nots” in the workplace, and to always have visible mentors.
In closing, he cited the value of the Charleston Air Force Base to the region, and expressed his concerns about its future.
“There are three bases on the East Coast,” he said. “Charleston Air Force Base, Dover, and McGuire…The one that is the furthest away from supplying the people they support in Europe is Charleston Air Force Base…Hopefully Charleston Air Force Base will be here a long time. It’s a great base. The C-17 is a great airplane, but it sort of worries me….The budgets have all been cut and it’s looking more and more like sequestration will continue on and with that I think that Charleston Air Force Base could be very, very vulnerable.”
Next to take the podium in the Daniel Island Speaker Series is author Christopher Downy, who is expected to share swashbuckling tales of local piracy. Downy, who works for the Mediterranean Shipping Corporation, has written two books on the topic, Charleston and the Golden Age of Piracy and Stede Bonnet: Charleston’s Gentleman Pirate. The event will be held Wednesday, April 13 at the Daniel Island Club. Please visit http://tiny.cc/dispeakersseries.

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