JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- On Christmas Day 1967 – supposed to be a peaceful one in Vietnam owing to a holiday truce – then-Air Force 1st Lt. Travis Vanderpool's promised quiet day turned into a decidedly hectic one.
Vanderpool, a fighter pilot with the 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Bien Hoa Air Base, boarded his F-100 Super Saber and sped to the hot zone prepared to unleash guns, rockets and bombs to help American ground troops in contact.
With no precision-guided munitions or digital-targeting devices available to him, Vanderpool was accustomed to flying at 125 feet above ground level to ensure he hit the enemy without incurring friendly casualties.
Vanderpool's Christmas gift from the enemy was 37-mm anti-aircraft artillery fire. As deadly as the AAA fire could be to Vanderpool and his Super Saber, he was determined to silence the gun.
“I saw where it was, and I said, 'I got him,'” Vanderpool recalled. “I came in and put a bomb right where the gun was. It wasn't exactly something you want to be doing on Christmas Day, but it was very memorable.”
Vanderpool gathered with fellow 90th Fighter Squadron “Dicemen,” past and present, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson during an Aug. 18, 2017, heritage ceremony marking 100 years since the squadron's founding.
Vanderpool said he was richly aware of the heritage he belongs to during the week's social activities. Because he deployed to Vietnam in 1967, his service neatly falls halfway between the unit's inception in France during World War I and today's 90th FS that operates F-22 Raptors worldwide, including recent contingency operations in the Near East. A World War I Diceman veteran routinely sent letters to the squadron while they were deployed to Bien Hoa.
“Today, I realized that – to these guys here, the current pilots – it's 50 years ago for me,” Vanderpool said. “So, to them, I'm like the World War I guy.”
During the ceremony, the unit unveiled an F-22 with red dice livery and a series of artworks commemorating the centennial, and two F-22s and two former 90th FS F-15E Strike Eagles flew in formation over the squadron hangar.
“Being able to celebrate a full 100 years of service to this nation is truly an honor,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Dave Skalicky, 90th FS commander. “[It's] so important that we take time and reflect back and look back at the fabulous history of this squadron, of our Air Force and this nation.”
The first aircraft the squadron operated was the Sopwith 1½ Strutter biplane, sporting a 130-horsepower rotary engine and boasting a top speed of 100 mph. Today, the squadron operates the stealth F-22 capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2.
Despite these differences, Skalicky said there is much joining today's 90th FS Airmen and their forebears.
“We find that we have a lot more in common than you would ever think,” he said. “The airframes change, the people turn over, but the Dicemen are Dicemen through and through.
“Some of the similarities that Dicemen share is commitment to excellence when executing the mission, commitment to one another, loyalty – you will see it just by the number of people who have flown in for this event.”
Vanderpool flew from his home in Georgetown, Texas. When Raptors and Strike Eagles thundered overhead blasting afterburners, he documented the aerobatic dance shooting video on his smartphone wearing a nostalgic grin.
Because Vanderpool was the only lieutenant when he deployed to Vietnam, he said he shares a kinship with Air Force 1st Lt. Patrick Bowlds, 90th FS scheduler and the squadron's junior officer. Despite being the youngest pilot to inherit the unit's storied heritage, the younger lieutenant said he is keenly aware of where the Dicemen have been.
"[The 90th FS] started as a reconnaissance squadron and then a bombardment squadron [during World War II] and now, today, it's a fighter squadron,” Bowlds said. “So, we've been touching everything the Air Force does. You always have to look back and see the heritage you're a part of carries on for generations."
Surrounded by pilots who have flown combat sorties in the skies over Vietnam, and over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, Bowlds said he feels burdened to live up to the Dicemen heritage.
“It's definitely a big weight on your shoulders, but it's also a great honor having the responsibility given to me as a young guy flying the F-22 in Alaska,” he said.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, the commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is a former commander of the 90th FS who returned to JBER to preside over the heritage ceremony. He placed the centennial in context.
“It's hard to believe that we're celebrating 100 years of the 90th's history,” Roberson said. “This time for the 90th represents the life of American airpower from really nothing to the preeminence it is today.”
Air Force Col. Christopher Niemi, 3rd Wing commander at JBER and former 90th FS director of operations, echoed Roberson's sentiment.
“100 years – 100 years of the Dicemen: that's basically the entire age of aviation,” Niemi said. “Despite the fact that the equipment was much different, the times were much different; the personalities, the perspective, the values, the things that we cherished the most were probably not that much different from the people that came before us.”
Skalicky said the battlefield has greatly changed since World War I and is changing in an age of cyber-warfare and autonomous weapons. Despite new challenges, the squadron commander said Dicemen will continue their venerable heritage.
“We get to draw on the legacy that was left to us, that tradition we have, and we get to carry those traits forward to meet the threats that we're facing,” Skalicky explained. “The Dicemen are ready, and we'll be here for another hundred years.”