JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 astronaut and 10th man to walk on the moon, shared mission experiences and lessons of leadership in times of crisis with 12th Flying Training Wing and Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph members during his visit to JBSA-Randolph Feb. 19-20.
Kicking off his visit to JBSA-Randolph and the 12th FTW, Duke shared an incentive flight with the 560th Flying Training Squadron 'Chargin Cheetahs' Feb. 19. Duke flew in a T-38 Talon, the same model Duke flew during his pilot training in 1964.
Following the incentive flight, Duke visited a group of 12th FTW children at the 560th FTS to answer questions about the Apollo 16 mission.
Throughout the second day of his visit, Duke was featured as the guest speaker for several audiences and events, including the 12th FTW annual awards ceremony and a 12th FTW leadership development seminar.
Col. Matthew Isler, 12th FTW commander, introduced Duke during the opening minutes of the 12th FTW annual awards ceremony.
"Defending our nation and teaching young Airmen are the highest callings of an American, and that's what you do every day," Isler said. "You are the flying training center of excellence and the source of America's airpower. And there is no greater example of excellence today than our speaker, Charles Duke."
Duke carried a similar theme providing the history behind his accomplishments and the will to push through temporary failures to reach his goals.
"Today we celebrate success," Duke said. "To have success, there have to be high standards, and they must include taking the risk to fail and repeatedly falling short. After falling short, we must have the courage to get back up and try again. I experienced a lot of falling short when I was at NASA during the Apollo 16 mission preparation, but we had our eyes fixed on the goal of landing a man on the moon."
Children who gathered at the 560th FTS asked multiple questions about Duke's experiences in space and on the lunar surface, including what he felt upon seeing Earth from space for the first time.
"I felt awe; it was beautiful," Duke said. "I was floating around inside the ship, looking out of one of the windows. And into that window appears Earth. I could see the entire circle of the Earth 20,000 miles away. It was just so dramatic, the pure white of the clouds and snow, the brown of the land and pure crystal blue of the ocean, all just suspended in the blackest of space."
Duke delivered speeches on his historic moments while conveying a sense of leadership under pressure and an attitude of perseverance for multiple generations of future American and Air Force leaders.