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Kondra For Commander
Dick Swetnam
Those of you who flew the MAC "system" in the late seventies may have
noticed "Kondra for Commander" bumper stickers throughout the world, and
wondered what they were. Now that almost thirty years have passed, and any
statute of limitations has expired, it can be explained.
The 8th MAS at McChord had a vacancy at squadron commander. We had
an officer in our squadron who was very well-liked and respected by all...Lt
Col Vernon Kondra. We felt that a little name recognition wouldn't hurt, so we
had the stickers printed up. Our crews then traveled the world "distributing"
the stickers.
I know they showed up at locations such as on crew busses at Yokota, power
units in Singapore, and ski lifts in Washington state, just to name a few.
Did we help or hurt his career? We'll never know for sure, but Lt Col Kondra
became our squadron commander. He later became Lieutenant General Kondra,
commander of MAC's 21st Air Force.
I was an aircraft commander in the 8th under his command. I've never
had a better boss, before or since.