Veteran of the month:Betty Worley

Veteran of the Month: Betty Worley

The Force Behind The Force

BY: BILL MOAKLEY

Betty Worley is proud of her service to her country. She should be.

“A lot of people know me, but not as a retired veteran,” Worley noted. “Most people don’t ask women if they are veterans.”

Born in Brinkman, Okla., Worley is a 1956 graduate of Capitol Hill High School and Central State College, now known as the University of Central Oklahoma. She served three years active duty in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1962.

She would have stayed in the Navy, but at the time, women were not allowed to serve more than three years. Married women were not allowed to serve at all.

Following her three years of active duty, which she served in Washington, D.C., Worley married, found her way back to Oklahoma and, in 1976, resumed her military career with the U.S. Air Force Reserve program, specifically the 72nd Aerial Port Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base. The 72nd APS performed cargo buildup and shipment for worldwide distribution. She did the heavy lifting as a forklift, terminal tugs and aircraft loading equipment driver.

On Nov. 26, 1990, Worley’s squadron was called to active duty in support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. The squadron was one of only six Air Force Reserve units worldwide to be activated.

“We were among the first 72,000 members to be activated,” Worley pointed out. “In 12 hours, our unit was in place.”

On Thanksgiving Day alone, the cargo terminal at Tinker processed 950 tons of cargo, moving items ranging from MREs (meals ready to eat) and pudding to M&M’s and top-shelf meals as well as medical equipment and supplies, sand bags and tires.

Worley explained that seven-person teams load aircraft. A typical C-5 plane can take up to four hours to load.

“At times, we had a backlog of cargo equal to 17 C-5 loads ready to go,” Worley said. “That doesn’t mean much to you until you understand that a C-5 can carry 60-to-70 tons of cargo. That’s 120,000 to 140,000 pounds.”

Betty Worley recently presented a JROTC award to a Capitol Hill High School student.

In addition to supplies, Worley and her fellow soldiers sorted, palletized and shipped 14 truckloads of sorted mail each day.

What was first considered a 90-day deployment stretched to six months. Crews worked 12-hour shifts. In December 1990, Worley and others worked 16 days straight with no time off in wind chills of negative-40 degrees during one of Oklahoma’s harshest winters on record.

“I had to go and do inventory and I had on long johns, a sweater, a parka, gloves, a knit cap and another cap,” Worley recalled. “I walked like the Michelin Man.”

Some 45 planes would be loaded around Christmas in 36 hours. By January, the squadron had processed five billion tons of items and 220,000 people.

The squadron received their deactivation orders in May 1991. Worley said she sometimes gets annoyed when she mentions she was on active duty and people discount her service because she was stationed at Tinker, not overseas.

“My response to those folks is the troops in the desert couldn’t have done their jobs if it hadn’t been for us doing our job to supply them with their war materials,” Worley pointed out. “Our motto was ‘The Force behind The Force.’ They fought the sand, the scorpions and the heat, in addition to the enemy. We fought snow, ice, bitter cold temperatures and frostbite.”

Worley hopes pride in the United States and its military never goes out of style.

“I’m proud of my military service,” she said. “I’m proud of being a veteran. I’m proud to say I served my country when called on.”

Worley is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has ancestors that have been called on to serve the country during the fight for independence, Frontier Wars of 1790, War of 1812, Civil War, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. -19SM