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Hickam Wingman Day features special guests

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mike Meares
  • 15th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii --  Gary Sinise, actor and musician, and Greg McMackin, university of Hawaii head football coach, spoke to Hickam Airmen during the Wingman Day commnader's call Jan. 29 in Hangar 19 about leadership philosophies and thanked them for serving their country.

Coach McMackin took time out of a hectic off-season recruiting schedule for the upcoming 2010 football season to speak to the Airman at Hickam and show his appreciation.

"Playing football is as close as you can get to war as far as strategy goes," said Coach McMackin. "Every time I talk to my team, I explain to them we are going to war, not like the military goes to war. We're not putting our lives on the line; we are just playing a game. We respect you and my team respects you for what you do."

He spoke to the Airmen about his philosophy about leadership explaining he believes everyone is a leader in some way shape or form; everyone is part of the team.

"Everyone leads someone," he said. "The janitor is as important as the head football coach on my team."

He acknowledged the fact his team plays the Army and Navy military academies and is working to schedule the Air Force Academy in an upcoming season. "I'm not sure I want to because they are so good," he said.

Coach McMakin is not alone in his sentiments for service members sacrifices. Gary Sinise has made it his life's pursuit to show his support for those volunteers who serve their country.

"It's become kind of a mission for me to be able to go out and do what I can via the USO or other organizations to help support the men and women who are serving our country," he said.

Sinise has been very active with military Veterans for many years, especially on the Vietnam Veteran front. Having been personally affected though members of his family, Sinise has a soft pace in his heart for those who served during Vietnam.

"If you've studied your history, you know things were very bad for Vietnam Veterans," he said. "One of the motivators for me having known so many Vietnam Veterans is to make sure that doesn't happen again; that we don't send our men and women off to war to fight our battles for us, only to turn our backs on them when they come home. That was a shameful period in American history."

That mission came in form of USO sponsored trips to overseas locations to visit with deployed servicemembers. Following one of his many trips, Sinise love for music tugged at him to asked the USO if they would allow him to take a band with him on a tour. He was looking for a way to show his support and entertain at the same time.

"At that time, the musicians I played with was just for fun," he said. "We never rehearsed or anything. When we set up this tour, I called my buddy Kimo (Williams), who started the band with me, and told him 'I think we better start rehearsing. We are going on tour.'"

The Lieutenant Dan Band hit the road on their first overseas USO tour to Korea, Singapore and Diego Garcia. Since then, the Lt. Dan Band has played more than 30 shows per year with approximately 75 percent of those shows for USO, charities or benefits.

"It just took off," he said. "I love doing it. It's important to show our support to the men and women who are defending the country, especially in these dangerous times. People continue to volunteer for this service. We are lucky that we have them."

Sinise stood in front of the crowd of Airmen and civilians and thanked them for their service.

"What would we do without our military out there on the front lines defending us," he asked rhetorically. "What I can do as a citizen, as someone who loves my country and the people who defend it, is go out there and serve those who are serving us."

The 15th AW leadership and Hickam Airmen had a surprise for Sinise before he left the stage. In honor of his role as a Vietnam Veteran named "Lt. Dan Taylor" in the 1994 Academy Award winning film Forrest Gump, Hickam promoted Sinise to the rank of Air Force captain during a ceremony at the commander's call.

Col. Giovanni Tuck called the formations to attention, a citation was read, and he was introduced for the first time as "Capt. Dan Taylor."