Four friends reunite at Yokota

  • Published
  • By Airman John D. Partlow
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Although the Air Force can take some people around the world and away from friends in the U.S., it can also reunite them on the other side of it. For Capt. Michael Emery, 459th Airlift Squadron C-12 Huron pilot and Capt. Andrew Simpson, 459th AS UH-1 Huey pilot, reuniting at Yokota was the last thing they thought would happen.

The two captains met and became friends before high school through a community swim team. After graduating high school in 2003, the two men parted ways to pursue two different paths towards being commissioned officers in the Air Force.

During his training, Simpson learned to fly helicopters while Emery trained with airplanes. The two men ended up stationed together at Yokota under the same airlift squadron, despite flying two completely different aircraft.

"Once Andrew decided to fly helicopters, I figured we would never be stationed together," said Emery, "He called me when he heard that I had an assignment to Japan too. I had no idea the 459th AS was a joint helicopter and fixed-wing squadron, but Simpson did. He knew we'd be in the same squadron at Yokota. I was thrilled when I learned we'd be working together because we had been such good friends back home."

Since it is rare for an airlift squadron to have fixed and rotary winged aircraft, the chances of the two men working together appeared to be very slim.

"At my high school graduation party Simpson's mother gave me a picture of him and I with our Air Force scholarships to our respective colleges and a note that said something like 'maybe one day these two friends from Monroeville, Pa., will get the chance to serve together,'" said Emery. "She was more right than we could have known."

While fate worked in the lives of Simpson and Emery, two other pilots were forming the bond of friendship elsewhere at Norwich University in Vermont.

Capt. Matthew Diamond, 459th AS UH-1 Huey pilot and Capt. Anders Hedberg, 459th AS C-12 Huron pilot, met at the university as corps cadets, and shared a room for two years.

"In the first year at Norwich University, the people you get to know the most are people you go through freshmen training with," said Hedberg. "Diamond and I became good friends then and to this day we still are."

"We've kept in touch over the years," said Diamond. "We knew each other's different career fields, but I never thought we would work together, especially in the same squadron."

After graduating in 2006, the men were stationed apart from each other, but regularly saw one another. Unknown to them, they would soon be stationed together in the same squadron at Yokota.

"We figured that something like this would never happen to us, especially flying two different types of aircraft," said Hedberg. "As fate would have it, a couple of weeks later I was asked to volunteer to go to Yokota to fly C-12s. I jumped at the chance to not only go to Japan and have the opportunity to fly that type of aircraft, but I was excited about being able to be stationed with a good friend like Diamond."

During an Airman's career they may be faced with difficult challenges or hurdles, but for four Yokota pilots, having a long time friend close by really helps.

"It's kind of hard being the new guy coming out of pilot training into a flying squadron," said Hedberg. "Having a good buddy already in the unit makes the transition a lot easier."