Friday, March 29, 2024

Retired from military, Nelson now serves veterans

Todd Nelson lived in Austin his first 11 years before his family moved three miles north to a rural acreage. That move put his family in the Hayfield School district which was 18 miles away.

He was the middle child in a family of seven boys and two girls. He was active in sports playing football and basketball for Hayfield.

After graduation in 1977, he attended Austin Community College and played Blue Devils football for two years where he was a two-year starter at cornerback. 

The highlight of those two years, he said, was freshman year when the Blue Devils and their 26-man roster took on the Rochester Community College Yellow Jackets with their 70+ man roster and number five ranking in the country. Todd said he had two interceptions and one fumble recovery in a stunning 13-10 upset.

He pursued a degree in agriculture and worked for a large crop and livestock farm in the area. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it would be very hard to start farming on his own with the cost of land and machinery at that time.

In 1981 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and signed up for Aircrew Life Support as his military occupation. After basic training in San Antonio and technical training at Chanute AFB, Ill., he attended land and water survival training at Fairchild AFB, Wash. His first permanent station was to Spangdahlem AB, Germany for three years. He was joined there by his wife, Margaret, who he married in 1982.

In 1984 they transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, where he spent eight years supporting flight test operations. His boss for a couple years there, he said, was Jimmy Doolittle III, grandson of the famed WWII pilot and the raid over Tokyo planner. While there he completed arctic survival training in Fairbanks.

Todd was then assigned (1992) to an Air Force Systems Command HQ position at Eglin Air Force Base, located in the panhandle of Florida. He was part of the command standardization evaluation team that conducted aircraft operations evaluations on all of the flight test organizations in the Air Force. Through his travels he spent time in numerous states in the U.S. and saw up close activities related to the B-2 Bomber, F-117 fighter and more while they were in development.

Todd said he was gone one to two weeks each month, which made raising a family more challenging as the couple now had three children.

Margaret also traveled with her job but was able to do her work by telecommuting so working from home for her happened years before the virus changed work situations for many in 2020.

He put in for a transfer to Offutt Air Force Base in 1996. The base near Omaha, Neb., was the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command for many years, and is the home of the 55th Air Wing. The base provides global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare operations across the world with “Looking Glass” airplanes, in the air constantly for the last 30 years monitoring worldwide activities. There are also 747 planes that are backup/support to Air Force One.

While at Offutt, Todd was an E8/SMSgt doing a great job at fixing a unit that had been through struggles. While there he attended the USAF SNCO Academy in Montgomery, Ala., where he earned distinguished graduate honors and was subsequently rated as the #1 SMSgt in the 55th Wing.

He would soon be in line for a promotion to E9/CMSgt but he was also scheduled to be transferred to RAF Lakenheath, England.

Todd said many peers and superiors told him they thought he had a very strong chance of getting promoted. The dilemma was his report date of Dec. 1, 1998. If he were promoted on Nov. 5, his orders would be canceled because there would not be a position for his new pay grade. The problem was, to move overseas, you have to ship your household about 45 days in advance. So the scenario could have left the Nelson family in Nebraska while their household was enroute to England, assuming the promotion happened and orders to England would have been canceled. What to do? Ask for an early report and get there before promotion release! They arrived in England Nov. 3 and Todd was promoted to the highest enlisted grade of CMSGT on Nov. 5. They spent the next 14 months in England. Their two grade school age boys and one daughter attended British schools and Todd said it was a wonderful experience for them mixing with mostly British students.

The family was able to travel to places in Europe and said it was unique experience being on the Chunnel Tunnel between Great Britain and Europe riding on the train beneath the English Channel.

In 2000, Todd was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington DC as Aircrew Life Support Career Field Manager and was working personnel recovery within the USAF Crisis Action Center for the next 2-½ years. He said working at the Pentagon is a love/hate relationship as you have to work around the staff politics but he was able to make significant changes in policy and laying the groundwork for future life support operations.

On Sept. 10, 2001, he flew to Eglin AFB in Florida to take part in an aircrew NBC defense procedural evaluation. It started out as a great morning on Sept. 11, he said, but soon everyone’s phones started ringing and they were told to go inside and look at the news to see what was going on. Todd’s wife knew where he was and that he was safe, but his family back in Minnesota had no idea he was not at the Pentagon.

Fears became delight when they later talked to Margaret and found that they were all safe. Since there were no planes flying he had to return via rental car.

There are 26,000 people working at the Pentagon (five stories tall and two levels below ground) that is like a city itself with the shops, restaurants, offices, etc. Todd would see thousands of people daily moving through the hallways on a regular basis. Upon his return to the Pentagon on Sept. 13, Todd could see the huge American flag hanging down from the building near the area of the crash site when he drove up to the Pentagon.

When he walked in the building it was like a ghost town as he only saw a few people in sight. He could smell smoke in the building. The area where he worked was on the adjoining side of the building near the crash area, but far enough away to be safe. Two of his office mates were involved in assisting medically during the 9/11 aftermath and were awarded Airman’s Medals for their response during this critical time.

He said the building section that was hit had just been remodeled so not many employees had yet moved back into this office area. Sixty-four people were on the Flight 77 plane that crashed and 125 people were killed in the building but the death total would have been hundreds if not thousands if the office area had been back to its normal occupancy.

In 2002 Todd was selected as the Chief Enlisted Manager and adviser to the commander at the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, Ft Belvoir, Va., an Army base located not far from George Washington’s Mount Vernon. This agency oversaw personnel Recovery Operations for all of the Department of Defense.

It was supposed to be a three year controlled tour but the Air Force wanted him to make another reassignment. His oldest son was a junior at his high school and enrolled in Governor’s School program and he did not want to see him lose that.

He talked to his personnel managers, telling them he was going to retire instead of taking the assignment. His career in the Air Force spanned 24 years and 9 months, retiring with the rank of E9, CMSGT on Sept. 1, 2005. Todd spent the next 14 months as a contract project manager for a new, state of the art training center that was being built for the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency in Fredericksburg Va.

After 25+ years on the road, the Nelsons were ready to come home to Minnesota. They looked at several towns in the Rochester area.

Their kids played soccer and Kasson-Mantorville had a soccer program. They were impressed with Kasson and being back in a rural area once again. They have lived in Kasson for 14 years, by far the longest they have ever lived in one place since they were married 38 years ago.

Todd took off for about six months after returning to Minnesota and then started looking at different job opportunities. He applied for the Dodge County Veteran Services position at the courthouse and was selected. He works with veterans and their families providing advice and services related to all Federal and State VA programs.

Todd is a man of service, he served his country for almost 25 years and now Dodge County for 13 years and he’s proud of it.

Todd likes to cross country ski, hike, golf, kayak, fish and travel. He prefers driving over flying because of the scenery but sometimes distance and time dictate travels. He looks forward to when they may be able to go to Ireland, Italy and other countries they have yet to travel to. 

He is a member of the Kasson Legion Color Guard and has been part of many veteran programs in the community through the years. He mentioned that he was asked and honored to give the eulogy for local veteran Ed Dutton.

The Nelson’s have four children. Two sons live in Rochester, their daughter lives in Cleveland, Ga. and their youngest son is a Kasson-Mantorville student (three of their kids have attended KM schools). His wife Margaret was employed for many years as a corporate writer for different companies but now takes care of their grandchild who lives in Rochester.

Todd has lived in and traveled to many places during his life but says he enjoys being back in the area where his journey began.

 

 

Photo: After nearly 25 years in the U.S. Air Force, Todd Nelson now serves local veterans as the veterans service officer for the county.

 

 

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