Roderic Gress

From USAFA Folklore

Rod Gress, Class of 1977, is a notable graduate because he best exemplified the leadership and character traits that we would want our future officers to emulate. You would be hard-pressed to find a cadet or junior officer from his era having a bigger positive impact on those around him.

[edit] Background

Rod Gress was born in 1954 and perished on 28 Feb 1984 in a C-130 accident near Zaragosa, Spain. At the time of the accident, Rod was a Combat Controller stationed at Rhein Main AB, Germany. This terrible accident virtually wiped out the Rhein Main Combat Control Team. Rod attended the USAFA Prep School; he spent his preppie year in B squadron and was a member of the football team which beat the Academy freshman team that year. He played football his first two years at USAFA. While at the Academy, Rod excelled in leadership. During the Spring semester of his firstie year, he was squadron commander of Cadet Squadron 13 . After graduation while awaiting his UPT start date, he spent six months at Lackland leading new recruits through Basic Military Training. He started UPT but did not complete it and was reassigned to HQ SAC at Offut. While at Offut he participated in the 1980 Olympic trials as a member of the Air Force 4-man bobsled team. During the trials they had a tremendous crash which took them out of the running to make the Olympics. Sometime in 1982, after repeated turn downs to become a Combat Controller, he was finally allowed to cross-train. During his time as a CCT member, he participated in several special operations missions. Here is a link to his memorial on a CCT website. [1] It gives you a feel for how much he loved his profession. Although Rod never married, he came from a great family residing in Pittsburgh, PA. His brother Steve graduated in USAFA Class of 1974.