Page 75 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2023 - Online Magazine

again, this time to the same base to which Barry’s
dad was assigned in 1953 and where Willie would
graduate from test pilot school in 1990. There the
family lived close enough to the Naval Academy to
visit Willie.

Promoted to Lieutenant Commander (O-4), Barry’s
next assignment was to Jacksonville, FL, where
he joined the squadron onboard the USS Kennedy
for a 12-month deployment to the Mediterranean.
By then, he had about 3,000 hours flying the S-3B
Viking Antisubmarine aircraft. He was able to return
to the USA for Willie’s graduation from the Naval
Academy. At that time, he had orders to the Armed
Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA. One year later, he
was on orders to United States Central Command,
Tampa Bay, FL—his final assignment, followed by
retirement on October 31, 1989, with 22 years of
active-duty service, over 5300 flight hours and 265
carrier landings.

One day, he was working on Gen. Norman
Schwarzkopf’s staff; the next day, he started training
with KFC. In 1990, Audrey took a position with
UNLV (University of Nevada-Las Vegas). In Las
Vegas, Barry worked as head of security for KFC’s
Audrey and Willie at his graduation from the US Naval 32 restaurants until 1996, when he began teaching
Academy 1983 at UNLV as a part-time adjunct professor. That
teaching job enabled him to continue his education,
based on Guam for four years. Barry was promoted and he eventually earned a PhD in Higher Education
to LTJG (0-2) and acquired over 2300 flight hours in Leadership. After he graduated, Texas Tech offered
the C-130, before transitioning to jet aircraft and a him a position in the RHIM (Restaurant & Hotel
Fleet assignment. Management) program. Barry retired from TTU in
2020.
In August 1977, the McCool family arrived in
Lubbock, where Audrey accepted a teaching position The couple is proud of their three children. “They’re
at Texas Tech and began work on her PhD. Barry
knew that being assigned to carrier-based aircraft
meant he would be deployed for prolonged periods
of time, so he was happy that his family was
situated in Lubbock—Shawn in elementary school,
Kirstie in Smylie Wilson Junior High, and Willie at
Coronado High School.
Barry was deployed to the Indian Ocean on the USS
Ranger. It was there that he received a message from
the Chief of Naval Operations that Willie had been
accepted for the Naval Academy, Class of 1983! On
his return to the States, he was to report to Air Test
and Evaluation Squadron One, VX-1, Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, MD. The McCools moved

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