Sarah Swoboda
Kania Petway
Corona
US History Per 4
May 27 2016
Ruben Siebert
On March 16th 2016 King High School held it’s 16th event of King High Remembers, where my partner and I had the honor of meeting Ruben Siebert, who served his time in the military as an airforce pilot in Vietnam, from 1963 to 1982. He was born on July 16th 1941, and was raised in Braunfels, Texas, a small German community 30 miles north of San Antonio. He was involved in his high school’s NJROTC, but says he didn’t plan on joining the military. He went to Southwest Texas State College, the first of his family members to ever attend college. At STSC, he received a BS in Physics and Math, and also earned his commission in the air force and received his private pilots license. He later received his masters degree in Education from Chapman University.
From September of 1963 to October of 1964, Siebert attended air force training at Reese AFB in Texas, as a student pilot in T-37 and T-38. He was first stationed at Columbus AFB in Mississippi from October 1964 to December 1966 as a copilot on a B-52. He was stationed in Michigan next, at Kincheloe AFB until December of 1971 as a copilot, pilot, and instructor pilot on a B-52. Then, he was stationed Castle AFB in California for slightly under 6 years, and he worked as an instructor pilot, check pilot, and chief pilot for a B-52. He was later stationed in Korea at Kunsan AB for just over a year, then came back to Castle AFB as a B-52 squadron operations officer for four years. Siebert later retired on the 31st of January, 1985.
The first time he saw combat was in 1965, when he was sent on temporary duty on four separate deployments during his time at Columbus AFB, and then later at Kincheloe AFB. He flew B-52’s out of Anderson AFB in Guam to Kadena AB, as well as Okinawa and UTapao AB in Thailand in support of the war in Vietnam, flying 156 combat missions. Mission lengths were from four to fourteen hours in duration.
After his time in the military, Siebert instructed military pilots in the KC-10 tanker for the air force under contract with American Airlines and McDonnell Douglas at March AFB, then instructed airline pilots in the MD-80, MD-90, and MD-11 aircraft for McDonnell Douglas and Boeing at Long Beach. Since then, he has built a life with his wife whom he married in 1964. Together they have had two children, a boy and a girl. His daughter was born in 1965 and is now a correctional officer. His son was born in 1967, and is now an electronics tech at Universal Studios. Ruben Siebert is one of the many men who went great lengths to fight for our country, and meeting him is an experience we will never forget.