Lt. Col. James Routt, an HC-130 King rescue tanker pilot deployed with the 71st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron to Afghanistan, flew the last combat air mission of his thirty-three year military career on 12 April 2012. After serving as a B-52 bomber pilot in Vietnam, Routt retired from the Air Force in 1996. He was one of approximately 200 officers selected under the Retired Aviator Recall program to return to active duty. He was then assigned to the 550th Special Operations Squadron at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, to support the MC-130P Combat Shadow and HC-130P/N King training programs. During twenty-nine years of his career, Routt served as an aircraft commander. He plans to retire in his home in Washington State.
