Colonel Robert Leeker - Fighter Pilot and Base Commander

Operation Insight

Colonel Robert Leeker started his military career as a one-striper in the Air Force in 1971 and went to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. After working as a mechanic on planes, Bob decided he wanted to fly them. He earned his associate's degree at Meramec Community College and took flying lessons on his own dime to ready himself to become an Air Force pilot. Bob trained on the T37 and T38 and earned his wings. Flying fighters was thirty-three years of his Air Force career, including flying F-4s, F-15s, and later the B-2 bomber. Bob attained the rank of Colonel and Commander of the air base in Kirkuk, Iraq. Some of Bob's most vivid memories were while he was stationed at Kirkuk. Listen as Bob shares his story and rise through the ranks of the Air Force, and what it was like to be a base commander at an air base in Iraq during the war, and the tough transition from military to retirement.