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Twin air traffic controllers break odds, get stationed together

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Alexandria Mosness
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  It's not too unusual to be stationed with someone you know or are even related to. It is out there to be stationed in the same career with your identical twin.

Airman 1st Class Joseph K. Thomas and Airman 1st Class James K. Thomas, are both air traffic controllers working for the 20th Operation Support Squadron. Joseph works in the tower and James works in radar approach control.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, James two minutes before Joseph, the duo claims Charleston, S.C., as home.

"Our dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot," said Joseph.

It did not surprise their family when they decided to join the Air Force right after high school, said Joseph. The whole family except one sibling is in the Air Force, and their dad retired as a technical sergeant.

"We picked air traffic controllers because it could be something useful if we ever decide to get out of the military," Joseph said.

The biggest difference between their jobs is the distance which they deal with aircraft.

"In RAPCON, we work with aircraft that are approximately 60 miles out, and the tower deals with aircraft that are within 10 miles of the base," said James.

Joseph and James thought joining the Air Force would put them on separate paths, but this was far from what happened.
"We both went to basic military training at the same time, and were somehow put in the same flight," said Joseph. "We did pretty well in BMT, so there was never getting in trouble for my brother's mistakes. Our training instructor actually liked us because we excelled in physical training."

The physical training is still something both brothers succeed in. They actually compete with each other to see who gets the highest score on the fitness assessment.

At the current time, Joseph is in the lead with a 99.9 percent, while James has a 99.8 percent, according to Joseph.

The two siblings have had friendly sibling rivalry their whole lives.
"We would do a lot of the same sports," Joseph said. "Our main sport was wrestling. Of course, we wrestled in the same weight category, and there would be times where we would have to compete with each other. However, for the state competition, one of us would bump up into a different weight category and one would bump down. So, we each won state championships."

After BMT, the brothers knew they would go to the same technical school, but thought they would get different bases.

"Shaw was at the top of my list," Joseph said. "James wanted to go overseas. My orders were changed at the last minute, and I ended up here with my brother."

Either twin thought they would be stationed together, or especially still living together.

"When we joined the Air Force, we expected to be apart from each other, but now my brother is my suite mate," exclaimed Joseph. "So, not much has changed since we joined the military. We still live together, but now we wake up and go to work each morning."

"Alright, I didn't know being together was going to go this far," James joked.
It wasn't odd territory for the brothers to be stationed together, but their squadron did get a kick out of it.

"It was a big deal," Joseph added. "We quickly became known as RAPCON twin and Tower twin."

"There is also an ongoing squadron joke," said Joseph. "In air traffic control, you either work RAPCON or the tower. You generally get rated in one or the other, not both, until you reach a higher rank. It is a big deal to be rated in both. When I am having a bad day or acting different, they will joke and say dual rated, meaning we switch spots, so we can get that dual rating."

But that is not the case, the brothers have not actually pulled the twin switch, said Joseph.

As for those twin myths, the brothers said they do not have psychic ability, nor do they feel each other's pain.

"We get a lot of twin questions," Joseph said while laughing. "The best one has to be, 'Is that your brother?'"

Members of our squadron will sometimes get us mixed up, and we get called each other's names a lot, said James.

"The thing that happens a lot is when someone that knows Joseph comes up and starts a conversation with me or vice versa," James said. "A lot of the time, we will just go with it because it easier than explaining the whole twin thing."

While most people can't tell the pair a part, their mother is one who has it down.

"It is nothing specific," said Joseph. "She just knows. She is our mom."

It is hard for others to tell us apart because they say our personalities are a lot alike as well, he added.

The twins don't have many things that are different about them beside sport preference; Joseph likes soccer and James prefers baseball. But, they both look up to the same person, for different reasons.

"My dad is who I look up to," James said. "He worked hard to raise a family of five kids, and always provided for my family. He steered me on this path."

"Growing up, I've always had a running joke with my father that I was going to outrank him one day. I always knew that I would follow in his footsteps," Joseph said.

Both Airmen plan on getting their education while in and work hard to get rated in their respective jobs.

As both push to succeed, they can rest knowing they have each other's back even while working.

"One of the craziest things is when the tower and the RAPCON coordinate with each other, and we will have to talk to each other. It is like I'm talking to myself," said James.

It's nice having a familiar voice on the other end.