Jerry Angus is used to controlling multimillion-dollar equipment. But even a seasoned leader would feel a little nervous about his upcoming mission to Germany.
Angus, a major in the Air National Guard, will lead 180 Utah Guard troops to the European country later this month. Behind him will be 16 airplanes filled with more than $200 million in high-tech equipment. Ahead of him will be high-ranking military leaders anxious to see how his unit performs."There's a lot at stake here, a lot of risk," says Angus, who commands the 106th Air Control Squadron, the first Guard unit in America to switch to remote, computerized air traffic-control systems.
His contingent will also be the first to take the mobile systems into Europe.
Life as a military type wasn't so interesting for Angus in the beginning. His first stint in the U.S. Air Force grounded him at a base in Oklahoma. For five years, he controlled air traffic there but was never assigned off base.
"I had to leave the Air Force just to get out of Oklahoma," he says jokingly of his decision to leave active duty 10 years ago.
After resigning, he and his wife began their search for "snow and a good place to raise a family" and found West Jordan. Not long after moving, he was hired at Hill Air Force Base as a control officer for the Utah Test and Training Range.
There he helped perfect the Tomahawk cruise missile that would eventually save hundreds of American lives in Desert Storm.
"I remember thinking while I watched CNN's tape of the Tomahawk launches that I'd seen that hundreds of times before here in Utah. . . . It was good to think that I had been part of the system that was keeping U.S. troops off the front lines."
Angus likens his management style to the chief executive officer of a corporation, hoping to help his unit run more efficiently. "My goal is to cut losses, to run it like a good business would run," he says. His college degree from the University of Wisconsin is in business administration.
When not in control at work, Angus likes to be on the golf course, where, he says, his military rank means little to the golf ball. "I'd love to master that game, it's so frustrating." He says he'd like to consistently shoot 18 holes in less than 80 strokes.