TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Nearly 20 children from the Taunton Family Children's Home toured the base to learn more about the service and experienced day-to-day Air Force operations March 29.

"[The children] are on spring break, and I am sure they don't get a chance to put hands on aircraft every day," said Maj. Joseph Michaelson, 53rd Weapons Evaluations Group E-9 pilot and tour organizer. "This was a win/win as they had fun. The Air Force story was told to children who are making decisions about what to do with their future."

The Taunton Family Children's Homes, which has been featured as part of Oprah's Angel Network, is a privately owned place  for homeless children from surrounding communities according to its Web site, www.tauntonhome.org.

The tour participants, ranging in ages from five through 15, visited an 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron's 120-foot drone recovery vessel first. The kids climbed onto the Air Force's only boat fleet about 8 a.m. on that morning.

"The Air Force is all about opportunities you are not going to get every day," Major Michaelson said.

Where else are you going to get to board a boat, ride in an F-15 simulator and touch an F-4 Phantom II all on a Monday morning, the major asked.

After touring the vessel and learning about the mission of sub-scale drones, the group headed over to "Death Row" to see the full-scale drones. Death Row, the major explained, is named for the remotely piloted old F-4s that get shot down during a Weapon System Evaluation Program mission.

After a minor detour to a Tyndall fire substation, the children lined the flight line as one of the F-4s flew overhead. The earplugs, passed out for safety reasons, were quickly collected as "souvenirs."

"I liked seeing the plane take off," said Ireland Hamm, 11.

The group spilt up for the remainder of the tour. As one group rode in F-15 simulators with mock dogfights, the others toured a static F-22 Raptor, a heritage F-4 Phantom II aircraft and one of the two E-9s in the Air Force's inventory.

The simulator rides ranked high among the children's favorite activities for the day.
"I liked flying airplanes and shooting," said James Kenndell, 10, who had never visited an Air Force base before. "It was awesome."

After completing their simulator dogfights, the kids received certificates for their first attempts at being pilots.

"You got to interact [in the simulator], and I did not expect that," said Alexa Allison, a 9th grader who plans to become a nurse. "It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it."

The tour was well worth the effort, said Major Michaelson.

"I think everyone had a good time today. It sure is fun watching the kids get excited about the missions here at Tyndall," Major Michaelson said.