farragutpress

From toys to special mentor, combat tests

Town’s own USAF fighter pilot, Lt. Col. Watson, with family, friends celebrating 21+ years service

February 26, 2025 by Alan Sloan

Flying model airplanes fascinated Ryan Watson as a child.

That early passion, which helped point Lt. Col. Ryan “Bolt” Watson in the direction of becoming a combat veteran fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force — four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq in the late 2000s — had two other key elements making up this Farragut resident’s character.

He would develop a special bond with now retired USAF Col. Rick Kuhlman, the man who became Watson’s most cherished military mentor as a University of Tennessee Air Force ROTC volunteer instructor. That bond began in 1999.

They cemented their relationship thanks to another, and even more important, mutual passion: living as devoted Christians.

How to best cement their military and Christian bonds?

“When you graduate from pilot training, you actually break one set of pilot wings (insignia), and you give one part or half of the wings to someone else,” Kuhlman said. “The ceremony is called ‘the Breaking of the Wings.’

“And the tradition is they will be joined again in eternity,” the retired colonel added. “And so Ryan gave me half of his wings, or the half that was broken, and it’s in my house on my wall in my family room.”

Celebration, humility

Kuhlman was among roughly 60 family members, friends and military colleagues on hand as Watson retired from the military late last month after roughly 21-and-a-half years of service.

“I was active duty for 15 years, and I was in the Air (Force) Reserves for two years,” the new retiree said, before his final service years as a 134th Operations Squadron refueling pilot at McGhee Tyson Tennessee Air National Guard Base, which is alongside the airport in Alcoa,

Watson’s final TnANG flight found his wife, former USAF 2nd Lt. Emily Watson, and their children — Asher, 16; Micaiah, 15; Canaan, 13; and Judah, 11 — among those viewing the emotional landing, which came at the base on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 29.

“Overwhelmed, I would say,” the 43-year-old said about his emotions roughly 30 minutes after landing during an on-base celebration gathering.

“When I landed I didn’t think it was going to be as hard as it is,” Watson added. “Very emotional, just thinking about all the people who have been there for me, who have supported me to get me to this point.

“I really enjoyed the brotherhood that is the military — I’m definitely going to miss that part of it.”

However, “If it wasn’t for all of them, I wouldn’t be here,” said Watson, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in TnANG after attaining the rank of major as a fighter pilot.

“It’s 21-and-a-half years, and I get all the attention today,” he added. “But because of them is the reason why I’m here. If I didn’t have all their support, then it wouldn’t have been a successful 21-and-a-half years, that’s for sure.”

“Humility is key,” Kuhlman said about Watson. “He’s very good at what he does, but he doesn’t say anything about it. You just see it in the way he is.

“He’s a wonderful father and a very devoted husband,” the retired colonel added.

Moreover, “he was a leader, and I really saw that in him,” Kuhlman said. “And I wanted to encourage him to step out and lead, which he did. And he became the wing cadet commander and did a really good job at that, when he was in the Air Force ROTC.

“And then I went down to his graduation from pilot training, which was down at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas,” he added. “… He came to my retirement, which was in 2003.”

Watson will become a full-time passenger jet pilot for Delta Airlines, based out of Atlanta, which he’s been doing part-time since 2015.

Early passion, influence

Looking back on his earliest years of influence on his flying passion, “I’d say primarily it was my grandfather,” Watson, growing up in Hendersonville, said about Bill Watson. “He passed away right as I graduated college. But growing up, he flew model airplanes. He built them himself.

“And so as a kid, I would help him build model airplanes, and we’d go out and fly them,” the retiree added. “Then he would take me to air shows in Smyrna, and we’d watch all the airplanes and go crawl around all the airplanes.

About flying, “I thought, ‘wow, that would be really fun, I would love to do that.’ And, oh, by the way, serve my country at the same time.”

ROTC, overall mentor

After graduating from Beech High School in 1999, Watson said upon first “showing up to the University of Tennessee,” he recalled asking, “‘you can join the ROTC and maybe fly for the Air Force?’”

“I met Ryan when he came to the University of Tennessee,” Kuhlman said. “I worked with Air Force ROTC as a volunteer, and I was still in the Air Force Reserve, and I was stationed down at Dobbins Air Force Base, our Air Reserve base in Marrieta, Georgia.

“And so I would take the cadets through the obstacle course, or confidence course, down there at Dobbins Air Force Base. And Ryan was part of that contingent, as was his future wife, Emily. So both of them were part of the ROTC unit that came down there.”

“He was my mentor when I was going through ROTC, always was very encouraging, very supportive,” Watson said of Kuhlman, adding that becoming a pilot “is something he never got to experience.”

Kuhlman downplayed his influence on Watson’s career, adding “he already had all the ingredients to be successful, and I was just one of the people that recognized that and wanted to remind Ryan that was who he is and that he had those qualities.”

There’s also a civilian connection. “Then I had a business that was on the (Cumberland) Strip (on the UT campus),” Kuhlman said. “So I would see a lot of the cadets often, and I would see Ryan. … And then he was also involved in an ROTC Bible study that met once a week.

“He was very serious about his faith.”

Final thoughts

Also speaking highly of Watson were two of his friends.

“I’ve known Ryan for about six years now; he’s a great guy,” said Jesse Simonian, owner of CrossFit 865 in Lenoir City, where Watson often works out. “I’m happy for him and this accomplishment.”

“We’re super proud of Ryan and his whole family,” Farragut Alderman Drew Burnette said. “It was just special for us to get out to the base here and get to honor him on his final flight into retirement.”

In addition to Watson’s parents and step-parents, also attending the celebration was his his 97-year-old grandfather-in-law, Retired U.S. Army Col. Hank Miller, a World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veteran who also lives in Farragut.