WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. -- Seven thousand five hundred hours is 312 and a half days. It’s also a record that will never be beaten. With the clock inching toward midnight on the divestiture of the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, there are no pilots close enough in hours behind the “Warthog’s” stick to even come close to the bar set by Lt. Col. John “Karl” Marks.
Since Marks retired August 23, 2024, in a ceremony held in the 5-Bay maintenance hangar on Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., his name will go down in history as the highest-time A-10 pilot ever.
Then-1st Lt. Marks flew the A-10 in Operation DESERT STORM in 1991 and, with his flight lead Capt. Eric “Fish” Solomonson, destroyed 23 Iraqi tanks over three missions on the same day. Since then, he’s deployed 12 more times, responding to 48 troops-in-contact situations over 358 combat sorties.
During his 1161 combat hours, Marks expended 39,340 rounds of 30mm ammunition, dropped nearly 350 bombs, and fired 59 Maverick missiles.
Outside of combat, Marks fired another 141,500 rounds, bringing his total to 180,840 30mm rounds.
Marks’s prowess in battle earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, 18 Air Medals, and 11 Aerial Achievement Medals, among many other citations and awards.
“I’m glad he’s on our side,” said Col. Mike Leonas, the 442d Fighter Wing Commander. “I wouldn’t want to fight him.”
It’s obvious Marks would have preferred at least one more combat deployment.
Retired Major General Brian Borgen, the presiding official, recounted a story from 2002 when Borgen was chosen to deploy as part of a group of four to Afghanistan, but Marks was not. Marks confronted Borgen in the hallway.
“He’s like ‘WTF? Why am I not going?’ “ Borgen said. “And he was serious. He was angry at me.”
Marks said he considers it a compliment that Borgen often told him “Karl, we didn’t hire you for your personality.”
Lt. Col. “Karl” Marks leaves a legacy bigger than just total hours in the A-10 and rounds expended, though. Of his 7500 hours, nearly a third – 2480 – were spent in an instructor pilot role, and 598 were evaluator hours, ensuring younger pilots had the training and met the qualifications they needed to go to war – and more importantly, to come back.
Moreover, the number people attending the ceremony spoke to the number of lives Marks touched, and the number of lives he saved, during his 37-year career. Past and present A-10 pilots of all ranks joined family and civilian friends, and even joint terminal attack controllers all the way from Germany to celebrate the culmination of nearly four decades of distinguished service.