Tuesday

We'll make this a little Veteran's Day addition to the blog.  Some random thoughts from my days of active duty.

2 used an old photo of me in my USAF ROTC dress blues on Twitter today that would have been taken at Notre Dame in May 1971.  In a separate on-campus ceremony before graduation, I received my 2nd Lieutenant commission into the AF.  Not sure if I have previously shared this photo which would have been taken minutes later when I turned the camera on Mother and Daddy and my St. Mary's friend.  Mother would have been 63 then, and Daddy just 61.  They looked pretty damn good, eh?

My active duty began around July1st when I reported to my first duty station, Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.  They had me in a 12-week training school to be a Vehicle Transportation Officer.  It was all classroom training with lots of familiarization with manuals on policies and procedures.  We never so much as lifted the hood on a jeep.  It was hot and smelly in Wichita Falls.  I made one trip back to Iowa for a wedding near Iowa City...driving all night after Friday class to get there...and all day Sunday to get back after a long night Saturday.

Following that class, I drove to Dover, Delaware for my first permanent assignment.  For the first year there, I ran a shift on the flightline, loading and unloading cargo jets.   That first year was tough duty as it was six days on, two days off, and rotate shifts each week...days, then swings, then graves.  Your body never got used to the time.  Viet Nam was winding down, but there were still casualties...all of which came through Dover.

I made at least two driving trips back to ND that first year for games.   And I drove home at Thanksgiving to pick up that Datsun 240-Z which was my first new car.  $3,900.  I wrecked it before leaving Iowa.  Never told Phil and Margaret about that one.  I lived in the base BOQ (Bachelor Officer's Quarters) for the first few weeks, then to an apartment with another Lieutenant on a different shift.  Almost never saw him.  My junior and senior year college roommate was working for the FDIC in Washington, DC, and I made several trips in to see him as well.

My second year at Dover was in the role of Motor Pool Officer.  It was great duty.  8-5 Monday-Friday.  There was a civilian working as my "assistant", but he had been doing it for years, and my position was largely unnecessary.  I spent lots of time in DC, took a few other trips, switched roommates with another guy who also had regular hours, and life was pretty suite.  I also had my first trip to Europe...two weeks of temporary duty at a base in Germany.  Not much travel, but I did get in for a few beers.  There was another accident with the 240-Z, this one on base when a guy just pulled out and slammed me on the passenger side.  It took 2-3 months to fix the damage. 

Orders for Korea came at the end of my second year in Delaware.  I really don't remember much about the time frame, but I think I drove to Iowa in July/August, and then flew to SF for a few days of R&R before the USAF charter to Korea from Travis AFB outside of SF. I spent time that week with Uncle Phil and Aunt Margaret, but I think I stayed with another college buddy from ND who was working for Phil at B of A.  We did some partying, including with one of Aunt Margaret's divorcee friends (which didn't sit so well with my sister), and I think I had to get some emergency dental repairs for a front tooth that popped off a retainer...bad timing as I recall.

The flight to Korea was a 24-hour exercise.  I read Winds of War. The final leg of the journey was a bus trip from Seoul to Kunsan AFB, a remote outpost on the Yellow Sea.  I was the Base Vehicle Maintenance Officer.  I couldn't change a spark plug.  But if it didn't fly, I had a shop that had to fix it.  I had 30-40 Korean Nationals working for me in addition to at least that same number of enlisted guys.  It wasn't the worst duty, but it was remote Korea.

A Top Ten list of the Korea assignment:

1.  Bought my first decent stereo equipment.  It all came back to the USA with me.  The speakers at srh4's are part of the original package.
2.  Bought my first bike, a Bridgestone, I think.  Never rode it there.
3.  Lived in the BOQ with 35-40 other young officers.  Had daily maid service.  Suite.
4.  Owned a motorcycle for about a week.  Went down once and immediately sold it.
5.  Wrote a daily newsletter for my troops.  Called it the Pink Sheet.  I was blogging even then.
6.  Drank a lot of beer.  Played a lot of cards.  Blackjack (kinda like).
7.  It was an F-4 fighter base that had two planes on alert 24-7, loaded with nukes.  The runways, which were serviced by my maintenance plows and heavy equipment, were not allowed to go down.
8.  Couldn't wait to get back to the US of A.
9.  Had orders to Bolling AFB outside DC for my next assignment.  It was where I had chosen to go, but I asked for, and received, my "early out" papers before leaving.  I was discharged at Travis when I returned to the States.
10.  I'm leaving out a few things.

Pretty sure that there is no new news here.  But I enjoyed the exercise of remembering some of these things.

Hope it is a good day in your neighborhood.  Thanks for the good wishes.

BCOT