Military Years
1955 - 1975

 June 29, 1955 I left home to become a member of the United States
Air Force. My Father's parting words were, as I said on the last page, "Make something of yourself."  I have never forgotten those words and have always tried to live up to them, even today.  He also advised me to retire as soon as possible and then to move on to another "career."  Build toward being able to retire as soon as possible.  I have followed that advice and now receive three retirement checks a month.  Not only that but should something happen to me my wife is protected with a good income for the rest of her life.

That was my first time away from home. A lot of us left that day by troop train for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The trip took three days and all I can remember is trying to sleep on a wooden bench and the heat. July in Texas is hot, let no tell you anything different. That is why they eat those hot peppers, so the inside is as hot as the outside.

Basic training lasted 12 weeks. We had six weeks of military drill
and education followed by five weeks of "bivwac", living in a pup tent out in the Texas desert, and learning how to survive as a military unit in the field. The last week was devoted to finding a technical school to attend and getting orders to travel. I had taken a test when I first got to Texas and that revealed that I had an aptitude for almost anything. The first thing I was offered was to be a medical technician in Air Research and Development. I had no idea what that was. When  asked they showed me films of guys riding on rocket sleds and in centrifuges, being studied for research. Sorry, not for me, heck I hated the Ferris wheel at that time. The same tests also showed I had some training as a draftsman in high school. Since I didn't want to be the medic it was no technical school for me, I was going to be a bypass specialist, and assigned to Cambria Air Force Station in California. Hmmm, find that place on the map if you can.

After 10 days at home in Gary, Indiana I left for California. The USAF had given me an airplane ticket for San Francisco. When I got there the next task was to find Cambria AFS. Since I had no idea where it could be I decided to stop at the local post office. I hailed a cab and off we went from South San Francisco into San Francisco on Market Street. The clerk was a bit surprised when I told him to pretend I was a package to be delivered and I needed the address. He grinned and pulled out a book, we looked and sure enough there was a Cambria listed under Cambria Pines by the Sea. Between us we decided I needed to take a bus to San Luis Obispo. That was on Highway 101, half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles and right on the ocean.

After the longest bus ride in the world, stopping at all sorts of places, the bus finally arrived in San Luis Obispo. I asked the clerk for a ticket to Cambria AFS and found out buses didn't go there. He did give me a phone number and I called. The party on the other line said he would send a car to get me, that I had indeed found the right place. I made myself comfortable and waited.

An hour later an Air Force pickup truck pulled up and stopped. The driver helped me load my gear into the truck and we left for Cambria AFS. That is when I found out the name of the town really is Cambria Pines by the Sea. After an hour of driving, over 36 miles with 85 curves in Highway 1, we finally arrived at the Air Force Station. It was a radar station directly on the coast that had 186 men assigned to it. The station had five barracks buildings, one dining hall, a small dry good store called the exchange, the headquarters building, and the operations building. Oh yes there was an NCO Club. No Airman's Lounge at all!  But it was in California and I was getting a paycheck once every two weeks.

As you can imagine there wasn't much to do in the evenings except go down to the Day Room in the barracks and listen to music and read. I met some nice guys soon enough and they invited me to go roller skating in Pismo Beach. Heck anything for some excitement. Pismo Beach is 13 miles south of San Luis Obispo so it is quite a drive.  As luck would have it I did know how to skate a little bit. And guess what GIRLS!!!!! That is where I met my wife, Dorothy, best known as Dot. I skated there almost every night and eventually worked as the Floor Manager. No pay, just a fancy shirt to wear and free skating.

While working as a Draftsman - Graphics Presentation I had
assignments to:

Cambria AFS, Cambria, California Oct 55 - Jun 58
My job was to build and maintain the aircraft movement plotting boards and status boards.  I am sure you have seen them on television (you know the monitor without the keyboard).  You normally see the plotting boards in the submarine movies with the navy enlisted man in the back writing backwards to tell the commander where the enemy (or the giant octopus) is located. Well, for aircraft these plotting boards are the size of the wall of a two story building. Mine was a color map that covered the central coast of California.

Santa Rosa Island, California Jun 58 - Dec 59
The job here was essentially the same thing except the area was much larger. The island sits in the Santa Barbara Channel and the area covered by this station was all aircraft traffic from the tip of Baja California to the northern reaches of Alaska. This station was called the Master Direction Center for the West Coast. Now it is closed and it is all handled by computers.

Truax Field, Madison, Wisconsin Dec 59 - Feb 63
This job had me assigned to a graphics presentation unit within the comptroller shop.  We were responsible for producing all of the graphic used on the base and this was an Air Division Headquarters. We did everything from charts and maps to overhead projection slides, 35mm slides, and in some cases movies. Anything that needed told by pictures was our responsibility. In the same building was a huge computer used for finance and accounting. I was fascinated with the bread boards that the technicians would wire and rewire for each and every job. And the card sorter. Wow, what a racket that made. My introduction to computers in 1959.

Ent AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado Feb 63 - Feb 66
Again this job entailed all forms of graphic presentation. I was working with a statistical analysis group who tracked aircraft performance throughout the Air Defense Command. Again, a very interesting job with much to learn. While there I had an opportunity to retrain and chose to go into a new career field in the military, called Nondestructive Inspection. After 12 weeks of training at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois I was reclassified as a NDE Specialist.

This new field trained me to work as a Nondestructive Inspection Specialist using: Optical Methods; Liquid Penetrants; Magnetic Particles; Electrical Eddy Currents; Ultrasonic Sound; and Industrial X-rays.

Assignments included:
Tyndall AFB, Panama City, Florida Feb 66 - Jun 68
Back to Rantoul AFB as an Instructor and Courses Supervisor Jun 68 - Jun 71
Kadena AFB, Okinawa, Japan Jun 71 - Jun 74
Seven Southeast Asia Forward Locations.

While at Kadena AFB I was selected by the Commander to be the Squadron's First Sergeant. After some correspondence training I moved into the position and became the senior enlisted advisor to the Commander. There were other responsibilities that accompanied this assignment that I found extremely challenging. Most of my time was spent combating the drug traffic and use in the Squadron. In my three years I handled 56 drug cases, one gang rape, and numerous other felonies and misdemeanors. I lost only one case in court. For my efforts I was commended by the Government of Japan, specifically a Detective Hega of the local police. Needless to say I am proud of that record and have some strong opinions on the use of drugs. After a little over three years in this position I was reassigned to the states at El Centro NAF, El Centro, California. Jun 74 - Sep 75

El Centro Naval Air Facility had an Air Force parachute test organization that was detached from Edwards AFB and they were doing some really interesting things like dropping a Minuteman Missile from a C5 aircraft and launching it while it was still in the air. We also dropped a US Army tank from an aircraft. The parachute didn't work to well the first time. Wow the dust and little pieces left when it hit the ground!! During this assignment I was sent to the Senior NCO Academy in Georgia.  While there I received orders to return to the Far East. With three teenaged kids I didn't feel it would be the wisest thing to do to leave them with only their mother. And it would not be fair to her, so I finished my Air Force career at El Centro and retired with 20 years 2 months and 2 days. And surprise of surprises, the medic job I was offered was in Air Research and Development, so was the parachute testing organization.
Small world isn't it.