My Proudest Memory in the Air Force

I guess you might say that I am the product of extremely good luck. I was a sophomore at Yale University. I had played football and wrestled and made many friends, but I was unsure of the direction I wanted my life to take. So I had a discussion with the dean of my college and decided to take a gap year to explore my options. This was 1965. Later in the year President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the war in Vietnam and increased the draft. If I dropped out of school, I would lose my 2-S draft deferment.
I visited the Army, Marine and Air Force recruiters to see what each had to offer. Although my grandfather had been in the Navy in World War I and encouraged me to join the Navy, I didn’t want to be stuck at sea for six months at a time. (I remembered a line from that old song: “I joined the Navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.”)
When I was at the Air Force recruiter’s office, he administered the AQE and I scored Mechanical – 85, General-95, Administrative-95 and Electrical-95. He then told me that with those scores I could have my pick of career fields. I opted to enlist in the Air Force. He told me I would go to Lackland AFB for basic training and gave me a brochure with a map of the base showing the BX and the swimming pools, etc. He also said that I needed to report to the induction center on Whitehall Street in New York City for my physical and enlistment the following Monday.
I then went home and told my parents. My mom was aghast. She said it was not too late to return to school and she begged me to return. Then she threatened me that if I didn’t return to school now, they would not help me financially later. Finally, she broke down and cried. Her father had served in World War I, her husband (my dad) and her brothers had served in World War II, other members of her family had served during the Korean War and now her son would be in the service during Vietnam while other families missed service completely. It wasn’t fair.
My dad gave me three pieces of advice before I departed: 1. Don’t volunteer. As an example, the TI (Training Instructor) might ask if anyone knows how to whistle. If you raise your hand, he might say “Great. Whistle “Dixie” while you’re cleaning the latrine.” 2. If you want to meet a nice girl, go to church. 3. You can be as happy as you want or as miserable as you want. It’s all a matter of attitude. Make the best of your situation. Even if you are on a remote tour, take a correspondence course or work on personal improvement at the gym. Find something.
Since I didn’t have to report until Monday, in my naiveté, I thought I would have the weekend to scout the base out and get the lay of the land, so I packed my bags (including my swim suit) and enlisted at Whitehall Street where they gave me my physical, had me sign some papers and sent me on my way to Lackland Air Force Base. What a surprise I received when I arrived. They did not give me the weekend to reconnoiter. No one told me I would begin basic the instant I arrived!
For some unknown (to me) reason, I was appointed the squad leader. I was a lean 165 lbs. and in pretty good shape. I was shocked at how many recruits could not even do one sit-up or one pushup, but in four weeks, we were all moving along fine. About halfway through basic training, we were sent to an office to select our career fields. I had no clue what was available or what to choose, so someone selected it for me. I filled out some papers and a security questionnaire and went back to basic training. Toward the end of basic, we had to run the obstacle course. It was a piece of cake for me. (I now tell my friends from other branches of the service that we were supposed to run it a second time, but it rained.) We also had to fire a rifle (M-1 Garand) for qualification. (We were told that all M-16s were being sent to the troops in Vietnam.)
Finally graduation day arrived and we were given a day pass to go into San Antonio where most of us visited the Alamo and Brackenridge Park. We went from Airman Basic to Airman Third Class and sewed on our first stripe. A number of the guys received their orders and proceeded to their next assignment or tech school. I was still awaiting my assignment while they were working on my security clearance. Finally I received my orders to Goodfellow AFB and the 6941st School Squadron in San Angelo, Texas. When I called my dad to let him know, he laughed. That was his last permanent duty station when World War II ended.
My first Sunday, I hitched a ride into San Angelo and attended a service at the First Methodist Church on the corner of Beauregard and Oaks. After the service, a family came up to me and asked me if I was stationed at Goodfellow AFB. When I said that I was, they invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. I became involved with the youth group there and lo and behold, my dad was right. I met a lot of nice girls there.
While I was going through tech school, I scored the highest that had ever been scored in my course and was awarded Student of the Month, other awards and was feted at a luncheon by the Rotary Club of San Angelo, as well.
From Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, I was sent on a three-year tour to Detachment 2, 6910 Security Wing at Camp Pieri in the Taunus Mountains overlooking the City of Wiesbaden, Germany, home of Lindsay Air Station which was Headquarters United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) at that time and Wiesbaden Air Base. While there, I was encouraged to play football for the Wiesbaden Flyers which became USAFE Champions that year.
I was also a USAFE Champion wrestler.
In the meantime, my unit was going on a number of Temporary Duty Assignments (TDY) and I was being left behind. I asked why I was not being considered for the assignments and was told because of my football and wrestling activities. In order to be considered for TDY in the future, I quit sports and then spent more time on TDY than at Camp Pieri.
Also, in order to make myself indispensable to the unit, I obtained my International Driver’s License and my Tractor-Trailer License. As a result of my performance at Camp Pieri and on the many TDY’s I was assigned, I was promoted to E-5, Staff Sergeant in under four years. I was told that was quite rare in the Air Force at that time.
Many years later, as my hearing deteriorated, I went to an ENT who told me that my hearing loss was consistent with my duties in the Air Force, so I applied for hearing aids at the VA. My application was denied, so I purchased them out of my pocket. When these hearing aids wore out, I decided to appeal my determination and sent for my records from the VA. After the records arrived some 50 years after I had separated from active duty, as I was going through the records, I was able to read my performance reviews which indicated how my superiors and my fellow airmen felt about my Air Force service and which I was able to show my daughters and grandsons. That was my proudest moment.