Eyes On The Cape - From A.F. Now #146

Tom writes:
A little background: During the two-month period in the summer of 1980, when I was serving as the interim Commander, I was thinking that those "Air Force Now" films showed all parts of the Air Force EXCEPT the little radar sites like North Truro AFS. So, I called up the "Air Force Now" office at Norton AFB, and asked them why. The guy I spoke to answered to the effect, "Well, quite frankly, we have never heard of North Truro or the other small radar sites." So, I told him a little bit about who we were, and what we did, and where we were located. When I told him we were out on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, he asked if our site was anywhere close to the PAVE PAWS site at Cape Cod AFS. I told him "yes, very close," and then he said that they already had plans to visit and film the PAVE PAWS site in the near future. So he said maybe they could visit both sites at the same time. So, as you now know, they did just that. When they showed up in the early summer (I think it was) of 1981, no one wanted to speak on tape. So, I was the only one willing to do any narration. Also, they shot a lot more film than they used, including part of a softball game and also a pair of humpback whales up close from when we went out in a boat to get some shots of the site from the ocean. [I did get some good close-ups of the whales {a cow and her calf} with my own camera.]

One side note: When the Public Affairs folks at HQ 21st AD got wind that the "Air Force Now" film crew was coming to North Truro AFS, someone called me up and demanded to know why I didn`t go through them. The person claimed that all such `requests` had to go through channels. In the course of the conversation, he or she stated that they would have disapproved any such request, because "they had other 21st AD radar squadrons that were much more deserving"! I did not then say what I really wanted to say. But I did reply with words to the effect, "Well, then it`s a good thing I didn`t go through you!" The person mumbled something and hung up. I didn`t hear any more about it. [I suppose there was an important lesson to be learned: if you want to get something done, do NOT go through headquarters.]