contact me at e mail address. Living in Excelsior, MN 55331
952 831 5235.

Hi I served on 6 Ac&w sites in my 10 yrs in the Air Force as a Wire Maint guy 36250 then got out and went into the Army Nat Grd,retired as a E-6 S/Sgt.777th 613th det 33 613th det 42 694th & 902nd McChord A.F.B.

Gentlemen; the memories just keep coming back to me.Anyone remember "GIG SLIPS?" I was in the 3755th Tech School Squadron at Sheppard AFB,They wasnt stricked ,they gave us HELL. all through school,they pulled Gig Slips like they was stealing Candy.I dont remember any recourse from all this , but I grew tired of folding slips on a daily basis. Dale.

A friend of mine in Germany has run across a mug with "Wasserkuppe A.F.S. Germany July 66" on it. Does anyone know the squadron and if there is any significance to the date?
Gene

For: Benjamin Askey

Rest assured that the fishing is still just as good and pristine at Sparrevohn as it has always been. Still frozen at this time of year though, just left last week...

Jim

For Gene Hellickson,

Wasserkuppe was the 616th AC&WS--I checked all 412L documents that I have and could find no relevant information for July 66 as a "special" date. Wasserkuppe was located 5 miles from East Germany.

I have my basic training picture (from 1964) hanging on the wall in our family room. My oldest daughter had it framed for me for Christmas a few years ago. Hanging right next to it is my youngest daughter's basic training picture (from 1998). Some difference! Black and white to color, fatigues to BDUs, and all men to men and women. My daughter is kneeling in the front row trying to look mean. I have looked at the web site and do not see this picture. I should look into scanning it and contibuting a copy. I also have a picture of my Keesler basic electronics class (16124) hanging in my home office. Anyone else have that picture?

1970-74 USAF radar tech... Baudette,Mn.- Sparrevohn,Ak. North Truro.Mass. Learned to ski in Alaska. I wish I still had pics I took in alaska. Dolly varden trout,Grayling

I don't remember either, John. I think they gave them to us at Lackland in 1954...but I'm not sure. Once again, here is the URL to send in your picture if you have one. There are pictures from Sampson and Parks as well.

http://www.bmtflightphotos.af.mil/

So dig through those old brown boxes and see if you can find it.Your fellow airmen will appreciate it.

So far I've talked to three guys who are ex-air force, I gave them the site info any later they informed me that they also found no pictures.John is right on,I dont remember having pictures taken but thats been 43 years ago.I dont remember what my wife tells me to do.Over all this site has it hands down on the rest. Dale.

Every Flight got a picture. I lost mine years ago, probably with my former wife. And, no it was NOT paid for it was free and Rolled up in your 'Blue Tube' when you left Lackland. Any one remember the Blue Tube that was YOUR PAY RECORD back in the days?

Trying to locate anyone stationed at the 904th AC&W squadron
located in Winslow, Arizona during the 50's and 60's

Regarding the basic training photos....Chances of finding the photo of any given flight are fairly slim. For example, in 1961, it appears the AF processed around 1800 basic training flights through Lackland. For 1961 (the year I went through basic) less than 60 photos are posted. I suspect the same percentage of photos posted versus photos taken holds true for other years as well. I can remember having a group photo taken. I can't remember if they were given to us or we were required to buy them.

I've looked at the bmtflightphoto-site and amazed. I'm not in it I dont think. I know the time I was there and looked at all the Pictures ,no luck. Its really cool to see all Guys and the uniforms and how theyve changed. Theres another site called " Together we served" Has a lot of info on the people who served , and you complete a page on yourself for others to see. COOL. GO BLUE! Dale

Recently I was approved for a membership to the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). This was the result of several years research that traces my ancestory to 1760 when my great, great, great, great grandfather Paul Wertz (7 generations) settled in Bedford County, Pa from Germany. SAR requires that all generations and military service be fully documented. Paul Wertz's gravesite is located about 300 yards from the house on the Wertz farm that I was born in. The Daughers of the American Revolution (DAR), a sister organization, maintains the gravesite.

I served from June 58 to June 62 at Naha ADCC, 623rd (Miyako),
Ellsworth AFB (740th), Otis AFB (960th AEW & C)

Ted,

Check out website http://www.bmtflightphotos.af.mil/ for BMT photos. Your picture may be there.

Cheers,
Don Westphal
Raleigh

Looking for anyone who might have gone thru Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB, TX in 3704th BMTS, Flight 580. Timeframe of 20 May 55 thru Sept 1955. Misplaced photograph of this flight and sure would like to have a copy of it. TI was A/2C Butler,

Hi to All, stationed at 640th 59-64 and 65-66, radar maintenance, like to hear from any there then, Carson Harris

Looking for people who were at the 654th Radar Sq. at NAS Brunswick, Me from 62 thru 65. Also looking for radar maintenance techs who were at the 626th AC&W Sq at Fire Island, Alaska from mid 65 to mid 66.

For Michael Horne. Michael, my understanding of the reason for using 400-Hz power instead of conventional 60-Hz power was that it was so much easier to convert to DC with low AC ripple. The components used in the filters to achieve a smooth DC power output from 400-Hz were a lot smaller and lighter than the ones needed to achieve a similar DC quality from 60-Hz. This made 400-Hz power an advantage for equipment that needed to be light, such as airborne and transportable units. There was little difference in the generators used to produce either frequency, but the savings in the DC power supply weights and sizes was substantial.

Sure glad to find something about Indian Mountain Radar Site. I was there 5/54-7/55. I was a Radar Repairman. Sure brings back a lot of memories.

Arrived 937th Olson Mt. Oct 57. was a radio repairman. As site was not finished was transfered to Newenham New Years day 58. Was there until mid March. By then the radio equipment was installed at Ohlson Mt. and I was transfered back there. Was there until my tour was up Oct58.

I was there Jun 74 to Jul 75. I was the fuelpig. A little mogas and a lot of diesel. Love the pictures. I got all of the same pictures taken by me from my fuel truck and even an O2-A. Lots of stories if anybody from my era wants to trade.

Is there anyone out there that was in BMTS 3707 flight 1236 Sept 1957 that has a group picture of the flight? For some unknown reason I never kept pictures from that era and would like to see one posted on the Lackland web site posted below.

Got a couple of questions for you old mobile radar maint types. I was radio maintenance at 622 TCF in Germany from 73-75. At the time, our mobile power was produced by turbine-type generators that ran at 400 Hz. We had a 60 Hz converter in one of the maintenance vans that we could use for electric razors, etc. Later, when I was in the 'regular' (AFCC) mob, all of our equipment used 'normal' diesel generators and 60 Hz power. Can anyone enlighten me about the reasons for using 400 Hz power vs 60 Hz? Another question - did anyone here ever see a TSW-7 Mobile Control Tower directly connected to 407L equipment? I worked on the TSW-7 for a time and noticed in the SRD manuals (forgot the numbers for those!) there were two different SRDs listed. One was used in the general mobile comm manual (which we used in the Mob), but the manual specifically for the 407L (TACS?) equipment showed a completely different SRD where the tower was concerned. This was one of the very few times I saw a radically different SRD for a major component item. If anyone has insight on this, I'd like to know.

For George Isenburg re the ''Babb'' gap-filler radar site: While it was near the town of Babb, Montana, the Air Force's official name for this site was the ''Browning Gap-Filler Annex'' (P-24A), so that's the way we list it. We have recent photos of the Browning GFA site, but no vintage photos. For the Sweetgrass GFA (P-24C), we have both recent and vintage photos. We are always on the lookout for additional vintage photos of all the sites, especially the gap-filler sites since such pix are so rare. If anyone out there has photos, please send us copies. Thanks! -- Tom

For HOWARD RAGAN. Howard, we are here. I was stationed at Mt. Hebo AFS from Feb 1960 to Aug 1962 and was the first Radar Maintenance Officer for the AN/FPS-24 after it was installed there. I was subsequently sent to Kingston, NY for training on the AN/FSQ-7 SAGE computer and reassigned to Adair AFS, OR to work at POADS. From there I was sent in Mar 1964 to Cartwright AS, Labrador for a year as Radar Maintenance Officer--we had an AN/FPS-20 and a -6 there.

Whenever you get a bunch of young men of varied backgrounds into a stressful situation such as basic training, their testosterone combined with feelings of macho will lead to physical and verbal altercations. My dad, a WWII vet, tells me that it was the same back then. I doubt if it has changed any today.

I just finished looking at the GAP sites and found that the site in Babb, MT. was not listed. I had the opportunity of helping to move out all of the equipment back in the summer of 1961. I don't remember what type of equipment was there. At that time I was a supply spec. assigned to the 681st AC&W at Cut Bank, MT. Both the Babb, MT site and the one at Sweet Grass, MT were ours to maintain. I went back to the old
Cut Bank, AFS in 1999, took a few pictures and remembered a lot of good times. I'm looking at retirement soon and wish I could go back to that time and start all over, those were the good old days.

With all the discussion about Basic Training here lately, here is a link to photos from your BMT days. I sent in a photo of the venerable Flight 590, 3705 BMTS, July 1954, Lackland AFB, TX, a couple years ago, and it appeared shortly thereafter. There is a wealth of photos on this website. If you don't see yours, send it in the address provided. Go to: http://www.bmtflightphotos.af.mil/

A quote from Bob Dylan: "Yesterday's just a memory, tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be."

I guess the 50's were indeed mellow. I didn't have any of the encounters that I have been reading about in preceeding msg's. Seems like things must have gotten kind of violent in the 70's....never saw any fights during my tour.

In basic training in my time (1971) the AF had a “buddy program” where men from the same city could go in together and go through basic together. In mine, it was Boston, which relieved itself of a number of thugs. I was from Iowa, with no buddies. My first day at breakfast we all introduced each other and an Italian guy from Boston asked me if people from Iowa (language cleaned up) had intercourse with pigs? Pause. I said yes. Yes, we do. (Laughs.) In fact, I had done his mother. I had given her five dollars. For this, he owed me four dollars, fifty cents change, payable at any time. (More laughs, and oooo.) Pause. He said let’s leave mothers out of it. He said he was going to kill me. I said I apologized for what I’d said, way out of line, just as I’m sure he would, way out of line. Pause. No response. I thought he meant it and palmed stupid silverware knife up my sleeve on the way out. I was scared. But I thought he wants to deal with me, I'll deal with him. Nothing happened. The story was continued, but like with most bullies, when confronted, he faded. I knew, too, had I not said something to his insult I would be the "Pig Intercourse Guy" for him and his friends for the entire time. I don't think so. I don't know what I'd done with that knife, maybe used it to good effect. He could have found out.

Re: Dentist and Carl Wenberg. When I was at Miles City AFS in '61 the dentist was Rick ????. Cannot remember last name.

Another war story....

Our basic training flight in Lackland had a lot of guys from several big eastern cities. A few of us had small town and rural backgrounds. I bunked opposite a guy from a large city in Connecticut who was constantly ridng me about being a hick and a hayseed because I came from a small town. I ignored it for a while but the more I ignored it the more he kept at it. Finally one night I had enough. I jumped out of the bunk and popped him in the mouth. The fight didn't last long before it was broken up. Someone in the barracks reported it to the TI and the next thing we knew we were in front of the first sargeant and the commanding officer. You would have thought we had committed first degree murder. The commanding officer went on to say that we were a disgrace to the Air Force, that we were to be court martialed, discharged from the service, and sent home to our families in disgrace. We were dismissed and told to resume our normal duties but to be prepared on a moments notice to face trial. I have to say, it scared the sh*t out of me. We were in our final week of basic and I did not want to be sent home in disgrace. The incident had a chilling effect on the whole barracks. All of a sudden, everyone was civil to each other and there were no provocative words spoken. Every time a stranger showed up at the barracks, everyone held their breath, thinking it was the Air Police coming to take us away. Time went by and no court matrial. We recieved our orders for tech school and still no court martial. Until we got on the bus to tech school, we were all convinced it was a matter of time before we were hauled away to face judgement. Looking back at it now, I have to laugh. They obviously had no intention of court martialing us for a minor scuffle. What they did do was effectively use a little fear to ensure that for the rest of our stay in basic training that we would not be a problem. Guess what... it worked.

Military war stories are the greatest. We can relive them and not have to worry about having to repeat them.
On one of the blood drives for a pass on a parade at Keesler in the summer of '65, a few of my buddies from the 3392nd. and I got in line at the hospital. There were two lines that led to two cots in the same room. There was a male nurse servicing our line. As we got closer to the door, we could see into the room. Just as the guy in front of me went in to give blood, a sweet looking young girl came in to releive the male nurse. She was the hottest thing we had ever seen. The guy laid down on the cot and had a big smile on his face as she went to work on him.
She must have jabbed him a half a dozen times or more, before she hit a vein. His smile rapidly turned to anguish as she sunk the needle time and time again, and came up dry. She made hash out of his arm. The poor guy walked out holding his arm almost in tears.
I WAS NEXT! I walked into the room apprehensively, she told me to lay down and she would be right with me. Just then an orderly walked in and announced that they would not be accepting any more blood because their storage facility was full.
I was never so happy to march on the flight line that Saturday as then.

Toothache on the high seas... While on the troop ship USS Jefferson on my way to Alaska,had an abcess tooth, along with being seasick. Everyone on board were sick. My luck they had a dentist aboard, who pulled the tooth. I got over the sickness, and enjoyed the final leg of the trip. Arrived at Seward, jumped on the Alaskan Railroad to Fairbanks, traveling at night, did'nt see much of Alaska. Spent two years in FBK from 1953 to 1955...

Parades and Dentist. What a choice of topics. I have slides I took of a parade at Keesler. So much fog could hardly see the troops. My favorite Parade was at Saratoga Springs while with 656th. It was the annual Saratoga Springs Winter Festival in mid-January. Snow on the ground about 15 degrees below zero. Uniform of the day Class A Blues. Old blue horse blanket helped some. But, the low quarter shoes offerred no protection for the feet. A lot of free booze after the parade.
Dental care at 656th day before Thanksgiving 1958 had two molars pulled and a partial put in. Really did not enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. When at 637th in 72-74 one of the guys wives was a Dental hygienist. So we got teeth cleaned even when the Dentist not visiting on his circuit.

A good advice thank-you, to a senior NCO whose name I forget in the mid-70s: As a young sergeant I had bad blood with a radar operator. The guy was weird (as later events will show) and seemed to have it in for me. On deployments, in the tent, he’d kick my cot to get me up. I said don’t kick me. Kept doing it. So, the worm turned and I gave him a similar treat to wakie, wakie. One incident led to another, escalating. One day I’m on my back working on the TPS-44 indicators with power on. I think we were aligning them in some way that required this, where you had to reach and twist something at the base of the CRT. Anyway, the door opened. In comes our man, unknown to me. He stepped right on my crotch. Now I couldn’t move too hastily because of the danger of electrical shock. The voltage around the CRT was nothing to mess with. Once I got up (in some pain) I told him he was a dead man. I meant it. A couple of guys, fellow maintenance guys, threw me out of the van. I went back at it and they kept me out of it. He and I both had to see the First Sergeant, separately, then together. The wise sergeant told me, a newly married guy, don’t get all wrapped up in getting this guy. We’ll take care of him. Think of your future, going to college and getting a new career. I still mad-dogged the idiot when I shook hands with him, but I took the advice. Later the guy while an entry control guard pulled a gun on, of all people, the commander (too long a story for here), thus ending his colorful albeit, brief, Air Force career. Hey sarge, if you’re out there, thanks. Sometime I'll write another one about a sergeant who talked to me after I failed both a tech school lad and exam, two for two, and how he calmed me down and helped, big time.

While at the 902nd in Miles City Mt. we had a circut dentist who was great, brought in his own stereo system for office and took care of dependents in a timely fashion when he didn!t have to,that was 1961 hear tell he married local girl stayed at Miles City and set up practice

Carl Wenberg,

That wouldn't have been Robert D. Allen by any chance??

Re:
Dental at problems at remote sites. I was lost a large fillng out of a rear molar while I was stationed at King Salmon AK. The young A/1C Site medic looked at the tooth and said Sgt. we could leave the tooth as is and when it bothers you we'll air evacuate to Elmendorf to the Dental Clinic there. Or if you like I'll put a temporary filling in and you maybe able to make it till the Circuit Riding Dentist from Elmendorf comes through here this summer.

I had him fill the tooth for me, no problems developed and when the Circuit Rider Dentist came through and looked at the tooth he said who put the filling in for you. I told him and he said I couldn't have done a better job myself. He put in a permanent filling.
I had a Site Medic pull me out of alot of pain when I was remote at Melville Labrador. The Site Medic's that treated me were enlisted troops and they did a outstanding job.

G. Wickert

I also would like to put in a good word for a dentist at Truax Field in Madison, WI. I had a badly infected wisdom tooth. I finally got to the dentist on base. He gave me a shot of something to kill the infection....told me to come back in a week. I did and he yanked the tooth without incident. This was in 56 or 57. A belated thank you if he's "listening".

I recall getting good dental care at Keesler. None while in Iceland and none in the nearly two years I was at Saratoga AFS. During my physical prior to discharge, I complained to the Air Force dentist about problems I was having. He looked in my mouth and said it was nothing to worry about. After I got out, it took me about two years to remedy what turned out to be serious gum disease. I didn't have dental insurance at the time so it came out of my own pocket. A valuable lesson was learned. I always see the dentist every 6 months and at 64 I still have all my teeth.

Ouch, re the tooth story. I have one also. While at Rockville, Iceland in 1957 I went to the main base with a toothache. A young dentist decided it needed extraction. After much pulling and tugging and pounding with a hammer device he announced that he would have to cut the tooth in two. With a grinding wheel type thing he ground away. Then wacked it with the hammer some more until it broke apart. After removing the fragments he sent me back to Rockville. Thje next morning I was in agony. Went back to the dentist who said, " Oh, I must have held the grinding wheel on to long. I burned a blister on your gum. It will be ok in a couple of days. Kill, kill I say.

I too remember the saturday parades on the flight line at Keesler, But does anyone remember the long lines at the hospital to give blood? It was the only way I knew of to get out of parade duty. I don't think they ever were short on blood, especially around parade time.

Where is everyone?? 689th Radar Sq....??? I was there from 72-73 when I went back to 1141-1 USAFSAS...in Holland. PCA Germany...

Once while early in BED (the acronym, not the item. Fellow pingers will know the reference), I was summoned to the Keelser Hospital. There I was met with the inevitable "hurry up and wait" line of students. Presently a sergeant came out and announced, "Every man in this line will have his wisdom teeth out." Now I had not asked to have them out, nor did I really know I had them. By that time I knew better than to ask a question like, "Why?," since the answer would be a variation on, "Because the sergeant said so." On the appointed day I went, and found with my blindfold on that apparently a new guy was learning how to do surgery. Voice, "Make the incision. Don't carve your initials in there, make the incision!" I did not know that later in the procedure the teeth (lowers) would actually be broken apart by some kind of impact tool and the shards pulled out. I remember after the surgery for days waking on my pillow to blood having dripped from my mouth. Line or no, it was about four years before I went back to have the upper wisdom teeth removed, a much less fearsome procedure, done in Germany at an Army Hospital.