Saratoga Air Force Station was located about 10 miles southeast of historic Saratoga Springs, NY. The Battle of Saratoga, considered by historians to be the turning point of the Revolutionary War was fought just a few miles east of the radar site. Saratoga Springs was the summer playground of the rich and famous from New York City over 100 years ago. They came to drink and soak in the waters of the mineral springs in the area. A remnant of this era is the great number of fine Victorian mansions still maintained and standing in the city. Saratoga (the locals call it Saratoga, not Saratoga Springs) is also home to the world-famous Saratoga Race Track which continues to attract the rich and famous (and those of us of lesser means) to the August meet. The race track had one negative side effect on those of us stationed at the radar site. During August, the population in town nearly doubled and so did the prices. As low paid GI’s, we tended to avoid town during August because of the traffic and higher prices. Even our favorite watering holes raised the price of a glass of beer. I was in Saratoga during August of 1998 and things hadn’t changed in those respects.
Being a resort area, the duty was very good. Radar sites have a tendency to be located in out-of-the-way places and on mountain tops. I know I was lucky to get assigned there because I had heard "war stories" about some other stateside assignments which came close to being considered remote duty assignments. Any ex-radar person can relate to that statement. Saratoga is a small city (population today around 20,000) and is only about 30 miles from the Albany, NY area which has a large population. Being that close to a good sized town made it easy to do many things. The area abounds with recreation opportunities, especially in the summer. For example, the radar site had fishing boats available for use on nearby Saratoga Lake. The site also maintained a more powerful runabout which could be used for water skiing. In the winter, we had our own ski slope and lift which we constructed from an old car, some surplus telephone poles and several hundred feet of rope. It looked crude as hell but it got you back up the hill.
Saratoga is also the home of Skidmore College. Up until recently it was exclusively a woman’s college with tuition which excluded all but the wealthy. There weren’t many opportunities to date those "rich girls". However, there were many other nice girls in the area and many of us wound up marrying one. I did. It’s nearly 34 years since we were wed.
The number of small towns in close proximity to the site made off-base housing readily available and affordable. This is the reason, I believe, that there were not many housing units at the site. The site contained the usual two-storied barracks which seemed characteristic of the buildings constructed at radar sites during that era.
Heat and hot water was supplied by a central coal burning steam plant. I remember how the soot used to stain the paint on my light colored car. In the winter the pipes carrying the steam to the various buildings used to knock and make all kinds of sounds.
The enlisted men’s club was the center of off duty activities on site. It had a very nice air conditioned bar, a gymnasium, and after 1963 a two lane bowling alley. A radar maintenance technician named George Galpin (I believe) managed the bowling alley. Talk about easy duty. George was a very good bowler (over 200 average) and was a little older than the average radar tech. He was constantly going to Air Force bowling tournaments around the country and since the commanding officer was an avid bowler, George seemed to have it made.
I remember with humor one incident involving a formal dinner for the commanding general of the air division who was visiting the site. A catered banquet was prepared in his honor and all the officers and NCO’s had to attend Several enlisted men (myself included) were pressed into service as waiters. We were given a crash course on how to serve meals and how to correctly pour wine and coffee. None of us were thrilled at the idea of being waiters but we had no choice. While the officers and non-coms were having their before dinner cocktails, we waiters discovered the ample stock of dinner wine and helped ourselves to it while waiting for dinner to be served. Needless to say, by the time everyone was seated nearly all the waiters were drunk or close to it, myself included. The dinner was a fiasco. We spilled wine and coffee and got lots of dirty looks from First Sergeant Way. What saved us though was the fact that nearly everyone else, including Sergeant Way and the general were also drunk. Truly a night to remember…….or forget.
At the Saratoga site, like many SAGE sites with multiple radars, the radar maintenance section was the largest one on the site. I believe the total military population was around 200 with perhaps 50 or 60 having a 303X2 AFSC. For example, the FPS-26 alone required over two dozen technicians for around the clock maintenance coverage. When I arrived on the site in 1963 after an assignment in Iceland there were three operational radars; the FPS-65 search, an FPS-26 height finder and an FPS-90 height finder.
The FPS-27 was installed but would not be fully operational until 1964 and was then almost immediately turned over to the FAA. Saratoga was also a BUIC (Back Up Intercept Control ) site.
When I began working at Saratoga, I was put on shift work on the FPS-65 and assigned a partner named George Chan. We happened to be classmates at Keesler. Back at Keesler, George had good naturedly ribbed me when he found out I was being sent to a remote duty site in Iceland and he was going to get a much nicer assignment in Saratoga.
I had only worked with George a few months after returning from Iceland when he got orders to go to a remote site in Alaska. George was not happy and I got great satisfaction from ribbing him about his misfortune. He who laughs last, laughs hardest. An interesting footnote, I was working in the FPS-65 tower the afternoon that President Kennedy was killed. I can still remember that as if it were yesterday.
Today Saratoga Air Force Station is slowly deteriorating. Since I live about 120 miles away, I visit the site from time to time. I believe the site was deactivated in 1979. I visited it at that time and the FAA still appeared to be operating the FPS-27; at least the radome was still intact. Several years later I visited again and found the site occupied by a construction company with lots of heavy equipment parked about. The buildings had then begun to show the effects of neglect. Today the main gate is chained and the construction company seems to be gone. There are microwave relay and cell phone towers on the hill now and the place looks very shabby. I spoke with some of the residents of the old base housing area and they said one of their neighbors (not present that day) had a key to the gate. Apparently the residents of the housing area do go on the site because one woman told me the bowling alley is still there.
Going back to Saratoga brings back so many good memories. Saratoga and all the other radar sites represent an interesting chapter in the Cold War. When you look at these abandoned sites and other abandoned relics of the Cold War it’s easy to say "what a waste". I don’t feel it was a waste to build and maintain them. You have to look at the decision to build and staff them in the context of the times. The experience of Pearl Harbor was still fresh in the minds of our military planners. The Soviet Union seemed bent on conquering and dominating the world. Plus they had the bomb and the means to deliver it. Perhaps we were paranoid. But is it paranoid to keep the lights on or keep a dog in the house if you know there are burglars in the neighborhood? There’s nothing wrong with self preservation. And make no mistake about it, those of us who served during that time did prevent the Cold War from getting a lot hotter. Those of us who were a part of that should be proud of the immense contribution we made in keeping the country free and eventually winning the Cold War. Now I’ll get off my soap box.
You can lose your job or lose your money but you can’t lose pleasant memories. Here’s hoping you’ve enjoyed reading my recollections as much as I enjoyed writing them.
John Tianen