Your military service...

[cavdad45]

I along with many others enjoy reading about someone's military service. There must be some more vets out there. Let's hear your storyo:)

I agree. Come on vets speak up.

[GCB069]

USAF Ret. after 20 years 17 Sept 74 to 01 Oct 94

Travis AFB CA. , Farchild AFB WA., Eielson AFB AK., George AFB CA., Mt. Home AFB ID., and back by Fairchild

[hewesfisher]

Ok, you really wanna hear another?

Went delayed enlistment (USAF) 11/77, active duty 04/07/77. Sent to Lackland AFB, TX for basic training then off to Keesler AFB, MS for six months of tech training as Navigational Aids Repairman, otherwise known as ground-based communication sytems used for aircraft navigation. It's the ground version of avionics - sortof. Anyway, my first duty station was Malmstrom AFB, MT in Nov 77 and spent a year there before getting married to a classmate Nov 78 and then joining her at Tinker AFB, OK in December 1978.

In May of 79, she got orders to Yokota AB, Japan, but neither of us were supposed to have received orders for at least two years due to assignment deferrment since I had used the "join spouse" card to get out of MT. Tinker sucked big-time, so we both pleaded with the first shirt and unit commander to let us go to Japan. They relented, and we spent 3 1/2 wonderful years in Japan. While there I made E-5, and she, six and half months pregnant, separated a week before we left Japan in April 83.

Spent the next twp years at McGuire AFB, NJ and welcomed my son to the world in June 83 (born on Flag Day how cool is that!). I was handpicked for a "special duty assignment" to Las Vegas City, NV in 85. That's right, Las Vegas City. What USAF unit operates in Las Vegas City? None. Had an actual street address too, because that's where our mail went while enroute from Jersey. We drove downtown and followed Escondido Road until it ended in the desert and never found 6456 Escondido Road. Yep, I was totally confused. Lots of classified briefings, each one a higher security requirement than the previous, all teasers too. Each time I was offered the chance to walk away from the assignment, the heck you say, I dragged my family half-way across the country I dang sure want to know what for!!!! Final briefing told me what for, and I couldn't tell anyone what it was.

Can now, though, and I spent the next four years in the desert at Tonopah Test Range (TTR), home of the F-117A Nighthawk. Best assignment in my career. Made E-6 there and re-upped while sitting in the cockpit of an F-117A - still gives me goose pimples thinking about that!

Left TTR end of Dec 89 and headed for Fairchild AFB, WA where I got my "guaranteed" 2 years family stability following four years of being physically separated from family four days each week. I spent more than 3 years of that tour not being able to discuss what I did, or where I did what I did. A lot of families had major issues with the separations, and the "family stability" was supposed to make up for that. It didn't. Anyway, we arrived here Jan 2, 90 and 2 years later, right after Thanksgiving 92, I got orders for a one year remote tour to Galena, AK. Left here March 92 for AK and had a great time there. Loved the cold, superb hunting and fishing even in the central part of the state. Caught my biggest fish ever there, a 44" Northern Pike that now hangs on the wall.

Left Galena in Apr 93 for Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (Dayton) where I spent the last two years of my career. Got word I had been selected for E-7 a month after arriving there, and sewed it on Dec 93. I was originally assigned to the Comm Group there, but then moved to HQ AFMC as the Career Field Manager. Worked for a civilian my last year or so in the USAF and it pushed me to request early retirement. My request was approved and I retired effective 1 Jan 96.

My wife and I moved our household belongings 9 times (if you count our final move home) in 18 years, 8mos, & 24 days. Two assignments in that time frame acount for 7 1/2 of my 18+ plus years in service, so we got good at packing.

I miss the comeraderie, but not the "politics". I'm proud of having served, and wish more people would understand the sacrifices those in uniform make every day. I was fortunate to have served my career during an era of relative peace when compared to our world today. Nonetheless, sacrifices were still made.

Well, that's my story.

(PS - My wife and I celebrated our 29th anniversary on the 15th and we have outlasted all the naysayers who said we'd never make it. )

[Marc Martyn]

USAF Ret. after 20 years 17 Sept 74 to 01 Oct 94

Travis AFB CA. , Farchild AFB WA., Eielson AFB AK., George AFB CA., Mt. Home AFB ID., and back by Fairchild

I know that Fairchild & Travis are still operating, but what about the others? I heard that Mather, March and Castle were all closed down.

[GCB069]

USAF Ret. after 20 years 17 Sept 74 to 01 Oct 94

Travis AFB CA. , Farchild AFB WA., Eielson AFB AK., George AFB CA., Mt. Home AFB ID., and back by Fairchild

I know that Fairchild & Travis are still operating, but what about the others? I heard that Mather, March and Castle were all closed down.

Eielson and Mt home are open but I seen the last F4G takeoff from George in 92

[panfisher]

my oldest daughter just got out of the navy after serving 8 yrs:salut: and my oldest son got out a few after doing 4 yrs.

[racfish]

I'm sad to say that I never did any military duty.As I'm way older now I now know the importance of doing military training.The year I graduated h.s was 1972.The draft was over my year.That year my number wouldve been 2.I missed out on a few things but I still remained patriotic.I didnt protest during the Nam yearsnor do I now.I'm somewhat envious of the ones who did serve our great country.To all you I say thank you for helping to keep us free.

[Marc Martyn]

my oldest daughter just got out of the navy after serving 8 yrs:salut: and my oldest son got out a few after doing 4 yrs.

We all appreciate their service. I'll bet is is nice to have them back home.

[panfisher]

I'm sad to say that I never did any military duty.As I'm way older now I now know the importance of doing military training.The year I graduated h.s was 1972.The draft was over my year.That year my number wouldve been 2.I missed out on a few things but I still remained patriotic.I didnt protest during the Nam yearsnor do I now.I'm somewhat envious of the ones who did serve our great country.To all you I say thank you for helping to keep us free.

thats why most who enter the service do, so we all can have the freedom to choose the paths we take and you certainly do not have to serve to be patriotic.

[Marc Martyn]

Today the whole family went out to Fairchild AFB and watched the air show featuring The Blue Angels. Great show. =d>

While there, we looked at several of the aircraft they had on display. It really brought back some good memories.

If someone would have told me while stationed on Guam in 1972 (see photo) servicing B52's that 36 years later I will be standing in front of an in service B52 with my full grown son, I would have told that person he is flat out of his mind.:geek: Well........here it is, 36 years later and the old B52 Bombers are still in service today. Absolutely, amazing!

[Rich McVey]

Thats pretty cool Marc. My dad retired, 22 years Navy. I spent alot of time at Whidbey NAS, born there actually.

I was a 67V (Crewchief, OH58 Machanic) in an Apache attack squadren. 1st Cav, Ft Hood Texas.

Saturday (tomorrow) I get to see my cousin that I havent seen since he was 14, just got back from Iraq and is now headed to Korea.

To all you freedom fighters

[Bisk1tSnGraV]

Let’s see ... When I turned 17, I joined the Army Reserve as a 13B (Artillery). I like to tell people that I blew up things from a distance. Went to basic training at Ft Sill Oklahoma between my Junior and Senior year of high school It was one of the best things for me as it allowed me to grow up quickly just in that summer. As soon as I graduated high school I shifted to regular Army and went to Germany from 85 - 90. Spent a month in Berlin before the wall came down to fill in for an artillery unit that had gone out for training back on the west side of Germany. I came back to the states and spent some time in Ft Riley Kansas then out to Ft Lewis. After my trip down the I-5 corridor I promptly called home and said when I get out of the Army this is where I will stay. I got out 16 years ago when during the pregnancy with our first child I they want to send me to Korea for a year. At that time I opted to be with my family and make that a priority. I am very happy that I had served as it had given me great growth as a person and a sense of pride that seems to be lost within the society today to much.

[G-Man]

I signed up for the Marine Corps at 17 years of age under the Delayed Entry Program and left for boot camp about a month after my 18th birthday. It was 1984 and my plan was to become an air traffic controller, as Reagan had just fired most of them, do my 4 years and walk into a nice stressful occupation and work on getting my ulcer by the age of 30. As it turned out, my orders got botched and I would have to wait for an opening in the school for “6 to 12 months” while working in the mess hall or buildings and grounds at the school in Millington, TN. Being young, impatient and lazy I looked for and was presented with another option. As I scored well on all of the tests we took I was offered Aviation Electronics schooling and I accepted. After acing my initial 3 week course, I was asked to “Fast Track” the remaining courses so I could be placed into the Advanced First Term Avionics course. Six months later, I was off to New River, NC as an Aircraft Communication and Navigation repair technician.

Being a responsible young adult and having been brought up in a strict household, the Marine Corps was not as tough as I had anticipated. I was quickly made a supervisor for our repair shop, which equated to looking after a large group of mentally gifted adolescents. I found out too late that achieving your superior’s expectations in the service is a curse. Multiple excursions to the coldest, hottest and wettest places that the US has to offer was followed by what I thought was going to be a simple deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1987. Little did I suspect that our ship, the Guadalcanal, would end up taking on a Navy SEAL team, a USMC Force Recon team, Army Special Ops team and a squadron of mine sweeping helicopters while offloading all “unnecessary personnel – grunts” in Diego Garcia. This came about because Iran started laying mines in the waters of the Gulf and making a general nuisance of itself. We did manage to port in the Gulf for a day or two every month, usually in Bahrain as it was one of the few countries in the region that you could get a brew. However, spending 30 days at a time out at sea in an old ship with minimal A/C and a bunch of nut-job special ops folks was brutal.

Fast forward a year and for some insane reason I re-enlisted for an additional 3 years and found my self stationed in El Toro, CA. A nice enough place located in the heart of Orange County and I took to becoming at one with the beach. I was able to relax for a year and then was off to Iwakuni, Japan for a 6 month deployment. During that deployment I managed to get re-deployed to Korea and the Philippines as well. Fast forward to August 2000, I have less than one year remaining before I am finished with my career in the Marine Corps and guess what, some moron decides to invade Kuwait. So, with my prior experience in the area and being one of the more camping savvy folks in our unit I am selected to take my folks to an “undisclosed airfield in the Persian Gulf” and set up shop. This airfield was on the Southern tip of the island of Bahrain and eventually included personnel from all branches of service. I saw many odd things while deployed there, one of which was a B-1 bomber taking flight in the wee hours of the morning. This was odd as we were informed that there were to be no B-1’s deployed in the Gulf. Mentioning I saw one taking off from our airfield to my OIC prompted the response, “No you didn’t and make sure no one else did either!” I also ran a totally unauthorized pirate radio station on the side while at that base, so if any of you were ever listening to KHOT 88.1 FM that was me!

Well I finally made it back to the States in the summer of 2001 and the re-enlistment thought was creeping back into my head. The Marine Corps decided that if I were to re-enlist my choices were Drill Instructor duty or Recruiter duty and not an avionics instructor position in Whidbey Island for which I was hoping. Given those choices I kindly refused, packed up my belongings and came back to the great Northwest! To this day I’m still in the same business of repairing aircraft electronics, go figure!

[BassinBomber]

Graduated in April 1979 from Rainier Beach HS,..went to sign up for classes and they told me I had all my credits,..looked for work and found a few things here in Seattle,..one being Bemis Bag Company in the Sodo Industrial area,..dead end job so I packed up and headed 2 Los Angeles 2 live with my older sister,..more roadblocks,..decided 2 enlist in the U.S.Navy,..hit Boot-Camp 15 June 1980 @ San Diego for 12 weeks of skate time,..what a breeze,..after that it was 2 weeks of leave then on 2 my billet U.S.S Constellation CV-64,..I didn't have an "A" school straight out of Boot like I should have so I got 2 the Fleet as an E-2,..they lead me straight to "Deck Dept",..all of you Vets out there know exactly what I'm talking about,..LOL,..I ended up staying in Deck Dept and advancing as a Boatswainsmate,..I liked the people I worked with and didn't want 2 bother with striking 2 another rate,..I made E-4 3rd Class Petty Officer very fast and soon instead of standing watches I was filling out the billets for the watches! By the end of my 1st year enlisted I took on Boxing. I made 2 WESPACS in 4 years and in those 2 trips I had 17 Jr Middleweight Fights,..my record was 16-1 with 12 KO's,..I was the Pacific Fleets Jr. Middleweight Champ,..they used to Helo me 2 other ships in our Carrier Group during stand down time and we'd have "Smokers",..this is where the knickname "BROWNBOMBER" came from,..had nothing 2 do with fishing,..LOL,..been 2 Hawaii, Philippines, Africa, Perth and Singapore,..in 4 years enlisted I was Honorably Discharged E-5 2nd Class Petty Officer Boatswainsmate,..which making E-5 in 4 years was unheard of at the time,..If I had 2 do it all over again I definately would,..my regrets are that I didn't stay in and that I didn't make some 2 fish in all those Countries I've been 2,..hats off 2 all the Vets and those that continue 2 Protect and Serve our Country,...!:salut:

BB

[racfish]

I'm not gonna tell you about my military experience but I will say that I had the honor and privalidge of meeting three gentlemen last night who I'm proud to have met.I went to a 50 th wedding aniversary last night .This was for my aunt and uncle who live in Okinawa Japan and have lived there for over 40 years.My uncle and cousin both work for the USA Govt.Cant say no more.I met the Commander of the entire Marine Corps Some 4 star general.There were also present 3 Admirals and two high ranking Air Force officers.Im waiting on the pictures I get back and gonna have them framed and signed by them.I actually had goosebumps meeting such high ranking officers from our great nation.I might not have served in the Military and I even apologized to the general for not.These guys were such cool older men.I might not served but I was so proud last night getting to meet these gentlemen and officers.Seeing these guys and talking with them made me proud to be American.
On a side note.I appreciate and thank each and everyone of you who serve and served in the USA military.I truly thank you all for protecting our rights and our freedom.GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!!

[Proverb]

I joined the military when my wife proposed to me hah. I was working security and wasn't making enough to support two people so I joined the Army to take care of her a month after we were married. I was a Chaplain Assistant (56-Mike) in the Army for about three years. I also did some accounting managing a 300K fund which I hated. I got hurt in a stupid accident no heroics just a nonsense injury state side. Army docs well... lets just say the ones who treated me probably joined the military because their malpractice premiums were too high hah. So I have a permanent back injury but my elbows they plan to operate on in decemeber (cross your fingers.. V.A. doctors I hear are scarier than active duty ones). I am now going to college to be a drug and alcohol councelor courtesy of Vocational Rehab Program, while my wife finishes up the veterinary program here.

[Lotech Joe]

I joined the Army in Sep of 66, right out of high school. I took my basic at Ft Polk in Louisiana. When I enlisted, I did so knowing I was going into a fixed wing aviation mechanic school. After basic, they evaluated my aptitude test scores and offered me air traffic control school. I thought that was pretty cool so I went in that direction. The army sent their ATC students to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi Miss. That was a FUN duty station, and I enjoyed the classes a great deal. My permanent duty station was at Ft. Stewart, GA. When I enlisted, I did so on the buddy plan with my brother. The only thing that the buddy plan promised was that you would be stationed at the same fort for basic training. As it turned out, we both got the same fort, the same brigade, the same company, the same squad, and our bunks were right next to each other. Also when I enlisted the draft was very active. The draft can get a lot of guys in the army in a hurry, but the problem is that most of them don't want to be there. So, there was a lot of "attitude." I filled out my dream sheet (request for duty station) for the Caribbean. The closest I got to that was Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. I served for 3 years during the hottest portion of the Viet Nam war, and never went overseas. When it came time for my re-up speech from my captain, he offered me a promotion, a new Corvette ($6,900 in those days) and a $10,000 bonus. I told him no thanks, that there was too much ignorant leadership in the army. He said it was the same on the outside and I know he was right. But, I told him at least the leadership on the outside didn't carry guns and take you Gung-Ho into battle. He agreed with me. Back then, the army was no place to be. Today, thank heaven, it's different. The troops that are in the army now want to be there. You guys are an outstanding group of troops with your heads on straight, and I honor what it is that you do. I can't thank you enough, and I'll never stop praying for you.
God Bless,

As a footnote; I remembered yesterday as the 39th anniversary of the day I got out of the army. Today is the 39th anniversary of the day I was pulled over in Denver, by the Colorado State Patrol for doing 100 miles per hour. He asked me how fast I thought I was going and I told him 100. He said that's right and asked me what the rush was. I told him that I had just gotten out of the army and was on my way home. I told him I was stationed just outside of Savannah Georgia. Then he asked me when I got out. When I told him yesterday, he said "get out of my state." I never got a ticket.

[racfish]

BB ??Rainier Beach?????????????????????? WHY?????????hahahahahaha.Franklin Gent here!!!!Class of 72.

[AaronE]

I demolished my knee playing football my junior year of highschool, and Uncle Sam doesn't like letting people into basic with two pins holding their leg together

I had aced the ASVAB my freshman year, got recruited by every branch of the military, FBI and CIA. I chose the Marines, and got accepted to OCS in Quantico based on my test scores and SAT scores at the beginning of my junior year. Four years of summer duty, finish college on Uncle Sam's dime, and I would have gone in as a second lieutenant upon graduation. My goal was to complete my degree in journalism and go in as a combat photographer after completing my MOS as a Ground Intelligence Officer specializing in photographic reconnaissance. The Marines thought it was a great plan and they were behind me 100%.

Right before Christmas an illegal chop block sent my right knee in one direction and my military plans in the other. My Marine recruiter came to visit me more times in the hospital than any of my friends or teammates. He was torn up about what happened and tried pulling every string he could to get me into OCS on a physical exemption, but there was no way I could have even completed basic with the leg I had after reconstructive surgery. I spent my senior year trying to get my leg strong enough to even go to basic, and by graduation I knew it was over.

So now when I grow up I wanna be a pro fisherman

[Mossy]

Only coastie so far.... Joined the CG in 2000. After 2 wonderful months of bootcamp in the great state of Jersey:-& one of the company commanders yelled out "you're going to Loran Station Attu Island, AK". I as well as everyone else had no idea where or what this place was. Next thing I know I'm landing in Kodiak, spent a couple weeks there to catch a C-130 ride to my duty station. If no one is familiar with this island, it's the last one on the Aleutian Chain and where the Japanese landed on American soil. The station was an isolated aids to navigation unit but my rate was Fireman where I stood engineering watches, plowed the runway, mechanic, firefighter and crash crew. I also did my share of dishes! Pretty laid back as there are only 19 other people on the island. But I had a great time, endless salmon and dolly fishing, had some 4 wheelers and found some pretty cool war artifacts. Found piles of knife sheeths, gas masks, glass coke bottles. We also had a no ordinance area with live munitions including boxes of grenades, warheads, you name it, undisturbed fox holes. By far the best experience of my time out there was swhen the coast guard and ksps flew out 5 gentlemen that actually fought out there during the war, they stayed a week with us and talked for hours....man the stories they told. We took them up to the monuments where we held a ceremony for them and their fallen brothers, made me very appreciative. Anyway, spent a year there and my CO signed my request for aviation. Got stationed on the oregon coast, got my practicals done and sent to aviation ttc in NC. After that, got sent back to oregon, spent the next 3 1/2 years as a helicopter mechanic and flight mech for search and rescue. I enjoyed the flying, the SAR cases, the great group of guys and even once got 20 minutes of stick time when the pilot heard I was getting out. I separated as an E4 with 5 years in. The old lady just got out after 7 years in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. I would never change any of it and wish one day I could get back to that Island. Sorry for the long read.