| Chuck Giddens - Recollections / Then and Now |
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Well here goes mine. I too cross-trained into missile, being first in airframe repair, stationed in Lake Charles, La., then receiving the call to volunteer into the missile field. Went first to Amarillo, for basic electronics, then to Sheppard for BMAT training. I was an A2C, with a wife when I made A1C at Amarillo. Arrived at Fairchild in June, 1961. By the way, we had $1.38 when we pulled into Spokane. As luck goes, ran into Hoppe and his family who were staying in guest housing, so we all bunked together until Monday and could receive some pay. About the funniest thing that happened was one time my partner and myself were sent to the service area to check on a signal during a DPL sequence launch. We had never been down there when the the button was pushed. As the sliding overhead door blew back, and every pipe jumped five feet, I slung the PSM6 meter, turned around to the see where my buddy was (he was already through the blast door) and I ran like hell myself. We thought we were dead. Another time our maintenance crew was on site for a maintenance inspection and we were sleeping in the trailer. Well, as you know it is pitch black in there with the door closed. We were finally waken around 9:30. As you can tell by now I was a BMAT on John Hoevenair's crew. Wish we could find him for the reunion. After Fairchild, was stationed at Vandenberg for three years before being discharged. Joined the Alabama Air Guard and retired in '83 after 26 years total service. My time at Fairchild though will always be remembered. |