Back in the day I served four years in the U.S.A.F (June 1972 - June 1976).  All in all I had a great time of it but I was concerned from the very beginning because of weird events.  They tried to fly us from Harrisburg to San Antonio, Texas just after hurricane Agnes hit us in Pennsylvania in June 1972.  The hurricane had flooded the Susquehanna River AND the airport.  So after a weeks worth of recruits backed up they bussed us to Philadelphia and from there we flew to Texas and the impending boot camp.  After basic training the radio maintenance tech school at Keesler AFB, Miss. was a breeze.  I desperately wanted California orders and got them for McClellan AFB in Sacramento, Ca from Oct. 72' to Dec. 74'.  The duty on a remote transmitter site was pretty cake and fairly quiet (read: they didn't mess with us).  The 2049th Comm Squadron was part of Air Force Communications Service (AFCS) at the time.  I had a short TDY break from California to work with an E & I squadron overseas (not a very fun place).  NOTE: my big brother Dennis was stationed at the same squadron (2049th) 15 years later!  I got very good at fixing transmitters (this would later haunt me) and our top line unit was the Collins 208U-10 10kw HF unit.  It was part of a global hi-priority net that was in place.  It was very high tech at the time. 


But California during the 70's wouldn't last forever and my next orders came in for Germany.  It just kept getting better and better for me.  I really liked traveling around and through Europe on my own and with the 2nd Mobile Communications Squadron (2MOB) [later transitioned to the 1st Comm Group].  It was the Army of the Air Force and they used us for direct support for NATO missions or whatever they liked.  We went EVERYWHERE and usually in tents (can you spell Hammer Strikes and ORI's?).  Doesn't sound very glorious but you know what, I didn't mind.  While in Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden the beer was very good and that can cover a multitude of weird crap!  The fact that a very large DoD hospital was just down the street didn't hurt (read: NURSES!)  Most of the pictures are of exercises in Sicily showing the ugly green things.  I'll try to add some more pictures to mix it up so you can get an idea of how good I had it and HOW MUCH FUN I HAD!  There are more pictures at the menu bar link 'Germany pics'.  For a look at what the 2MOB/1st Comm Group was like go to their great website.  You will get lost for hours there:  http://1stmob.com/

Below is a hammy picture of me working a MRC-107 radio jeep in Sicily.
      
The next few pictures are of the TRC-136 HF teletype communication van that we took all over the world.  It was all Collins Radio gear so it was the good stuff.  Looks like fun in the mud, yes?

  


 

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