MY AIR FORCE LIFE
After Graduation from High School, I enlisted into the United States Air Force and was sent to Lackland AF B in San Antonio, Texas for Basic Training. This was September 27th, 1971. After completion of Basic Training in Nov '71, I was assigned to Scott AFB as a Security Policeman. Scott AFB is located just outside of St. Louis in Belleville, Illinois. I hated this job and was looking for a way out of it when some 'older' friends that had been in the Air Force for 3 or 4 years suggested I volunteer for K-9 school. K-9 (Canine, i.e. Dog) school consisted of training and working 'police' and 'guard' dogs in the Air Force. I was selected for K-9 school and shortly after completion received orders to report to Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam. This was during the 'pull out' so eventually my orders were changed to Utapao, Thailand. As luck would have it, everyone pulled out of Vietnam was sent to Thailand so my position became filled and my orders were changed to Clark AB, Philippines. Again the slot was filled before I could report with a GI that was diverted from Thailand so my orders were again changed to Andersen AFB, Guam. These orders were not changed and I reported there in May of 1973. Operation "Rolling Thunder" (bombing of Vietnam) was still in full swing, so the base was VERY active. B-52's and KC-135 taking off and landing around the clock. The base dried up and became a ghost town when Vietnam finally ended and the planes returned to their home bases back in the States.
I did manage some short trips to Thailand during that year and fell in love with Asia. I wasn't ready to go back to the States so volunteered for another assignment to anywhere in Asia. I left Guam in 1974 and was assigned to Osan AB, Korea. The biggest shock was the drastic change in weather. I reported to Korea in September of '74 and the nights were already becoming cool. I literally froze until my body again adjusted to cool weather. Osan was where I met my now ex-wife, Sim Yong Sun. Yong and I were married in March of 75. After my tour in Korea I was selected to attend Air Traffic Control and Warning (AC&W) Radar Repair School at Keesler AFB in Biloxi Mississippi. I reported there in October 1995 and began one of the most enjoyable schools I had ever been to. My first daughter, Susan, was born at the Keesler AFB Hospital, March 27, 1976. I graduated from Radar Repair school and was assigned to the 762 Radar Squadron, North Truro AFS, North Truro, Massachusetts in July 1976--during the U.S. BI-centennial celebration.
My small family and I moved to North Truro and I began a career that I thoroughly loved. My wife and I began to feel the urge to return to Asia so I began inquiring as to how this would be possible. I volunteered for a remote assignment to Korea with a follow-on assignment to Yokota AB Japan and received the assignment. I was to report to a Radar Squadron that was at the top of Yongmun San (Mountain). Yongmun San provide radar coverage over the northern part of South Korea and the Southern part of North Korea. It was an 'Early Warning' post that watched air traffic around the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). My wife, now expecting our second child, and Susan, stayed with my mother in Kansas City, Kansas while I did my year alone in Korea. When my year was up, I returned to the States, met my new daughter, Julia and gathered up my growing family and took them to Yokota AB, Japan that was located on the outskirts of Tokyo in the little town of Fussa.
My job at Yokota was one that involved travel. I traveled all over Asia, (and even had one job to Spangdehalem Germany) removing old Air Traffic Control equipment and installing new state-of-the-art equipment. During my 6 years at Yokota, I traveled to Osan Korea, Kunsan Korea, Kadena Okinawa, Andersen Guam, Spangahalem Germany, Clark Philippines, and Misawa Japan. During my worst year I was home 35 days, and during my best I was home 67 days. I missed 6 years of both of my daughter's lives and the separation set the stage for my impending divorce.
We left Yokota Japan in May of 1985 and were assigned to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma where I was made an instructor at a school designed to teach others the job I had at Yokota. How to take a team anywhere in the world and manage it while installing communications equipment. I finally retired from the United States Air Force October 1st, 1991, 20 years and 4 days after joining. We settled in Oklahoma City and I took a job with the State of Oklahoma as the Manager of the Training Department for the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. Thus began the HELL that I endured until I finally left there June of 1999. Almost 8 years what I now see was the lowest point of my life. I had several offers for other jobs when I retired but they all involved travel and I was determined to make my marriage work and blamed travel and separation for causing the marriage to fall apart. I took the State job because it seemed stable and would provide me with the opportunity to remain home with my family. My wife settled into a life of going to church and I returned to school to 'better myself'. My daughters grew up and left for lives of their own, I completed school and now had nowhere to go at night except home. We ended the marriage and divorced in 1997. |
