Happy Fathers Day...Military Service?

HiDesertHal

HiDesertHal

Senior Member
Location
Southern California's High Mojave Desert
Hey, I served in the US Army for 2 years active, 1960-62.

Honorable Discharge as Specialist 4.

I volunteered for the draft, as I was getting too old at 24, and wanted to get my Service over with.

I was the "old man" in my training platoon, so they made me Platoon Leader during Basic Training, over a bunch of 18-year olds.

First year in the States, 2nd year in South Korea, with the 8th Army Occupation Forces.

Was a Signal Corps Technician in the 8th Army Communication Center...great duty!

At Ease, and Happy Fathers Day!
HiDesertHal
 

I served as a Aircraft Instrument Technician for a four year enlistment 1953 -1957. Two years in Korea & Japan working on F86 Sabre Jets & two years in Florida/North Africa working on B 47 Jet Bombers. Discharged as Staff Sgt with Honorable Discharge.


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Hey Falcon,

Here's a shot of a B-26 Marauder in flight:

How many .50 cal machine guns were installed...6 or 8?

Did you have a 6 or 7-man crew?

As a Pilot, were you a Lieutenant or Captain?

You must have been only 20 or 21 during the last years of the War.

I always like to watch the movie "12 O'Clock High", about a B-17 Bombing Squadron, with Gregory Peck.

I respect your service!
HiDesertHal
 

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I volunteered to join the Army in July 1967 and then believing I was invincible :rolleyes:, I volunteered for Vietnam duty late in 1968 and arrived in country Feb. 1969 and served there till June 1970 and was honorably discharged.
 
HiDesertHal said:
Hey Falcon,

Here's a shot of a B-26 Marauder in flight:

How many .50 cal machine guns were installed...6 or 8?

Did you have a 6 or 7-man crew?

As a Pilot, were you a Lieutenant or Captain?

You must have been only 20 or 21 during the last years of the War.

I always like to watch the movie "12 O'Clock High", about a B-17 Bombing Squadron, with Gregory Peck.

I respect your service!
HiDesertHal
Click to expand...

We had 11; Twins in the tail, twins in the top turret, 4 "Package" guns on the side of the fuselage,, two in the windows one in the nose etc.
I could fire the package guns from my seat. The ship could carry a ton of bombs. Its landing speed was 150 mph. And it took a whole mile
of runway just to get it off the ground. It was the fastest of our medium bombers. They called it "The Widow Maker". The reason it was so fast
was due to it's short wings. Because of that, it had no visible means of support. We called it "The Flying Prostitute"; Martin was in Maryland,
so we called it "The Baltimore Whore".

(Side note: My advanced flight instructor in Altus, Okla. was George Goebel.)

I had a few scary missions, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. Oh Yeah !
 
Joined the Naval Reserve in 1952, which gave me no draft exemption. Went on active duty in 1957 when I received my draft notice. At that time I was a third class petty officer and was paid $160 a month. Room (a bunk in a room on ship with 15 other men) and 3 meals a day were included. My friend who had not joined the reserves and went in the Army as a recruit received $80 a month. I was promoted to second class PO and when I got out in 1959 I was getting $220 a month. Nobody shot at me and I was fine with that. Gas mask training with tear gas leaves a lasting impression on you.
 
Falcon said:
We had 11; Twins in the tail, twins in the top turret, 4 "Package" guns on the side of the fuselage,, two in the windows one in the nose etc.
I could fire the package guns from my seat. The ship could carry a ton of bombs. Its landing speed was 150 mph. And it took a whole mile
of runway just to get it off the ground. It was the fastest of our medium bombers. They called it "The Widow Maker". The reason it was so fast
was due to it's short wings. Because of that, it had no visible means of support. We called it "The Flying Prostitute"; Martin was in Maryland,
so we called it "The Baltimore Whore".

(Side note: My advanced flight instructor in Altus, Okla. was George Goebel.)

I had a few scary missions, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. Oh Yeah !
Click to expand...

I remember "Old Lonesome" George talking about that on the Tonight Show with Carson. He was telling the story while Dean Martin was seated next to him smoking a cigarette and tapping his ashes on George.

That was some plane that you flew. It must have been weird sitting in the glass nose.
 
I was in the Marines for four years and my rank was Sgt. when I was discharged. I was also in Vietnam for 14 months. I wanted to fly, but was turned down, so I started out being a door gunner in a modified Huey. Then, later on I was transferred to a Recon platoon. Once a Marine always a Marine.
 
US Air Force- 1970-74.

Got to see Texas, Vietnam, and Mississippi.

Finished up as a Staff Sergeant (E-5).

I was an REMF medic.

In Vietnam we called ourselves "The Bedpan Commandos"
 
Never married no kids.
1965-1966 co. C Det B2 19th sf abn high school senior
1966-1970 USS England DLG22 tonkin gulf 66 67 68 SAR
separated
reenlist
1970-1971 USS Brule AKL28 Vietnam Riverine Forces (brown water navy)
1971-1973 NAS Whidbey Island
1973-1975 USS Proteus AS19 guam
1976 discharge
RM2 radioman

foreign countries
yokosuka, sasebo japan
Hong Kong rpc
Subic Bay, Davao rpi
Vietnam
Kaoshuin taiwan
Acapulco mx
ft. rodman canal zone
st. thomas u.s. virgin islands
roosevelt roads pr
 
Falcon said:
Hal, As I mentioned earlier, I was a 2nd Lt. but later was promoted to 1st Lt.

Why is this so important to you?
Click to expand...

That kind of thing is real important to some people. This reminds me of something from back when I was a medic at Camn Rahn Bay. We got this Lt. Colonel in who had had a heart attack. The guys from the ER wheeled him in on a gurney and he was going to be admitted to our ward which was Internal Medicine. In Vietnam we wore these jungle fatigues and the rank on your collar was in black, I guess to make it hard for the enemy to distinguish. Anyway this dude had the black oak leaf with a very thin silver outline around it which stood for Lt. Colonel. Major would have been the black oakleaf with a gold lining. In the military silver is apparently better than gold. Anyway the nurse on duty, Captain Berry, Carolyn Berry actually, referred to him as Major so and so as she was going through the process of admitting him. Captain Berry was my favorite of the nurses. For one thing she was one of the few nurses that didn't treat us Medics like second class citizens. And for another thing she was just as cute as she could be. She was a Kate Jackson on Charlie's Angels look-a-like. But I digress.
Anyway the guy got this real urgent look in his eyes and he started frantically waving to me to come over. I figured he must have been having another heart attack so I hurried over to him and he said to me in this real urgent tone "Tell the Nurse I'm a Lieutenant Colonel, not a Major!"
 
Dunno what military service has to do with Fathers day, but...

USAF '76-'96 Enlisted.
Whiteman AFB, MO; supporting Minuteman missile launch crews until a class for my real job opened.
I was married in Knob Noster, MO (always sounds like a location right out of Li'L Abner).
Airborne Radar Tech., for the APY-1(& then 2) digital radar on the E-3A(then B & C) aircraft (Boeing 707 w/ the radar 'frisbee' on the back); Tinker AFB, OK
I did ground maintenance until '81, when I became an enlisted flight crewmember; Airborne Radar Tech./Operator. They had the same AFSC (AF for MOS) then.
Stationed at Kadena AB, Okinawa Japan '89-'91, but that was Gulf war / Desert Storm, so I was gone a LOT.
Then back to Tinker (there were only four bases in the world where E-3s were stationed).
Made it to Master Enlisted Aircrew, a unique club. 5,000 flight hours, another rare accomplishment. Multiple Air Achievement Medals.
I've been to over 30 countries and around the world a couple dozen times. Besides many real world conflicts (with hazard duty pay), I did Red Flag, which is the AF's Top Gun and was trained in protocol for demonstrating the radar to dignitaries, royalty, military leaders, engineers and politicians.
I retired as TSgt (E-6). I had the points for E-7 when I retired.
 
Hey HipGnosis:

I'll tell you what Miitary Service has to do with Fathers Day...it was Fathers Day when I introduced the Thread, so I just threw that in!

That was quite a lengthy service term and you earned a lot of important points!

HiDesertHal
 

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