Previously Held NEC AT-8265-Flight Communications Operator
ATR-0000-Aviation Electronics Technician Radar and Radar Navigation Equipment
8319-P-3 System Organization Maintenance Technician
AT-8319-P-3 System Organizational Maintenance Tech
Service Years
1959 - 1976
Other Languages
German
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
What are you doing now:
Retired! Retired in 2003 from State of Alaska where I worked first as a Weigh Station Operator for the Dept. of Commerce, then as a Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer ( truck cop, with an Alaska State Trooper commission) for the Dept. of Transportation on the Kenai Peninsula, where my wife and I still live. We spend Summer fishing and enjoying Alaska and in Winter we often travel to warmer latitudes in our motorhome to spend time in Arizona or Mexico away from the snow and ice.
Best Friends Don Stark, ATCS James Whetstine, AT2 Robert Wilhite, AT2 (2) Hake brothers
Other Memories My first duty station after AT school was VU-5 Detachment Bravo, in Naha, Okinawa. I began as a technician working on the KDA drone electronics and in training to drop the drones from the wings of P2 aircraft. I was sent to Barbers Point, Hawaii for survival (SERE) school and Deep Water Survival training. One day I was in the electonics shop and in the background I was listening to the base radio while an aircraft was communicating via CW. Someone asked about the status of that plane and I answered. ATCS Stark realized I was copying CW in my head at over 30 wpm and asked how. I admitted I had been a ham (Amateur Radio Operator) since I was 12. I was immediately transfered to the Avionics Dept and began training as a P2 radio operator. I earned my Aircrew wings, and thoroughly enjoyed flying all over the Western Pacific (Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, and other places). My original tour was 18 months, but I got a voluntary extension for 12 months, and an involuntary extension of 6 months. I advanced from ATAN (E-3) to AT2 (E-5) and re-enlisted for another 6 years.
