Keesler AFB, MS Oct 66–Mar 67

Keesler AFB was a beehive of activity in the late 60s.  Viet Nam was going strong and to meet the requirements of air traffic control, maintenance, and electronic training the base operated three shifts a day.  “A” shift schools ran from 0600 to 1200, “B” from 1200 to 1800, and “C”, my shift, from 1800 to midnight, Monday through Friday.  After two weeks of “casual” status (awaiting a school start date), and a grueling week long, 22-hour a day KP stint, I and eleven others began our education.  Well, not so much.  The first block of training was a week of weather…..which we ALL flunked.  There was a huge melee between the instructor and his boss afterward and as a result, we gave up our weekend to cram for another test – which we all passed.  Things got better after that, and the rest of my time was a blur between school, study, and trying to ingest as much alcohol as I could each weekend. 

Finally the big day came, when assured of graduation, we received our assignments.  Being from Ohio, I requested bases in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana…..and so naturally got assigned to Alamogordo, New Mexico.  I had no idea where that was, and thought maybe it was an overseas assignment.  Which in a way, it was.  But Holloman AFB it was, and I remember my instructors reading the information from the IFR Supplement and laughing hysterically.  “Caution – uncontrolled drones in area”, “airport located in restricted area and may be closed for test activity”, “balloons launched from runways on short notice”, and my favorite, three large runways, and they all intersect. But what the heck, anything was better than spending another day in Keesler, right?