I spent a one year tour at Lackland as a Training Officer after
graduation, then I went to ECCM School at Lowry with a follow-on
assignment to Rome, NY as a B-58 crewmember. I would have been the
Electronics Counter-countermeasures Officer.....hell! I couldn't even
spell it much less pronounce it. About 3/4ths through the course, I went
to the faculty and withdrew. I never felt comfortable in a field that I
was not qualified for. They then made me a Services Officer and assigned
me to Offutt AFB as a Commissary/Clothing Sales Store Officer. In 1963,
I was transferred to Zaragoza AFB, Spain for 3 glorious years, where I
was the Housing Officer. After my tour there was over I was reassigned
to Offutt AFB, and resumed duty in Services, but this time as Asst
Director Of Services at the Headquarters. I was only there a year before
they sent me to 7th AF Hqs, Saigon, Vietnam. There I was the Directory
of Services under the Materiel Division. I traveled extensively in
Vietnam, acting as a member of the IG Team, and on a special Joint
-Service Inspection Team trying to uncover Blackmarket activities. I was
in 'nam from July 1967-July 1968.
My next assignment was Services Squadron Commander at Dyess AFB, Abilene TX. I was only there 11 months before I was recruited for the job of Director of Services at 2nd AF Hqs at Barksdale. During my tour at Dyess I was augmented into the Regular Air Force, and promoted to Major. I lasted at Barksdale about 18 months before I was given a choice of going back to Vietnam or pulling a tour in Turkey, at Adana AB. I took Turkey. My duty there was Officer in Charge of the PX/BX system. I worked for an Army General in Munich. Again, I was only there a year before I was transferred to Athens, Greece, to become the Director of the Middle East Area Exchange, a reorganization of the Exchange System in Europe combined the Turkish Area with Greece, and added Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Crete, and all the Embassy stores throughout the Middle East. Again, I traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Yeah!! A year later I got the phone call from Pentagon Personnel,
telling me I was needed in Vietnam. This was early in 1972. I told them
to cram it...I would retire if they couldn't leave alone and let me stay
in one place long enough to learn everyones names. It did no good and I
applied for retirement and was effectively retired in September 1972.
This is my retirement picture.
I passed up a wonderful opportunity to go to the Pentagon, which was what they offered me to stay, but decided that I could be better off in retirement...I was wrong. It's alot better to retire as a Colonel than a Major. After retirement, I moved to La Grange, Texas, built a big home, and managed a bank for 5 years. I got bored and went into business for myself, with a Firestone tire and Automotive Center and fully retired in 1991 after a near fatal Heart attack.
On the left is a photo from a new years day reception, that my wife, Barbara and
I attend.