Reflections

WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BASIC TRAINING AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
On 30 June 1952, I received Special Order Number 136 from the Recuriting Office in Seattle assigning myself and 12 other recruits to the 3275th Indoc. Wg, Parks AFB, Calif. The Orders included a TOE 4yrs, DOS June 56. At the time I received these orders, little did I realize or anticipate that I would extend the DOS to July 1,1972. The twelve of us departed Seattle by air on July 1st and landed in Oakland, Calif. where we were transported by bus to Parks AFB located near the town of Hayward. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived at the base so there was just enough time to get some chow and assignment of barracks. The Indoctrination Flight I was assigned to processed in on the 2nd and 3rd and with Friday being the 4th of July most of the permanent party personnel were off duty for the long weekend. The weather was hot and windy, our barracks were wooden asphalt tile covered of WW II vintage with no air-conditioning or circulating fans and being new recruits we were still wearing our civvies. As for activities, we were confined to our barracks except when led to the mess hall and one trip to the BX to purchase toiletry items. To maintain some level of comfort due to the intense heat, while in the barracks we stripped down to our shorts and shower clogs. It was a miserable weekend and I was beginning to wonder what have I gotten myself into.

Bright and early on Monday morning we met our Platoon Sergeant and our military training began. It did not take long before we could form a straight line, march in step, cite the chain of command and follow orders. Basic training lasted two months, the time went quickly. For a career field following Basic, I had requested aircraft maintenance as my first choice and electronics as a second choice. I received orders assigning me to the Aircraft Mechanic General Jet Course located at Amarillo AFB, Texas.

It was early September 1952 when I arrived at Amarillo AFB,Texas. Amarillo was one of the principle pipelines for the training of jet aircraft mechanics consisting of four months of training. At the time there were about 4,000 students cycling thru various stages of the program. Living conditions were four men to a room with bunk beds and young airman coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Training facilities were limited so attendance at class was broken down to morning, afternoon and evening sessions. The Flight I was assigned to attended class from 1700 hrs to 2300 hrs. Not the best of circumstances but tolerable for the four month duration of training.

On completion of Tech School at Amarillo in early January 1953, I received orders assigning me to the 3600th FTW at Luke , AFB, AZ. Arizona in January was very pleasant, but by mid-April the weather was heating up, especially on the flight line. There were no overhead canopies such as they have today and with the added activity of generating two and three flights a day on your assigned aircraft we were kept busy. When I first arrived at Luke the training aircraft was the F-84 B & C models a real ground hugger and referred to as the Lead Sled. As I recall at that time, Luke's runway was less than 8,000 ft in length and as the day warmed up, the take-off roll of the F-84 increased to the point were it appeared the pilots retracted the gear just prior to running off the end of the runway. Not only were the F-84 B & C's under powered having about 4,000 lbs of engine thrust, but they were high maintenance with frequent hydraulic leaks and engine changes. Things improved considerably when the Squdrons received their G Models which had about 1,500 lbs more thrust, but still required a fair amount of maintenance.

I had been at Luke for about three months when I saw a notice on the Squadron Bulletin Board regarding application to the Aviation Cadet Program. It read something to the effect, that if you were accepted into and successfully completed the program you would receive a commission as a 2/Lt. earning $5,000 a year and also your wings depending on whether you went through the Pilot Training Program or the Basic Observer Program. I thought to myself, why not apply, the $5,000 a year was a lot more than the $84 a month I was drawing as a A/2C and it would be more fun flying the airplanes rather than having to repair them. So I applied, passed all of the testing and was accepted. The only hitch was that my first choice was the Pilot Training Program, followed by Basic Observer (i.e. navigator training) and then OCS. Following the Stanine Testing at Parks AFB, the moderator informed me that I qualified for Basic Observer Training. I thought that apparently I did not score high enough for pilot training, however, this would still give me the opportunity for flight school so I accepted it. Later after receiving my test scores, I had scored high enough for the pilot training program, but my scores for navigator and radar training were higher.

Two weeks after returning from Parks AFB and testing I received orders assigning me to the 3700th AF Indoc Wg, Lackland AFB, Tex for apmt, as A/C & ent into Bsc Obsr Tng Class 54-11C. On the same set of orders were three other Luke airman. A/3C Leonard J. Morris, A/3C Wesley F. Peltier and A/2C Johnny H. Godfrey. Johnny Godfrey was from Scottsdale, Az. and had a car, so Peltier and I split the travel cost for the trip to Lackland. Our report in date at Lackland was July 17th. Bright and early on tthe morning of July 9, the three of us departed Luke for a new Air Force adventure, little did we realize what lay ahead us.

Preflight training consisted of three months of hot Texas sunshine, studies of military history and protocol, discipline invoked by our upper classmen, lots of marching and extra curricular activities of harassment, tour path duty and the building of lasting friendships with a great group of fellow airman. Following Preflight Training at Lackland the majority of my flight was sent to Basic Observor Training at Harlingen, AFB, Texas. Training at Harlingen lasted about ten months and from there I was assigned to the BORB B36 B47 Training Program at James Connally AFB, Waco, Texas. I was pretty certain that following my training at James Connally I would be assigned to SAC as a Navigator Bombardier in B-47's, but as luck would have it, when our class assignments came down, there were five assignments to B-57's in Lyon, France. I thought I would much rather spend my time in France rather than pulling alert and TDY's in SAC, so I applied for one of the B-57's assignments and was selected. Only one hitch, the assignment was changed from Lyon, France flying the B-57A model to Johnson AB, Japan flying the B-57B Model. An assignment to Japan was still a lot better than going to SAC, so I was happy and it turned out to be one of the best assignments of my twenty year career.

I arrived in Japan in mid-September 1955 and was assigned to the 3rd Bomb Wing, 90th Bomb Sqdn. The other two Sqdns making up the 3rd Bomb Wing was the 8th and 13th Bomb Sqdns. All three squadrons had long histories dating back to WW I, WW II and more recently the Korean War. The Wing had just recently rotated from K-8 in Korea to Johnson AB and were still flying the B-26's used during their time in Korea. We started receiving our B-57's in January 1956. Flight crews were sent TDY state side to McClellan AFB, Sacramento, Calif. to pick up the aircraft and ferry them to Johnson AB. To get the full complement of B-57's to Japan for the three squadrons took most of the year, so we had both the B-26's and the B-57's on base for flying. I enjoyed flying in the B-26 as much as the B-57, it was great experience for a young 2/Lt. Navigator/Bomdardier. My duty time in Japan was suppose to have been a 2 year tour, however, I received an early release to attend pilot training.

I departed Japan in May 1957 and reported in to Hondo AFB, Hondo, Texas the following month for pilot training, Class 58-P. At Hondo, our training began with the Beechcraft T-34, then we moved up to the North American T-28. From Hondo I was assigned to Reese AFB, Lubbock, Texas for multi-engine training in the B-25. From Reese AFB, my next assignment was to SAC, the 91st Air Refueling Sqdrn., Lockbourne AFB, Columbus, Ohio with an enroute TDY at Randolph AFB, San Antonio, Texas for combat crew training in the KC-97. After obtaining 1,000 hours flying time, 750 of those hours was in the KC-97, I upgraded to Aircraft Commander. I enjoyed flying the
KC-97 even though it was old and slow and in the process of being phased out by the KC-135. Following the termination of the Cuban Missle Crisis in October 1962, the 91st AREFS began transition training into the KC-135. I had a choice to remain at Lockbourne AFB or transfer to a KC-135 unit located at Larsen, AFB, Moses Lake, Wa. Being from Seattle, Wa. I decided to transfer to Larsen AFB, putting me closer to home and family. Unfortunately, those orders were rescinded and I was reassigned to the 906th AREFS at Minot AFB, North Dakota. The three plus years at Minot went quickly and then I was reassigned to the 915th AREFS at Ramey, AFB, Aquadilla, Puerto Rico. It was while at Ramey, I upgraded to KC-135 Instructor Pilot and was assigned to Standboard and Evaluation. Puerto Rico was only a three year assignment and for KC-135 pilots it was almost an automatic assignment to Southeast Asia flying multi engine aircraft of some type. My assignment was to C-123K's with the 310th TAC Airlift Sqdn. located at Phang Rang, with a 6 week TDY enroute to Lockbourne AFB for Combat Crew Training in the C-123K. I arrived at Phan Rang in January 1970. With in a few days I started flying my in-country orientation flights. After six orientation flights, I was on my own and three months after arriving in-country I was upgraded to instructor status in the C-123K.

Rice, Donald, Maj