I retired from the USAF in 1978 and the DOD/Treasury/State Departments Federal Law Enforcement Divisions (GS-13) in 1998.
Since then I have been enjoying flying, boating, and building 1950's style hot rods. I also have some muscle/antique/classic cars, a Harley and a boat. In my spare time I enjoy woodworking projects. I also am doing a total remodel on my Lady friends house. That's not as much fun as the other stuff though.
I stay in touch with comrades I was stationed with from 1960 to 1963 at RAF Sculthorpe, England and the 7108 TFW NJ ANG, (called-up during the Berlin Crisis) in France.
In 1962 many of the 47th Special Weapons personnel deployed to the four ANG bases in France (Chaumont, Chambley, Phalsburg and Etain) to relieve the ANG of their aircraft and send them home. The active duty unit was then designated the 366TFW and re-deployed to Holloman AFB, NM in 1963. Many of the old 47th A&E personnel remained being assigned together well into the mid-sixties.
The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force (and later FAA) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for Air Defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack. The Ground Air Transmitting Receiving (GATR) Site (R-18) for communications was located at approximately 1.1 miles souh-southwest from the SAGE building. Normally the GATR site was connected by a pair of buried telephone cables, with a backup connection of dual telephone cables overhead.
DC-18 was initially under the San Francisco Air Defense Sector (SFADS), established on 15 February 1959. DC-18 and the SFADS was inactivated on 1 August 1963 as part of an ADC consolidation and reorganization, with its assigned units assigned to other ADC Sectors. The GATR was reassigned to Mill Valley AFS (Z-38) as an annex designated OL-A, 666th Radar Squadron. Today the large SAGE building is now building 2145, housing the 9th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron; the GATR was inactivated in 1980 and the building is now part of a Skeet-shooting range.