Previously Held AFSC/MOS 27350A-Aircraft Control and Warning Operator
27370A-Aircraft Control and Warning Technician
27370S-Aircraft Control and Warning Technician
27670-Aerospace Control and Warning Systems Technician
Retired and enjoying life. I joined the Air Force August 15, 1961. After 30 years and 17 days I retired on August 31, 1991. While on 90 days terminal leave I went to work as a security guard and worked for 13 months. I then went to work for a company (BRENCO) that manufactures wheel bearings for railroad cars, and worked for them two years. I then started working for the U.S. Postal Service and worked 17 years and three months. I worked a total of 50 years four months and two weeks . I started with the Postal Service as a City Mail Carrier and did that for three and a half years. I then got a job in Personnel in Aug 98 and worked there until it was phased out, and then started working in the training department in Jan 08. I worked in training 16 of my 30 years in the Air Force so I was happy with that job. I sold 588 hours of annual leave when I retired completely on 30 Dec 2011. Selling that leave helped me to finish paying for the hardwood floors Nancy had installed in two hallway. Wish I could have sold the over 1600 hours of sick leave I had, but during that time the Postal Service would only add half of it to your time in service. In 2013 the Postal Service started adding all of it to time in service. House in Virginia was paid for, and I had my yards in good shape. Unfortunately Nancy's Arthritis caused us to need to move to warmer weather.
Other Comments:
I was born in the very, very, very small town of Lamont FL. I grew up in Tampa, FL and graduated from Middleton High School in 1960. I then attended Florida A&M University for a year and joned the Air Force 8/15/61. I had four remote tours; all in the Pacific. Two were in Okinawa, one in Vietnam, and one in the Philippines. I had two long tours in Germany. The first was at Hessisch-Oldendorf AS, Germany Jun 76 to Jun 78. My last assignment was to the Warrior Preparation Center at Einsiedlerhof AS, Germany for 14 months and my slot was deleted. I was then moved to Headquarters USAFE at Ramstein Airbase for two years and retired Aug 1991. Life has been really good to me, and I consider myself to be a very luck person. I had a wonderful Air Force career. My second wife (Nancy) and I have been married 42 years. While in Virginia we lived in a quiet neighborhood in Petersburg, VA which is about six miles from Fort Lee, VA. We annually went to Hampton, VA to attend the Jazz Festival and most of the time was able to get billetting on Langley AFB. While vacationing we have also been lucky to get billetting at Travis AFB, CA, Shaw AFB, SC, MacDill AFB, FL, Hickam AFB, HI, and at Eglin AFB, FL. When I retired from the Air Force we went to Petersburg, VA to live because we had a house there we were unable to sell when I went PCS to Eglin AFB, FL in Jan 1984. In April 2016 we moved to Shalimar, FL because of Nancy's Arthritis and the cold weather in Virginia causing her lots of pain.
Description November 15, 1961-March 1, 1965 .
On November 15, 1961, the 2d Advanced Echelon (2d ADVON) was activated in Saigon, capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The 2d ADVON, administratively part of the Thirteenth Air Force, controlled USAF units operating in Vietnam and reported to the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. The 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron's FARM GATE detachment arrived on November 16. The FARM GATE, organization, although trained for counter insurgency combat, for about 2 months limited its mission to training Vietnamese aircrews and supporting with reconnaissance flights the operations of the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF). Activation of the 2d ADVON and arrival of the FARM GATE detachment heralded the buildup of the United States Air Force presence in Vietnam.
Responding to the Republic of Vietnam's appeal in December 1961 for increased military aid to counter Communist (Viet Cong) insurgents, the United States gradually increased its forces. From January 2 to 5, 1962, for example, the USAF moved a tactical air control system to South Vietnam and landed equipment and personnel at Tan Son Nhut Air Base (AB) in Saigon; Bien Hoa AB, I5 miles north of Saigon; Da Nang AB, 375 miles northeast of Saigon; Pleiku AB, in the Central Highlands 230 miles northeast of Saigon; and Nha Trang AB, on the coast, a little less than 200 miles northeast of Saigon. Shortly afterwards, on January 7, a flight of C-l23s equipped for aerial spray missions arrived at Tan Son Nhut. Code-named RANCH HAND, this USAF detachment 3 days later began defoliation operations that continued for 9 years.
To manage U.S. forces in Vietnam, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Command, at the direction of President John F. Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, created Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) on February 8, 1962. Army Gen. Paul D. Harkins was named the first Commander of MACV. The 2d ADVON became the air component of the new command. A few months later, on October 8, the USAF activated the 2d Air Division, which replaced the 2d ADVON. In spite of increased U.S. aid, the Viet Cong insurgency grew, and the government of South Vietnam faced growing civil disorder. A year later, on November 1, 1963, a group of South Vietnamese military officers deposed President Ngo Dinh Diem in a coup détat, and not until June 1965 would the South Vietnamese establish a reasonably stable government. Meanwhile, on June 20, 1964, Anny Gen. William C. Westmoreland became Commander of MACV.
Communist insurgents also operated actively in Laos, and in May 1964 United States involvement in Southeast Asia expanded to include military aid to that country. On June 9, F-100s flying from Takhli Air Base, Thailand, about 110 miles north of Bangkok, made the first USAF strike in Laos. Air Force pilots bombed an antiaircraft installation at Xiangkhoang, on the Plain of Jars, about 100 miles northeast of Vientiane, the Laotian capital. In December 1964 the USAF launched an air interdiction campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of roads, trails, and waterways in the southern Laotian panhandle.
The nature of the conflict in Southeast Asia changed dramatically in late 1964. On August 2 and 4 torpedo boats from North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) attacked U.S. naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin- On the 5th, U.S. naval aircraft launched retaliatory air strikes against coastal targets in North Vietnam. That same day the USAF deployed B-57s to Bien Hoa AB and F-100s to Da Nang AB. Then in December 1964 the Viet Cong used conventional field rather than hit-and-run tactics to drive South Vietnamese forces temporarily from Binh Gia, near the coast, only 40 miles southeast of Saigon. For both North and South Vietnam governmental authorities this battle marked an escalation of the conflict. As the war rapidly intensified, on February 7, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered American dependents evacuated from South Vietnam. The same day the Viet Cong shelled Pleiku Air Base. In retaliation, the USAF conducted its first raid against North Vietnam on the 8th,
hitting a target just north of the 17th parallel.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1961
To Month/Year
March / 1965
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2023
Personal Memories
People You Remember Russell Clark, Phil Himes, John Layne, Harley Cahill, Gerald Mainor
Memories For Christmas 1969 lights were placed on the two radar towers; one in the shape of a star and the other in the shape of a Christmas Tree. We had a rocket attack one night and a rocket hit the compounds on both sides of us. The lights were then hut off and taken down. This was at Tan Son Nhut Airbase.
