Military Service

[NN4S]

WOW! Mighty proud to be among so many folks who've taken the time out of their lives to serve! If there were a thumbs' up smiley, this is the perfect spot to use it!

I spent time from `81 to `85 as a 322x2C, a now phased-out or combined field that was entitled Electro-Optical Sensor Systems Technician. My time in the USAF after basic and tech school training (on RF4c aircraft) was spent working on optical (read "film type") camera systems on the U2R, TR-1, and SR71 platforms. By the time the offer for re-enlistment rolled around, they had decided to retire the SR and dropped the bonus... thus confirming my decision to separate. I've never regretted it, though I did get a laugh out of the fact that one of them followed me home (there's an SR71 on display at the Space and Rocket Center in nearby Huntsville) even when I tried to get away!

 

[Music Man]

WOW! Mighty proud to be among so many folks who've taken the time out of their lives to serve! If there were a thumbs' up smiley, this is the perfect spot to use it!

I spent time from `81 to `85 as a 322x2C, a now phased-out or combined field that was entitled Electro-Optical Sensor Systems Technician. My time in the USAF after basic and tech school training (on RF4c aircraft) was spent working on optical (read "film type") camera systems on the U2R, TR-1, and SR71 platforms. By the time the offer for re-enlistment rolled around, they had decided to retire the SR and dropped the bonus... thus confirming my decision to separate. I've never regretted it, though I did get a laugh out of the fact that one of them followed me home (there's an SR71 on display at the Space and Rocket Center in nearby Huntsville) even when I tried to get away!

And there it is, NN4S

 

[KC_Cacti]

I want to thank every last one of you for your service!!! I did not serve but I have the utmost respect for everyone of you!!! My brother-in-law served in the army's 10th mountain division out of Ft. Drum but he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan back in 2009.

 

[Dustoff]

I want to thank every last one of you for your service!!! I did not serve but I have the utmost respect for everyone of you!!! My brother-in-law served in the army's 10th mountain division out of Ft. Drum but he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan back in 2009.

We often forget that freedom is not free. I am saddened at the great cost your family has paid for our freedom. We will never forget the high price your family paid and always be eternally grateful!

 

[Craig]

I want to thank every last one of you for your service!!! I did not serve but I have the utmost respect for everyone of you!!! My brother-in-law served in the army's 10th mountain division out of Ft. Drum but he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan back in 2009.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Chaz]

I retired from the Coast Guard in 2003 after 20 years as an Electronic technician. I spent much of that time workimg in the LORAN field. LORAN was a land based navigation and timing system that was done way with once GPS became popular. I really like working on the large transmitters outputting over 1 million watts.

 

[NN4S]

And there it is, NN4S

That's excellent!

KC_Cacti, sorry for your loss...

 

[Truett Collins]

U.S. Army 72-75 13B10, Cannon Crewman
U.S. Navy 81-99 Radioman

 

[84mpg]

From the proud son of a WWII Vet, a sincere thanks to all of you that serve - or have served our country!

Bless you and yours !!!

 

[SeattleVet]

United States Air Force, 1972-1984.

For the first 6 years I was a 326x1A, Integrated Avionics Repair Technician. Did in-shop work on the avionics of the FB-111A fighter/bomber. The shop was one of the early automatic test station concept, with a central computer (*very* basic and primitive by today's standards) having the test procedures for the avionics units being tested on the stations throughout the shop. The FB-111A was the swing-wing aircraft, capable of a tad over 2x the speed of sound. (The 'Go-Fast' patch I use for my avatar is the Strategic Air Command's FB-111A in the swept and extended position, with the text "MACH 2+ FB-111" underneath.)

I was stationed at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, in the 380th Avionics Maintenance Squadron (380 AMS) for the 5 years or so that I worked on this aircraft.

I cross-trained to 305x0, Electronic Computer Repair Technician, and was stationed at Sembach AB, Germany for 3 years, working on the 407L mobile RADAR computer systems for forward air control. The unit was the 603rd Tactical Control Squadron (603 TCS). Our main work was done out at a site detached from the main base a few miles, near Mehlingen, Germany. We were a mobile unit, and periodically tore everything down, loaded it all on trucks and trailers, and deployed to other locations where we set it all up and slept in tents for a week or so (mostly for no other reason than just to prove we could do it).

After my 3 years in Germany I was sent to the 3944 Electronic Security Squadron at Fort Meade, Maryland. When I first got there our instructions were that we 'worked for the Department of Defense at Fort Meade', and only if anyone specifically asked could we say that we worked at the National Security Agency. (They had, very shortly before I got there, stopped denying their own existence.) Interesting assignment, fixing state of the art computer equipment along side some stuff that was 25 or more years old and headed for the Smithsonian when we finished with it. I don't know what the computers were used for, and didn't really care - we just fixed them when they broke, and had no need to know anything more.

I got out at the end of my second 6-year enlistment as an E5 (Staff Sergeant), and got a job in System Management at Bankers Trust Company in NYC. That was the big black building at 130 Liberty Street that portions of the south tower of the World Trade Center fell onto, creating a24-floor gash and eventually leading to the dismantling of the building. I supported the systems software on the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX systems.

I left there in 1992, several months before they set the truck bomb off in the parking garage of the Trade Center, moved to Seattle, and worked as a contractor doing network admin at a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) facility here. NOAA took a 30% budget cut 2 years ago, and my job was part of the 30%, so I just sort of decided that I was retired at the point. My wife has been an engineer at Boeing for 35+ years, and also thinking about retirement.

OK - that's the military (and the rest of my life, it seems!) story for me. Looking forward to seeing some progress with this new car we've somehow become attached to...