Dave, You've got quite a history there and alot of memories. You are to be
commended. Closest I ever got to any conflict was, just as I arrived at Misawa AFB in Japan,
North Korea had captured the Pueblo and we went on 24hr Alert (loaded and ready to fly to
Korea at a moments notice) and this lasted for a little while. During my tour in Japan, some of
the 3 Squadrons of F4s (stationed at Misawa) would rotate to a base in South Korea and
spend 2 weeks on an Alert Site with planes loaded with Nukes (that made me just a bit
nervous) You see, They told us that if the planes that were armed, ever moved you might as
well dig a hole and kiss your A## goodbye because we were going to WAR!!
(On that note: Later, after I got married, this happened. One morning, the alarm went
off and in my head I didn't hear the alarm, I heard that Alert Alarm and , before my wife could
stop me, I had my pants on and was at the front door. She asked me what I was doing and
the only thing I could figure out was I was going to send off my F4C to take care of
intruders.)
Just as I was getting close to leaving Japan, North Korea shot down an EC121
Electronics Surveylance ACFT and we went back on 24hr alert. Gotta tell you that I've got a
real admiration for those who were in combat or anything close. No matter, we ALL served
(& are serving) because it takes all of the TEAM to properly perform the given task.
Later On, Bill
Poll