Veterans only thread.

[JesseS]

It was known as both. Actually, “Tropic Lightning” Division is more accurate than Lightning, but so is “Electric Strawberries”. It was because of their patch design. It looks like a strawberry.

25th Infantry Division nicknames

OK, I was in the 2/22 in Nam for a bit, for us it was just Lightning Div. We traded AO's with the 4th ID so I got a new cloverleaf patch. Just curious.

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[tm1506]

Got new plates in the mail today!

 

[LANDCRUISER]

USAF 24 years. Air Traffic Controller. Working RADAR was like playing Pac-Man, but it was important to always keep them apart.
I've now been collecting retirement checks longer than I collected active duty checks. Smartest thing I ever did.

I spent 8 years in the Air Force. 6yrs Flt Mech, some time in Nam. No promotions so many of us got out

 

[Dereku]

Half way to retirement in the AF. First enlistment was active, rest has been all guard. Im an ammo guy or for the other services we are known as ordinance.

 

[9zero1790]

I have edited this note because I want to make one thing very clear. Those Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines who put their lives on the for the rest of us are true patriots and heroes. I have the utmost respect for anyone who has served honorably in the US military.

I grew up a USAF Brat. My father served honorably from 1947 until 1968. He joined in the Army Air Corp, and retired in the US Air Force. The USAF didn't exist when he entered the service.

My job was in the background, far from a war front in a CNC center. We knew that we were targeted for 1st strike in the event of a Nuclear War, and war gamed many scenarios. All of them were terrifying when you thought beyond the numbers, but much less so than those on the front lines with gunfire, bombs, and artillery raining down.

People have forgotten that prior to the fall of the USSR, for over 30 years 1/3rd of the US bomber force were on alert status, some with engines running, all nuclear weapon armed, with the crew housed within 100' of the aircraft in the "Alert Shack". I watched countless times as those bombers on alert were called out - sirens blaring and air crews sprinting to the planes, most times they were called back on the runway, other times they took to the air not knowing if the mission was an exercise or the real thing. I remember a few times they went into holding patterns over the western Atlantic Ocean. Times were politically tense on those occasions. For a good read on the topic, see this article

And this Youtube video SAC Simulated Alert Response 1968

We knew that if the Russians launched a first strike that only those aircraft on alert would survive. Only 27 minutes from launch to target from the USSR to the USA back then. We had to be up within 15 minutes! And if real, those air crews knew their mission was a one way trip.... only enough fuel for that, and a real possibility that there would be nothing to return home to anyway. Those air crews and support teams were true patriots and heros.

Here's a comment from the youtube video which paints a clear picture of the environment

Thanks for posting this. I was in the AF when this was ON for real. They even had red rotating lights at all the intersections on base and everywhere else on base a crew might happen to be away from the Alert Shack. A quick break from being 100 feet away from the planes was all they got during their rotating 24/7 Alert "Stand". ​

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They had the red lights at the BX, The theater, the gym. everywhere. They even had reserved parking spots even closer than the Base Commanders reserved parking spot at of all those places. ​

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Everyone who was stationed on the base knew the drill and we all took it seriously. No one, knew if it was a real alert or if it was just a drill........Everyone involved in getting those planes and crews together and ready at a moments notice knew that the Freedom and Security of the entire country, GODS Country, depended on them to do what they had spent years training to be ready for.....Get those bas _ _ rds before they got us. ​

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That is it in a nutshell. To a person, from the airman that cleaned the toilets in the alert shack, to the maintenance crews on the flight line, to the Aircrew that would deliver the payload (Nuclear)....the entire base really including the families gave of themselves to achieve this readiness posture that was entrusted to them by our President, and it was an Honor to be given the PRIVILEGE to Serve our Country this way for RIGHT during this time in our history when this is the way we did it. So when the TIME came and the engines exploded into life with a BANG using the cartridge starters , to the pause at the end of the runway with the adrenaline flowing listening for the crackle of orders from HQ in the headsets, there was no doubt that The Mission would be a success. ​

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We were waiting too..... it got kinda silent all around the base....would we see the dozens of smoke trails from the planes as they disappeared over the horizon on their way to ??...or would they taxi back to the ramp? ​

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I thank God we never saw the "Gear Up" indicator light come on................................so now,.... those Navy guys just party around the world under the sea the doing the same thing. HA! Good on ya' Navy!!!!! Your turn!​

My job was important, but no more so than any other individual in the military.

Please forgive me for being so long winded.

A Blast from the Past!

USAF 1975-1981 - Enlisted in the USAF right out of High School thinking I was going to be an Air Traffic Controller and ended up with a USAF AS EE degree maintaining the equipment in one of several HQ war rooms. This was before the era of integrated circuits and chips. Computers ran on transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc. We repaired the actual boards down to the component level on site. No black box replacements!

I was stationed at NORAD CMC and Barksdale AFB. Both in Bunkers. Shot the daily AM briefings for the Command Staff and maintained the computers, interfaces and automated projection equipment.

Only location bases for my field were SAC HQ (3 locations) and NORAD. SAC had triple redundancy at the time - Offutt AFB - SAC HQ, Barksdale AFB HQ 8th Air Force (and control of all USAF nuclear weapons for the eastern half of the USA)., and March AFB in Riverside, Ca (which controlled the nuke strike forces located in the western half of the USA).

At the time the 3 SAC bases had near identical war rooms and equipment, but NORAD was more advanced, and war room was smaller. NORAD was the eyes and ears of the North American Continent. SAC controlled two of the three legs of the Nuclear Triad Defense - ICBMs, and the Bomber strike force. The Navy had the third leg, the ICBM Subs.

In 1975 this system was long in tooth and needed to be replaced. The movie Wargames most closely resembled the actual SAC CNC War Rooms shown below not the NORAD room.

The images below are all that I have to remember the place, an ITT Picture and overview ( not classified ). Everyone was vetted and had Top Secret SBI clearances.

Looking back 40 years, it was a very cool place to work. None of this command or physical infrastructure exists today, although NORAD CMC ( Cheyenne Mountain Complex ) has recently been reactivated for other purposes.

Anyway, here's a picture of the war room display in action. Four - 16'x16' displays each divided in 4' square quadrants. Offutt AFB had 5 display projection units. Barksdale and March had 4.

Here are two pics of NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex

The double blast doors - the entrance into the facility ~1.2 miles inside The Mountain. These are public domain pictures. There is a great deal of advanced engineering inside the complex. For a taste read the following: 13 secrets of NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain

as a kid my dad and uncles were all air force. i spent most of the time near carswell and dyess both sac back then. seeing the sac bombers was a daily. kinda miss it. even though young an foolish i understood those b52s and b1s equaled safety. these days most all i see out of what used to be carswell is c130s, f18s, t38s-f5s, f16s and the turbo mentor or whatever its called trainer.

 

[Bob902]

as a kid my dad and uncles were all air force. i spent most of the time near carswell and dyess both sac back then. seeing the sac bombers was a daily. kinda miss it. even though young an foolish i understood those b52s and b1s equaled safety. these days most all i see out of what used to be carswell is c130s, f18s, t38s-f5s, f16s and the turbo mentor or whatever its called trainer.

I bet the old Hercules will still be flying long after I am gone.

 

[9zero1790]

I bet the old Hercules will still be flying long after I am gone.

most likely will be in the air longer than most of the members here.

 

[Bob902]

 

[ROBERTECOX]

Bought my road guard badge at the PX

 

[Doc]

Ha ha, I was a road guard in basic training !

 

[Bob902]

Ha ha, I was a road guard in basic training !

Weren't we all!!!

 

[Synfulz]

Ha ha, I was a road guard in basic training !

I was entertainment officer. My job was to find something for the guys to do on our 1 day off base. So I got a hold of MWR and got us tickets to a Spurs game and a bus to take us. My DI was impressed. I got to be entertainment officer because when my DI addressed me when I first got there, my reply was "yeah". He thought I was entertaining. ??Oh, also wrote yeah on my forehead in a black marker. But I scrubbed it off pretty soon.

 

[ROBERTECOX]

2nd day of basic training at Ft. Lost in the Woods, Misery. 1972

Drill Sgt marches us out to the PT field for 1st day of PT
He gets up on the platform and asks us for PROFILES.

PROFILES in the Army were orders from the medical people exempting injured or sick soldiers from specific physical activity for a specified number of days.

To 1972 civilians, a PROFILE was a Body Builder, Arnold Schwarzenegger posing routine.

Nobody answered the call for a PROFILE. The Drill Sgt continued to demand profiles threatening torture and physical abuse until some poor SOB finally stepped up to take one for the team.

He climbed up on the platform and started doing Body Builder poses. The Drill Sgt was completely taken aback and the poor recruit payed mightily for the entire term of Basic Training.

I never volunteered for another thing in 34 yrs of active service.

 

[9zero1790]

often the military and the usa in general get a bad rap. but the good still exists even if the media ignores it. wanted to share with yall.
at work this week I met a young woman (30) born in Eygpt. she was wearing a hijab, blue jeans and a pt shirt. outfit surprised me lol. we talked a bit. She had a rough life in the sand. I will not get into how women are treated in certain areas or religions. Im sure yall are aware. She wanted to come to the states and get away from all the bad going on. folks in her home area found out and the punishment increased... she knew very little English but she managed to get enlisted in the U.S. Army, gained citizenship, learned to read and write English and finished a college degree. I asked if she enjoyed the Army, she said it gave her freedom and self value. The way her face looked when she said self value made me think she never knew any type of self worth until recently. I was damn proud of her and happy for her. I wanted to high five or hug her but we are not allowed to make any physical contact. I asked her how she made it in basic and AIT without knowing English. Her answer made my week this week. She said, "I just did what everyone else did, but faster and harder. I learned mam, sir and sergeant before leaving the bus. I still do not know what the yelling was but yelling meant try harder".
contrary to what the news tells us and the politicians, a lot of good is still going on my friends.

 

[DonB]

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