I had the honor of attending a night of storytelling called “the Telling Project” an evening of storytelling by Vermont veterans and military families.
The Telling Project has been mounted in over 60 communities throughout the country in the last decade. This is probably the first and only time it has been attempted in a rural community; Eight of our Randolph neighbors gathered to tell about their experiences in the military. There were navy, army, one air force, and two dependents on stage. They had different experiences, over different time spans. Each contributed in some way to the strength of our
country. Most served in the Vietnam era, some during the time of our struggles in the middle east. They were each affected in a different way. Some are still suffering from their exposure to fear, hate, and the loss of friends But each played a part in making our country a wonderful place to live.
I’m a veteran, too. I served in the Air Force for over 8 years—1956 to 1964. I often said I was one of the lucky ones—I did not get tangled up in Vietnam, and I joined (too young) for Korea. Up until recently, I didn’t think of my service as valuable. Perhaps it was valuable in its way.
My first hitch was as an airborne navigational radio and radar maintenance worker. I was stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, and I mostly worked on giant cargo aircraft, C-124’s and C-133’s. Most of the work was to go out to the craft and check each piece of gear, make sure it worked before the craft was scheduled to fly. About one day a month, we did a thorough “100 flight hour” periodic maintenance check on a bird. That meant taking the electrical connections off, making sure there were no frayed wires, making sure the shock absorbers still worked, and safety-wired everything back together. All antenna wires had to be checked. All microphones and headsets had to be checked for wear and function. It could take a full day to go over one of those big birds. They were about 175 feet long and had a 250 foot wingspan.
The third part of the job was standby duty. We would ride around the flight line in a van with our tool bag.
Aircraft were usually on pretty tight schedules. They were loaded on a schedule, pre-flighted on a schedule, fueled on a schedule, started on a schedule, and rolled out to the runway on a schedule. There was very little wait
time allowed. If a fault was discovered that kept a bird from flying, it usually sent a ripple of delays down the line.
So, when one of my systems failed at the last minute, it was time for a quick analysis and a fast fix to close the time gap. Funny, a lot of the time it was my turn to hop out of the truck, grab the right black box, and make a quick change.
I got real good at it.
Do you remember the Cuban Crisis? That was the incident where Nikita Khrushchev put missiles on Cuba, capable of reaching into the United States. Jack Kennedy stood up to him. My squadron was told to pack our duffels and
prepare to deploy. I don’t know where we would have gone, but we were ready.
A year later, Belgium gave up government of The Belgian Congo and the Congolese sought revenge on their former masters. That was called “The Congo Crisis”. The U.S. set up a relief effort, and my squadron was sent to Kano, Nigeria as a way station to maintain our cargo craft. For 3 months, a small group of us, instrument, air frame and engine, radio and radar, hydraulic, and other specialties, lived in sub-Saharan heat, taking care of getting our
birds to their next stop.
Later, I had a change of specialty and did an 18 month tour in Izmir, Turkey.
There are plenty of tales to tell about any of these incidents. After listening to “The Telling Project”, and finding deep respect for these veterans and what they did, I have had the opportunity to sit down and think about my time as a veteran, too. There were times when I was called upon to do tedious duty. I had to do some exciting things, and some exacting things. But now, after thinking over my service, and where I went, and what I did, I now have respect for what I did. All of us who served with honor upheld the dignity and strength of our country.
I can indeed call myself a veteran of the United States Armed Forces.
Arny
Last modified: November 14, 2018
