Meandering and my Air Force Days 1968-72 part 3

The record 70 degrees over the weekend has turned back to January-like and the heavy flooding rains are done, and a few snow flakes float through the outdoor air....the highs will likely be in the 30s for the foreseeable future with lows in the 20s.  I can deal with that...probably better than dealing with the pain in the neck I have had for the past week or so...weight lifting?  basketball? old age? or a combination of all of the above...getting old sucks I don't care how active you stay, how healthy of life style you try to live, or whatever...you just can't stop Father Time.....

MRSI Board meeting today...a single basketball game tonight at Delphos, then quickly back to Celina for a Dartball match....I have not played for a month, as the league was down for the Holidays and last week I contracted a roundball double header, and missed that week...we are at 3 wins, 3 loses, and early that gives us a share of the South Division lead....not sure how long that will last, hopefully I can improve on the season, so far at a .313 batting average, with 11 RBIs....the former pretty low by my standards...another aging thing?

The Air Force Days part #3....

In late August 1968 our Squadron graduated from Basic Training at Amarillo, my "Dream Sheet" had been tossed into the circular bin....no Air Control and Warning, no Air Traffic Control, nope, just a sheet that said "Security Police"..."Assigned to training school at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas"...."Cops, Cooks, Grass Cutters and Other Assorted Dipshits", the words of my brother Mike came immediately came to mind.

Six more weeks in the Texas summer heat....San Antonio was different, weather-wise than Amarillo.  Sure both were hot as the blazes...difference was however, San Antone was hot and humid...Amarillo was hot and dry, with cool sleep able
nights,  I remember some things about Cop School, but not so much with names...we did get to go downtown and managed to hit a few bars.  Cop School was pretty much a breeze, after all, what were they gonna do, kick us out?  Not likely, very few wanted to be Air Force Military Police...after-all, that is basically what we were,

some would go to Security, some Law Enforcement, some to Dog Handlers (K 9)Training.  I loved dogs, my family had a variety of Coon Hounds, mutts, Bird Dogs, and others, my entire childhood...after the Air Force I raised Airedales for 35 years...so I loved dogs, but I knew the dangers involved with dog handling, they were the first to get shipped to Vietnam, and likely the first to die in the event of an attack.

Cop School was a chance to learn the cop trade, not sure what exactly I was trained in...less than a year later I was back at Lackland for AZR School...that two week course would get us "trained" in Combat, so they told us....both schools together taught us enough about weapons, especially small arms, like the M2, M16, and .38 Special to get us by...I did become pretty proficient in the afore mentioned, that it has stayed with me throughout my life....although in the Air Force they taught us just enough to get ourselves killed...which happened to enough Sky Cops in Vietnam.

Late in the training the called us in and told us they had more 'Dream Sheets" to fill out...these would be used to send us to our bases of choice{hardly a ringing endorsement for getting you where you wanted to be....of course they told us, we have immediate opening in the grand land of Turkey if you want to head overseas and avoid
Vietnam anytime soon..."Turkey?  You gotta be shitting me?"  I had heard horror stories about that dump...even back then, the Islamic way of life wasn't going to mix with my lifestyle...."No Turkey For You"...I picked Florida, Ohio, and Delaware, my mom's home state and where my Uncle Bill lived...I had been there before, and I loved Uncle Bill and Family....so I could take Dover if needed...it was needed, I was informed a week or so later that I was heading for MACland (Military Airlife Command)...Dover AFB, Delaware...first off some leave, and then Dover for my first assignment, that would come in October 1968.

The leave, back in Celina, was pretty much a blur....drinking plenty of beer, with my still short hair....not exactly the way you want to return home...frankly, the civilian days were behind me, and for the next four years, I would find out being a military type and a civilian teenager were worlds apart....it would remain that way until I got out of the Air Force.

back later>>>

Photos-Air Police became "Security Police" right before my assignment to SP School at Lackland...today they are called Security Forces....with women involved...not a good thing IMO...sexist I may be, but I know a mistake when I see on, and the Feminazion of the Miliatry is not a good thing for America.  K-9 Patch from Tan Son Nhut....Dog Handler was not in my future, despite Sarge Prokops declaration....The Statue at the Air Force Museum at Wrigth Patterson....even in my Vietnam Days, I don't recall ever looking that "Gung Ho"....and my early days at Dover....if somebody had attacked back then, I was clueless...