OK, first post since March, next month it will be 18 years ago that I started this Blog, July 2007. Blogging is not what it was back then for sure...but I still have those nearly 18 years floating around Cyber Space and the Internet, to look back on when I feel the urge.
Air Force-The Beginning:
I will never be one of the guys that says he misses the military life...I hated just about every freaking minute of it...sure I made some great friends, saw a few different locations, Texas, Delaware, Upstate New York, and of course my Southeast Asia Vacations at Nha Trang and Tan Son Nhut,Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. No Regrets and I still hang out at and host reunions from those years as well.
It all began in March of 1968 after I received my draft notice {before they used the birthday system}..to Columbus to take my physical, which of course I passed, didn't everybody that wasn't a rich kid? So no way was I going to get drafted by the Army or Marines ... no Infantry for me, I wasn't a coward, but I wasn't gung ho or stupid either, and I certainly wasn't cutting for Canada. IMO those that did were not "Protesting" the war in Vietnam, they didn't want to get their asses shot...fair enough but admit what you were, and why.
Anyway I, after discussions with family and a visit to the Navy Recruiter in Lima, walked into the
Air Farce{Pun Intended}Recruiting Station, with my buddy, the Late Eddie Bonifus...we both passed the tests and signed up for the Delayed Enlistment/Buddy system {first of many lies, they called me up 2 weeks before Ed, we both ended up at Amarillo and not Lackland, but not together, and after one meeting at Amarillo we didn't see each other again until after our AF days were finished.
So on June 22nd I boarded a bus to C'Bus, took the Oath, and after a night with my Celina buddy, another Late Friend, Doug Gisege, at the Hotel the put us up in, I boarded my first ever Airplane flight to Amarillo via Dallas, and Lubbock ... arriving about 2 in the morning on the 24th, the next 3 years and 10 1/2 months were up and running.
6 weeks of Summer in Amarillo were hot in the day, windy every day, and coolish with lower humidity at night...Air Force basic, while somewhat hard was not unbearable, at least to me...Lackland AFB for "Cop" School later that summer was much more humid and equally hot...Staff Sgt Joe Prokop was our TI {Drill Instructor} and we would serve together in Vietnam some 18 months later...great guy he was and predicted I would end up in Vietnam, probably Tan Son Nhut, which was my 2nd base in Vietnam, and who would greet me at the Airport on my trip south from Nha Trang? None other than Joe Prokop!
Anyway it all began 57 years ago this morning June 24, 1968...no regrets!
Back Later, if I'm still above ground :)
Photos---PRH at Nha Trang August 1969 and bottom July 1968 Prokops Pups at Basic Training Amarillo AFB I'm 2nd row from top 4 guy from left
