Uncle Sam wanted ME - United States Air Force, March of 1970.

First up, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

Did everybody arrive at this place at 3:30 in the morning like I did? Was it raining too? After I got there, was wondering what in the #@$! I was doing when I signed those papers! (Little bit late for that, eh?) This was also where I first found out that I am partially color blind!

Change of plans on the job front - It was "decided" that CommCenter Specialist was my area of expertise.
(Who knew?)

Next up, lovely Shepherd Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas for training.

As part of my training, I had to take a typing test. I typed 45 words-per-minute and thought I was pretty slick. Then a guy typed 115 words-per-minute! (Thought about breaking his fingers! Unfortunately, he was bigger than me, so that was out of the question.)

Being somewhat naive, I requested overseas duty - either London, England or Tokyo, Japan. What I got was halfway in-between - Incirlik Air Force Base, Adana, Turkey! (Sheesh! Who in the heck was looking at a map on that one, eh???) (A moment of silence, if you please!)

There I encountered the IBM 360/20 computer. HUGE darn thing, had to "program" it by running a rather large deck of pre-punched cards through a card reader. Talk about making what we have today look good!

I spent two years in Turkey. Musta been a glutton for punishment as I extended my tour!

Time to go stateside - Buckley Field, Denver, Colorado.

Shared an apartment with a guy I was stationed with in Turkey! (Now that’s what I call coincidence!) Now that I was back in the U.S., my parents came to visit.