Why I joined the Air Force

Why I joined the Air Force

Way back in 1965 the U.S. of A. did not have an all volunteer army like it does today.  There was the draft and there was no lottery number.  Anyone could be called at anytime, unless they were in college.  Well, I had dropped out of college and went to work and knew that I was probably going to get drafted.  The Vietnam War was heating up.  I did not want to carry a gun and slosh through rice paddies, so I went to my Air Force recruiter and took my tests and enlisted.  I was scheduled to be sworn in on January 25, 1966 in the Administrative Field where I had my highest scores on the aptitude test.

In December of 1965, I got a notice to report for induction to the Army on December 23rd.  In a panic I called my unscrupulous Air Force recruiter.  He told me he could get me a 30 day deferment if I changed my field from Administrative to General. I had really been looking forward to being a clerk sitting at a comfy desk writing reports.  But, I really did not want to go into the Army 2 days before Christmas. 20 year old kids just do not have enough life experiences to make good life changing decisions.  My scores were not as good in the General Field.  Basically I had the choice of being a cook, an auto mechanic, or an air policeman.  I had no mechanical skills at the time and did not know how to boil water, so I chose Air Police.  Why not, I could salute the officers as they entered the base. Easy enough job, so I thought.  So I chose Air Police.  I was sworn in on January 18, 1966.

Well, little did I know that there was a branch of Air Police called Security Police. I ended up in Security Police, in a SAC unit attached to Wright-Patterson Air Base, near Dayton Ohio, carrying an M-16 and guarding B-52 bombers loaded with nukes ready to launch at those nasty Russians.  I loved the hours: 3 swings (4 to midnight), three mids (midnight to 8) and three days (8 to 4) with 72 hours off and then do it all over again.  I never knew if it was day or night when I woke up. During the winter, 5 at night was as dark as 5 in the morning.  Scary when you wake up and are not sure if you slept through your shift and were legally AWOL.

It did not take me long to realize that I should become a dog handler, even if they only worked at night.  Here is what I saw: the sentry dog handlers stood guard mount with the security flight at 4 PM, posted when it got dark (9 or so during the summer) and got off post at midnight the same as me. Then on the midnight shift they posted with me at midnight, but got off post when it got light, put there dogs away, went to breakfast and were in bed before I got off post at 8. Better than that, they got 80 hours off.  I did the math: 9 days on 72 hours off vs 6 days on 80 hours off.  It was a no brainer, I would apply for K-9.

Well I did.  Surprisingly there were only two candidates to fill the one open position.  There was me, who was afraid of dogs growing up and one other guy. We both had negatives.  The kennel master thought I was too small to handle the dog and he thought the other guy was an arrogant asshole.  I got the nod.  I decided it was time to get over my childhood fear of dogs. The picture of me in the profile is of me and my dog Dawn, 127X.  Dawn was an incredibly aggressive sentry dog, but as you can tell, she bonded well with me.