Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "The 3 a.m. call and the 1979 NORAD Alert" video.

  1. I was a young USAF lieutenant stationed in Texas in 1979. I may be recalling a different event, but a SAC Minuteman missile crew commander was reassigned to our organization about this time and became my office mate. He told me about the incident and initially thought it was a very realistic drill until the point where they inserted the launch keys. Then the order came to stand down. He was told the mistake was due to the Soviets having conducted an unannounced dual test launch, which was something they had never done before. Our satellites immediately picked up the flares and sent the warning message before calculating the trajectories as being nonthreatening. Perhaps it was a different event, which if true, gives me a case of the willies. Sleep tight America - your Air Force is awake.
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  2. Ronald, I'm a former fuels officer myself, but by the time I went through the Supply Officer and Fuels course, it was being taught at Lackland AFB (Medina Annex) where I started my career. As an aside, the Supply, Transportation, and Logistics Planning Officer career fields are now a single merged career field called 21RX Logistics Readiness. However, their enlisted equivalents remain separated, so the 2F0XX (fuelies) still enjoy their semi-independence, living at the far end of the field where they can host BBQs and beach parties without interference from Group or Wing leadership.
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  3. Always a pleasure to hear from Tommy Atkins. I once had the satisfaction of briefly working with the Household Cavalry during an exercise in Egypt. Fortunately, one of my junior offices had liaised with the British before, so he advised that we arrive at suppertime because "They lay out the silver". After six weeks of Army field rations (I was Air Force), the chance of receiving a proper meal proved most enticing. We were not disappointed!
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  4. Kingfisher, if you're thanking me, I'm not sure I've done anything to deserve it, but on behalf of everyone who has ever served this country in peace or war, I'll accept it.
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  5. I never visited Chanute, but my Dad went through the aircraft engine maintenance course there in the late 40s. He told me he and one other airman had already earned their A&E ratings before enlisting in the Air Force, so the instructors told them to just sit in back and remain quiet while they taught the rest of the students. Lots of bases are shuttered now, and others have since merged. For example, Lackland started out in WWII as an annex to Kelly. They were later split into two bases. Now, what remains of Kelly has become part of Lackland. The only constant is change.
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  6. Thanks for clarifying that point. has anyone ever done a retrospective on the Soviet incident?
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  7. Sebi, you must be easily entertained. Usually my stories make watching paint dry an entertaining pastime. 🙄
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  8. Matt, we were awake; we just weren't armed. That's one of the dangers of a peacetime mentality.
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  9.  @paladinhill  Thanks for the information. I too was at Medina, from 78 - 79, but assigned as a brand new 2nd Lt to the Occupational Measurement Center right next door to OTS. I had the advantage of being allowed to dine in the OTS chow hall as a paying customer, but at the risk of returning the salutes of dozens of cadets if I timed it wrong. The situation once reversed itself while I was at Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB. The Air Command & Staff class were pouring out of the Big Blue Bedroom (auditorium) as I was walking past. I think I saluted about 600 majors and LTCs.
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  10.  @johnmilner5485  I believe there are a lot more people in the military who hate this woke nonsense than support it, but the current administration is all in with the nutters and yes men, so that's who they promote into leadership roles. The point to remember is that you can be a professional warrior training hard and keeping your eye on the ball or you can be a SJW, but you can't be both. How many snowflakes do you think are fighting in Ukraine right now? I'd say the number is zero because war is not cosplay and those who think it is will be dispelled of this rubbish quickly or else die an ignoble death.
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