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Good Times On Easy Queen Mountain |
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Memories of Easy Queen Mountain in winter...
Rifle
fire still echoing from the DMZ
fourteen years after the
Korean "Police Action" has ended...
Snow piling up
against the tents
as Thanksgiving leaves and Christmas
comes and goes on frosty wings...
Reminding 5th TAC
that my enlistment is up and being told not to worry...
Needs Of the Air Force will extend my enlistment whether I
like it or not...
Response: "You'll have to � I'm not
re-enlisting while I'm on this frigging mountain."
Extension goes through...
Army asks if they can
borrow our M-16s for training,
seems they have ammo, but
no M-16s � Situation Normal All ----- Up...
Korean
Officer appears in tent on Christmas Day with gift of
lighters
as thanks for working on their behalf � silence
from 5th TAC...
Balky radar demanding constant
attention
and only three-level apprentices fresh from
tech school to help out,
exacerbated by a pushy Butter
Bar in Ops who has to be reminded
that he is not in
charge of maintenance...
Almost � nearly, but not
quite � longing for the heat of Vietnam,
maybe for just a
few days...
Called to Seoul by Korean Air Force brass
to give my opinion of present radar and recommendations for
a replacement...
A year or so later find that they have
installed the radar I had wearily recommended...
Meet
my replacement in Seoul; along with replacement parts for
antenna...
find that he has no experience with UPS-1
radar, so back I go with him,
not quite understanding why
I care...
A few months after finally returning to
Clark,
brass floats idea of my returning to Easy Queen �
nobody else can keep the little critter on the air...
It's nearly time for me to return to the States,
so
the suggestion meets with the scorn it so richly deserves.
I would have to extend my tour in SEA,
and I don't want
to hear that "Needs of the Air Force" crap again...
So, after nearly four years spent mostly in the tropic heat
of SEA,
they send me home to the States, Northern
Minnesota, and...
Memories of Easy Queen Mountain in
winter... |
By Thurman P. Woodfork
Copyright 2003
Listed
January 28, 2011 |
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