Comment:
Before going to Southeast Asia we were all going to have to complete Combat Training at Camp Bullis, TX. The last week at Bullis a bunch of the guys from Loring found out they had made Sgt (E-4) before going to Thailand. Some took leave others like me simply went to the bus station and took a bus to Travis AFB to catch the flight going to Southeast Asia. Hence the journey and adventures of my Thailand experiences began.
The flight out of Travis was a C-5 along with several hundred other military personnel, 1st stop Hickam AFB, HI. I know you’re thinking wow paradise, right! Wrong, this turned out to be a glorious FUBAR that would last 5 days. Upon arrival, the C-5 broke down, no rooms on base so downtown bound and check into the hotel for a couple of hours, then called back to the terminal. This happened 5 times with hours spent each time waiting at the terminal, includes on take-off and one emergency landing back at Hickam. Finally, we’re all broke; no clean clothes we finally take off and end up landing in the Philippines where you guessed it the C-5 broke down again. But, this time we were leaving on a C-5 or C-141 but, a C-130.
Those of us going to NKP had to endure 3 or 4 stops before getting to NKP, up and freeze, down, and sweat. Arriving at Nakhon Phanom, Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand March 13, 1975, and one of the biggest chapters in my Air Force career is beginning and I don’t even know it yet. Three of us SP’s arriving the same day were assigned the same hooch, Sgt Sam Day (from Texas) and I’m shameful because I cannot remember who our other room-mate was. But, I can guarantee you all 3 of us can remember our first night at NKP and the club…all before our in-processing had even begun. 2-days later I got to meet our 1stSgt (don’t remember his name just the ass-chewing), got called to the shirt’s office, entered, and was asked why I was out of uniform and if I wanted to remain an AIC for my entire tour, he tossed me a stack of strips and told me I had until the end of the day to get my uniforms straightened out. Sorry, guys/gals 2-pages aren’t enough. I very quickly learned the entire base, perimeter, all the shortcuts, all the post everything and that got me normally assigned Security Alert Team (SAT) 8 or 9, myself, and 2 Thai Guards with the run of the base. This is what my assignment was when the entire base was alerted the night of May 12, 1975, got to base from downtown to be told get to CSC ASAP, found our QRF assembled, and preparing for deployment, several of the guys I had processed in with them. I was giving box lunches and drinks to the guys on the choppers before they departed. To shorten this I was assigned the function of getting 2 duce and half’s ready for a convoy in the morning, worked on 3 to get 2 that would make the trip. Long story short, I volunteered and went with the convoy, recovered our personnel (5-crew & 18 SPs), and brought back the helicopter in the trucks. This movie plays over and over again when I think back to those days.
Another event I’m solely responsible was the reporting of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) flying over the base at a specific time every morning after the S.S. Mayaguez incident. This drone was flying from East to West then back East every morning. The razing I received, questioning by OSI, and the accusations made by my own flight chiefs and Lt. But, I was vindicated proven and verified by a gunship during a possible attack, there are so many SPs that owes me an apology for ever doubting or questioning my sobriety while on duty. It was later verified by OSI as a Russian made drone capable of carrying either 500 lbs of camera equipment or 500 lbs of explosives. Oh the adventures and life experiences I had while at NKP are with me today and will be all my living days and to think this was only a small segment of my career from March 13, 1975, until October 1975 at which time less than 100 of us boarded buses and were the last ones to leave NKP as we travel to Korat, my time in Thailand was finished on January 29, 1976. I spent the next 10yrs trying to get back to Thailand again so, I could possibly relive those days of my youth with a great bunch of guys and gals.
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Then
Now