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Gunfighter- Part 4 PRODIGY(R) Service Electronic Mail 02/17/96 To: tomburch@aol.com + list From: AFWA58A Subject: Gunfighter- Part 4 Date: 02/17/9610:11 PM * * * Gunfighter- Part 4 * * * * * Soon after starting my new job as 366th Avionics Maintenance Squadron Commander, I was jolted out of my sleep by the now familiar "whoosh. ..boom" of incoming 122 millimeter rockets. Perhaps a dozen whistled overhead and exploded somewhere in the vicinity of the flight line. The warning sirens had blown during the middle of the raid (they hardly ever sounded until rockets were already falling around the airfield.) As the sounds quieted down, I began to run through the dark to my post-attack position, my office in the Air Force hanger on the flight line about 500 yards away from the barracks. Each commander was to go to his normal post and check in by phone to the Wing Headquarters to report damage. About half way to the hanger, I sensed something unusual in my path in the dark. Coming to a halt, I discovered that one of the rockets had hit the middle of the road and severed a water main. The "something unusual" that I had sensed, was a huge hole full of water. Imagine, I could have drowned! Not the usual expectation in a combat situation... Thinking about that the next day, I determined to do something about it. Running around in the dark was not a good idea in my book, anyway. There were too many opportunities for a "friendly" to mistake me for one of the attackers . What I did was to call Communications and request that an extension of my office phone be wired in to my barracks. Next, I put a sheet of 3/8 inch steel, cut to the size of my bed, between my mattress and springs on my cot. Then, I filled ammunition cans full of sand and placed them around the perimeter of my cot (underneath), leaving one side open where I could roll off my bunk and right under it. As I did, I would pull my newly installed phone and my two-way radio under the bunk with me and, voila...my personal bomb shelter and command post! To complete the package, I had extension phones from each of my troop barracks installed in the bunkers beside the barracks. That way, when I rolled under my bunk, I was in instant contact with all of the troops in each bunker. I could quickly determine if we had any casual ties and pass information back and forth. It also put me in touch with the Wing Command Post with all of the facts needed before any of my fellow squadron commanders. I enjoyed most of my duties as Squadron Commander. With 400 men, there were always people problems to solve and I guess I have always enjoyed things like that. Knowing that many of my guys were very young and probably away from home for the first time (and certainly in a combat zone for the first time), I made it a practice to personally interview each man soon after reporting in. I then wrote a personal letter to the family of each one. That little act was incredibly rewarding. I still have letters from anxious parents who responded wi th thanks that I would take the time to think about them. DaNang was one of those places that the news always seemed to highlight whenever they described battles fought anywhere within 150 miles of us. It was always written as, "battle action near DaNang." I knew that could be a little frightening to families, hearing of so much action near their loved ones. (I knew it was to mine!) So, I told the families of all this and tried to show the relative safety of our location. After all, we had the combined firepower of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, a Marine Air Wing and a full Marine Division on the ground in and around DaNang. It would take a pretty stupid enemy to try to take us on the ground. (They were never successful in such an attack, but they DID try!) I described the defenses of the base and how far we actually were from most action...just trying to put their minds at ease. I also told them that I would do my best to take care of them while they were away. Being a parent myself, I could empathize very much with their concerns. There was an immediate payoff among the men from my letters to their homes. To a man, each one would catch me as I walked through the shops in the day or in the barracks at night and thank me for contacting their parents. I found that it really meant a lot to them. I really did have some outstanding personnel. Few were much older than their 20's and most were 18-19 and right out of technical school. Because most were more educated than the average GI, I had fewer discipline problems than most squadron commanders. Morale quickly improved and maintenance improved even faster. Over the 11 months that I had this job, our performance continued to improve. I had taken command at the absolutely best time I could have... when they were flat on their back. Almost anything that I could have done would have brought them higher by any measure of performance. The Wing's abort rate for maintenance dropped to less than 1/2%..an almost unheard of rate for a combat situation. Many of the things that we did were just common sense, but they weren't being done before. For example, (if you can imagine this), when I looked out on the flight line during the many monsoon rains we experienced, I could see 20-30 F-4s sitting there in the rain with their canopies open. All of the complicated and delicate electronic gear (for which I was responsible) was just simply drowning. Then they would wonder why nothing electronic worked!! Because I had access to the Wing Staff at the "standup" briefings, now as squadron commander, I called attention to the need for buttoning up all cockpits when rain was present or expected. In addition, I had my personnel "moisture-proof" every dial with the equivalent of nail polish and the addition of rubber grommets beneath each knob and switch. We also made and used a temporary "tent-type" shelter over the cockpit as we worked on each plane, to keep rain out. Things began to work better and we no longer spent all the hours drying out equipment. Each aircraft was utilized for air attacks more frequently than those in other Wings. We became the "experts" in weather-proofing electronics. Another simple step was in connection with an operational system known as "Sky Spot" .This was a "black box" on board the aircraft that was a radar transponder. It's purpose was to give the ground radar a strong "blip" on the scope where the attack aircraft was. The ground radar could actually steer the attacking aircraft very accurately to known targets on the ground. Every F-4 had a switch on the dashboard that was the control for this transponder. As each plane began his bomb run, he would turn on his switch and call in to the radar site for guidance. Many aircraft were reporting that their transponders were inoperable and they missed dropping their bombs. When I heard about it at the standup briefings, I had my guys investigate. What they discovered was that fewer than 1 in 10 aircraft actually had the transponder installed...just the switch. To correct that small problem, we just took the few transponders that we had and rotated them to the aircraft daily scheduled for that type bombing. We also developed a backup transponder that was battery operated and hand carried by the copilot. Another success! Every plane hit their targets every time! Our continued successes made morale soar even more. In my weekly and monthly meetings with the entire squadron, I tried to always keep them up to date with progress. You could tell that they were very proud of what they had accomplished. Another simple morale booster was simply getting the men together socially, much like they would have done in a State-side assignment. Because I lived in the barracks with the pilots of "Gunfighter Airlines" and often flew with them myself, I had standing orders for them to bring in cases of colas and barbeque supplies. Once a month, we brought in everyone that was off duty (and scheduled it so that each shift could make part of it) and just had a simple cookout together. Everyone sat around and laughed together and enjoyed the good food that they remembered from quieter times at home. It brought us all together and did much to mold the unit into a smooth operating machine. * * * Next time...the Tet Offensive * * * DISTRIBUTION LIST tomburch@aol.com JohnBurch2@AOL.COM |
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