From 8 April 1964 until 23 Aug. 1964, I attended Basic Air Force training at San Antonio's Lakland AFB. My instructor was a former Marine and he found out that I had been accepted for a commission to Officer Training School, he decided his best course of action was to toughen me up mentally and physically so I could better be prepared for the mental and physical requirements of that school. His method of doing this was to grant me the position of ' House Mouse'. This meant I was always on duty and could be ordered to do tasks by any member of the squadron, such as shine their shoes, get them meds, hide the cleaning supplies so they could not be found, etc. Almost any trivial task that had to be performed was mine. The members of my barracks were pretty good and seldom asked me to do anything. However, an example of one request was as follows; A member of the barracks had a bad headache and asked me to go to the Sgt. and get him 2 (remember 2) aspirin, since they were not allowed to approach the Sgt., only I was. I went to his office, knocked loudly, did the required loud voiced identification of who was outside his door. Upon being admitted, I rep orted to him that I required one aspirin ( as I was not allowed to request two). He required me to repeat my request and assure him that was all I wanted. He informed me if I was in error he would take actions to correct my error. I got the aspirin, requested dismissal and went to the barracks mate and reported in to him. When he asked for the second aspirin and I did not have it, he reminded me he had asked for two and as a punishment for not fulfilling his request, I was to square away his bunk, or some such trivial duty. I then reported out, went back to the Sgt. to request the second aspirin after going through the normal reporting-in protocol. Finding out that I had erred on my request for aspirin, he then assigned me an additional duty; such as to shine his shoes before morning. I got the aspirin and was dismissed and took the second aspirin back to my barracks mate and did the whole reporting procedure once more. As asinine as this all sounds, it did prepare me to accept the insane or inane orders while in Officer's School. For example, on my first night in OTS (Officer Training School), upon finding out I had graduated from enlisted boot camp, I was assigned the duty to GI an empty barracks by myself. I stayed up all night washing and waxing the floors, cleaning the head, etc. In the morning I reported to my training officer that the barracks was ready for inspection and he informed me that was unnecessary as my word as an officer was sufficient. I watched about 50% of the men in OTS crumple under the pressures of training, both physical and mental. I had no problem because of my personal strengths and beliefs, and I am sure in some small part to the training I had from my enlisted Sgt. While in OTS, I watched one man go blind because of the stresses and another go over the hill. The man who went over the hill did so because they were secretly holding back his mail and since he was married, they would ask why his wife wasn't writing, maybe she had found a boyfriend, etc. This was to test his stability, mental strength and belief in another person doing what was right. If he couldn't take this stress, how could he be in control of a missilebattery or nuclear weapons, etc. The guy who went blind started the process by seeing an imaginary dog (we all thought he was joking) and asking the duty trainee to watch the dog while he was in classes. As his grades got worse, the dog became more vicious in his mind, and to not see the vicious dog, he started to block it out from his sight...and eventually became blind so he wouldn't see the dog at all. (He did get his sight back after he was dismissed from the program and the hospital.) We had many inane tasks while in OTS. such as, if a female chose to sit at your table, you were to remove the flowers from the middle of the table and explain that the table was only allowed one attractive item , and she was prettier than the flowers, etc. I only remember one incident from the actual classes, I was leading the class one day as the instructor and was so exhausted that I fell asleep while doing it. Somewhat embarrassing. During the second phase of OTS, we were allowed to try for assigned squadron rank and were placed in charge of the new arrivals during their first half of training. I was in the middle of a board examination for a high level position when my real training officer entered and informed the board that he wanted me as his cadet captain. So I was immediately dismissed from consideration for the higher (and mostly ornamental positions such as squadron commander, etc.) but given the job that most influenced the new arrivals. I was their trainer for all things military and responsible for discipline, academic, etc. it turned out to be a much more vital job than the ornamental ranks and their positions and I was answerable only to the actual training officer for my decisons and action; not to any senior trainee, regardless of his honorary rank. I was assigned an assistant and given a barracks for which to be responsible, including all the inhabitants and all tasks. Their time , when not in classes, was mine to control. extra running, extra drills (Physical training and marching) barracks cleaning, spot inspections, etc. All fell in my purview and responsibility. About the only ones who could give me orders on how to perform my job were the real training officer and any commissioned officer in the real AF.

This is a picture of me as an enlisted man. The highest medal I won was the Bronze Star. It also shows my EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) badge which indicates I attained the highest skill ranking.

Following graduation, I was assigned to the Hq. 93rd Combat Support Squadron (Strategic Air Command) as Officer in Charge of In & Out Processing for the Wing at Castle AFB, Calif. Eventually I was given charge of Military Pay and also Quality Control Sections for the Squadron. One incident I found particularly interesting was the case of a retired NCO noncommissioned officer, hence a Sgt. who had created a fake person and entered him on the payrolls. For 20+ years this character was give raises, promotions, and he even paid taxes on the man's income; all the time collecting his pay. How he got caught was he did not retire the man from active duty and his pay began piling up in a bank account and a banker became concerned and asked the man's were abouts, health , etc. be checked on and the scheme was discovered. That was probably one of the few times a man has been caught because he wasn't greedy enough.

I was selected for an overseas tour of duty as an Alert Duty Officer. This meant I was in charge of about 20 nuclear weapons and had the responsibility to release them if war began. Fortunately, it was in a small site on a large Italian Base (the 6th aerobrigada, the rosa deavlo squadron or Red Devils). We were required to keep two nuclear weapons mounted on two F104 aircraft for immediate release upon receiving the proper codes . The Italians felt we would probably never go to war, so sometimes placed planes on this duty without engines, as that would give them time to work on the engines. The officers and men at this particular site liked to call ourselves the million dollar baby sitters. The base was near a large lake, Largo deGarda, and I loved it there. I lived with an Italian family at 25 Via Brescia Street. This helped with my learning bit of Italian and understanding the nuances of the language and how they could get you in trouble. For example, I went to Venice and visited a casino there. I won a hundred dollars. When I explained to my Italian momma san that I had 'visited a casino and made a hundred dollars', she broke into a huge grin, said "what a man, what a man" and asked me to please repeat it for her daughters. When they came home and I explained again how I had gone to the casino and made a hundred dollars, they again said," what a man". I asked what the joke was and they explained that I was saying I went to a whorehouse and made a hundred dollars. Although spelled the same, then inflection meant either whorehouse or gambling casino. One is pronounced ca'sino the other cas'i 'no.

Here I am as a tired GI in Italy during my first tour there.

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Joanne's Biography