Author Archives: Joe Comer

About Joe Comer

Retired USAF, emergency medical Paramedic. 62 years of age who still thinks he's 30, the body disagrees! Also a current pilot who absolutely loves to fly!

When we all come home

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Tonight while watching the current Military Channel program about submarines, when the program got to the part where the patrol ended, the scenes brought back a lot of memories.

In 22 years in the AF, I served six overseas tours, for a total of just over seven and a half years out of the US. Only one of those tours was accompanied, two years in the Philippines, at Clark AB. That means that the rest, five and a half years, was very lonely, separated from family. Then, at the end of each tour was the sheer joy and excitement of coming home!

Let me see if I can stir some distant memories in the hearts of my comrades who experienced like joys and sadnesses. My first set of orders out of Keesler was to the 6314th CAMRON, Osan AB, Korea. In fact, when my Army son-in-law finished his AIT many years later, his first overseas tour was Korea. Why does the US government love to torment us so? Well, it does seem that way. I remember that Korea in those days, only 8 years or so from the so-called end of hostilities, was a 13-month isolated assignment. I don’t know what it is today, but in those days the country was pretty badly torn up, and one did not go off base out of uniform. At least that is what the rule was. I don’t know how many people followed it, but…..well. Since I arrived in December and left in January, I had the dubious honor of being a 62-64 man. At a glance, it looked like 2 years, but it was, after all, only 13 months. And I darn near missed my flight home from Kimpo, as the day that I was scheduled to leave, there was an MPC change, which locked all the bases down, everyone restricted to base while the military payment certificates, which was what we used for money, were exchanged for new ones. This was to limit the black market, and it was always done as a surprise so, if you left your money off base, it was gone!

However, I managed to cadge a pickup truck from the motor pool, a friend to drive it back, and we managed to talk our way off base from the SP’s on the gate. I was desperate, I did not want to get stuck there and have to get new orders!! We managed to get to Kimpo, I got on my flight, and in a couple of days, I was putting my feet under Mama’s dinner table again. I wasn’t married then, Jen and I were engaged, and it was pure heaven to get my arms around her again! I was then assigned to Tyndall AFB, FL, and we were married in November of 1964.

We had just enough time to get married, have a baby, and then I was slapped with orders again. This time, to the PI. After 8 months of wrangling, Jen and L’il Joe were getting off a Pan Am 707 in Manila. We spent a few days with some missionary friends of mine before the trip up to Clark, Clark was an interesting tour, I was in an Air Rescue unit flying Grumman HU-16′s. They were durn near older than I was, and the radar system got off the Mayflower! We did a lot of sightseeing, had a lot of friends, and other than the ever-present violence, it was a pretty fun tour. I remember that my younger brother was at the time stationed in Vietnam, and he managed to get sent to Clark for a 2-month field training school, during which time he stayed with us. This kid, who had been in Vietnam, was scared to death of the Philippines. When he would go out the main gate after school, he would hit a run, and not stop until he got to our gate. We lived only a couple of blocks outside the gate, and we found this amusing. During this tour, I spent a couple of 30-day TDY’s to DaNang, we had a FOB there, and everybody had to do his part. That was one thing I didn’t like, leaving my wife and baby son in the PI, but we had close friends who took care of her. Then, when the tour was over, we were sent to Pease AFB, NH, a very lovely place, and one of our most enjoyable tours. Man, I’m getting old! Pease, and most of the other bases where I served, are now closed. Ugh!

The next call of duty was to Taiwan, where I spent 15 months at CCK, Ching Chuan Kang AB. Pease had gotten me into SAC, and once they got their mitts on you, you were stuck there! CCK, located about 75 miles south of Taipei, at Taichung, was a very safe, pleasant tour. We had KC-135′s there, used to fuel B-52′s from Guam flying to you-know-where. We lost one aircraft and crew while I was there. They were flying back from their mission when the plane just blew up over the Pacific. That was a sad day.

Then the happy day came in May 1970, when I flew home from Taipei, with orders to Wurtsmith AFB, MI. Another now-closed base. Man, the joy and excitement of meeting my wife and kids – my daughter had been born at Kittery Navy Yard in Portsmouth, NH, and my family had stayed in NH while I was in Taiwan, just hoping I would get sent back there. No, in the wisdom of the AF, they sent me to Michigan and another guy went from CCK to Pease. Don’t ask me why. SAC knew it all.

More in the next post of my tours in Thailand and in the UK, and Turkey. And of the sweet homecoming from those tours. Wow, it was so nice, and almost surreal, to be home again! It had gotten so bad, so lonely, that I almost began to believe that I’d never get home to my loving family again!

That’s all for this time. Hope I brought back some great memories of now-distant homecomings for you!

Let’s Hear It!

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Since we are, by definition, a “milblog,” I for one would like to see more stories like the “Redball” story that Radar graced us with last week. I am now old and decrepit, but there was a time when I was 23, and I lived that very story so closely that I could have written it. The Bomb-Nav shop was right down the hall from Comm-Nav, and we rode the same launch truck on the flight line. It could get interesting.

When we were stationed in Taiwan, we often got typhoon-evac’ed, and most of the time they sent us to Guam. Now, there ain’t a dang thing to do there, and the place is so small it’s claustrophobic. Joe Dubus, my roommate, and I met a nice guy who was stationed there in the base MARS station, and he took us for a tour of the island one day. Driving around the whole damn island took only 3 and a half hours!

One day while typhoon evaced, Joe and I were on night shift and were supposed to be sleeping. But the un-airconditioned transient barracks got hot in the day time so we had gone to the beach to cool off. Both of us got sunburned to a fare thee well, and when the Maint Officer decided that he needed a few more people to cover the launch of a huge gaggle of aircraft, they found us and hijacked our “time off”, driving us straight to the shop where we picked up our tool bags, and took us to the flight line, where we met up with the #2 launch truck. Out on the launch truck we just took our shirts off. Well, that was OK until we got a call that a KC 135′s TACAN would not lock on. We zoomed down the ramp to the plane, and both of us, smelling like a brewery, went flying, shirtless and looking like lobsters, up the ladder to the cockpit. We looked at the TACAN needle swinging merrily round and round, and Joe (not me) looked out in front of the plane and spotted the problem. He turned around and motioned to the flightline chief standing behind us, and said “Tell them to move that truck.” There was a truck parked right in front of the plane, blocking the signal from getting to the set, which didn’t work real well on the ground anyway. Now Joe didn’t exactly look or smell like a highly trained professional, so he had to repeat his corrective action request to the line chief, “I said move the truck. It’s making the TACAN not work.” His best official assessment of the problem. I turned around to verify the truth of his assessment, and now the chief had two red-as-a-beet avionics techs, both of whom smelled like a barracks party at 2 AM, giving him professional advice. OK, he turned around and shouted down the hatchway, for somebody to move the truck. They did, and bingo, the TACAN, which shows distance and direction to the station, locked on as pretty as you please. Problem fixed, the two highly trained professionals hauled tail down the ladder and the bird taxiied out and the mission was saved, no abort for this team of great US Air Force avionics technicians!

I’ll bet that many of our readers would like to hear more personal stories from those of us who have been there, done that. I know I personally would love to read those great war stories, ones very different from the ones that Radar and I have experienced, so come on, let ‘er rip!

Where Are We Headed?

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Things are not right in the great country that we grew up in: Right on the heels of a Vermont case where a man was convicted of child rape and received only 60 days in jail, comes a case in Massachussetts where a man was convicted, and plead guilty of raping a 15 year-old boy, receiving no jail time at all, only probation. Details of the latest case are sketchy, however, in the earlier Vermont case, a former high school math and science teacher was convicted in January 2004 of child rape by Judge Delvecchio of the Vermont District Court.

The significance of these cases points out the desperate condition of the court system in this country and the quite valid reason for the President to appoint as many conservative judges (who apply, not make, law) as possible during his term in office. Before I start getting piles of howling protest comments from the moonbat left screaming about imperial US power and civil rights, let’s take a deep breath and demand that the government use some common sense. This kind of madness from our courts must stop or we are doomed as a nation. Or is it too late?

Off To War????

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The Discovery Times Channel has an agenda, and it’s about as transparent as glass. They are against the Administration, the President, and even the American People. Some of their programs make me want to throw up, and others make me want to put a boot through the TV, as if that would help. But the worst series they have ever filmed, by far, is this sad story of the sorriest National Guard unit on record. If this is the best Arkansas has to offer, maybe we should just let them secede from the Union and bid them good luck. I have seen throughout my military career a number of NG and RES units, both AF and Army, and this series does a terrible disservice to all of them.

Somebody must have forgotten to tell these guys that, upon their activation, they are active duty and it is their responsibility to be indistinguishable from the Regular troops. Serving as a paramedic for some 10 years at Ft. Stewart, which has a large NG training area, I’ve had a number of occasions to interact with them. Some were about as dumb as these AR guys, but most took their training seriously. One of the worst calls I remember going on, was when a drunk driver – on post, no less – ran over and killed one of those guys who was innocently walking to his barracks. Every month when I go over to Stewart for Rx refills, I have to think about all the sad calls I went on there. But I have observed the tenant unit closely, and have made some judgements about them.

If the DTMS network wants to do a profile of a military unit in Iraq, they should do a program on the 3rd ID, from Fort Stewart. These guys are top notch soldiers, and they’re getting the job done without all the whining, crying, and carrying-on of this Arkansas unit. If all Matt Hertlein, Tommy Erp, and Joe Betts can do is piss and moan about being activated, they are poor examples of US military members. We should all be rising up in anger over this terrible mischaracterization of our military, as it reflects poorly on all of us who have served honorably and proudly in defense of our nation.

I for one, am mad as hell about this, and if I knew who to complain to, I would. I did not want to go to Vietnam, or to Taiwan, or to the Philippines, or Korea, but when I got my orders I went, and I did the best durn job I could, because I had signed on the dotted line and no one forced me. This in the day when there was a draft. I’ll never forget my first enlistment. I took the oath from my Dad’s Squadron Commander, Maj. William Woolsey, at Castle AFB’s Comm/Nav shop – which was the career field that I wound up in for the first 12 years. They put a picture of it in the base newspaper – why, I never knew – just to make a big deal out of it. That left me totally unprepared for my arrival the next day at Lackland AFB! My recollections of Basic sorta leave me chuckling. It was interesting to say the least, but I have to admit that I learned a few things there. BTW, does anyone remember what a 341 is? I’ll leave that one for the comments section……

OK, I got my gripe out in the air. I just hope no one watches the “Off To War” series and gets the idea that it represents ANY other unit in the US military. Those folks are unique, and they are the LEAST representative of our fine military men and women of anything that I know. I will be happy to see that program go off into the sunset, with their tails between their legs as they deserve.

Some days are wonderful

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I got the shock of my life this morning. An email from an old friend who was stationed with me at CCK AB in Taiwan. I have no idea how he found me, but it was a joy, and a pleasure to catch him up on the last 25 years. We worked together in the base MARS station. If you ever were overseas and talked by phone patch to home, you know what I mean. I was able to talk to my wife about every week due to my position. It made the tour much shorter! Some days are just jewels!

FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION

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Ever get one of those words in your head that just won’t go away? Or a tune that keeps on running through your head, and you can’t banish it no matter how hard you try? This long word did it for me. After seeing the GEICO Insurance commercial with the word in it for several thousand times, I just had to know what it meant. Yep. It’s a real word, for sure. A noun, the meaning is that it is a nothing word. Each element of the word has a meaning of nothing, or intense triviality. This leads to the word meaning something of really low importance, or low/no use. That gives floccinaucinihilipilification a humorous overall meaning in the context of the commercial and the product they are trying to sell. I really got a good laugh out of it when I looked it up in an online dictionary.

So there! Getting the new year off to a rousing, “my head hurts” post, we who are about to go back to bed salute you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas!

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In the past 18 months or so since coming to this blog, I’ve learned a lot from the many friends I’ve made here on The Daily Brief, and on occasion, even the one or two jerks who visit regularly or not, have given me pause….Hmmm, OK.

Anyway, let me wish everyone a very merry Christmas, or happy Hannukah, as applies, and my very best wishes for your new year as it approaches with the speed of a runaway train! We have had a very good year at our house, and we very much appreciate the great interaction we have enjoyed with each of you.

See ya on the other side of the Holidays!

Joe & Jenny

Back OK

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We got back OK from our trip at 0430 last Tuesday. The wedding was spectacular, as was the Fri-Sat snowstorm. Brr, Colorado was Cold!, but we enjoyed being “home” for a few days. I will post more and pix later, just wanted to let our friends know we’re OK…..

We’re On The Way!

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How cool, here we sit in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, waiting for our flight to Denver. Tickets all bought, reservations all made, now I’m live blogging on the wi-fi here. I hope my daughter got more sleep last night thanI did. r-u-f-f! It was something like 10 PM by the time we finished packing and left. Then there was a 2-hr drive to get in position for the ride to the airport this morning.

OK, soon time to go. Then we’ll be in Denver and environs. Tomorrow is practice for the wedding, and on Friday it’s the real thing. Then as Joe and Sheri take their honeymoon, we go do our visiting thing, stopping by my old unit, etc.

Take care friends, we’ll be back here next week!

YAHOO, YAHOO, YAHOO!!

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Happy dayze is a-comin! Yahoooo! Sweet li’l daughter is a-gittin’ married next Friday! And we are a-leavin’ for Colorado first thing Wednesday morning! After Nurse Jenny finishes work on Tuesday, we’re headed out for Hotlanta, where we will be jumping up and….wait a minute…. easing ourselves onto a great big bird for the short 3 1/2 hour ride to Denver, and we get to spend a glorious week in our favorite of all states! We’ll be renting a car in Denver and driving the rest of the way to Florence, just south of Colorado Springs, where Sheryl lives. I guess we have to make a quick stop at Monument and see our old house, and maybe visit with my old pals at the fire house, where I once was the only paramedic. A couple of miles south of there is the AF Academy, and we plan to meet our son and his family at the gift shop at Focus on the Family’s huge campus.

(A great place to visit, I was involved in some of the initial construction phases there, and it was my privilege to furnish the radios used in the dedication day festivities back in 1993.)

Sheri had one of those disasters that sometimes happens from her first marriage, but she has three of the most wonderful daughters from that time around. This time she gets another Joe…..Too many Joes in this family! Her Joe is Joe Caruso, one of those great Italian guys, and we believe she has the grand prize winner this time! Joe is a really super guy, and he’s gonna be a teriffic son-in-law, for sure. They’ve been dating for about two years now, so they should be pretty much getting used to having each other around by now. All I can say is that Joe had better mind his manners, because she’s a small package of high-explosive dynamite. I oughta know – I raised her! Whooff!

The hard part is that I gotta walk her down the aisle and give her away: And I happen to be one of those old softies with emotions on my sleeves! Somebody’s gonna have to help the doddering old man back to his seat!

We’ll be taking tons of pictures, as this will be the first time in many years that – wait a minute! This will be the first time EVER that we’ve had both our children and ALL of our grandchildren together at the same time! Wow! Last time we were together, two of the granddaughters were with Sheri’s ex, he had absconded with them, starting an eight year battle that she finally won just weeks ago. But what a happy family reunion this will be, us, five grandkids, and our two wonderful children, both with the best spouses anywhere! Who could ever ask for anything more?

Friends at the Brief, join us in wishing them all the best in the world!

Watch ‘Em Squirm!

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After Rep. Jack Murtha’s (D-PA) explosive comment yesterday that we cut and run, exiting Iraq immediately and surrendering a la Francaise, the US House is this afternoon in the midst of really heated argument. The reason, is that Republicans, wishing to get on the public record just exactly how these folks feel about this, have scheduled a vote for this evening on the question: “Do we terminate the war immediately and recall our troops from Iraq without delay, or do we press on to victory?”

This is one day that I have found real enjoyment in watching C-Span. Republicans are pressing their case, and Democrats are squirming and squealing like the greased pig at the picnic. Of course, aside from Charlie Rangel and a few others who simply don’t care what the American public thinks, no one in his or her right mind wants the American public to know that they want us to surrender the war on terror. No way are these leftist cowards going to vote publicly to just give up and surrender to the islamofascists. This is going to be fun to watch as the evening comes on. I predict a rout in favor of continuing on to total victory.

UPDATE: At nearly midnight, voting in the House is imminent. I have heard many speeches, some bloviating, some with their chests poked out, promoting themselves. But there have been some who have spoken who should be listened to. For instance, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), who was a POW in Vietnam for seven years. When we left him in the Hanoi prison and left our comrades in Vietnam, he was horrified to think that his country had forgotten him and left him and the other POW’s to their fate, abandoned. What a sad chapter in our national history. I hope sincerely that we do not repeat this mistake again. Others who spoke and clearly do not support our troops nearly made me weep for their errors of judgement.

The vote is in progress now, clearly defeated, with something like 3 votes in favor of cutting and running. Those who so voted should be turned out of the house by their constituents, as they do not deserve the office they hold.

There certainly are some things that need to be changed in this war. First, the Pentagon needs to recognize that we need about 40% more troops in the region, a move that would certainly, I believe, shorten our need to be there. Second, we do need the Administration to be more forthcoming in what our plan for victory is. Someone needs to get the MSM to be more balanced in their reporting of what is going on over there, and I would throw out the suggestion that a very loud and strong boycott of the left-leaning, defeatist and one-sided media organizations may be effective. These are only a couple of suggestions intended to get the reader into the thinking mode, Perhaps some of our readers have more suggestions, better ones than I propose, and my intent here is to get you involved and to tell us what you think. Simply commenting to shoot this post in the foot is not productive, and personal attacks on anyone have no place here. Come on, folks. What do you think?

With no time left remaining on the vote, the totals right now are:
In favor of surrender, 3. In favor of staying to victory, 403. Members who did not vote numbered 22. No question where this is going, only three have put their career on the line by voting to cut and run, while the rest of the US House are telling us that they want to stay and finish the mission. Whether or not this is their real, heartfelt choice, we will see in the future what happens. Let’s see how the MSM spins this, and let’s add our voices to the House, in favor of victory.

HARRIET BEATS FEET BACKWARDS

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This morning the news channels are buzzing from right to left with the news that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from nomination to the Supreme Court. This is probably no surprise to the President, as the furor over her nomination has been boiling since day one of her nomination. In fact, I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone, on the right or on the left.

We will now see a completely new fight in the Senate as regards any nominee that President Bush sends up. The real drawback to Ms. Miers’ nomination was not that she is a conservative, or that she was not qualified, although that smoke screen was released early in the process. Most of the left’s criticism was that she was too conservative, but the howls of foul came from the conservatives on the hill. While both sides of the aisle were crying over her lack of conservative or liberal views, both sides were mostly concerned over her lack of a paper trail, or record of her views.

Here we go again. The President will have to make another choice, and there is the rub. The conservatives are hoping his next nominee will be to the right with a clear record as such, and the liberals will be praying (!) for a centrist or even a liberal candidate. (Don’t hold your breath Teddy!) I’m not a stealth anything, most people know that I’m a conservative. I believe that the constitution should be interpreted, not modified by the supreme court. If the left loses the white house and both houses of Congress, they should not live under the false assumption that they deserve any power in the courts.

Roe v. Wade. That seems to be the main litmus test of any court nominee, regardless of the level of judiciary. But anyone who thinks that one judge could singlehandedly overturn the ruling is living in wonderland. It just ain’t gonna happen that way. I personally am against abortion, it is murder of the baby no matter how you look at it. It was a wrong move to begin with, but it has become so ingrained in our society that it is going to take a long time and a lot of education to get that one ruling deleted.

OK, let the games begin!