Since I seem to be of interest at last I will provide some details!
I enlisted in Aug 73, with date of service of Aug 27,1973. I scored 95/95/95/90 (95 max) (90 for mechanical aptitude), so I was allowed a guaranteed job contract which I chose to be as an electronics tech spec. While I was in BT I had a problem tolerating the discipline. The climax was a lecture by the TI (SSgt Larez) claiming that I was not being competent in the trivial task of shoe alignment beneath the beds for morning pre-chow hall chores. I almost exploded with indignation because I KNEW that accusation was false. Then like a lightning strike I gained the insight that the person who I had thought was a mental pip-squeak was actually extremely cunning. It was no accident that the confrontation was being witnessed by another hulking TI, whose role would have been restraining a fool who assaulted a superior. He said "Well do you have any excuse?" So I thought for a moment and said "no excuse sir*". The witness and TI had a hard time not cracking up but managed it. I had used just enough verbal inflection to communicate the implied messages - NO (You *******s expect a fight but you are NOT going to get one today.) EXCUSE (verb not noun) SIR (Inflected to be offensively implying a bastard birth in nobility.).
In BT I took a language aptitude test and I failed miserably. I also took a pattern recognition test EDPT and scored 93 (Mean 20 SD 14). There was no query regarding the inconsistency of those results. I took a COBOL proficiency bypass test and scored 75, so I was able to skip tech school. The GJC was changed to 51131 apprentice programmer. I was assigned DDA to Offutt AFB Omaha NE SACHQ and arrived Oct 31,1973. At SACHQ I was shuffled about for a couple of hours, being the only 17 year old E1 they had ever received for assignment. After consulting the assignment slots which were empty I was assigned a 51151 slot in ADOFWD. That office wrote Fortran and Jovial programs for the Univac 11/08 running Exec-8 which supported the command post main wall map displays. I was already familiar with Fortran from a summer study special program, and I mastered Jovial in a couple weeks. Then I went to Exec-8 school and speed reading classes while taking USAFI tests and getting a GED, since I had no high school diploma because I dropped out of HS to join up. Eventually the USAFI testing was cancelled but first I managed to earn 31 college credits and take various aptitude tests. I achieved a speed of 800 WPM @100% and 1800 WPM @50% in the speed reading course, then was graduated to do some real work. After the three month minimum allowed I was promoted from 51131 to 51151 and reassigned to a 51171 slot for purposes of work complexity. I was promoted from E1 to E2 at the six month minimum TIG allowed.
While at ADOFWD I inherited various maintenance chores for (eventually 17) programs. The only original code which I did was a rewrite of the SACHQ master AUTO-DIN networking interface in Exec-8 assembler, which if I recall correctly was about 800 lines code. Eventually I was tossed into the gutter at 3900-CPUSS squadron for lacking a TOP-SECRET/SIOP security clearance. Without going into the situational details, I simply note that I was discharged July 17,1974 with an Honorable Discharge and 18 months GI Bill benefits as well as a mortgage benefit and emergency treatment at VA hospitals allowed.
If you think that I just fed you a heaping double ration portion of BS nonsense, then I suggest that you should find and ask questions : (SAC AD) Col Brunner, Col Brisendine, Majors McShaw and Johnson, Captain Carson, SMSgts Stewart and Sorenson, and TSgt Harris/Harrison....
Also socially encountered were RAdmr Russell who had daughters Susan/Strawn, Geneen, and Lora. I also dated a nurse named Barbara who was to put it kindly dog ugly but came from a poor background too so I found her outlook on life to be interesting.
I had fun did you too?
Lonnie Courtney Clay
