The Ft. Hancock web site has some oral histories.
You get travel orders, and you go
A Group of people, 1956 at a SF-88 (north of San Francisco)
Care and Feeding of the People
Care and Feeding of the Equipment
Initial Training
Continuing Training
Proficiency Inspections
Recreation
Isolation
Work Schedule
Visitors
Custodial Team
You get travel orders, and you go
As the First Sergeant says "I can't make you DO anything, but I CAN make you wish you had!"Somehow your name and serial number gets onto very coarse, cheap appearing paper directing you to report at a particular location on a particular date. There are likely several or many people being ordered about on one piece of paper. I really don't remember how the travel time, travel allowance and/or tickets were handled - apparently well enough so that no disturbing memories are stirred up.
Ah yes, the orders - always on paper that looked recycled before recycling became popular. We figured the Army was as thrifty about the paper as it was about our pay. In 1954, privates got an initial set of uniforms, a monthly clothing allowance - maybe $5, medical care, a place to sleep, 3 meals a day, and about $75/per month cash. That does not sound like much now - and it wasn't much then either.
Yes - the orders. The orders were "printed" by some stenciling process which was about as ragged as the paper. OK - this was before XEROX, and certainly before the fancy laser printers. Sufficient copies were "printed" so that all necessary people got a copy. The system had been perfected over the centuries, and worked well by the time I got there.
A Nike Classmate (Tom Lundregan) sent me these promotion orders. These orders elevated those of us in the IFC Maintenance class who were PFCs to the rank of "CORPORAL E-4 (TEMP)". In all fairness, the combination of cheap paper and cheap "printing" has not been helped by what appears to have been some XEROXing in recent years. But I assure you that you squinted a bit, and verified that your serial number matched what appeared to be your name. (Please don't get the idea that I am against thrift, I've been accused of such my self. But the Army did not waste a cent publishing orders!)
Above documents courtesy of Tom Lundregan.
These folks made PFC.
(Large image is 140 K bytes)..... 
Some of these made CPL
(Large image is 125 K bytes)Travel orders had a similar style. If you happen to have a copy of travel orders, I would be happy to display it here. :-)
A Group of people
Armies, companies, clubs, teams, political parties, ... are all about people. Even an automobile club is mostly about people who share an interest in some automobile(s).A Nike "battery" is a group of people somewhat thrown together, whose purpose is presumably to be ready to fire Nike missiles at an appropriate time in an effective manner.
Most people are not cabbages, and even cabbages have good days (say rain or sun), troubles (say cabbage worms, drought), and bad days (their head is cut off and sent to market).
Here is a photo from James English of the folks of Nike Site SF-88. - Just north of San Francisco. See - real people, not mindless robots as represented by my "liberal" friends. "1956 Chain of Command Capt. Henry Paine,Commanding Officer, 1st Lt.G. Milligan Launcher Platoon Leader, 2nd Lt.E.Gross Launcher Platoon,1st Lt. L. McCabe Executive Officer , 2nd Lt. J. Erlach, IFC Platoon Leader. CWO P.Bonan,Missle Officer.CWO L. Chandler IFC Warrant. M/SGT J. Johnson First Sergeant. I have a group picture of all 91 people assigned to A Battery in 1956."
Note that the picture even includes a "CPL Blackie", who looks like a dog ;-))
as sent, (176 KBytes)image enlarged x2 to see the real people
(287 KBytes)Here is an Army Autobiography by Recruit William J Auell, RA13303902 reporting Sir!
Care and Feeding of the People
A military organization is mostly about people. If the people are not housed, fed, clothed, motivated, and trained, then all of the fancy equipment they might have is under served, or even useless. Just ask Sadam Hussan about this problem. In the First Gulf War, his people got pounded by bombs very heavily, supply trucks didn't come and they got very hungry and thirsty, communications were cut and they felt isolated and out of touch, and did not perform up to any body's expectations.
Housing
The people in the Nike program lived (primarily) in barracks in the administrative area. Individuals with families in the adjacent city could live with their families. The barracks were warm but nothing to brag about. The lower ranks (me) slept in large rooms, about 20 to the room. Your private stuff (would you believe a calculus book?) could be kept in you foot locker at the foot of your cot. There was a vertical locker for hanging clothing. Higher non-coms sometimes had shared or individual rooms. At our site, officers lived off-post, there was no BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters).Thomas Zangla sent this photo of an enlisted barracks.
Look! Curtains !! Thomas! your pulling my leg! We certainly did not have lovely curtains like that! What army were you in anyway?
....all ready for inspection. It seemed like we were always having some sort of inspection. One night one of the guys phoned home and told his wife he had to stay for a GI party. She said she wanted to come to the party and did. Boy was she mad when she found out what a GI party really was...lol. Each soldier got one vertical locker, one foot locker (not shown), and a bed. About 20 people would sleep one a large room like this. Of course folks were coming in late from ..., leaving early for K.P or other duties, not all that restful. The bed isn't that great, but if your dog tired, who cares. I don't remember any big bay windows.
Leroy Lewis sent the following images - with the comment "Check out the footlocker and the fake badger hair shavebrush."
Ken Fraser said "At ORC [launched targets for Red Canyon] personal inspections were easy. The night before some of us just carried out our surplus personal junk and hid it behind a boonie. We didn't have many inspections because they were a terrible waste of valuable off time. The NCOs hated them too." From Ed Thelen - most guys left the top drawer alone, never touched the stuff. Glueing items down was considered cheating - inspectors sometimes touched things to make sure they could move ;-)) The launcher guys did not have sleeping facilities in the launching area. When one of the many alerts were called, about half of them would get rousted out of bed and head for the nearby launcher area. You know, undisturbed sleep is a precious quantity in the army. Some how I don't remember ever "sleeping in" and relaxing. Some damn one or thing is always disturbing you. I guess that is what leave time is for.
I preferred to live at the IFC "ready room" (eating C rations yet) until forced to come back to the administration area to shower and swap laundry. Fewer people and things to disturb you. I even set up another electronics hobby shop in the IFC "ready room".
Bob Murray sent these images of B-05, Danvers, Massachusetts 1961. I presume this was a Saturday morning formation. I succeeded in avoiding about 95% of such :-)) It ain't that I'm against the military, I just detest this form of activity that seems universal in the world. Like high school education, "there just gotta be a better way." 
Our Location
Our site was in a Chicago City Park (at 63rd and Outer Drive). All areas were fenced off with serious 8 foot cyclone style fences. (No traces of the site remain - filled in - flattened - re-planted - Gone!) The barracks and other buildings were pale green (to fit the park decor?) There was a guard "shack" at the main gate, occupied to keep the casuals (and sometimes the police) out. We had an orderly room, with offices for the captain and 1st sergeant. There was even a clerk that resembled the clerk "Radar" in MASH. There was a mess hall, complete with cooks (and I haven't the foggiest recollection of who did "KP").Food
Mess hall food was really not bad, and there was plenty of it. We got more food because we were on combat duty. Seemed to get rabbit a lot, not bad, just that once a week was plenty. Only complaint was their sloppy preparation of Jell-O yielded shoe leather on the bottom and Kool Aid on top.I had gotten very hungry in basic training - whether it was that the cooks were stealing too much food (we saw some strange things), or that army rations were normally tight, I cannot say. (Learned to steal "C Rations", acquired a taste for them.)
Sick Call
From Bill Evans
Subject: sick call
Hey Ed: Here's a response Bud Halsey wrote today re my question about what was done about sick call at the sites.
Me:
Another 'human interest' thing that I was trying to recall is what did we do about sick call? I do remember going to a _dentist_ at an Army facility (an annex of Walter Reed, at Forest Glen, which is a very bizarre place, so I distinctly recall it). And someone must have driven me there, since I had no car at the time. But I have no recollection of going to any medical facility. Maybe I never got sick.Bud:
If your unit was typical, there was a "sick call" formation daily. Since individual batteries do not have medical personnel assigned, most likely those attending "sick call" were transported by administrative vehicle (a sedan or carry-all--usually civilian style but painted olive drab) to battalion headquarters. The Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, by TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment), did have a medical section assigned. Units, far from established military installations with hospitals, often had a medical augmentation team consisting of a doctor and/or additional "physicians' assistants" (then called aidmen or corpsmen) who could administer medical care. So, your dental experience was typical. Since your site was near an Army Medical Center, you were probably screened at battalion headquarters and then transported to the dental facility at Forest Glen (I agree with your assessment of Forest Glen--a collection of bizarre and eclectic military buildings left over from some Victorian nightmare).Had you been "sick" at your site, you would have probably attended "sick call" at your site, then been transported to battalion headquarters for their "sick call"--held by either enlisted aidmen or a doctor if your unit was augmented. Those things beyond the ability of your battalion medical section to handle would be treated at the nearest military medical facility (or civilian hospital if you were in a really remote area) where you would be sent.
Rivalries
The Launcher Area was adjacent to the administrative area, but basically off limits to IFC personnel. One fine day I decided to pay a visit. And was ordered by Sergeant Lubsdorf to start pulling grass! After further discussions with the 1st sergeant I spent a morning pulling weeds in the launcher area. So we kept the launcher area people out of the IFC area. Nice."They" (the launcher people) said we squatted to pee,
and we (the IFC people) didn't regard them as quite human (with exceptions).Joe Williams says:
Ed,
Interesting. I have the converse story. While at B 5/6 launch area, I hitched a ride on the mess truck so that I could see the IFC area. They wouldn't let me in. I then spent 2 years at 5/6 BOC fifty yards from C 5/6 Hipar van, but I never got to step inside.
-JoePersonalities
Captain Hill - a large fatherly figure, we judged him somewhat brighter than his boxer dog, a great deal more savvy than the media stereotype.First Sergeant Miller - again a large fatherly figure, surprisingly alert to people situations and interactions. Would put the usual marriage councilor or psychologist to shame. Very good at when to speak loudly, speak softly, and when to shut up. Don't bet against him any situation.
Sergeant Lubsdorf - reputed to have local underworld contacts. Two of our more playful black guys irritated the Chicago Police too much. Their hobby was finding police sleeping in a police car near our site, pound on the car with their fists - waking the officers, and run like hell for the front gate, and into the protection of the army. They got picked off the street by apparent plain clothed police, and disappeared from the face of the earth. Lubsdorf's contacts found them, 12 hours later, 30 miles away in a small police station, laying on a jail cell floor, somewhat bruised. The sergeant was later transferred under a cloud of missing army equipment.
Cpl. Lopresti - IFC maintenance & chief scrounge, a treasure. He was 5'5", we called him "Low Butt".
Warrant Officer Langemak - seemed rather academically inclined, was making the Army a career, 12 year man, did not like the Nike experience and resigned. Later got to be a big wheel in Germany for Hughes. Thanks for the tour of the various embassy bars in Bonn, Germany years later!
There are more stories in Nike Stories.
And life on site C-48 from its last commanding officer.Return to beginning of Life on a Nike Site
Care and Feeding of the Equipment
This equipment was (and still is) very high tech and also required much daily, weekly, and other periodic checking and service.The Missiles and Launching Equipment
The Ajax missiles had very dangerous propellants that had to be checked, and serviced on a regular basis. There was quite complex electrical check out equipment to check the missile electrical, guidance, hydraulic, propulsive and launching equipment.The IFC (Integrated Fire Control) Area
The three (or more later) radars, the multitude of CRT displays, mercury vapor rectifier regulated power supplies, the hundreds of tubes in the computer, the plotting boards, ink for plotting board pens, timings, pulse widths, voltage balances, switches, relays, cables, ... forever.A problem common to both areas was the storage of gasoline, for electric generators, heaters, trucks, ...
OH - Gasoline storage!! - and gasoline storage tanks!! - In Chicago we had some above your head storage tanks, like the farmers use - Due to temperature changes - and air expansion and contraction, there were vents to let air in and out to prevent the tanks from presureizing and collapsing. The air had moisture, which would condense inside the tanks as dew as things got colder each evening. The dew would drip and fall into the gasoline and sink to the bottom, where the output hose was. So - in freezing weather, the hose was full of ice, and you did not get gasoline - if the weather was not freezing, the first few quarts from the tank as water. Good maintenance, not perfect, was to drain a little water/gasoline from each tank every morning - throw out the water, recycle the gasoline.
Enlisted personnel:
- Some people apparently were sent to Nike sites with little training on Nike equipment. These might include cooks, guards, ... whose expected duties did not include maintenance and/or operation of the equipment. I don't know much about that path.
- Operators of equipment often received some training at Fort Bliss (El Paso) Texas. I understand some were sent relatively unknowledgeable to a site to receive on-the-job training. Again, I am relatively ignorant about the percentage of folks receiving how much operator training. (I really had blinders on when I was in the Army!)
- Some, including my self, enlisted (in the late Korean Police Action) with some sort of promise of months of training (with an out for the Army if you were a bad student or otherwise bad.)
An example is Jerry Clodfelter describe:
- Entered Army during Viet Nam era with guaranteed Nike school . Military MOS 16C ( 1967 )ARADCOM
- After basic at Ft Bragg, moved to Ft Bliss , Texas for operators school ( 1967 ) Training in fire control operations of radars , MTR. TTR, Aq. Radar, and Computer
- 1968 - Transferred from Ft Bliss to Roberts, Wisconsin - 68 Art Gr- B Battery. Assigned to fire control computer / radar- - Participated in SNAP - battery sent to White Sands for live firing of Nike - MOS - 16C
- Late 1969- applied for MOS 23N ( computer/radar repairman ) . Sent to Redstone Arsenal - School lasted approx 1 year - Attended basic electronics, systems, and advanced systems. - Class of 12 with final of 10 people completing course.
- Orders received ( 1970 ) for transfer ( 23N MOS ) to Guided Missile Maintenance Shop - Ft Shafter , Hawaii - ( Ordnace ) . Worked with Hawaiian National Guard who maintained the four sites around Oahu. The guard did not want our help due to planned cut backs from Congress. However, we did critical maintenance when the guard could not fix.
- ...
- Many long term military people transferred to the Nike program and received training
For officers, see below.
Most of the operating people got their initial Nike training at Fort Bliss, (El Paso) Texas. I was assigned to class SAM-23 in the spring of 1954, and learned and trained on Nike Ajax fire control equipment (radars, computer) for a year at and near Ft. Bliss, Texas. Our class had about 35 people in it. We were of two major groups:
We got along together surprisingly well. The older army folks were very tolerant of us new techie recruits, and we new techie recruits were happy to help the older guys through technical points. To a surprising degree we partnered in school lab exercises, partied together in the Mexican bars, and were invited to the homes of the married sergeants.
- Young (19 to about 24) new enlistees that were interested in techie things. Most had done things like build radios in high school, had some technical training some where, and/or opened/worked in a radio/tv repair shop.
- Sergeants and warrant officers who had been in the artillery for probably 10 years, and were in for a big career change.
There was an optional night school where people from many classes could get extra help from the knowledgeable staff. People who were slow (poor in tests) in school were obligated to attend night school to review and catch up. I got to spend a week in "dumb-dumb" night school after a sharp disagreement with an instructor about how to align a radio transmitter. I am not now sure who was correct, but I lost sufficient points in that weekly quiz to force my attendance at night school for a week. One of the sergeants spent most of his year's training also attending night "dumb-dumb" school. Oddly enough, folks said that he was just fine on his Nike site later - the guy just had little scholastic aptitude.
After training, the operating people were divided into battalion or battery sized "packages" (commanding officers got to interview and help select their future soldiers). From this distance in time (45 years later) I feel sorry for my battery commander. He had already selected two good IFC maintenance candidates (previous classes, and who had done light instructional duties about Ft. Bliss) and had to pick one more. I am sure that I, as an opinionated, argumentative, wild haired new graduate, was not his first round draft choice.
The IFC personnel from each battery then practiced on actual Nike systems in "Radar Park" in Ft. Bliss for a few weeks. The instructors inserted many faults (bad tubes, open interlocks, defective cables, mis-adjusted adjustments, ... . It was really fun to put all that book learning to work!
Then each battery went to:
and fired (usually three) missiles at target drones or (later) simulated targets.
- (pre 1959 - Ajax missiles) Red Canyon Range Camp
- (post 1959 - Hercules missiles) McGregor Range (about 50 miles north of Ft. Bliss)
Our "package" was then sent to our new battery site in Chicago ( with, if I remember correctly, about two weeks travel time to allow travel to and visiting in home towns).
Officers
In 1964, (Information courtesy Ron Loving)There are interesting oral histories of officers and men at Cold War at Fort Hancock.
The officers got:
- 15 weeks of officer basic course "The Officer Basic course was kind of an advanced "basic training" for 2nd lieutenants in Air Defense Artillery. We played officer games in the field (sand dunes of outer Ft. Bliss) and even fired one Nike Ajax missile as the finale for the class. The officers in the class assumed all of the positions in the battery and operated the system. My position was in the launcher area ..."
- 30 weeks advanced course - "more tactics and theory of operations"
New (Sept 2009) is Captain Philip Oswald commanding 1959-1962 The IFC technical people (warrant officers and enlisted) got about a year of training. This was divided into:
- 8 weeks of basic electronics, basic radio/radar, and trouble shooting theory
- 48 weeks of Nike specific theory, electronics, radar, adjustments, trouble shooting
We (IFC technical people) went over every page of the schematics carefully, and had lots of trouble shooting and adjustment practice. I felt (in 1955) quite satisfied - except:
- no training or experience in fighting enemy jamming
- we occasionally had to pull KP, and I could go though the schematics and identify those pages unlearned because of KP.
John R Braun e-mailed - "I attended two schools back to back at Ft. Bliss from Feb. 1966 to April 1967 and never had to do ANY duties except attend school. They must have indeed, changed their duty roster policies between the time I attended and when you attended. I thought the training received and the instructor quality was excellent at Ft. Bliss. The school hours were grueling and the course subjects fast paced, but excellent. "
In August 2000, Donald Knollinger wrote: - When I attended 226 school at Ft. Bliss... we pulled NO extra duties!!! I remember (fondly), our school battery commander addressing us on our first day... saying "you people are here to learn", "there will be no KP, guard duty, inspections, etc!!" This was in the early 60's.
At the conclusion of formal training, we were interviewed by battery commanders who were forming up people to install and operate new sites. There was an attempt to match people's desires of location with Army needs. Chicago was the closest available at the time to my home (Minnesota) and I requested that city. Captain Hill was going to Chicago, and (after he interviewed me) I was admitted to his "team" along with 2 other IFC mechanics and maybe 40 other people who had received training in various aspects of Nike operations. We started to work on the equipment for about 2 weeks as a unit.
After that we moved about 100 miles away to Red Canyon Missile range to fix/adjust their local radars (previously un-fixed and mis-adjusted to give us plenty of exercise) and fire a missile to shoot down a target called an RCAT. While there, a week to 10 days??, we lived in Red Canyon Range Camp, a tent village. The sheet metal mess hall was the most substantial building.
After a short leave, we gathered at the Chicago site which was in Jackson Park - 63rd South and Outer Drive. It was called "C-41". The buildings, launcher pits, roads, fences, radar pads, etc. were all ready for the new equipment which arrived in a few days. We installed and cabled up the new equipment and made it operational (in two weeks?). Then more people arrived to receive "on the job" training and fill the manning slots. And we were "ready".
Ron Loving said that later (1964) there were 4 week courses in Electronic Counter Measures. "The classes tried to teach you that what you saw on the scope could be countered by putting in standard "fixes" against the type of jamming represented on the scope. In reality, one could try individual "fixes" or mix and match the "fixes" until the scope cleared up or you went to "Track On Jam" (TOJ). I was never satisfied with the "School Solution" for jamming because it was not that close to reality."
The Launcher technical people got (???).
The operators got (? 2 weeks?). Did not seem much.
Commissioned Officers
Ron Loving commanded both Nike and Hawk batteries. In response to the question "I am presuming the technical and fire decision challenges facing a Hawk officer are quite different from those facing a Nike officer???" Ron responded with "Officers in the two missile batteries faced the same challenges. That being the continual training of the crews, supplies (Logistics) and other daily operational procedures from motor pool inspection to care and feeding of the troops. The differences being in the operational procedures for the different batteries. During officer basic and advanced courses at Ft. Bliss all officers were trained the same. It was after they arrived at their new assignment that the missile specific training started. Both types of missiles were controlled the same way by the Air Force through the ADCAP early warning systems."
(Speaking of the early years - 1955) Usually in the form of Alerts tracking anything flying.Later there were specialized Training Trailers (T-1) that could simulate real combat situations including jamming and groups of aircraft.
Also, once a year, the site would go off of ready status and many of the people would be flown to Red Canyon, New Mexico to actually launch three missiles. This was called ASP (Annual Service Practice). (The name was later changed to "SNAP" - Short Notice Annual Practice - I think.)
I am told that later Hercules re-fire launchings were from "McGreger Missile Range" due to the limited size of Red Canyon and the longer range of the Hercules. A jet target drone was developed for higher speed and higher altitude. The T-1 training system could also simulate targets and was sometimes used to simulate a target for actual launches.
The people for the re-fire were generally selected as follows:
- most commissioned and warrant officers
- all technical maintenance people
- one shift of radar operators
- one launcher section
(Nike missiles were never test fired from defensive sites in the "lower 48". The threat of the falling booster and other missile parts into civilian areas was considered excessive. People that served in Alaska report firing from Site Summit up there.)
The planes were chartered from ??Hell??
The planes were the most:aircraft you ever had in a night mare. Like a kid's Saturday morning cartoon
- rickety, propeller driven
- broom cleaned, once a month?
- vomit smelling, stained floor carpet
- oil leaking, that black streak going back from the right hand engine didn't seem to be paint ;-))
- usage scared, the inside looked scratched, dinged, dented from too many ski specials
- drunk crewed, we figured the bulge in the steward's jacket was a pint, the very model of a whisky nose -
OK - it did have seats - At Red Canyon there were Nike sites all set up and ready to go - except the equipment and missiles were wildly miss adjusted. The troops were to bring the equipment and missiles up to operational specification, and fire three missiles at a little radio controlled drone airplane.
See newspaper article Log of Activity Shows Tense Air at Practice at Doyle Piland's web site.
In any case, those drone aircraft had a very low probability of a safe flight. The Nike system really worked better than one could reasonably expect of a complex mix of people, complex electronics, and well proven chemistry.
A fuzzy 11 K byte photo of an RCAT target drone, no photo credit to protect the guilty. The wing pods (look like drop tanks) are radar reflectors to present a larger "radar cross-section". More and better pictures and stories at Ken's & Friend's RCAT Korner and Camp Wellfleet - RCATS
From Evans, Frank H.
"USARADCOM eventually switched from ASP to SNAP - Short Notice Annual Service Practice. Units arriving at Bliss billeted their until a site became vacant, then they moved to the range. Maintenance crews receipted for several missile, generally 2 Ajax and one Herc missile, assembled them then the crew prepared to fire them. Range control would alert the site upon launch of a down range radio controlled aerial target (RCAT). Two types - one prop driven - another ram jet engine."Several times we used air force planes as targets. The Site would slip the TTR azimuth pot 1600 mils, so the target flew south to north over the shoulder and appeared on the system as being on course from north to south. A few time the azimuth pot got slipped twice so the system saw it as it was and the missile was fired at the air force plane. Biggs [Air Force Base] stopped that very fast. One time such was the case and the battery control officer activated the BURST OVERRIDE switch and the missile passed the aircraft - ran out of fuel and landed in Mexico."
I do not include barracks and shoe shine inspection as "Proficiency Inspections". Being a low on spit and polish nerd, I avoided most all non-technical inspections by simply staying in the IFC doing "important things" during the usual Saturday morning ordeals.When I was in Chicago in 1955, Proficiency Inspections of the IFC were pretty much a joke. Occasionally some clueless guy would come by to see if some non-technical item (like the van air filters) were REALLY clean, like sparkling. Or the generator records were properly filled out.
In Chicago in 1955, there were no tests of operator proficiency or of technical (equipment and adjustments) proficiency other than annual refire, which was not sufficient. For annual refire, the battery took its technical staff and best operators, and fired at an easy target with no jamming.
In 1956, a Col. Kramer came to the area, and got very concerned about Proficiency. However, it takes time to collect/train knowledgeable motivated people and establish procedures to perform inspections that would meaningfully test Proficiency. (What I meant about Col. Kramer being "Concerned" was that he "rattled some cages" really hard. He caused other folks to get REALLY concerned.)
A little story In 1956, there was a rumor in our battery that a Col. Kramer was the new boss of our area of Chicago defense, and that he was really tough. Well, I figured that our officers had something to worry about - but the net effect on nerds like me would be minimal - we figured we were as good as any :-)) .
About a week later there was word that Col. Kramer was on his way to our IFC. We of course made a made dash to pick up, and I headed for the Radar Control van to stay out of harm's way - and being a nerd, I also didn't want to cause any trouble.
Heck - even the battery commander hardly ever went into the Radar Control van.
In hardly any time at all, Col. Kramer was in "my" Radar Control van with the IFC platoon leader, 2nd Lt. O... , who had recently graduated from Ranger School (a rather elite physical combat facility.) Sorry - I must introduce 2nd Lt. O... He was a pleasant short rosy faced look-alike to Audy Murphy, a WWII combat hero, and briefly movie actor.
2nd Lt. O... had undoubted physical courage, had considerable personal charm - but was lacking in a certain military bearing and also lacking in interest in the technical aspects of radar, operator training, and other vital working aspects of the IFC area. A really nice guy - but is mind was elsewhere - somewhere - maybe parachuting from airplanes, blowing bridges, ....
In any case, 2nd Lt. O... was being asked by Col. Kramer to verify some of the adjustments in the radar receiver and range cabinet for the Missile Tracking Radar and the Target Tracking Radar - a horrible mass of IF strips, test sets, range servos, and other chassis - easily the most challenging looking volume in the Nike site. It had several dozen frequent tests and adjustments for each radar.
I don't think 2nd Lt. O... had ever intentionally peered into the cabinet. And it was evident that Col. Kramer had at least the names and general functions of the various chassis well in hand. And Col. Kramer was *very* unhappy that an IFC officer could not verify that the tracking radar equipment was properly adjusted and working correctly.
I was partially hidden behind one of the doors of the cabinet (in the TTR range operator's chair) - trying to be very small and quiet - like a mouse sensing great danger.
The discussion quickly turned into a heated chewing out of Lt. O... by a loud, sharp, aware, probing, highly irritated Col. Kramer. In my twenty three years I had heard various levels of "reaming" but this was off the charts - memorable to this day.
In my 77 years of "interesting" experiences, it still rings the bell for the most probing, intimidating, life and career threatening reaming I have ever heard !! That reaming far outclassed the mere in-your-face shouting of the TV/movie drill instructors. Lt. O...'s goals in life, his hoped for military career, his relations with people, his responsibilities for the safety of Chicago and his family, his suitability for adult life, his childhood, his future manhood, ... all came in for harsh analysis.
The reaming moved away from me, and I opened a port hole in the van, crawled out of it, and fled, not wishing to see a grown man sob.
For a few weeks, Lt. O... asked for our help in his learning the verification the equipment in the IFC area - but the interest on both sides soon faded. About a month later I heard that Lt. O... was asked by Col. Kramer to help with a technical inspection of another Nike site.
We never saw Lt. O... again. We guessed that Lt. O... had failed to impress Col. Kramer with the expected new knowledge. There weren't even rumors of where Lt. O... went. He was just gone - pooof -
I left at the end of 1956 before anything really useful was accomplished. I did wish the good (bad ;-) Colonel well - he had a lot of comfortable inertia to shake up.
HOWEVER - eventually "Proficiency Inspections" were established - with a vengeance. As William E. "Bud" Hall (Las Cruses, NM, phone 505-522-6567, former Nike battery commander, former Operational Readiness Evaluation inspector) says "Never have so few, been inspected so much, by so many." There were an average of 2 inspections a week, not including alerts.
Apparently (after my time of service) there were
as well as the annual refires, which do not include the other non-technical inspections so dear to keeping the soldier looking good.
- Technical Proficiency Inspections (TPI)
- Operational Readiness Evaluations (ORE)
- ORE REPORTS, images sent by Steven Dulak
- ??? (CMMI)
- ???
The web site of the ADA has a photo gallery showing some of the tests given at Nike Ajax sites.
When I first started this web site (1996?) a Jack Emry sent me the images shown in the link above. I took one look and saw the ever present clipboard. Anger flooded through me remembering all the incompetent clueless nobodies that inspected us, carrying clipboards. I refused to post an image of anyone carrying a clipboard :-(( Evidently later, trained caring people, like apparently Jack Emry, carried on much more meaningful tests and inspections. I am unable to find Jack Emry, (he was a marine in WWII) to apologize. :-| From Ted Willes
Just for the record, I wasn't exactly "visiting" when I went to other sites. While at Group HQ I was on the Operational Readiness Inspection Team, so I got to see all the sites in the SF Defense. They were not usually happy to have us stop by, however. It was often late at night and 15 minutes after we cleared the gate, there had better be a missile ready and a target tracked light. "
... We usually traveled by vehicle (sedan if we were lucky, van if we weren't). Sometimes we could hitch a ride with the old man in his chopper if he was going to visit the site. General Lolli liked to go on the ORI's every so often. He was qualified as a BCO and had fired missiles at the range.
And there were stories that if a battery commander was considered marginal, and his battery failed an ORE, that he left the battery with the inspectors, never to return. In modern jargon, there was a "high pucker factor".
If you have more information on Nike oriented inspections please let me know.
Chicago is a big city, with a lot of everything to offer. Military people don't make big wages, (some qualify for welfare) - so some of the things seemed a bit pricey.The bars seemed to get the usual amount of business. Some troops had some learning to do about alcohol. How much red wine would make you sick? again? There were interesting stories from the bars. Information that we thought was confidential or secret seemed to be freely available. The current missile tracking radar pulse pair spacing was not exactly secret - but how did they know? They knew the operating limits (range, speed, ..) of the equipment - they were not asking, they were bragging! They knew when we were going to change IFF codes - and what they would be - hell - even we did not know that stuff. A bit scary!
I started an electronics hobby shop in an unused room in the barracks. Several of us had a good time there. We would go up the Navy's Great Lakes Training center and get navy surplus electronics. Built to withstand heavy shock, heavy weather, and heavy hands! Made our army boxes and switches seem wimpy. Cpl. Lopresti found an old bowling alley lane, which when cut up made great work benches when set on top of desks or short cabinets. I constructed a Heathkit 5 inch oscilloscope. :-))
We even modified and installed an ex-Navy squawk-box system throughout the administration area. (You know, the "NOW HEAR THIS" equipment.) We added a noise generator that sounded a little like a car alarm intended to quickly wake sleeping soldiers. It turned out to be very useful (and disliked) for waking launcher folk up for alerts. (IFC folks stayed at the IFC area for their duty shift.) That squawk-box system survived sabotage, tall trucks snagging its low hanging wires, ... until one night a lightning strike hit our area. Inter-building communication wires evaporated, and the hub squawk-box in the orderly room arced and smoked, The administration decided the risk was not worth the convienience. :-((
A few months before my enlistment was up, we got a new executive officer. He seemed morose, and did not seem to like to see people smile or relax. We were advised that there would be a serious inspection, and that this time the electronics hobby shop would not be exempt! We cleaned up quite well, put everything "away", polished the window inside and out. I did the final check and final sweep. During the inspection, a cigarette butt was found in the middle of the floor.
Protests that the cigarette butt wasn't there when we left, and that none of us smoked, were to no avail. I was confined to the site for the weekend.
I may not be very smart - but I ain't usually stupid. By the next weekend the former electronics hobby shop was bare - no trace of the former usage; all the materials including work benches, wall lockers, ... gone from army inspection and control. I did not even ask for permission. I just rented a U-HAUL trailer and did some serious moving. (Interestingly, no one asked any questions. Looking back, I must have violated 15 or 20 federal laws about misappropriation of government (mostly ex-Navy) material. )
Some troops wanted more money and loaded trucks in western Chicago. About 30 % of the launcher people got involved with that. There was considerable duty shuffling and job swapping to keep that going in the face of alerts, leaves, and off-site training.
I made and figured a 6" Newtonian telescope at the IFC area. Toured most of the cities museums. Some went to various classical and other musical concerts. Oh, yes, girls. They had to be a bit tolerant of low budget troops working erratic hours. (I don't remember anyone having any big romance going.)
Leave schedules - interesting. The nominal Christians (or those with nominally Christian families) wanted the Christmas holidays off. The nominal Jews had other days. The nominal agnostics ... In any case, there was a lot of casual negotiation, and everybody seemed satisfied with the results.
From Bill Evans
Subject: tennis
Hey, Ed: I placed a question on the SF88 guestbook about what I thought were tennis courts, as you might have seen. Here's Bud Halsey's reply, in case it might be of interest:
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Bill...
As a matter of policy, the Army tried to provide recreation facilities at remote sites to include most Nike IFC and launching area sites. They developed a "multi-purpose" "athletic court" that was installed at many Nike sites nationwide. Many of the maps I have of admin areas, launching areas and IFC sites from all over the United States show an "athletic court" on the site plan. These were used as basketball courts, volleyball courts, drill fields or even tennis courts. They generally are asphalt pads with different courts (basketball, volleyball or tennis courts) painted on them. Some are fenced in and some have backstops, but generally all can be found at a site distant from a post gym. So, it looks like the Army built the one you asked about, but perhaps someone else, in later years, has made a permanent tennis court out of it.
Return to beginning of Life on a Nike Site
Many Nike people were stationed near population centers. The selection of areas to be defended by Nike missile often involved population centers, industrial centers, and government centers. The site people had a reasonable chance to participate in ordinary "civilization" - see baseball games, chase girls, maybe even drive to see family/girlfriend a thousand miles away on a three day pass (not recommended).Some defended SAC (Strategic Air Command) bases, which were often in rather remote areas - rural Maine, rural Texas, ... where the "advantages" of city life were more remote. Korea and Okinawa were a bit on the remote, foreign side.
Dale Hall Jan 2006, re: Site H-06 - Saddle Mountain, Washington
We single guys would stay on site for 30-40 days at a stretch, because we were so far from civilization, and the old man would finally take pity on us and give us a 4-day pass, an unheard of thing in the army. Comment by Ed Thelen - 4 day pass - Outstanding idea! As part of the 3 day pass system guys would try to drive say 1,000 miles home to party and then try to drive back - sometimes with tragic consequences. When I was there we had to sign a form saying we wouldn't drive more than ?300? miles away on a 3 day pass - and just how do you enforce that? Yeah - you guessed it - my parents and sortof girl friend were 400 miles away. - Maybe if you were killed on the way back you wouldn't get a three day pass for a while.
But the stories of Greenland are truly different. Unless you were into serious alcohol or serious reading or serious cards, I have no idea what the folks did except work and sleep. (A bit like a submarine?)
Photo by
Gene McManusfrom Gene McManus
Taken in May 1961 on one of our _many_ hikes around the area. Still cold at this time, temp this time of year is maybe +20 on a good day.
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Hi Bill and Ed,
and back from Bill- >>You have asked my old rusted over memory banks to draw into their archives :-) I lived off-post and got to the site about 5AM every other day and left approximately the same time in the morning when the only other EM tech replaced me. Many times we had to stay extra time to help each other out when things got a little hairy trying to get the site back in action. Daily routine was to oversee the operational daily and weekly checks and correct any problems. Between 2 computers,6 radars,2 inter-area radios and IFF there was always something not quite right. Monthlys were more involved and required us being bodily present most of the time. Some of the more involved checks we had to do. Other duties were being involved with the tritium monitoring team which didn't take up too much time. Because of being a SP6 and living off-post many times I had to come in on my off time before a big inspection and oversee the cleaning of the barracks etc. (hated that one) When I had to be there and we weren't "hot" I was the NCO club bartender at night . We had two neat small 8X20 house trailers the original BC had "scrounged" for us and we turned into a nice place to have clambakes etc. Many times since I was one of the biggest "scroungers" in the outfit,in my spare time I would grab somebody and head across the bay to one of 3 Navy bases (Quonset, Newport and (?))for "supplies". Quonset was a Naval Air base and had the darndest junkyard you ever saw. Always hit there around lunch time on a Friday 'cuz they had 3 kinds of meat and 2 kinds of fish in the mess. Shrimp all you could eat... the Navy always had the best! I used to tinker with the radars quite a bit on my spare time trying to get that last bit of "meter peak" out of them. Ya, I know "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but there was usually a big difference between just making it and max. Hey, they were MY babies :-) Sometimes made trips to the other side of Providence, RI to the support shop for parts. These guys would bend over backwards to help in case we were short on something. Got along real good with them as they were our "backup" in case of something major. Also in a corner of the ready room up on the "hill" I had set up a small ham radio station. Being on one of the highest points of RI was a big advantage. This was a great way to eat up spare time. During the Cuban Missile Crisis everybody had to move on post for the duration. Even brought in our own personal weapons. (them carbines we were issued were worthless :-) I swear I could hear the slug rattling down the barrel when we used to take them out for familiarization practice.) Then our spare time was eaten up mostly by either being on the hill or being in charge of a patrol walking the fenceline. Surprised nobody got shot as some local kids got together and were tossing firecrackers over the fence. We also set up lighting around the perimeter. I had a big fight with the platoon leader about that one. He wanted to set up the light INSIDE the fence only. I made damn sure the outside of the fence was lit also. The outside was mostly all wooded and that's where these kids were hiding. That's all we would have needed for some local teenager to be shot! My spare time during the setup of all the HIPAR equipment was taken up helping install it. Both the other tech and myself were "hired" on the side to help. Best way to learn ...from the ground up :-) Almost all done and somebody blew us in and that was the end of that. I guess they were supposed to hire only union help. We also used up our spare time going down to the beach just below us on Narraganset Bay that was owned by Brown University. Fishing right there for flat fish (small flounder) and tautog(?)was great when the tide was either coming in or going out. Also dug quohogs (clams) in the sand when the tide went out. One day another guy and myself were fishing near there and the tide came in and darn near left us out on a sand bar. Knee deep in water getting back!! Off time was a bit iffy at times 'cuz I would get off at 5AM and just get home and to bed and the phone would ring and it would be the site calling to get me back(along with others who lived off post)for a mandatory character guidance class or some other similar stupid class. (hated this also!) Lotta times just got home (which by the way had to be within 15 minutes from site)and the phone would ring and I was needed back to help the other tech troubleshoot and the site had gone out of action. The other tech or myself had the power of the old man when it came to calling the site out. Biggest problem sometimes was it would take 5 minutes to fix but 2 hours to find, especially if we had to "steal" parts from one section of a radar/computer to try in another. We weren't supposed to unsolder and change any components in the chassis other than tubes but I remember doing it on a number of occasions that the chassis wasn't available either in our spares or at support and the site was out of action. Battalion HQ was constantly on our backs once the site was called out. they would call up just about every 20 minutes wondering when we were coming back in. Pain in the butt when we were up on an antenna in the winter and the switchboard op has to run out and get us every 20 min. We had a telephone out there but couldn't hear much on it with the wind blowing. The local towns had alot of clubs (German, Italian and Portugese). We used to hit them all to play pool BUT it was no place to get in a fight. These guys had arms as big as a horse. All day long these guys were out in a small boat in the bay digging quohogs off the bay bottom with a long handled rake. We had a one IFC warrant that was supposed to be IFC maint trained but he was a worthless tit. (this guy was nearly shot a number of times pulling OD) The other one we had later on was CWO4 Thomas Schultz and this guy was the greatest. Would roll up his sleeves and get right into it. He knew Nike inside and out. And how to handle people who worked for him. Thankfully being a tech we got out of alot of details involving site beautification etc. Us techs were the "fair haired boys" of the site much to the dismay of the platoon leader at times. Well that's about all I can remember of the duties and spare times.We had 6 techs when the site was first built in '56 but as time went on and the site changed from Ajax to Herc then to Improved Herc with all the goodies our EM tech compliment had dwindled to two. All the others got transferred to Ft Churchill(Manitoba),Thule and other places. Nothing like a critical MOS!
From Masters, Ronald |
Mike's certificate
