Personnel Stories

This page will contain stories from the personnel. If you want to submit yours, please send an e-mail to the webmaster. To get us started, I'll put mine here as an example. Pictures are optional.

Thanks.

Jim   My name is Jim Albro. I was part of the Army detachment in CSE. I joined the Army in January of 1961 in Kansas City, Mo. and was sent to Ft. Riley, Kansas for basic training. We were on a place called "Custer Hill", probably the coldest place in Kansas in January. I survived, and they sent me to Ft. Gordon, Ga. to Army Signal School. This was almost 48 years ago, so It's kind of hard to remember exactly, but, I think I was there about 10 weeks. Some of the class, including me, got orders to the 232 Signal Co., Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Back then, Ft. Huachuca was a bit different than other posts. If a person lost their pass to go off post, they couldn't even go to the service club, because it was off post. When I first arrived there, I was told by an old sargent, "Don't ever think of going AWOL. There is only two ways to go, one is the mountains, and we'll just send a chopper up to pick you up, and the other way is the desert, and we can still see you three days later." He was exactly right. At night, bitter cold and in the day, temperatures well above 110 degrees in the shade. I was there about 6 months, and in December of 1962, about 6 of us got orders sending us to MacDill AFB, Tampa, Fl. It certainly was a big change. We arrived there the week before Christmas. It was a very dismal Christmas, but we made the best of it and it turned out very good. MacDill is a very pretty base, and a good duty station. I spent the rest of my 3 year enlistment there. I checked out the 31st of January 1964, and went home to my native New York State. Many years later I moved back to Florida and still live there. Until I retired almost 5 years ago, I worked for the Navy, as a machinist, first in Pensacola, and then in Jacksonville.

From Thomas H. Luther, brushworksnc(at)hotmail.com

I was one of the original members of the Strike Command, and was the first airman to go through the Army Jump School at Fort Benning, GA. I spent two years with the Strike Command until I got out of the service in 1963.

I worked as enlisted aide and driver for Gen. Bruce K. Hollaway. The general was quite an inspiration to me and was the one that had me go to jump school. When I made my 5th jump, he even went up in the plane (C-123) with me... He then went through also and got his jump wings. He was lucky enough to have a shorter course than the rest of us.

The general also tested the new rifle AR-15 for the Army. I was photographed with him when he was shooting and still have the photo. I admired him greatly.

When we went on Swift Strike One, I drove him to see Gen. Westmoreland, because they went through West Point together. They rode around in the back of my Chevy (military car) on the base in North Carolina.

  It was a real treat for me to be around two great men....

From David Floyd, strkvt(at)hotmail.com

I arrived at Mac Dill in early 1963. The unit was finishing up on SWIFT STRIKE I, and it seemed that I had the whole place to myself. I soon got settled in, and the guys got back, with things returning to "normal", meaning the ever wonderful trips to Avon Park and Dade City.

Before we knew it, SWIFT STRIKE II, SWIFT STRIKE III, IRAN, OPERATION GOLDFIRE, and DESERT STRIKE.

I left CSE in SEPT.1965. It would be good to hear from some of the lads. I was in "A" group, wire section. NCOIC was A.F. Sgt. Zeb Turner, OIC. was, Capt.Hickey. Also Lt. Skinner, one of the best officers I served with, and who could ever forget the booming voice of Sgt.Hallam, AirForce SMSGT.

From SP4 Charles Hawkins, cdinattalla(at)att.net

CharlesMy name is Charles Hawkins and I was an Army Sp4 when I arrived at US Strike Command in Field unit A CSE (Communications Support Element) there at McDill AFB in Oct 1967. I was a Switchboard operator and our equipment consisted of a 2 position switchboard in a van mounted on a Gama -Goat. When I arrived at CSE there were two Field Units, Field unit A and Field unit B the command structure of those units were as Field unit "A" Unit Commander was Air Force Capt. and the 1st Sgt was Army where Field unit B was opposite, the Unit Commander was Army. Capt and 1st sgt was Air Force. Both sections had a mixture of Army and Air Force Personnel with different MOS's And AFSC. Some of the Army personnel I remember in our section was SP4 Ford from Tennessee. And Air Force personnel was Section Chief Msg Miller, within the section was TSG Curly Borders, and SSG Ottis Caldwell. I left McDill in Dec of 1969 with Orders to 7th Army Commo Command Manhime, Germany but was deverted at Ft. Dix NJ. to 592nd Signal Company Berlin, Germany.