WHAT I DID ON MY 42 YEAR VACATION
Following UPT Nels and I headed for F-105 RTU at McConnell with a brief stop at Myrtle Beach for Fighter Lead-in in the AT-33. Our euphoria didn’t last long as one month into training the AF shut down the F-105 school house. Were it not for a benevolent NCO at MPC who held back some F-4 RTU slots being levied to the next UPT graduates, my career might have been vastly different. Off to D-M in Tucson for F-4 training. New Year’s Eve 1970 is when I met my wife-to-be, Kathy. She was dating a Zoomie classmate from the RTU class ahead so when he left for Vietnam I made my move (with his concurrence, of course). Nels and I had an apartment near the U of A and Kathy moved in with us as did Nels’ future wife, Laurie Platt (Pete’s sister). It was Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice for the next five months. Continue reading
First of the Finest 