McConnell AFB, Wichita Kansas

April 1970 – December 1973

This was probably the most important phase of my life. Professionally they were wonderful years; personally they were awful. I was an immature kid facing the realities of adulthood. I did many things I am not proud of that resulted in the failure of my first marriage. They were turbulent times for me. I discovered I was in no position to be married and, as a result, badly hurt a good lady and left my newborn daughter to be raised by a single mother.

The only benefit from these years was this is when I finally became an adult.

My Job

DMCCC – Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander

I was fortunate to be selected to be put onto an instructor crew very early after arriving. This meant I only had to serve two days a month on a twenty-four hour duty on a missile site. The rest of the time I did crew scheduling and taught classes. Part of my job was to run the simulator to keep regular crews up to date and fresh.

The first two years of duty I taught Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commanders and acted as the senior instructor. DMCCC. My main responsibility was handling communications and acting as commander when the crew commander was sleeping. We wore pistols because we were protecting top secret documents and codes, though it always seemed a bit silly since we were underground in a impenetrable location. The only people the pistol was any good for was shooting each other.

I actually enjoyed teaching and discovered I was comfortable standing up in front of a group. On the two tours of duty each month, we brought other crews with us that needed additional on site training and also deputy commanders qualifying to become a Missile Combat Crew Commander (MCCC). There was also two enlisted men on each crew. One’s job was to manage and maintain the Control Center electronic equipment. (He was called a Ballistic Missile Accessory Technician, BMAT). The other was responsible for maintaining all of the support equipment needed for the missile silo to run. (He was called a Missile Facilities Technician, MFT). During launch simulations, we set up potential launch failures to train for almost any issue that could come up.

MCCC – Missile Combat Crew Commander

After two years, I was promoted to Senior Instructor MCCC. I liked my job. I spent more and more time in the launch simulator setting up more complex scenarios on handling potential launch failure issues. That was the thing I most enjoyed doing.

We also had special missile crews called Standboard. They were the policeman crews that evaluated everyone’s proficiency on site and on the simulator. They would conduct visits to sites duty to perform surprise evaluations. One of the most flattering things that happened to me back then was most standboard deputies training to become commanders insisted that I be their instructor on site. I had always been a bit intimidated by these guys. I have many good memories of the people I worked with back then.

Just before the end of my tour of duty, I was offered a Regular Commission in the Air Force. That is what graduates of the Air Force Academy are given. It pretty much guarantees you a nice retirement after twenty years of duty. It was quite an honor to be offered that. I turned it down, mostly because of personal issues that I was still going through. I have often regretted that decision, but the rest of what follows on this timeline would have been completely different, including a marriage that worked and two wonderful children.

Many years ago, when my son was working for a Nevada congressman, he requested a copy of my military records. What follows are these records only here because I cannot stand the idea of trashing them. The reviews were a bit flowery, as are most job reviews, but my son was impressed.

Boring, I know and I doubt they will ever be of any interest to anyone, but here they are.

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