Go Big Red – Omaha, Nebraska

Go Big Red – Omaha, Nebraska

RC-135's

I reported to Offutt Air Force Base in the evening on New Year's Eve, 1971. Driving into Omaha I noticed that every marquee I saw had the message "Go Big Red" on it. The next day, New Year's Day, 1972, the #1 ranked Nebraska football team was going to play #2 Alabama for the NCAA championship. I was assigned a room in one of the barracks and when I got there the place was empty, everyone was out celebrating. I got a beer from a nearby vending machine and unpacked. I now had less than 17 months left to serve. Except for a possible TDY (Temporary Duty) assignment or pissing off the wrong guy, I would be clear of being sent to Vietnam for the rest of my commitment. Of course I had been fairly adept at pissing off people to that point, so I vowed to blend in, behave, and keep my mouth shut.

The Vietnam War was still going great guns but was about to change course. The percentage of the population that was against the war was up to 60%. I had been in the military for 2 1/2 yeas, and had yet to be eligible to vote in a Presidential election. It was the start of 1972. The years from 1967 through 1971 had been filled with social unrest and division. In 1971 the voting age had been lowered from 21 to 18, the Pentagon Papers were published by the New York Times, and Intel released the world's first micro processor. The music of 1971 included albums by the The Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers”, Led Zeppelin IV (with Stairway To Heaven), Marvin Gaye's “What's Going On?”, Carole King's “Tapestry”, Joni Mitchell's “Blue”, Bonny Raitt's self titled debut album, John Lennon's “Imagine”, and Don McLean's “American Pie”. 1972 would bring the Munich Olympics Terrorist Attack, and the start of the Watergate scandal. It would also be the year of the Broadway musical “Grease”, the movie “The Godfather”, and a little movie called “The Harder They Come” which was the gateway to Reggae music for me.

Offutt was SAC (Strategic Air Command) Headquarters. It's also where the Air Combat Command was located. Their mission: To have a plane in the air 24 X 7 with a General onboard. This was a precautionary measure in case we were attacked and lost control on the ground. We could still fight from this plane in the sky. Of course if we lost the ground I have to wonder what it is we would be fighting for and why we would think that the flying headquarters could really make much difference. I mean the ground headquarters were housed in a super secure underground bomb shelter. If our attackers can get to that facility I'm thinking shooting down a plane circling around the area would be pretty easy assuming for some reason they hadn't done so already. This was the command unit I was transferred to. The other, larger part of our mission was to send planes (RC-135's) out to spy on Cuba.

The next day I reported to my new shop. I was now a Sergeant. There were four levels of Sergeant in the Air Force. From lowest to highest it's Sergeant, which I was, Staff Sergeant, Tech Sergeant, and Master Sergeant. There were a number of Tech Sergeants in the shop but also a couple of Master Sergeants. The highest ranking person in the shop is always the boss. There was another new guy reporting on the same day and he was a Tech Sergeant. We chatted a bit. He asked where I had previously been stationed and I indicated that while I had been repairing navigation systems for a year and a half I had not worked on the systems used here. He had a similar story so we were kind of in the same boat. The first day we just met everyone and settled in. The next morning I was assigned to work with another Sergeant who had been there awhile and knew the system. In the morning we were all assigned an airplane to work on. There was a short briefing and then we were released. Everyone grabbed some coffee and then went off to get their tools. I had not been issued tools yet so I had no tools to get and I didn't want coffee so I just stood there waiting for the guy I was paired with to get his tools. Everyone was in the same general area and were busy getting their stuff or at least getting coffee except me. Out of the blue the new Tech Sergeant loudly calls out my name and demands that I tell him what I am doing. He took me by surprise. I looked down at myself and then looked up at him and answered “I am standing here with my hands in my pocket”. The whole place broke up with laughter. The Tech Sergeant turned red in the face and asked why I wasn't getting my tools. I told him I did not have any to get. I didn't add “just like you”, which was what I was thinking and really wanted to say. Regardless I could see I had already made an enemy and it was only my second day in the shop. Sheesh, at least this guy was not in charge. Of course, two weeks later one of the Master Sergeants retires and the other gets reassigned and guess who the ranking Tech Sergeant in the shop was? That's right, my new buddy. Like the Southwest commercial, I needed to get away. The best I could do was to get on night shift and so I did.

Underground Command Center

The base commander is generally the highest ranking officer on the base. On most bases this would usually be a Colonel or a Lt. Colonel. This was true at Offutt as the base commander there was a Colonel. However, with Offutt being SAC HQ it also had 17 Generals attached to it while I was there. In fact, the base was chock full of high ranking officers. So much so that enlisted men were generally not required to salute Majors and below when walking by them. After being on base for a couple of weeks, I managed to get stopped by a Major one morning who proceeded to give me an ear full for not saluting him. He was brand new to the base, so I explained the situation to him. He was dubious and not very happy but he finally let me go taking my name and telling me that if he found out I was pulling a fast one on him he would find me.

When I had filed for my divorce back in California I had informed the Air Force of my actions indicating that the $100 a month they were sending Donna should be stopped. They asked me for her address and I told them I didn't have it. I then asked them didn't they have it after all they were the ones sending the checks to her. They asked if I had a copy of my divorce papers and I told them I was not divorced yet, I had only filed for divorce but my lawyer told me that once filed the financial obligations between Donna and myself were legally separate and the Air Force should discontinue the checks they were sending her. Heck, part of that $100 came out of my paycheck. Evidently they failed to do so. I had turned in a copy of my divorce papers in November, right after my court date. After I had been at Offutt for a few weeks I received a call from some Captain telling me that I owed the Air Force something like four hundred dollars for the money they had sent my now ex-wife when she was not eligible to receive it. I told him that I had reported the change in my status at the filing point and at the divorce. I did my part, I had no control over what the Air Force did. The Captain was demanding and demeaning, referring to me by my last name, only occasionally proceeding it with my rank. He suggested I come to his office to discuss the issue further. The discussion at his office did not go well. He was quite firm and less than pleasant and he was considerably less than happy at my insisting that if there was any fault it lied with the Air Force. After my shift I went home and thought about it. I could not see how this was my fault and why I should pay for their mistake much less be reprimanded about it. Heck, I should be complaining to them because some of that money they sent to Donna was mine and should have been in my paycheck. I decided to call the ACLU. I didn't actually make an appointment but rather inquired about how I would and if they would work with someone from the military. The next day I went to work and asked to take a couple of hours off for some personal business and then went over to talk to the First Sergeant. The First Sergeant is the highest ranking Sergeant in the entire Unit. He works directly with the Unit's commanding officer. I fortunately got along well with him. He was also from New York and easy for me to talk with. I mentioned to him I had an appointment with the ACLU and I just left it at that. The next day I got another call from that same Captain about the money I owed, but this time it was “Dave” not “Backus” and he asked when would be a good time to come see him. I went over to his office and this time the discussion went very well. He was very accommodating.  He told me he was going to work everything out for me and I was not going to have to pay anything back. What a guy! The ACLU just got a new fan.

So let's sum up my first month at Offutt: I manged to embarrass my new boss, causing him to have it in for me, offend a Major, and give my commanding officer the idea that I was in cahoots with the ACLU. So much for blending in....