Late on a Story for Veteran’s Day
So Veteran’s day was on the 11th, and I had said I would write in my blog with a story from my Army days, and now almost 2 weeks later, and I figure I’m due. Maybe this story will hit the search engines, so other fellow Army-day comrades will see the post. It’d be great to get ahold of them.
First off, yes, I was in the Army (from ‘89 to ‘92), and some of the best memories I have ever had were from that time. Some of the stories aren’t worth telling as not knowing the people involved takes away some of what makes it special. So, after basic training, and AIT, I went to a Hawk missile battery outside of Hontheim, Germany. The unit’s designation was D 1/1 ADA (delta battery- first of the first air defense artillery). Anyway, the battery’s main job (amongst 4 or so other ones) was to provide air defense for Spangdahlem airbase. My job (well, 7 people making up a ’section’) was to provide short-range air defense for the battery which was located about 20-30km away form Spangdahlem.
Anyway, the TAC site (tactical site) where we would fire the Hawk missiles from would have to be guarded 24/7. Usually there were about 6 guards doing it, and in the spring time, being up on the TAC site was beautiful as the panorama views of the gentle rolling German hills was some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen (probably next to Gimmelwald, Switzerland). So one of these beautiful spring/summer afternoons, my buddy (I think it was him) Helms Gilley and I decided to fire up this multi-million dollar weapon system and track some NATO aircraft. The Hawk weapon system consists of a HPI (what radiates the plane), the ICWAR (the command post), and 3 pods of 3 missiles. So Helms hit the power, and everything came to life. While I wasn’t in the ICWAR (so I wouldn’t get in trouble if you could believe that- as if we couldn’t get our heads handed to ourselves on a platter for pulling this stunt to begin with), Helms started scanning the sky for aircraft.
Eventaully, he found one- a NATO F-15. Before I continue, a HPI’s job is to lock on to a aircraft with a REAL STRONG microwave beam. Somehow, this allows the missile to follow the beam to the destination, and BOOM, no more plane. So, if you were a pilot, and you get locked on to, I would imagine there is this HUGE light between your legs that starts going off like a fire alarm, meaning you have about 30 seconds before you die. Anyway, when we locked onto the F-15, that pulsing red light flashed like I’m sure it did, and the pilot went into a perfect vertical climb, spun around 180 degrees, and leveled out facing the other direction. The entire time this is happening, we’re watching the robotics on the HPI track the F-15, making slight adjustments as the F-15 was trying to shake the beam. At this point, we couldn’t see the F-15, but the HPI was going lower on the horizon, and the F-15 was getting quieter and quieter. The interesting thing was for a bit, the H-P stopped moving, but then it started moving slightly to the right every second or so. WAY off in the distance, we could see F-15 darting in-and-out of clouds about 20KM out, then we couldn’t see it anymore, but the HPI was still tracking it! Everything got really quiet, and Helms and I were wondering what was going on, then it dawned on us- the F-15 figured out who we were, and it was heading right for us! Our guess was he was going to buzz the site, and give us a thrashing for scaring the bejesus out of him. So we sat there and waited for him to come.
One thing about the TAC site is you have to have a place to store all the Hawk missiles. The Army decided the best way to do this was by digging a huge pit, and putting 20m tall lightning rods up every 15m or so. The F-15 was flying SO low, that we said to each other- “Oh shit- he’s going to hit the lightning rods!!!”. So as F-15 was close enough to where we could see the rivets on the plane, the F-15 flipped on it’s side, and went BETWEEN the lightning rods under full thrust. You have no idea how loud it was- it felt like my organs liquified. When he passed, Helms and I both looked at each other like we had just seen the most amazing moment in our lives. Needless to say, we got a lot of attention when the SOG (seargant of the guard) and everyone down in the barracks wondered why a NATO jet buzzed the TAC site. How we ended up not getting in trouble was beyond us, but watching that plane go between the lightning rods was one of the greatest moments of my life.
Hope you liked that one (I’ve got SO many others). Time to go get another beer. Cheers.