My time in the military was a great learning experience.
I joined the Army when I was 17, right out of High School. I took basic at Ft Knox, Kentucky and spent six months at Ft Rucker, Alabama to study my MOS as a 67N Helicopter mechanic.
In basic training I learned a lot about myself and how far I could push it. The constant badgering, berating from the drill sergeants, the long days in hot weather, the endless push-ups, the perfection they asked from you really taught you to set goals if you planned to make it through training. Basically it sucked but you understood that these hard asses were trying to prepare you for battle.
It wasn't easy that's for sure. It was very different in those days. Every day was a long day and it could get to you. Most of us succeeded but there were those who could not deal with it. I knew my father and grandfather had made it and so I found my mind set and succeeded.
Once I made it to Ft Rucker I found helicopters to be right up my alley. They were a mechanical nightmare in some ways and yet they offered far bigger challenges than cars or motorcycles in terms of mechanical skill. I really loved working on them and I'd go back to it in a heartbeat if I found the right opportunity.
Once I completed my schooling I was originally assigned to Ft. Ord, California. However my room mate at Ft Rucker really wanted to go to California and so I swapped stations with him and I headed off to Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Years later on my first trip to Laguna Seca I found Ft. Ord and thought how would my life be different had I of gone there instead of Ft Lewis. At 17 I did not realize how beautiful the area around Ft Ord was and how nice the weather is. Oh well. I can only wonder now.
Upon arriving at Ft Lewis I was in awe of just how big the place was and it is one of the largest and most modern military reservations in the United States today. It was aviation heaven!
One of my first glimpses after passing through the gates were of Miller Hill. A place where I would do a lot of riding, racing and a lot of winning during my stay at Ft Lewis.
I was in the 709th Maintenance Battalion supporting the the Special Forces, the 3d Squadron, 5th Cavalry and the 9th Cavalry Brigade (Air Attack). We worked on Hueys, 58's and Cobra's.
While there my job included engine replacement, rotor replacement, rigging of flight controls, and general maintenance of helicopter fleet. It was an awesome job that I really enjoyed.
During my stay at the 709th I was assigned to convert all Hueys on Ft Lewis from non flammable hydralic fluid to non flammable hydralic fluid. This was a long argues task to be sure. It meant bleeding and re rigging all of the flight controls and a lot of safety wiring. But I learned a lot from it.
I was then re-assigned to the 54th medical division (on assignment as crew chief in search and rescue). Towards the end of my tour I spent time working with the crash recovery team recovering downed aircraft for reassembly to determinethe cause of the crash.
I also spent time at the Yakima Training Center in eastern Washington. I worked as a crew chief and fire fighter with the Yakima fire department during maneuvers and live fire exercises. This was a difficult and dangerous job as you learn how insane it is fighting fires in windy, dry, hot mountainous areas. It's no joke when you see a fire rolling over a ridge coming at you. There was a lot of fear in this job. We all considered Yakima as the prelude to hell as it sits in the middle of the desert. It was boring place with nothing to see and it was as hot as hell with constant winds that blew a constant fine dust everywhere. Three months in that place was more than enough for me!
What was cool about the militarys is all of the people you met from all over the country.
During that time I met Russ DeBlauw who was from California. He was big into building cars and motors and he had a killer 454 Nova that we used to cruise around in. Russ was a great mechanic and we had some great times working on helicopters. Les Honeywell a seasoned Master Sargent by the time I met him was another guy who knew helicopters inside and out . He loved the bike racing and spent a lot of time with me at the track. Another guy who was into streetrods, Monte Mitchell was from Marysville, Washington and he owned a 1932 Ford that was totally restored and setup as a street rod and so him and I hung out a lot. Both of these guys helped me a lot with my bike racing. I spent quite abit of time with his family and it was like home away from home. If you happen to know any of these guys tell them I said hey!
The best part of this journey was leaving Detroit and heading for Washington State. It was the first time in my young life that I would travel a long distance and it set the stage for my need to travel around the USA, try to get to as many National Parks as I could and to spend my life roaming from place to place.
I recall taking leave and making a straight drive to Detroit in 1977. The trip took 36 hours of non stop driving just so I could race the day after I got home. I won that race and a race the following weekend and jumped back in the car and made another 36 hour drive back to Ft Lewis.
Those were the days. Youth allows you to step over the boundries (lack of sleep, driving for days without stopping) and to do things like that. Back then gas was fifty cents a gallon, cigarettes were 35 cents a pack. It was just a whole different experience and it gives you pause for thought as you remember things your parents and grand parents told you about life.
Fast forwarding thirty years and today the pace of life, the cost of things, you can no longer drive through a National Park, it's just crazy by comparision. Those were great days in my life!
I can't say that I regret in any way going to Ft Lewis instead of Ft Ord. Washington state is one of the most awesome places I have spent time exploring.
