GLCM in Belgium (TMMS) - 485th TACTICAL MISSILE WING
GLCM in Belgium (TMMS) - 485th TACTICAL MISSILE WING
GLCM in Belgium (TMMS) - 485th TACTICAL MISSILE WING
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AAFM NewsletterVolume 20, Number 3 September 2012Build<strong>in</strong>g G-5 at Florennesw<strong>in</strong>e and beer store.I was the first ma<strong>in</strong>tenance officer at Florennes.When I arrived, there were 21 GIs of six different AFSCsassigned. We quickly organized <strong>in</strong>to work centers and gotready to receive critical vehicles that were be<strong>in</strong>g pushed tous.You would th<strong>in</strong>k that the eager young ma<strong>in</strong>tenancecommander would be consumed with gett<strong>in</strong>g ready to deterand, if necessary, fight the Soviet war mach<strong>in</strong>e. While that wasa consideration, more importantly, there were approximately280 of us on the base, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the 22 <strong>in</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>tenance, andonly four washers and dryers - none of which were readilyavailable to my people. In case you are wonder<strong>in</strong>g, hav<strong>in</strong>gclean socks and underwear knocked fight<strong>in</strong>g the Commiesright out of first place! Civil Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g estimated fourto six weeks before the “dorms” would have units - so weasked for and got one of each for the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance complex<strong>in</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g G-4.Two M.A.N. tractors came <strong>in</strong> on a flatbed trailer,covered and at midnight, to be as low profile as possible. Thethird arrived, uncovered, at 0830 three days later - so muchfor low profile. Near the end of the month, a C-5 brought<strong>in</strong> a Launch Control Center (LCC) tra<strong>in</strong>er and a TransporterErector Launcher (TEL) tra<strong>in</strong>er. We were beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to looklike a missile outfit.For a new weapon system, the technical orders, if wehad any, were not good and the tools and support equipmentwere <strong>in</strong> the ma<strong>in</strong> somewhat ratty. Our guys worked this hardand we had good help from our local contractors, but I faultUSAFE HQ for not be<strong>in</strong>g out ahead of these issues.Soon after I arrived and was meet<strong>in</strong>g with thema<strong>in</strong>tenance folks, I ran <strong>in</strong>to our first, but by no means last,experience with the language barrier. TSgt Alan Quille, whowas a key part of our early success and went on to becomea Chief Master Sergeant, was nearly bald. When, with a12gr<strong>in</strong>, I complimented him on his haircut he expla<strong>in</strong>ed thatwhen the Belgian barber asked him how he wanted his haircut he held his thumb and foref<strong>in</strong>ger a short ways apart<strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g “just take a little off.” As you can by now guessthe barber thought he meant to cut it very short - and he did!Alan took no end of grief from his peers. Other examplesof miscommunication between their French and our Englishwill follow. In nearly every case their English was betterthan our French. This was especially true with the youngerBelgians who studied English <strong>in</strong> school.Early <strong>in</strong> September, Lt Col Gil Mayeux reported.He was our Ma<strong>in</strong>tenance Control Officer, and <strong>in</strong> my m<strong>in</strong>ddidn’t receive near the credit he deserved for the structurehe helped to build <strong>in</strong> the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance complex. He wasfollowed shortly by our DCM Col George Cooke. Col Cookehad been with the <strong>GLCM</strong> <strong>in</strong> design and development for along time and was probably the smartest weapon system guyI knew. He was also a no BS type, and not the least bit afraidof a fight.Lt Col Karl Damon, Deputy Commander of theSupport Group, and Maj Don Johnson, Assistant DeputyCommander for Resources were the first two officers atFlorennes. They opened the base. Both were well likedand respected by the Belgian Air Force and by members ofthe local community. Because of his language skills Donwas especially <strong>in</strong>fluential. As a result of their presence, wewere <strong>in</strong>troduced to people <strong>in</strong> Florennes, some of whom wesocialized with <strong>in</strong> the com<strong>in</strong>g months. At Don’s suggestion,several of us jo<strong>in</strong>ed a volksmarch<strong>in</strong>g club <strong>in</strong> the city ofPhillippeville. One Sunday we jo<strong>in</strong>ed them for a march, theonly one we went to because we got busy at work. We dida walk around the beautiful city of Ghent, which is north ofBrussels <strong>in</strong> the Flemish speak<strong>in</strong>g part of the country, wherewe learned (just as we had been briefed) that not all thosewho live <strong>in</strong> that part of the country like the French speakersfrom the south - it was a nice event, none-the-less. Later <strong>in</strong>the year we would jo<strong>in</strong> the club members <strong>in</strong> a wonderful oneday bus trip to Paris.M.A.N. Tractor and TEL
AAFM NewsletterVolume 20, Number 3 September 2012On 10 September the Belgian Franc was trad<strong>in</strong>g at 60.55to one US dollar. By the end of the month it would be over63.00 to one buck and stayed pretty much like that for mostof the com<strong>in</strong>g year.The first Commanders Call for ma<strong>in</strong>tenance was heldon 12 September. It went about as you would expect withtopics appropriate to the moment. I <strong>in</strong>troduced Col Cookewho told us about himself and his experience. Our FirstSergeant, MSgt Jim Harden, provided the soda, beer andgoodies. Col Cooke and Pappy were the first to the beerand Pappy promptly spilled his beer on the DCMs sh<strong>in</strong>ynew shoes. Pappy was red faced but everyone <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g ColCooke had a good laugh.Ma<strong>in</strong>tenance was located <strong>in</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g G-4 (Squadronand DCM adm<strong>in</strong>istration along with DCM staff functionsand Job Control), build<strong>in</strong>g G-5 (ma<strong>in</strong>tenance hangar andshops) and the Weapons Storage Area (WSA).All of these facilities were old. Perhaps backto World War II, I don’t know. They required extensivemodification to support our mission and it warmed my heartto watch our senior NCOs and young officers mold them toour needs. Especially challeng<strong>in</strong>g was br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g the WSA upto standard. Munitions Branch NCOIC, MSgt Piotrowskiand his folks did a superior job of manag<strong>in</strong>g the effort to getto the po<strong>in</strong>t where facilities could be nuclear certified.Every time I th<strong>in</strong>k of our facilities I am rem<strong>in</strong>dedof the stand<strong>in</strong>g joke that “Built to NATO Standards” meantsmall, uncomfortable and either hot or cold depend<strong>in</strong>g on theseason.On 29 and 30 September members of the w<strong>in</strong>gwere <strong>in</strong>vited to a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of theliberation of Florennes from Nazi Germany. We enjoyedtwo days of commemorative masses at the cathedral, music(much of it provided by the USAFE Band), a display andparade of WWII vehicles, a salute to those who died <strong>in</strong> thewar at the cemetery and a wreath presentation at the warTent for the Band and the BBQUSAFE Band <strong>in</strong> Concertmemorial. All of this was accompanied by great food anddr<strong>in</strong>k. Many of the older citizens of Florennes had livedthrough the Nazi brutality and were most appreciative of ourpresence. It was a great week to be an American <strong>in</strong> <strong>Belgium</strong>!The celebration led to another encounter with thelanguage, m<strong>in</strong>e this time. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the celebration Col MarcStraume, <strong>485th</strong> TMW/RM, and I had our picture takenbecause we were all dressed up. We decided to get each oneof us an 8x10 to keep. I took the film to the local photo shopand placed the order. A week later I picked up two 20” x 28”poster size pictures! Both of us still have the pictures andhave shared many a laugh over my mistake.As the month came to a close, Ma<strong>in</strong>tenance Controlpublished our first weekly Ma<strong>in</strong>tenance Plan and Scheduleas we cont<strong>in</strong>ued to build structure.Early October brought a senior DoD civilian, afacilities type, to tour and be briefed - it was also one of thefunniest moments that I remember. As we were show<strong>in</strong>ghim around, one of my very favorite senior NCOs handedhim a plate of dog bones and asked him if he cared for one -.When the gentleman decl<strong>in</strong>ed, the NCO said “do you m<strong>in</strong>d ifI do?” and then proceeded to eat it as we cont<strong>in</strong>ued the tourof his area. I found it hard not to laugh - Col Reed was notamused!We woke up one morn<strong>in</strong>g to f<strong>in</strong>d that four of fiveof our private vehicles at the “Frat House” had their keylocks jammed with a putty-like substance. It was not a bigdeal, but it highlighted the fact that just as many people werehappy with us be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Florennes as were not. It was neverdeterm<strong>in</strong>ed by the authorities if it was just a random act orsometh<strong>in</strong>g of a more organized nature, but it didn’t happenaga<strong>in</strong>. We also found both anti-missile and pro-missileslogans pa<strong>in</strong>ted on area build<strong>in</strong>gs occasionally.Kaye arrived for the first of three visits and, alongwith other wives that were visit<strong>in</strong>g or permanently assigned,saw much more of Europe than any of us GIs did.Some 60 days after we started work<strong>in</strong>g the washer/dryer issue, n<strong>in</strong>e of each were <strong>in</strong>stalled <strong>in</strong> our off base“dorms.” Now we could go to work on the Commies full13
AAFM NewsletterVolume 20, Number 3 September 2012The BX Trailer, BX Snack Bar and Supplytogether as we prepared and exercised and prepared somemore. As it turns out it wasn’t enough. The USAFE IGlanded on the 19th and began their <strong>in</strong>spection.March would prove to be a very <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g and busymonth. We started with a vigorous retra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and evaluationof our ability to complete our mission, because on 2 March, <strong>in</strong>the worst <strong>in</strong>spection out brief I’ve ever been associated withor responsible for, ma<strong>in</strong>tenance was rated “RED” across theboard. We were about to get more help than we could stand.In a somewhat hollow victory, the W<strong>in</strong>g Exercise Evaluationprogram was rated above the l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> every exercise.At 0145 on 15 March, Col Cooke knocked on mydoor and told me that we had a deployment decision, andwe were to be at an 0600 meet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Command Post.We were to receive “assets” early that even<strong>in</strong>g. We walkedthrough and ref<strong>in</strong>ed our procedures throughout the day. Inwhat I can only describe as a text book operation, the aircraftlanded at 1821 local, and the “Close Watch” was completeand we were secure at 1957 local. Everyone <strong>in</strong>volved hittheir marks at just the right time, and our actual procedurewas better than any of our practices. It felt good to knowthat we really could do this when it counted! With lots offollow up actions and the checklist completions required, wewere at it <strong>in</strong>to the early morn<strong>in</strong>g hours. At about 0300 on16 March, Col Reed had us back to the Command Post andproposed a champagne toast to our success - fun to w<strong>in</strong> one!On 16 and 17 March the Stars and Stripes ran articleswith big headl<strong>in</strong>es about the deployment decision that hadbeen made at the highest levels of the U.S. and Belgiangovernments. The paper also ran articles both pro and conon the decision.On 25 March the USAFE IG returned for a recheckand on 29 March rated us “READY” across the board, amajor milestone which we had worked awfully hard toachieve.With all of this go<strong>in</strong>g on, 21 March saw the Grand15Open<strong>in</strong>g of the Base Exchange (BX) <strong>in</strong> a sh<strong>in</strong>y new bolttogether build<strong>in</strong>g - it was very nice and the whole base wasexcited! Prior to this, the BX had been first <strong>in</strong> a step van thatmoved to various base locations, and then <strong>in</strong> an 18 wheelertype trailer. The picture at the left shows the BX snack bar(small white trailer) and the larger trailer which is the BX.Both are to the right of build<strong>in</strong>g G-10, the supply hangar.By the standards of the previous three months Aprilwas pretty calm. We started All Up Round (AUR) build upsand entered the next phase of exercises.On the 12th of April, the Stars and Stripes Bookstoreopened. It was small but well stocked and providednewspapers five days a week, as well as periodicals and arange of books. Just as when the new BX opened, there waslots of excitement. It could be that we were pretty easilyenterta<strong>in</strong>ed, but it also helped to make our base seem a littlemore like home - or as the youngsters <strong>in</strong> the squadron said,“back <strong>in</strong> the land of the round door knobs.”Right near the end of the month we received anotherairplane, this time carry<strong>in</strong>g boosters. These events werenever rout<strong>in</strong>e, but we had done enough of them by this timethat some of the newness had rubbed off. We completedthe download, transportation and storage procedure withouta lot of help.We moved to the next phase of exercises with ourfirst long (30 hours) exercise which started on 2 May. Midmonthhad us receive another C-141 air shipment. It broughtthree boosters and a MEP 404 generator. This was the mostlow key of all of our shipments to date and the aircraft wason the ground for just about an hour and a half.At commander’s call, I awarded everyone an IOCmedallion provided us by the w<strong>in</strong>g.Early <strong>in</strong> the afternoon of 24 May, I got a call from apilot friend <strong>in</strong> the BAF. He said he was go<strong>in</strong>g to fly a reccemission on the “Frat House” that afternoon. I gathered upevery resident I could f<strong>in</strong>d and at 1500, as we stood on abalcony and waved, he made a couple of photo passes <strong>in</strong> hisMirage II jet. While probably break<strong>in</strong>g several rules, it waslots of fun and most certa<strong>in</strong>ly highlighted a different era. IAerial Photo of the “Frat House”