Military Memories
by Lyle StoufferHEADQUARTERS ADC, ENT AFB, COLORADO SPRINGS
In 1971, Ent AFB occupied a complex on Union Blvd and Headquarters ADC was housed in the Chidlaw Building a few blocks away. At that time, the BX, commissary, theater, base chapel ancf {father support for HDQTRS ADC was located at Ent AFB. When I retired in 1973, Ent AFB had became the US Olympic Training Campus. The Chidlaw building was abandoned and the ADC Hdqtrs and all the functions at Ent AFB were relocated to new or remodeled facilities at Peterson Field. The area occupied by the military was across the runways from the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport terminal. It was renamed from Peterson Field to Peterson Air Force Base.
When I signed in at Ent AFB I was cleared to the personnel office at ADC hdqtrs for further assignment- Who should greet me as director of personnel for ADC but Brigadier General Lou LaSalle-the same Lou LaSalle who was my flight commander as a captain in the 83rd FIS in 1956/57. As a major he was on exchange duty with the RCAF in Vancouver BC when I was stationed at Prince George BC and I used to fly him some supplies for his liquor locker since we had availability of NATO liquor (absolutely no taxes) and he had to purchase his supplies on the street market unless the L-20 dropped by once in a while on training or business flights.
Gen Lou told me that Gen McGehee had me on a list as potential commander material so he called the general’s secretary and asked for audience for Gen Lou and myself.
We didn’t have to wait long and we reported in. Gen McGehee said he was very embarrassed that ADC was down to six F-106 squadrons and all of the F-lOls and F-102s were either transferred to the Air National Guard or Air Force reserves. He said that there was not an immediate opening for a commander at the present but he asked Lou if he could find something to occupy me until something pops up.
When we got back to Gen Lou’s office, he asked me if I would be interested in filling a L/C slot in Personal Welfare as chief of recreation and facilities for ADC. Sounded interesting and at that point 1 didn’t want to disappoint either Lou or Lt/Gen McGehee. The L/C 1 replaced was retiring effective the first of July 1971 so I only had a couple of weeks of overlap with him to get a feel for my new job.
The OIC of the Personal Welfare office was a bird Colonel by the name of Jim Babb. He was one of Lou LaSalle’s direct subordinates in the Personnel divisions. The overall responsibilities of the office were servicemen’s benefits, survivor benefits, military funerals, intramural and inter-service sports monitoring and recreation facilities for the ADC command.
Needless to say, he was kept busy and was quick to inform me that the only time he wanted to hear about recreation and facilities was when I thought a request for recreational equipment or facilities was justified enough for him to take to the board, he he was a member of, that shook loose non appropriated funds to get the requests taken care of.
While I was learning this new job, we were living in the El Conquistador apartments while we hunted for something to house a good sized family of seven. One morning I was up at my usual early hour and got the paper that was delivered outside our door on a daily basis. Without watching where I was going while reading the headlines, I caught my pinky toe on my right foot on a chair leg and dislocated it so it pointed out 90 degrees from the rest of my toes. The dispensary at Peterson Field recommended we go to the hospital at the Academy.
This was my first of many contacts with the base hospital at the Air Force Academy. I limped in, with a bare foot on my right, to the reception desk and said “I think I broke my toe.” He said how do you know it’s broken?" I lifted my very hurting toe and showed him. It was on a weekend and they had to call in the on-call orthopedic surgeon. In the meantime, I went for x- rays of the damage. When the doc arrived and took one look at the X-ray photo, he said “It’s just dislocated.” He put a pen out of his pocket and placed it between the pinky and the next toe and squeezed it back into place. He tape the two toes together and prescribed an over the counter pain killer and sent me on my way.
While we were looking for a house to buy, we kept going by a house that really appealed and was only a few blocks from the Conquistador apartments but obviously not for sale. We were almost down to the point of making an offer on a house when quite unexpectedly, a “For Sale by Owner” sign appeared in the front yard of our dream home. We immediately drove in and asked for a walk through. That we did and when the sale price was quoted, we agreed and put down a retainer fee to hold it.
I had participated in a servicemen’s deposit program that was eligible only to people assigned overseas and I had contributed to it from the time I got to Vietnam in 1967 until departing Japan in April 1971 so we were going to put a large portion of it as down payment. Sterling Stark was the original owner and had the house built. He decided to sell the five bedroom, two story house after raising two daughters, both graduated from high school and the nest empty. Since the down payment was going to be about half of the sell price. Sterling Stark offered to personally carry the balance so that no closing costs would be required. He had a lawyer who would take care of deeds, paperwork etc.
Our new happy home was 2125 Shalimar drive and would be our primary residence from May 1971 to November 1995.
We had some other things that needed to be done. The house at 5720 N. Wilshire in Tucson needed to be terminated as a rental and put on the market for sale. The non-temporary storage goods we hadn’t seen since departing for Japan in 1968 needed to be moved to the new Colorado Springs home. This was done through military channels.
When the Japan goods arrived, they were in two very large wooden crates and were delivered on a very low slung flatbed trailer that was too long to make the sharp upturn in our lands so many large items had to be hand carried up the driveway. The trailer also put a crease in the asphalt of the driveway that remained visible the nearly 25 years we lived there. We had exceeded the allowable shipment weight on that move back from Japan but we had a Yamaha piano, a Yamaha organ, two reel to reel tape decks, lots of tapes, sound system with very large speakers, an antique tansui chest and hibachi plus the regular household stuff that we went over with (except for one king sized one piece box springs that we had no desire to bring back.)
The emphasis of my job was directed primarily at remote locations like radar sites around the continental United States and a few overseas. Libraries, gymnasiums, boats, fishing gear, sports equipment and that type of recreational facilities and equipment needed constant replacement when beyond repair. Requests for new and modernization were always being forwarded to my office. Ironically, the four Canadian sites that I was a participant in from 1958-1960 were no longer US manned. Three radar sites in Iceland were US manned and controlled US fighter aircraft out of Keflavik AB.
In the early fall of 1971, the ADC inspector general’s office had scheduled an inspection of the US facilities and equipment in Iceland and requiested a representative of the Personal Welfare office be a member of the team and provide a written report of a list of personall affars interests. Most of the list was in my area of purview so col Babb wished me well on my journey.
The travel to and from Iceland was aboard a C-54 passenger carrying military aircraft and was comfortable enough but the four conventional engines droned on for hour after hour. I don’t remember the total flight time but there were two refueling stops each way going and coming.
Since the radar site just off Keflavik Air Base used base facilities, one other officer and I and one sergeant from the IG team were flown by helicopter to the two radar sites on the east side of the Iceland island. If I could remember the names of the nearest villages, I would still not be able to pronounce them correctly.
I was audience to lots of different people at the sites and they were all unaccompanied 13 month assignment. Rarely did they have anyone from higher headquarters to blow off steam to. I did my inspection requirements and took back lots of comments to pass on on my return.
Speaking of steam! I was really impressed with the ever present harnessing of the geothermal energy throughout the island. One has to see it to really believe the power and heat this is so readily utilized.
Right after the Christmas break in December 1971, Gen Lou called me to his office. The commander of the 4600th Air Base Wing at Peterson Field, Col Pennington had asked Gen McGehee if he could help replace the L/C that he currently had as his wing director of operations/commander of the 4600 operations squadron. The colonel was due to retire soon and his wing deputy commander was going to assume the command but both were concerned that L/C Melendez was not adequately performing the duties of the double position. General McGehee had asked Lou if he thought Stouffer might be a good man for the job. I jumped at the chance to get back into the operations field.
Lou called Gen. McGehee’s office and informed him that I wanted the job. Gen. McGehee called me in and advised me that it was a full colonel’s slot and that it would look good on my resume if I did a good job. He also told me that it wouldn’t be official until he got USAF approval to assign me to a commander slot. He asked me not to blab it until Lou advised me of USAF approval. Boy that was a big egg to sit on in silence.
The world came through that USAF personnel had OK’d my assignment to command and in January 19721 reported to the Wing Commander at Peterson Field and sure enough the deputy commander had stepped up and an old acquaintance from Tyndall, now Col. John Budner was the 4600 Support Wing Commander.
I understudied L/C Melendez whom I was replacing and he proceeded to tell me that he was retiring in May and was already working a horse ranch in western Colorado south of Montrose. The commander had complained that he was absent quite a few times and missed several wing staff meetings that were required of him in his position. He has asked if they couldn’t get someone else and let him prepare to retire. I now saw why it was happening.
Several base functions not directly associated with air operations had been placed in the operations squadron of unification of administration and command channels. I inherited the small arms firing range, the base film library, the parachute rigging and drying facility and a few other odds and ends. A good example was the operations plan to gather predetermined numbers of military personnel and equipment to be flown to then retired President Harry Truman’s funeral in the event of his death.
I did have a total of 298 personnel authorized in the 4600th Operations Squadron. The aircrews that flew the generals from ADC and NORAD, the crews of the C-l 18, four engine cargo aircraft, the standardization/evaluation pilots for all types of aircraft assigned, instructor pilots and instrument examiner pilots in addition to the manning of those administrative requirements of running the squadron.
The Ops Squadron had the responsibility of maintaining the flight records of all assigned and attached aircrew members. The Air Force Academy had not yet built their airport on campus so all of their flying was done at Peterson Field. Air Training Command had a compliment of instructor pilots and support personnel for some Cessna 172s located at the far east end of the military parking ramp. They flew cadets from the Academy but manning all of their own flights records and were totally independent from the ADC 4600th Support Wing.
We settled into life in Colorado Springs. Tim went to Mitchell High School, Anne and Paul to Washington Irving Junior HS, Gregg and Katy to Madison elementary. We could see all the schools from our deck.
In the late summer of 1971 we looked for a used motor home since that looked like a good way to get around with a family of seven. The motor home had really become the rage while I was away from 1967 to 1971 and it really intrigued us. We found a 1968, 22 foot cracker box Winnebago that would sleep six on beds or converted beds and we were quick to create a 7^th ^single sleeper in the driver and passenger seats up front.
In early October we took it on a shake down camp out at Wright’s lake west of Crested Butte, Colorado. The kids did some trout fishing in the lake. That night we go snowed on probably about an inch but it didn’t stay around. We found out that the RV furnace was adequate for that type of operation.
I think it was about Thanksgiving when we were skiing at Monarch Pass in it and that was ok except a freezing drizzle made the mountain very slippery when we headed back home through Salida. Lots of cars were slipping off the road but our heavier vehicle with dual wheels on the rear gave us better traction. It was still touch and go getting down off the mountain.
Later on that winter we did some skiing at Crested Butte. We learned about condensation turning to ice and blocking fuel lines after staying in a campground in Gunnison. We tried to get to the ski area after the temperature dropped to about minus 20 F during the night. A good Samaritan taught us to add deicer fluid to our gas tank under sub-freezing conditions. We did finally get to the ski area and got on the slopes that day.
After I had taken over as the Ops guy at Peterson, we liked to go to Breckenridge on weekends in the Winnebago and stay near the ski area at night. We had finished skiing one Sunday around the 4 p.m. curfew for that activity and started up over Hoosier Pass, just south of Breckenridge, when the handling of the Winnebago felt sluggish and sloppy. I stopped at the summit parking area and, on inspection, found the inside dual on the left side had a flat tire. Didn’t sound like a problem. I had a spare tire, lots of jacks and at 40 years of age, I still had pretty good strength and plenty of elbow grease.
By the time I finished replacing the flat and getting everything tightened up, it was getting dark.
I was in more of a hurry mounting the flat on the spare rack and I gathered up a heavy load of jacks and wrenches and was headed for the storage compartment when my right knee buckled. I went down in a heap in excruciating pain. It locked up with about 30 degree angle from fibula to tibia and anything I tried to do could not easy the pain.
I think Tim finished putting things away and I dragged myself to the entrance door and up into the passenger seat. Mary Jo had not driven the motor home before but she did an excellent job of getting us down the mountain and home.
I was in great pain and nothing I took out of the medicine cabinet seemed to relieve it. I tried soaking it in a hot bath but that didn’t seem to help a bit. I knew there was a flight surgeon on call or on duty 24/7 at the Peterson medical clinic so MJ loaded me in the car and there we went.
I was still was locked up at the same angle and really hurting. He gave me a shot of morphine and told me to check in at the AF Academy Hospital the following morning. The morphine finally eased the pain but it was back again the next morning.
The orthopedic surgeon who examined me didn’t like the looks of the angle of my upper and lower leg so in one swift motion he pressed the knee down and suddenly it was straightened and felt better after the pain subsided from his action.
I had x-rays and was admitted to the hospital and had traction to pull the lower leg away from the knee joint with constant pressure.
The next morning that major doctor examined the x-rays and manipulated the leg. He pronounced that I would not have a useable knee unless the ruptured cartilage was surgically repaired. So I had the operation. I was out of the hospital in two days and into tri weekly therapy. I was back at work at Peterson and after 90 days of therapy I was cleared by the flight surgeon to go back to flying the T-33.
Not long after I was back to normal and things appeared to be going pretty smoothly, the ADC IG decided to descend on the 4600th Support Wing with a no-notice inspection. Other than a few minor discrepancies that were easily remedied, we had a good passing grade.
All during the tenure of my command of the Operations Squadron a Commander’s Call of all available assigned enlisted personnel was scheduled each month. The first sergeant or admin officer would give me a few items that they hoped I would present to the troops and I usually had a few items of my own. I made a habit of singling out individuals or sections for some outstanding efforts and contributions. I soon found that several officers assigned to the squadron were attending Commander’s Call although only enlisted were required to attend. I started handing out bouquets to some of them as well and they seemed to appreciate that.
In the summer of 1972,1 had a month of leave that I needed to use up so we decided to take a month long family trip in the Winnebago. I don’t remember all of the route to the east coast but we started out at Williamsburg, Va, crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, sat in the US Senate and House galleries in Washington DC, found a parking lot for the motor home in NYC and toured Manhattan, walked the historic Freedom Trail in Boston, ate lobster on Cape Cod. Then we went to Ithaca, NY, to spend some time with my brother Jim, Wanda, Bruce and Jan. After a nice get together, back in the Winnie to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, crossed into Ontario, a nice drive to cross back into the US near Detroit Michigan. We crossed Michigan to Lake Michigan, south to the Indiana Dunes State Park. We visited relatives in the Midwest and got back to Colorado Springs after traveling the whole month of July.
In early fall of 1972, the 4600th Support Wing got a surprise visit from the Air Force Inspector General team to give us a good in depth inspection. The 4600th came through the inspection pretty well but ADC had several areas that they were criticized for because of levying requirements and regulations on the Support Wing that were contrary to Air Force policies and guidelines. Much of the IG debriefing was accolades for the Wing and short comings for Hdqtrs ADC.
In October of 1972 the colonels promotion list was published and a L/C Mike Compton in ADC operations section received an immediate donning of the new eagle insignia. Since I was an L/C in a colonel’s slot, they decided to move him to my job. I was on the list but it would be late 1973 before my number would come up.
I was not happy with that since I sort of became a special assistant to Col. Mike Compton. I asked Lou LaSalle if there wasn’t something I could move into that I could get my teeth into. He gave me the name of a colonel in colonel’s assignments in the Pentagon and suggested I give him a call. I was rather stunned when he said I was scheduled to be assigned to plans and programs division in the Pentagon and they were currently involved investigation and preparing recommendations for Air Force budget reductions, base closings and the like. When I told Lou LaSalle about that response he said I was a regular and a career officer and career progression should include a tour of duty in the Pentagon. I asked him once more if he wouldn’t help me stay a little closer to the flying Air Force. He just recommended that I think it over and I would see that this would be the best move for me at this time.
1 was extremely depressed and distressed and I prepared the paperwork for retirement rather than end my flying career and go for a four year tour in the Pentagon.
I was awarded a second meritorious service Medal at my retirement ceremony on January 31, 1973.
A little sidelight anecdote of an occurrence immediately after the ceremony. I gathered up the family and we went to the Soda Straw, a local ice cream and confection business and were enjoying our favorite desserts when two Army enlisted young men announced that they had just competed their Army tours and were celebrating. A few minutes later the waitresses appeared armed with spray cans of whipped cream topping and proceeded to lather the two Gls from head to toe with foamy white lather. I could see that my oldest daughter really thought I had to be baptized in the same manner for having just completed my long tour with the Air Force. I could see that the enthusiasm wilted under the stern look I gave her, without saying a word..
One very good thing happened about one month after I retired. The North Vietnamese finally released the prisoners they had held until the hostilities were ended. To my delight, John Stavast was one of those that returned to the US on March 3, 1973. Major John Stavast’s name had finally been included on the NVN prisoner list that had been released in Nov. 1972 after hostilities had ceased. I got to greet him almost six years after he bailed out when the “Real” reunion of the Red River Rats was held in Las Vegas in August, 1973.
John Stavast had been included on promotion list while in prison and came out as a bird colonel but a shell of the man who went in to the Hanoi Hilton in 1967. They were very rough on him in attempts to beat information out of him.
The intelligence people didn’t have to grill me any longer on whether there were two parachutes or not.
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