FSM Vets Pics and Original Pics of Military Modelling Subjects...

Here's a couple of my favorite shots:

You have to feel sorry for this guy:

The A.Ps were created in the early days of the Air Force.  They wer responsible for both L.E. and Security.  I imagine you were given one or the other and that was the job yu retained permentantly unless they needed you in the other field at your next assignment or you found a way yourself.

I got drafted in 1970 and after basic went to school at Lackland were I was in the first of the specilized courses for either L.E. or Security.  Fortunately I went into L.E.

My first badge was labeled Air Police but these were being recalled and the new ones reading Security Police were being issued.

Another change that took place was the creation of the combat school that anyone in the S.P. that received orders for anywhere in South East Asia, including Korea, were required to complete.  The reason was as they explained it was that during the Korean war the A.P.s had basically no combat training and a base was over run.  Tha aircraft were evaced out but were supposed to remain and cover the pull out of the last troops.  Wanna guess who that was?  The aircraft just kept going and the defenders were stranded with no help.

When the base was retaken they found all the cops murdered and many hung on meat hooks.

Afterward the fighter squadron (s) and other units (fighter wing) were marked and disgraced and would never be allowed to be re assigned in the U.S. again.

I'm pretty sure I know who they were because I heard similar stories at one base I was assigned to years later.

When I went through the school we received much of the same training given to the Army with modifications needed for a Air Base role.  We had armor, heavy weapons and good leadership.

All of my old pics are in storage, but I do have some pics of 2 of the units I served aboard. 

WMEC 38 Storis (The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast), which was decommissioned in Feb 07

WHEC 725 Jarvis, which was transferred to the Bangladesh Navy in 2013 as the BNS Somudra Joy, a guided missile frigate.

There are no kits of either of these fine ships.

Simper Paratus

Steve

Well the Security Forces Museum was still open as of mid May, and showed no signs of being shut down. It was a very nice musuem I thought. Lots of good artifacts on dispaly from the birth of the Air Force until today's current combat operations. IIRC, were there not two branches, Air Police and Security Police? One did more typical Law Enforcement and the other was tasked with flight line type security. That's how a guy I knew explained it to me around 1980 or so. He was stationed then at March AFB guarding the B-52s there when it was an active SAC base. We grew up in the same neighborhood. March was something like a 45 minute drive from home back then.

I heard they were going to close down the Security museum.  The S.F. were at one time called the Security Police, after they dropped the Air Police name.  Law Enforcement or Security.  I was L.E.  If you were going to a base in S.E.A. then you attended the A.Z.R. combat school at Lackland, Medina Annex, and Camp Bullis.

That was on the Parade Field. One side is bombers, another is transports, and a third is fighters. Then off on of the gates there is a collection of Vietnam War aircraft. And at the Airmans' Heritage Museum is a few more aircraft. And then there is the Security Forces Museum as well. A very nice base with quite a bit to see.

Was that shot taken at the parade field or somewhere else?  When I was there a long time ago for a school they had moved several aircraft form the small museum they had near the gate over there, although they had a large amount of aircraft on display near the different barracks and used some for the Security Police school as training aids.  At one time they even had some V-1s on display here and there.

Surface_Line

I did a project for my daughter's kids.  Built kits of the plane I worked on (AT2 Rick Heinbaugh in S-3A of VS-41, 1976), the plane that Great Grandpa Gene flew in (PFC Gene Paap in AD-5, 1960) and the plane that Great Grandpa Vern flew in (1LT Vern Moncur in B-17G "Thunderbird", 1944).  Maybe the next step would be to gather up some photos, someday. 

Another project is to build 1/700 kits of my three ships - USS Jouett CG-29, USS Independence CV-62 and USS Stein FF-1065.

 

Rick

 

 

Thanks Rick for showing your great set of models.  I recognize the name of Lt. Vern Moncur of the 303rd Bomb Group Association and website.  I go there alot as my uncle was a flight engineer in the 427th BS from April 13, 1943 to October 1943 when he and his crew was transferred to the 482nd BG (the Original Pathfinders) after the Second Schweinfurt mission.  He was with the 482nd until January 13, 1944 after he had completed his 25 missions.  He returned to the US for a USO tour, and then he ferried new B-17's to England.

Well this youngster is not a USAF vet yet... but he will be one day... and posing at Lackland  in front of the aircraft his grannddad (my dad) flew in...

Me in 1971/72

My second tour, 1974

A couple of my biggest vehicles for work.

Waiting for this to come out.  One of my Grail kits.

fox

I did have 2 uncles that served.  One was in the Submarine Service in a Gato class submarine.

Lot's of my relatives are or were horse and cow.

I did a project for my daughter's kids.  Built kits of the plane I worked on (AT2 Rick Heinbaugh in S-3A of VS-41, 1976), the plane that Great Grandpa Gene flew in (PFC Gene Paap in AD-5, 1960) and the plane that Great Grandpa Vern flew in (1LT Vern Moncur in B-17G "Thunderbird", 1944).  Maybe the next step would be to gather up some photos, someday. 

Another project is to build 1/700 kits of my three ships - USS Jouett CG-29, USS Independence CV-62 and USS Stein FF-1065.

fox

 I have 1 pic of them, in uniform, with me.  It was taken in 1943 and the cute little kid standing between them was 3 yr. old me.  Sorry I can't post the pic as PB and I don't play well.

Jim  

 

fox

Both of them got me and my brother started building models. Anytime they came over, they always had a couple of models for us or some other supplies.  Mom and dad thought that building models was a waste of time and money.  I have 1 pic of them, in uniform, with me.  It was taken in 1943 and the cute little kid standing between them was 3 yr. old me.  Sorry I can't post the pic as PB and I don't play well.

Jim  

 

I did not serve due to physical problems.

My brother was in Army Intelligence for 20 years, retired as Captain, and then the PAO of Lemoore Naval Air Station for 20 years.  Did a couple tours in Korea and a couple of tours in Nam.  Somewhere in the middle of those, he found time to go to Airborne school and learned to jump out of perfectly good aircraft.  

I did have 2 uncles that served.  One was in the Submarine Service in a Gato class submarine.  Never found out exactly which one.  He did scratch build a model of it but it was destroyed while moving from Penna. to N.J.  His brother was an officer in the Merchant Marines and had 2 ships blown out from under him.  Both of them got me and my brother started building models. Anytime they came over, they always had a couple of models for us or some other supplies.  Mom and dad thought that building models was a waste of time and money.  I have 1 pic of them, in uniform, with me.  It was taken in 1943 and the cute little kid standing between them was 3 yr. old me.  Sorry I can't post the pic as PB and I don't play well.

Jim  

waynec

ROB cool pics. i don't remember Hohenfels being that green. 

LONEMOOSE after a stint as A@ tank platoon leader i commanded the battalion 4.2" mortar platoon.

ROB cool pics. i don't remember Hohenfels being that green. 

LONEMOOSE after a stint as A@ tank platoon leader i commanded the battalion 4.2" mortar platoon. best job.

this is me in my younger years; 1987 Ft Hood, MILES trainer sitting on an M1 think i am facing west but i think we were on the east side of the training area. i recall ripping the side out of a tire on my pickup out there and doing some serious self recovery.

Rob Gronovius

I did 28 years in the Army, four in the Guard while in college and 24 years as an officer. I retired almost 5 years ago as a lieutenant colonel at Fort Knox. Most of my career was spent on tanks and in armor units. My profile has the list of vehicle types I crewed. I've got lots of photos, too many to post.

Picture of my as a 23 yr old 2LT watering the grass at Hohenfels, Germany circa 1988.

A photograph of my platoon and me somewhere in Germany during REFORGER '88. I am seated with glasses.

Photo of me as a young captain during a subsequent tour to southwest Asia, summer 1992.

My son Matt, somewhere during one of his two tours in Afghanistan.

The plaque he got me for my 50th birthday. His UAV unit flew an American flag inside the aircraft during a mission, scoring two confirmed kills in Afghanistan.

 

Good to see you back on here Rob! 

.

lonemoose

 

Awesome! I got to do an OPFOR rotation at the NTC when i was in a CAARNG MechInf unit... Was a blast! I love playing the bad guys. No rules! Ha! I bet Hoehenfels is somewhere in central Germany? Fulda Gap type stuff? Anyway, if you've ever been to Munich or Berlin we can talk about it. The Army never sent me there but later business did. Ich Liebe Deutschland!

 

Sibbers

 

 Yeah I did three NTC rotations when I was Regular Army in the 80s, mid winter and mid summer- flaming hot or freezing cold. Plus many drills there when I was Cal Guard. Yes, playing OPFOR is much more fun than being on the other side and evaluated on EVRYTHING you are doing.

Hohenfels is one of the remianing major trainig areas in Germany, and is pretty much the USAREUR equivelant of NTC, just nowhere near as big. Supposedly the German army used it before WWII as a Panzer taining area, and we kept it in the same role afterwards. it is near the Czech border in between Nuremberg and Regensburg.

I have yet to make it to Berlin... (I have been to and thru Tokyo though!), But I have been to Munich a few times. The forst time being most memorable as I was cross attached to the Bundeswehr 1st Gebirgsjager Divsion, 223rd Panzer Grenadier Battalion, who had their Kasserne on the edge of the city and it just happened to be at the beginning of the Oktoberfest. Train in the day and in the nighttime... 

and a few more photos of that era with the 5th ID, stateside and on REFORGER, 1984

cleaning mud off the tracks prior to the wash rack @ Ft Polk

going thru the wash rack

3rd ID Blackhawks putting in an air assault behind our positions in some West German village

ITV on a German farm track

BundesHeer CH-53

Vulcan track in our Task Force

Maintenance during a halt

my typical field uniform in the 80s...

I have plenty more photos, but very few are scanned...

I have never served, but both my dad and his brother were in the Army.  Uncle Jim was on a boat heading for Japan when the bomb dropped and changed plans.  Dad missed WWII, but ended up in Korea as crew chief on a 81mm mortor near Jane Russel Hill.  I understand that I also lost one of my mom's cousins in the Battle of the Buldge, but that was a long time before I was born.  No great pictures, unfortunately.

Thanks to all who have served and sacrificed.

John

Back in the day- I do not have any pics of models I built while in service- that was a long time ago.  But here is a picture of my crew and me (I am second from left, crew commander was first from left, second crew the two on right) after an early test launch of a Minuteman ICBM at Vandenberg AFB.

I never got to launch a spacecraft/satellite, but do build some real space today.  Pic was from 1963.

I served as an Electronic Warfare/Intercept Systems Maintainer (33W) from August of 99 to January of 05.  I did my basic at Fort Jackson and my AIT at Fort Huachuca.  After that I went to Wiesbaden Army Airfield in Germany for a couple of years and reupped to go to Fort Bragg and jump out of perfectly good airplanes.  Unfortunately, I somehow got stuck in 1st COSCOM and my unit didn't jump so I didn't get to jump.  Shortly after arriving at Bragg I deployed to Iraq for the beginning of OIF.  Turns out it was a good thing that I didn't jump because I developed degenerative disc disease and jumping would have put me in worse shape than I am now.  The first picture is me at Camp Doha the first time I went in 2002.  The second pic is the HMMWV I was assigned to while I was in Germany.  It's the Tamiya kit and it was really nice putting something together I knew about firsthand.

I have many relatives that served: my dad's cousins were both in the Army during Vietnam but they didn't go, my uncle was career Air Force, my grandfather served in the Army Constabulary in Germany during Korea, my great uncle and great grandfather served in the Army in WWII, and if you look back far enough I have an ancestor that served during the War of 1812 for about 9 days and then the war ended.

tankerbuilder

Ah :

 Lonemoose ! Them was the days . there's a pic of me as a Sailor in blues after Boot Camp .After a Tornado everything I had was gone .It's on Facebook .Just look for my page . G.J.Geracci - Tanker - Builder , Or DOC to everyone else !

     I don't know enough about the stuff to transfer the pic over here . There's a pic of me in my American Legion cover too ! I think ?

 

sib

Ah :

 Lonemoose ! Them was the days . there's a pic of me as a Sailor in blues after Boot Camp .After a Tornado everything I had was gone .It's on Facebook .Just look for my page . G.J.Geracci - Tanker - Builder , Or DOC to everyone else !

     I don't know enough about the stuff to transfer the pic over here . There's a pic of me in my American Legion cover too ! I think ?

qmiester

Started my first enlistment inthe RA on my 19th Bday. Did 4 yrs in the Army Security Agency then pulled the plug. 17 yrs later I enlisted in the 1/127 FA, KANG on a "Try one in the National Guard" program and 18 years later I pulled the plug cause it wasn't fun any more (would start to do something and 1/2 way through it, my body would say to me "What the Hell are you thinking"). Spent the first couple of years as a wireman in the commo plt and the last 16 yrs in the TOC as the Bn NBC NCO (the bugs and gas guy).  (that was my official title - I always maintained that what I really did was the TOC Special Olympic Team Coach!)

 

sibbins

Started my first enlistment inthe RA on my 19th Bday. Did 4 yrs in the Army Security Agency then pulled the plug. 17 yrs later I enlisted in the 1/127 FA, KANG on a "Try one in the National Guard" program and 18 years later I pulled the plug cause it wasn't fun any more (would start to do something and 1/2 way through it, my body would say to me "What the Hell are you thinking"). Spent the first couple of years as a wireman in the commo plt and the last 16 yrs in the TOC as the Bn NBC NCO (the bugs and gas guy).  (that was my official title - I always maintained that what I really did was the TOC Special Olympic Team Coach!)