An E2 Airman Apprentice is as low rank as a person can have other than an E1 recruit. Being a designated AEAA rather than just an AA has it's advantages. Instead of doing three months of barracks cleaning or serving food in the chow hall they assign me to the AE aircraft maintenance shop. AE1 (an E6) Paul Cunio is the Shop Supervisor. He introduces me to AE2 Plecinoga, AE2 Gene Balog, AE2 Jim Gettle (E5's), AN Bergeron, an undesignated E3, and AE3 (E4) Sydney Damstra. My very first job in the shop is to carry Syd Damstra's toolbox and hand him the tools he asks for while he works on an aircraft.
Interesting that 18 years later AEC Curtis Lambert will relieve AEC Sydney Damstra, for his retirement, at Helicopter Squadron 85 at Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA. Quite a coincidence.
After a few weeks I'm assigned my first job to do without supervision. I 'm told to replace an instrument in the cockpit and warned to be sure not to drop the light bulb while removing the front of the instrument panel. "You just unscrew the lights from the panel and remove the panel to access the the instrument mounting screws." When the first "light" is unscrewed, it turns out that isn't the light. It's the light holder and when it is pulled out of the instrument panel, a little tiny 327 light bulb falls out of the holder and down into the center console! Shit! First lesson. When they assign you a job, make sure you ask questions about what to look out for! It takes several hours to find that damn light bulb!
Pretty soon AE1 Cunio sends me to P2V Electrical Systems School, Autopilot School, and MF-1 and G2 Compass School. Four more weeks of school. Plus there was three correspondence courses that were required to be completed for advancement to Airman (E3) and AE3 (E4). Most of the first year is spent in school. I must be doing something right because on June 3, 1959 I'm promoted to AEAN (E3) after passing the written exam. That results in what at that time was a significant pay raise to $100 a month!
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