VW-1 Something Different and Challenging

The island of Guam

VW-1 The V stands for heavier than air aircraft. The W stands for weather. Weather as in typhoons. The storms are named typhoons in the Pacific Ocean, hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. VW-1 are the Typhoon Hunters. VW-4 in Florida are the Hurricane Hunters. A second function for VW-1 is airborne early warning for U.S. fighter and attack aircraft flying to and over Vietnam. Early warning of enemy aircraft in the U.S. aircraft vicinity and of storms that could affect their mission objectives.

This is the EC-121 Super Constellation. A four propeller aircraft spun by four R2800 reciprocating engines. It's used to carry passengers and cargo. The dome on top of the fuselage is the radar used to find and track storms and other aircraft.
It's an old aircraft with old systems and doesn't present any technical challenges. I'm not looking forward to working on it.

First thing you do at any new duty station is check into the Duty Office and show them your orders and give them your personnel records. Also it's normal that when you're the new guy they assign you to a 90 day temporary duty, For senior petty officers, that's frequently a 90 day stint sitting in the Duty Office everyday wearing your dress blues and that's exactly what they assign me to. Assistant Squadron Duty Officer. Ninety days of answering the telephone, checking new people into the squadron and signing people out that are being transferred to somewhere else. Ninety days performing routine, boring, but necessary functions.

However, in less than a month Lieutenant Commander Brouillard (an O-4) walks into the duty office, takes his hat off, drops it on top of the desk, and flops down in the chair next to it. He introduces himself and asks the Squadron Duty Officer to leave. I'm thinking oh shit, what's this all about? He says, "I was looking at your personnel record and noticed that you have a Secret clearance." "Why do you have one?"
"I'm not sure I can tell you commander." "Suffice to say that at a previous duty station, one was required for certain duties I was required to perform and no one has ever told me that those duties can be discussed with anyone." "Why would you be looking at my service record?"
"Commander Parks noticed you." "You rarely see a one hash mark first class petty officer so you have drawn a lot of attention since you checked in." Commander Parks said that you must have something on the ball and requested that I review your service record." "In the review we discovered you're cleared for Secret."

A one hash mark first class petty officer

Lcdr Brouillard, "I'm the Assistant Operations Officer, Commander Parks
(an O-5) is the Operations Officer, we need someone in the Operations Department to handle Secret message traffic and correspondence." "After reviewing your service record we think that you're the man to fill the position.' "Would you be willing to take on that job?"
"I'd be willing to look at the job and see what it entails but I'm not a typist."
"The only thing you would have to type is the secret correspondence and two finger typing is good enough." "You'll have a whole group of people to type everything else, perform the record keeping, and any other functions that need to be done." "If you take the job you'll be designated as the Enlisted Operations Department Supervisor and your evaluations will be great assistance in making Chief."

Basically I'm in shock but it's worth seeing what's involved. After a few trial days in the Operations Office learning some absolutely fascinating stuff, it's impossible to not accept the position. And no working on a boring airplane is a bonus! The responsibilities include:
                                      Type and file outgoing Secret correspondence
                                       Review, distribute, and file incoming Secret
                                       correspondence
                                       Issue Flight Pay orders and pay vouchers
                                       Process and distribute daily Secret message traffic
                                       Issue tax exempt re-enlistment bonus tax documents
                                       Supervise 10 office workers in performing the non secret
                                       correspondence typing, maintenance of enlisted crew
                                       flight logs, pilot flight logs, and aircraft flight logs.
                                       Other duties as assigned by Lieutenant Commander
                                       Brouillard and the junior officers under his supervision
                                       Confer with Commander Parks, the Executive Officer,
                                       and the Commanding Officer as required.
                                       Write evaluations every six months on the 10 men
                                       working in the office. The first time at writing evals!

Commanders hat

Commanders are 0-5 rank. The first officers to have gold braid on their hats. They called it gold braid. We called it scrambled eggs. These three commanders are the three highest rank officers in VW-1. Working with them is likely to be intimidating!

There's a waiting list for base housing. Housing only becomes available when someone gets transferred or discharged. Meanwhile living in the barracks and eating in the chowhall is a viable alternative until the family gets here. In the months of waiting there's an R&R (rest and recreation) trip to Atsugi, Japan with side trips to Yamato and Yokohama. Japan is very different than America! Many residents speak English making it easy to experience the great beer and food that is available seemingly everywhere.

Our car and household items arrive before Diane Doris and the children are brought to Guam. There's enough time to get our base housing set up and usable before they arrive. The long flight over is grueling for Diane Doris with a four and a two year old. Think about it. Flying on a slow C-118 passenger aircraft with two small kids from Boston, MA to San Francisco, CA, from San Francisco to Hawaii, Hawaii to Wake Island, then Wake Island to Guam. Each flight is about ten hours, no layovers, a mom by herself with two small children in an environment and situation they don't understand. Forty hours in the air,. Plus the wait time at refueling stops. Incredibly difficult. When they get off the plane in Guam, Diane Doris has the kids dressed in sailor suits she made for them! Cheryl in a blue sailor dress with a white collar and a red neck sash, Carl in a white sailor top and shorts with a black neck sash. It's a heartwarming sight! The family is here! Time for us to experience life on Guam.