Stead AFB~My First Duty Station

In March of 1962 I was assigned to Stead AFB near Reno NV. This was my first duty assignment out of Technical School at Sheppard AFB TX.

Prior to reporting to Stead I took leave and went home to Ohio. I had a 1960 Chevy convertible when I joined the Air Force and after I got to Lackland my Dad wanted to know what I was going to do with the car. I told him to sell it. Later I found that was a dumb thing to do.

Regardless I had no car and wanted something to drive back to Nevada in order to have transportation. I bought a 1955 Chevy 2-door, just what a 21-year-old wanted, yeah right, had something to do with my military pay as I recall.

The trip to Nevada was uneventful and when I approached Stead coming out of Reno, I thought, what in the world was I going to do at this remote place sitting way back from the highway. There was snow on the ground and it was the last place I wanted to be.


I signed in and was given a room that I had to share with this crusty old A1C. This guy had obviously had been around for several years and was already an A1C. Promotion wise that certainly didn’t give me much to look forward to. At that time there were numerous guys that only made SSgt in 20 years.

Barracks life wasn’t too difficult. I was assigned to the afternoon shift and that allowed me to sleep in to some extent. Being around the barracks during the day usually resulted in someone from the Orderly Room come looking for Detail folks. So a few of us made a practice of not staying around the barracks much during the day.

Being on the afternoon shift made it just right to head to Reno after work as that was about the time things began to liven up. What an experience Reno was for me, coming from small town Ohio where the streets were rolled up at dark. The problem with going to Reno was once again related to my limited Air Force pay. Somehow we survived and had a lot of fun and witnessed some unusual events in the wee hours of the morning in Reno.

The real reason I was at Stead was to be a helicopter mechanic. I was assigned to the afternoon shift to the H-19 B Flight working flight line maintenance.

As a A3C 3-level I was immediately enrolled in OJT to become a 5-level. Naturally this meant I got to do a lot of the tasks that the others didn’t want to do. I got to do a lot of rotor head greasing and cleaning, especially the first flight after a lube job. The wash rack was another favorite place of mine. We had a large number of H-19s, in fact there were two flights, A & B, so there was always one to be lubed or washed.

As time went on I soon learned the basics of being a helicopter mechanic and that there was more than lubing and washing.

One of the first things I learned was the International Hand Signals. There were the signals for marshalling an aircraft that was taxiing and also signals for a hovering helicopter. I clearly remember standing outside the line shack and my OJT Trainer going through the signals until I was proficient enough to be signed off.

Once I had the hand signals down I was told I could go out to the training area by helicopter and be the ground person when the student pilots were practicing sling work. I was thrilled at the opportunity to fly on a helicopter and jumped at the chance.

Out at the training area there were several pads where sling work was practiced. I was responsible for two pads and two aircraft. I would marshall the first bird over the pad, run under and hook up the weight and then run back out in front and signal that the weight was connected and marshall them off.

When the first one took off with the weight I had to run to the next pad as the other bird was approaching. I went through the same procedure as before. This would go on for an hour or so and when they were finished I was about wore out from the running.

I distinctly remember two things that I learned from this. First I learned why no one wanted to be the ground person for sling work. The second and most important was that I learned about “static buildup & discharge”, and I learned it the hard way.

Things continued well as I progressed through my OJT and met a board and received my 5-level.

In September I took leave and went home to Ohio. Before I left I asked a friend of mine to let me know when promotions came out effective the 1st of October. I was hoping to make my second stripe.

While on leave my girl friend Carol and I talked about marriage. We had made plans for a wedding but all that was changed. I told Carol that I wanted to get married if I received a promotion to A2C. I guess I figured with the pay raise we could afford to live.

Just before the 1st of October I received word from my friend that I had been promoted to A2C. Carol and I made arrangements and were married October 9, 1962.

We had some trying times but we worked through them and have now been married for 44 years and had a great 30-year Air Force career. We have two sons and five grandchildren. (Jim Moore)