Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70s

[floodcitykid]

Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

Anybody out there serve in Thailand 1970 to 1973, I did a hitch at UTAPAO, RTNAB, I was with 635th Security Police sqdn.....


floodcitykid

 

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[Montana Jim]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

My father in law wrenched on fighters in Khorat ...

I was an AF Cop for almost 25 years and am back into it training them as a silly-villian.

God bless you and thanks for paving the way!

Check out this site I found... it's just one of many mentioning your unit there...

http://www.geocities.com/wmiller685/utapao.html

 

[rayc50]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

Hey, floodcitykid and Montana Elf! I served in the Air Force from April '69 to May 30, '75. I was assigned to Khorat AB, supposedly to the 388 Civil Engineers at Khorat Ab. I was a Staff Sergeant at the time and was supposed to be assigned as NCOIC of the Site Development Section there. (553X0) I had left the states about 2 weeks early from Travis to Hickam in Hawaii. Visited with some of my friends there for about 5 days and then on to Guam, then Clark AB in the Phillipines, where I had some buddies. Was there about a week and then on to Khorat on a C-130. After arriving at Khorat I found out that a Tech Sergeant from somewhere in Japan had filled my position. My orders hadn't caught up with me because I had left early. So here I was in Khorat with nothing but my PCS orders. No pay records, no info on where I was actually supposed to be, no nothing. I was put on 'casual' until they found out where I was supposed to be. After about 3 weeks, they eventually found out that I had been reassigned to Utapao as NCOIC of the Site Development Section with the 635 CES. Khorat wasn't bad, but Utapao was fantastic! Ever been to , I believe it was named Pataya Beach?? (excuse the spelling if I'm wrong) I met another ex-air force guy I worked with who had been stationed at Utapao. Lots of stories there! LOL Anyway, have a goodun'! Nice to meet you! Ray

 

[DreamcatcherNC]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

I'm not ex-USAF but USN Ret. I served at the Navy Fleet Air Support Unit (FASU) at Utapao from the time they ran us out of Vietnam until 1975. Had a great relationship with the Red Horse folks cumshawing stuff to rebuild our barracks. I lived out in Ban Chang. Great bunch of AF folks at that base.

 

[rayc50]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

Hey, Dreamcatcher! Nice to meet ya! Looks like you were the same time I was. Did the 635th Civil Engineers draw up any plans for the barracks? I don't remember. Too many things going on then. lol If we did and it was in '75, then I was there. NCOIC of the Site Development section. We did the surveying, drafting and construction inspection work for the base. I was also attached to the 3rd Red Horse Division. So if you were there, we may have crossed paths. I remember one occasion where a pop group at the time played at the O Club. I think it may have been the 'Drifters', not sure. Anyway it was the group that sang 'Rock the Boat'. Remember them? Have a goodun! Ray

 

[DreamcatcherNC]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

Hey Ray,
Our barracks were existing when we got there...not far across from NCO club...we just did a little refurbishing to meet our needs.....i.e., made individual 2-man rooms, a/c in each room, carpeted floors, etc....we even turned our little out building into a Navy Bar!! Yeah!! Red Horse rocked! I dropped a few bucks shooting craps down in the RH compound with those crooks :-). Were you there when Vietnam fell? That was a total mess. I was the VN interpreter for the Christians In Action folks and for Col. Austin who was the base commander I think.. Many fond memories of Utapao. Thanks for your service.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

" My father in law wrenched on fighters in Khorat ..."

my brother SAID he was in Khorat in 69, turning a wrench on A-4's...
had to watch some history channel program to find out what he actually did.

his exact words at my discovery were.." we were in cambodia three years before the army...we called it the dragons den..."

 

[rayc50]

Re: Any Ex USAF who served in Thailand early 70's

Hey, Dreamcatcher! Thanks for your service, Man! We were glad to have ya'll around. Definitely made for some interesting times. LOL Yeah, I remember the RH Civil Engineers carpenter and woodworking section well. They fixed up my 'hootch' for me, too. Put in some shelves for my 'liquor' collection. lol My 'hootch' was actually in the Civil Engineers compound....about a block's walk from my Site Development section. There was also a little snack bar about 2 buildings down from my section....ate those breakfast steak and egg burgers every morning. Anyway, I hope it was steak! LOL I got to Thailand (Khorat) during the 'Cambodian Airlift' saga. Drove to the flightline quite often to watch the U-2's land and takeoff. Didn't have to drive far....as I can remember (hopefully anyway)....the flightline was only a short distance from my hootch (this was when I was at Khorat). While at Utapao, I remember the Thai Officer (a Thai Commander) wanted the base perimeter surveyed about every 2 weeks. We did it one time. I talked with our unit commander, Lt. Sparks, and told him that this was ridiculous and he told me that it had to be done. So the next time we surveyed the perimeter, we drove in 2 foot metal rebars and buried them about 2 inches underground. That way, the next time we went out, all we had to do was locate the rebars (with a borrowed detector) and call it done. We did set up our surveying equipment, tho, because once in a while the Thai Commander would show up to watch. LOL It would take us about 3 days to actually survey it, but with the rebars, maybe a day. Just a short story of my time there. Have a goodun' !! Ray