UTSA HIST 1053.006 My Semester Paper

[LaserTex]

We were required (1/10th of grade) to interview someone over 50 (I'm 42, 43 in March so I can't interview myself although another classmate (Vet over 50 on same M-GI Bill) said he was interviewing himself.) about historical events. I interviewed my neighbor Dave - reited AF guy that you wouldn't even look at twice. Some of the things that he has been INVOLVED with over the course of the last 59 years is pretty interesting. You be the judge. My Freshman History Semester Paper - and don't be a hater! I got lots to go... SOC 1033 and Freshman Comp next semester.

Interviewee Information: David DOB 1950 Age 59
Born in Charleston, West Virginia. Father was an accountant with DuPont Chemicals and his family moves around a lot when Dave was growing up. He turned 7 in Ohio. Spent the first grade in Niagara Falls, NY. He then lived in Memphis, Tennessee until age 12. The family was off to Europe now where Dave graduated from American High Schools International Schools of The Hague. He was accepted and attended Tennessee Tech from 1968 to 1971. He then joined the Air Force at age 21 (1971).
His Air Force time took him from Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi. To Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Tx, back to Europe (Sicily, Italy), and finally to Kelly AFB, San Antonio, Tx. He stayed assigned here until his retirement in 1993.
I met Dave in 1999 when my wife and I moved in across the street from them. From our joint Halloween effort to day-to-day projects, Dave is my “go to guy” for help.



When I first started to interview Dave Moore, neither of us really knew what topics we would discuss. I asked him about his view of the Civil Rights movement and he said that as a teenager, running the streets of Europe, there was not a Civil Rights movement. Everyone around him was white in Luxemburg and Holland then he was in the Air Force and the only black people he knew worked beside him. We discussed the economy of living off base in Biloxi, Mississippi in the early to mid 1970’s. I asked what kinds of things he would do during his time off. He told me of the story of how he met his wife, Sandy.
Both assigned to Keesler Air Force Base, and both in technical fields, they used Citizen Band (CB) radios as a hobby. Dave remembers hearing a sexy voice on the radio while he was participating in a “Fox Hunt”. This is where someone goes out and hides but sends out clues via the CB radio. The others use triangulation to locate the Fox. Once the hidden party is located, they would all meet back at a coffee house to discuss the day. This activity was very cost friendly during a time when these Airman made very little in money.
I asked him about his time in Sicily, Italy. He said that while he was there the Soviet’s came to visit (inspect) for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty. President Reagan signed the agreement with the Soviets in 1987 and this allowed both sides to conduct inspections on military installations to count the missiles. These announced inspections allowed them the time to cover anything that was NOT a missile with black plastic bags. He said that everything on base that was not the size or shape of a missile was covered – nothing was spared. The manhole covers that were welded down to prevent infiltration from the sewer lines were un-welded so inspectors could verify there were no missiles in the sewer system. Based on my personal experience, I can imagine it was not a fun time to be at the nuclear base in Sicily.
We continued to talk about his Air Force career and we discussed the Berlin Wall. He said that he went Temporary Duty (TDY) twice to Berlin; once before the wall came down and once after. He said that on his last assignment here in San Antonio, Texas he was stationed at the Engineering and Installation (E&I) unit at Kelly Air Force Base. The E&I unit was responsible for finding and installing communication solutions to problems around the world, and Templehof Central Airport in Berlin was having communication problems. The Commander of the Allied Side of Berlin needed a better intercom system to be able to instantly and securely communicate with the three sections (over 70 lines) at the same time. Dave was sent over to look at the problem to come back to Texas to engineer a fix. While there, he toured the Allied section of Berlin, visited the wall and saw the “no man’s land” of minefields in Potsdamer Platz, an important public square in pre-divided Berlin.
He returned to Home base and the solution was difficult to make. Several different devices were tried but the number of connections did not meet up to the requirement. Dave finally engineered a solution, designed the system and went back to Berlin to supervise the installation. The wall had come down and he noticed that the Russian military had learned that consumerism and capitalism were not such bad ideas as they were selling their uniform medals and buttons along with chunks of concrete with certificates that said they we part of “The Wall”..
The historical significance of the communication solution Dave created is that shortly after installation in Berlin, Templehof Central Airport and the British, French, and American air and land forces in Berlin were deactivated and the Allies returned a united Berlin to a re-united Germany. And the secure communications system would not be needed anymore.
(646 words before adding the coverpage)

[surprise_i'm_armed]

LaserTex:

Your friend has had a very interesting life. Thank you for sharing.

May I suggest that if you haven't turned this in yet, to please
break down the ginormous paragraph into much shorter ones
with white space in between each.

It will improve the readability.

Respectfully, SIA