Strategic  Air Command was for  sure  a  way of  life committed  do or  die.  Or  do and  die.  One final last  resort was called  “Parachute  descent into  a nuclear explosion” .  No escape going  down,    set  the altimeter   switch and  that  was it.  Punch out.  Got it close enough, did your  job.

I also had a  very unusual one  day job.  Called Aide for a  day to Curt  Lemay.  April 1966 I was  unattached after   the  March B-52s  retired  oldest  B Models  and  joined  with closing  Larson AF Base Moses  Lake  WA using  their  newer  E Models which became  the  standard  SAC bomber  in  SEA.  2  wings  had been on Guam since  the  day in  spring   1965 the  Command Post  called the  10  Nuc  Alert  sqdns crews  TDY from   March and  Biggs AFB  El Paso   to go out on the  balcony  and  watch what is  going  to happen. Next   4   hours 2  SAC squadrons  from  Mather  CA and  Barksdale  LA  landed  and  were taking up every inch of  parking  space and  every  room on  base and some off  base  hotels. With no notice , air  controllers   in   western US began to see  the fleetof  40   leaving  and  thought  was   IT’S THE BIG ONE, WW3! Nope, the  start  of  Arc  Light operations  in SEA and  were to  take  our place as  Guam Nuc  Alert after  the next  2-3 months we shared  the base. We  moved  back to March alert  facility until New Years  eve  ’65  when it  closed until the  new  E models  could  be integrated  in  the  Single  Integrated  OPs Plan coordinating all Nuc forces .  I was on alert and  got  off  a  day early. There were  quick  organized parties  all over  the  base  on  the  NUC stand  down. Whoop te  doo!

Lemay had  been forced to retire  in ’65 by  LBJ and  McNamara to Simi Valley CA, entered  politics, joined Rockwell Intl and  flew their  twin turbo Aero Commander all over  the place campaigning. 15th Air Force held  a  commander’s  conference and  Lemay was  the  big cheese speaker in his  USAF  retired role. I was  senior  1st Lt  with Top Secret , Nuc  qualified  so was  to be  Aide  for the  day. It meant I carried  the  Antonio Y Cleopatra Grenadier Natural Panetelas in  a  box. Met  him on  the  Flight Line with staff  car , saluted , shook hands  and  was  stting  aside  a bit to hear him call Bobby  Kennedy  a  rat face lying little  son of  a  bitch to all the  3 and  4  stars  there.   One of my more memorable  additional duties. Guess I pleased the  man. Shook hands and  saluted  when he  took off, wasn’t  fired.  He  did  know I was  one  of  his  SAC trained  killers and  doing  my job  he fashioned  2  decades  past.  Simply  being there  meant I’d passed inspection.  8