M a c D I L L . A F B , F L O R I D A

Detachment 2 Tactical Air Warfare Center

22 June 1967 to 21 June 1968

I was TDY to Thailand for all but about three weeks of this period

I left Luke with no idea of what to expect. I was told that I was to be part of Project Rivet Top and that we were going to activate a detachment and then deploy on Temporary Duty in support of Vietnam for approximately six months. I was picked for the assignment because of the Top Secret Security Clearance that I still held.

I arrived at MacDill and was directed to a big hangar on the flight line where a sign was taped to the door reading Detachment 2 Tactical Air Warfare Center Project RIVET TOP. The door was ajar so I walked in. The entire gigantic hangar was empty. I yelled out to see if anybody was around and heard a voice from upstairs say "I'll be right down". His name tag said Kreil and he was a Staff Sergeant, as was I. I asked "what the hell is going on here"? He said "We are it, we have to get everything ordered that we are going to need for the next six months and have it ready to load on two C-141s that will be arriving in a couple of weeks".

Fortunately for us the rest of the squadron personnel showed up in the next couple days and that empty hangar filled up, including a C121 Constellation equipped with a completely black radome. (Picture will eventually show up here).

So before long we were off on our deployment for 180 days to Udorn Thailand.