Page 98 - The History of Veterans at Highland Springs

BILL SHIELDES
HIGHLAND SPRINGS RESIDENT, AIR FORCE
I entered Texas A&M in the fall of 1965, was in the Corps of Cadets, and completed both BS and ME degrees by Dec 1970. I then entered active duty in the US Air Force as a 2nd Lt. and was assigned to Minot AFB, ND in Jan 1971. My wife and I are both natives of North Texas and while there my wife observed that hell in fact was cold and not hot. We were there for 2 1⁄2 years – and yes, we went in a winter and returned to Texas in a summer! For those who don’t know about Minot, it is only about 45 miles south of the Canadian border, had Minuteman missiles, B-52’s, KC-135’s, F-106’s, some Huey’s and a lot of snowmobiles. I was assigned as the base Safety Officer and was responsible for a small office that reported on all ground associated accidents involving base assets, military & civilian assigned personnel, and dependent personnel involved in accidents. In addition, I was responsible for base safety training, the licensing of military vehicle drivers, and support to the flying and missile safety offices on the base. At that time, this slot was only on dual wing SAC bases and there were only a handful of us in the USAF. So, I got to see a broad swath of the base functions and was involved in investigating several dozens of accidents with some being fatalities (none involving active duty activities). These involved everything from slips on the ice involving broken bones, minor fires, military vehicle rollovers, etc. I can say, however, that the highlight of my time at Minot was the arrival of our first child!
While initially planning on a military career, I decided to leave the service and pursue a career in the design, production, and support of electronic sensors for our military services, which I did for over 35 years. I left the USAF as a 1st LT and returned to Texas.
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