One more checking in. I too was in the US Navy, and in the spirit of the topic, must admit it was as an officer.
Not a ships officer though, but rather a member of the Navy Civil Engineer Corps. With my education in electronics and my Navy assignment in the CEC, a construction oriented organization, I enjoyed the position of being the guy all that weird electronics project stuff went to. My peers did construction and had no desire to be bombarded by the strangeness of NORAD Switchboards, Motor-Generator Uninterruptible Power Systems, Wollenweber Antennas, PERT/CPM analysis of construction project schedules, and least of all building a radio network. I had modest associations with such projects as: Early planning for a proposed DOD Office Building (another Pentagon but shaped like three overlapping bananas, no snickers please) -- which died on the drawing boards. Refurbishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis -- which did proceed. Project Saguine/ELF -- downsized, built and recently decommissioned. Navy Receiving Station construction at Sugar Grove W.Virginia -- later to become notorious as an NSA electronic spy center. Navy Deep Submergence Lab testing of a high pressure pump -- actually performed at a desert rocket test site in the event the pump blew (it was a big mother). Several other computer/radio/technology projects around the world as a Washington based design and construction administration officer. My last major assignment was as the on-site design and construction officer for the Vietnamese Radio Network. A project funded jointly by the US Army and US Agency for International Development, and overseen by the USN as were all construction projects in SE Asia. Comprised of four sites, each with two AM stations, the network was to cover South Vietnam for both civilian and military (ARVN) broadcast needs -- underway until US politicians turned tail and ran. It was a challenging and rewarding time. I've often thought I should write an article about the Vietnamese Radio Network -- the stations that were planned, the mixture of electronics and blast proofed bunker construction, other tidbits of the project -- though the ultimate outcome of it is unknown to me. Another should'a done. I also wish I had taken pictures of the existing Saigon transmitter site. There, in a monsoon prone subtropical climate, in a building open to the elements on all sides, sat the high power transmitters, protected from water that ran in covering the floor during heavy rains, only by a small cement berm that surrounded their base. I feared of electrocution every time I was in the place. I never questioned the wisdom of building new facilities. Curt ------- W. Curt Deegan Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida, USA _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
