FORT BRAGG, NC

As I have said before, we didn't do much useful work when we were at Fort Mac and most of the time when we went somewhere we would go to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  We loaded up our shop van, power unit, and deuce and a half (2 1/2 ton) truck and headed out on our first TDY (temporary duty) trip to Ft Bragg to help convert H-21 Helicopters from VHF to UHF com radio systems.

H-21 Helicopter

We were working for a Warrant Officer (H-21 pilot) and with the chopper's manufacturer, Vertol, and with their tech reps on the installation.  I was working in the shop van with Chuck Hannen most of the time building junction boxes and wiring up cannon plugs to make the cables that would connect the equipment by using the wiring harnesses supplied by Vertol.  (Chuck later was my best man at our wedding.)  We had a few other guys with a couple in the ship running cables to the radio rack and a couple of others staging the components in the truck.  I thought that we were working well and making good time but the army thought that we were behind schedule.  Obviously, the army's solution was to send our other avionics team up from Ft Mac to help.

Inside view of H-21.

The radio rack is on the left side just behind the pilots position.  As you can see in the picture at the left, there ain't much room.  One guy barely fits in the aisle and one other helping push the cables and lash them down are a crowd by themselves.  Of course, some brass hat behind a desk at 3rd Army HQ thought, One team, one month.  Two teams, half of a month.  The other guys came up and we got in each others way and we got farther behind.  (Also notice the luxurious seating in the chopper.  It doesn't recline but it will fold up to make room for cargo.)

It became obvious that that was not going to work.  Our team chief, Sgt Glasscock (Yes, that really was his name.), and the Warrant Officer in charge of us decided that we would work in shifts.  That is team "1" Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Team "2" on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  It worked great and we all had a 4 day weekend.  Everyone was happy and we finished in a reasonable amount of time.

“ There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation.

One is by the sword, the other is by debt”

John Adams