Enlisted personnel:
- Some people apparently were sent to Nike sites with little training on Nike equipment.
These might include cooks, guards, ... whose expected duties did not include
maintenance and/or operation of the equipment. I don't know much about that path.
-
Operators of equipment often received some training at Fort Bliss (El Paso) Texas.
I understand some were sent relatively unknowledgeable to a site to receive
on-the-job training. Again, I am relatively ignorant about the percentage of
folks receiving how much operator training. (I really had blinders on when I
was in the Army!)
-
Some, including my self, enlisted (in the late Korean Police Action)
with some sort of promise of months of training
(with an out for the Army if you were a bad student or otherwise bad.)
An example is Jerry Clodfelter describe:
- Entered Army during Viet Nam era with guaranteed Nike school .
Military MOS 16C ( 1967 )ARADCOM
- After basic at Ft Bragg, moved to Ft Bliss , Texas for operators
school ( 1967 ) Training in fire control operations of radars , MTR.
TTR, Aq. Radar, and Computer
- 1968 - Transferred from Ft Bliss to Roberts, Wisconsin - 68 Art Gr- B
Battery. Assigned to fire control computer / radar- - Participated in
SNAP - battery sent to White Sands for live firing of Nike - MOS - 16C
- Late 1969- applied for MOS 23N ( computer/radar repairman ) . Sent to
Redstone Arsenal - School lasted approx 1 year - Attended basic
electronics, systems, and advanced systems. - Class of 12 with final of
10 people completing course.
- Orders received ( 1970 ) for transfer ( 23N MOS ) to Guided Missile
Maintenance Shop - Ft Shafter , Hawaii - ( Ordnace ) . Worked with
Hawaiian National Guard who maintained the four sites around Oahu. The
guard did not want our help due to planned cut backs from Congress.
However, we did critical maintenance when the guard could not fix.
- ...
-
Many long term military people transferred to the Nike program and received training
For officers, see below.
Most of the operating people got their initial Nike training at Fort Bliss, (El Paso) Texas.
I was assigned to class SAM-23 in the spring of 1954, and learned and trained on Nike
Ajax fire control equipment (radars, computer) for a year
at and near Ft. Bliss, Texas. Our class had about 35 people in it. We were of two
major groups:
- Young (19 to about 24) new enlistees that were interested in techie things.
Most had done things like build radios in high school, had some technical
training some where, and/or opened/worked in a radio/tv repair shop.
Several of us were college drop-outs.
One classmate was a hale, hearty, friendly new American citizen,
with a moderate German accent.
- a blond Aryan right out of Nazi propaganda films -
Now as an American citizen,
he was subject to the American draft,
so enlisted for three years to get one year of Nike training,
and likely avoid active service in Korea
as I had done.
It soon came out that this was not his first experience with AA -
During WWII, when he was 14 years old,
he had loaded German 88 mm AA guns firing up
at British and American bombers. |
- Sergeants and warrant officers who had been in the artillery for probably 10 years,
and were in for a big career change.
We got along together surprisingly well. The older army folks were very
tolerant of us new techie recruits, and we new techie recruits were happy to help
the older guys through technical points. To a surprising degree we partnered in
school lab exercises, partied together in the Mexican bars, and were invited to the
homes of the married sergeants.
We privates got to "pull KP" - which meant getting roused extra early and missing a day of school.
Later I could go through the schematics and point out the pages which had been discussed
while I was on KP. :-(( We heard that the Air Force had a more enlightened attitude about
students missing school for KP. :-((
There was an optional night school where people from many classes could get extra help
from the knowledgeable staff.
People who were slow (poor in tests) in school were obligated to attend night school
to review and catch up. I got to spend a week in "dumb-dumb" night school
after a sharp disagreement with an instructor about how to align a radio transmitter.
I am not now sure who was correct, but I lost sufficient points in that weekly
quiz to force my attendance at night school for a week.
One of the sergeants spent most of his year's training also attending night "dumb-dumb"
school. Oddly enough, folks said that he was just fine on his Nike site later - the guy
just had little scholastic aptitude.
After training, the operating people were divided into battalion or battery sized "packages"
(commanding officers got to interview and help select their future soldiers).
From this distance in time (45 years later) I feel sorry for my battery commander.
He had already selected two good IFC maintenance candidates (previous classes, and
who had done light instructional duties about Ft. Bliss) and had to pick one more.
I am sure that I, as an opinionated, argumentative, wild haired new graduate, was
not his first round draft choice.
A classmate went into a different "package". This is
his story.
The IFC personnel from each battery then practiced on actual Nike systems in
"Radar Park" in Ft. Bliss for a few weeks. The instructors inserted many
faults (bad tubes, open interlocks, defective cables, mis-adjusted adjustments, ... .
It was really fun to put all that book learning to work!
Then each battery went to:
- (pre 1959 - Ajax missiles) Red Canyon Range Camp
- (post 1959 - Hercules missiles) McGregor Range (about 50 miles north of Ft. Bliss)
and fired (usually three) missiles at target drones or (later) simulated targets.
Our "package" was then sent to our new battery site in Chicago (
with, if I remember correctly, about two weeks travel
time to allow travel to and visiting in home towns).
Officers
In 1964, (Information courtesy Ron Loving)
The officers got:
- 15 weeks of officer basic course "The Officer Basic course was kind of
an advanced "basic training" for 2nd lieutenants in Air Defense Artillery.
We played officer games in the field (sand dunes of outer Ft. Bliss)
and even fired one Nike Ajax missile as the finale for the class.
The officers in the class assumed all of the positions in the battery
and operated the system. My position was in the launcher area ..."
- 30 weeks advanced course - "more tactics and theory of operations"
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There are interesting oral histories of officers and men at
Cold War at Fort Hancock.
New (Sept 2009) is
Captain Philip Oswald commanding 1959-1962
The IFC technical people (warrant officers and enlisted) got about a year of training.
This was divided into:
- 8 weeks of basic electronics, basic radio/radar, and trouble shooting theory
- 48 weeks of Nike specific theory, electronics, radar, adjustments, trouble shooting
We (IFC technical people) went over every page of the schematics carefully,
and had lots of trouble shooting and adjustment practice.
I felt (in 1955) quite satisfied - except:
- no training or experience in fighting enemy jamming
- we occasionally had to pull KP, and I could go though the schematics and
identify those pages unlearned because of KP.
John R Braun e-mailed
- "I attended
two schools back to back at Ft. Bliss
from Feb. 1966 to April 1967 and never had to do ANY duties except attend
school. They must have indeed, changed their duty roster policies between
the time I attended and when you attended. I thought the training
received and the instructor quality was excellent at Ft. Bliss. The
school hours were grueling and the course subjects fast paced, but
excellent. "
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In August 2000, Donald Knollinger
wrote: - When I attended 226 school at Ft. Bliss... we pulled NO extra duties!!!
I remember (fondly), our school battery commander addressing us on our first day...
saying "you people are here to learn", "there will be no KP, guard duty, inspections,
etc!!" This was in the early 60's.
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At the conclusion of formal training, we were interviewed by
battery commanders who were forming up people to install and operate
new sites. There was an attempt to match people's desires of location
with Army needs. Chicago was the closest available at the time to
my home (Minnesota) and I requested that city. Captain Hill was
going to Chicago, and (after he interviewed me) I was admitted to his "team"
along with 2 other
IFC mechanics and maybe 40 other people who had received training in
various aspects of Nike operations. We started to work on the equipment
for about 2 weeks as a unit.
After that we moved about 100 miles away to
Red Canyon Missile range to fix/adjust their local radars (previously un-fixed
and mis-adjusted to give us plenty of exercise) and fire a missile to shoot down a
target called an RCAT. While there, a week to
10 days??, we lived in
Red Canyon Range Camp, a tent village. The
sheet metal mess hall was the most substantial building.
After a short leave, we gathered at the Chicago site which was in
Jackson Park - 63rd South and Outer Drive. It was called "C-41". The buildings,
launcher pits, roads, fences, radar pads, etc. were all ready for the
new equipment which arrived in a few days. We installed and cabled up the
new equipment and made it operational (in two weeks?). Then more people arrived to receive
"on the job" training and fill the manning slots. And we were "ready".
Ron Loving said that
later (1964) there were 4 week courses in Electronic Counter Measures.
"The classes tried to teach you that what you saw on the scope
could be countered by putting in standard "fixes" against the
type of jamming represented on the scope. In reality, one could try individual
"fixes" or mix and match the "fixes" until the scope cleared up
or you went to "Track On Jam" (TOJ). I was never satisfied with the
"School Solution" for jamming because it was not that close to reality."
The Launcher technical people got (???).
The operators got (? 2 weeks?). Did not seem much.
Commissioned Officers
Ron Loving
commanded both Nike and Hawk batteries. In response to the question
"I am presuming the technical and fire decision challenges facing a Hawk officer
are quite different from those facing a Nike officer???" Ron responded with
"Officers in the two missile batteries faced the same challenges. That being the
continual training of the crews, supplies (Logistics) and other daily operational
procedures from motor pool inspection to care and feeding of the troops.
The differences being in the operational procedures for the different batteries.
During officer basic and advanced courses at Ft. Bliss all officers were
trained the same. It was after they arrived at their new assignment that
the missile specific training started. Both types of missiles were controlled
the same way by the Air Force through the ADCAP early warning systems."
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