Walter's History
I came to the Academy from Abington, Pa, having spent portions of my “growing-up” years in Miami, FL, and Pleasantville, NJ. Getting through the Academy was somewhat of a struggle, including one glorious summer as a member of the R-Flight elite, but thanks to great support from classmates I got through it all.
After graduation, I went to UPT at Reese AFB, TX. I did not meet the visual requirements for flight qualification, but I took the exam so many times during my senior year that they got tired of seeing me and gave me a waiver. That didn't cut it once I got into the program, but my IP took pity and pushed me along and I at least got to solo before I was sent packing to Communications Officer school at Keesler AFB, MS, in January, 1965.
In January 1966, I was assigned to HQ, Western Communications Region at Hamilton AFB, CA, on the maintenance engineering staff. Despite volunteering for Vietnam, I was assigned as the Detachment Commander of a remote mainline communications site at Elmadag, Turkey (a mountain top near Ankara) in April, 1968. Subsequently, I was assigned as the Operations Officer in the communications squadron at Moron AB, Spain; as the Commander of the communications squadron at RAF, Lakenheath, UK; and as the Chief of Plans at HQ, UK Communications Region/3AF at South Ruislip AS, UK.
I returned to the CONUS in 1972 to attend the Communications Staff Officer course at Keesler AFB, and was then assigned to the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center at Norton AFB, CA, for a tour with the AF IG. In 1975, I attended AFIT and graduated in 1976 with a M.S. in Logistics Management. After three years at Air Force Communications Command headquarters where I served as Commandant of the Command Chief of Maintenance School and on the maintenance engineering staff as an acquisition logistics staff officer, I was punished with an assignment to the Pentagon in 1980. I spent four years on the Air Staff in the Directorate of Command, Control, and Communications working a myriad of programs, most notably the Ground Launched Cruise Missile bed down in Europe.
After retiring from the Air Force in June 1984, I began working with Electrospace Systems, Inc., in Arlington, Virginia. Subsequently, Electrospace became part of Chrysler Technologies, which became part of ESystems, and then Raytheon Company for whom I am currently employed as a Principal Systems Engineer. So, like all good beltway bandits I can say that I have worked for four different companies from the same office and keep the company name on the door in Velcro. During this period, I have worked on Continuity of Government programs, National Military Command System (NMCS) communications programs (primarily in support of National Military Command Center [NMCC] and National Airborne Operations Center [NAOC] requirements), and National Senior Leadership communications support programs.
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