[Qcwa] Radio man to non radio man

[Norm Gertz]

Joe Fenn writes:  "....I guess I just got all the breaks, but found out on
this
QCWA group that others got even better breaks like the guys
at WAR  that were recruited straight into SigCorps in top
3 grades,  most as Master Sgts!!!!.

Not so Joe......the ops at WAR that enlisted in the Army Signal Corps were
all PFC's.  Some however were lucky enough to enlist in the new Air Force
setup at Bolling Field and were recruited by a Master Sgt who came over to
WAR regularly.....they all went in as Staff Sergeants.
Some of my friends that went into the Sig Corps remained PFCs
throughout.....never got beyond that rank.

73     Norm    K1AA (an old Marine Corps op)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph Fenn" <jfenn@lava.net>
To: <w2icw@juno.com>
Cc: <qcwa@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Qcwa] Radio man to non radio man


> Well very interesting.  About Monmouth and all.  Most of the
> WD radio ops I worked with at WVN WVR WUO WUVJ etc were out of
> Monmouth when first got into SC at Ft Benning.   I went straight
> from swearing in to work at WUO (no basic trng camp and no
> SigCorps training of any kind.   I could do 20 to 30 at that time
> already.   I went straight from a CCC camp (radio CW ops job) at
> Starke Fla to Ft Benning on their request.   They rejected me
> in the physical exam line.  A LT Dental officer said my teeth
> were'nt up to snuff.   I called the WW1 Master Sgt at WUO and
> told him I was leaving back to Fl. He said like hell you will,
> just sit tight while I get a waiver from 4th C.A. CG's office.
> So I stayed in Tent City for a few days, and the recruiting
> sgt called me into the office and advised me to get my stuff
> ready as a jeep was coming to pick me up and take me to WUO.
> He also was amazed that I was going to that job as he said
> no recruits had done that before.  In fact he wanted to send
> me to Gen Pattons 2nd Army Divn (all tanks as a RO).
> I guess I just got all the breaks, but found out on this
> QCWA group that others got even better breaks like the guys
> at WAR  that were recruited straight into SigCorps in top
> 3 grades,  most as Master Sgts!!!!.   Dam It took me 5
> years of overseas duty to achieve that rank.  Still I felt
> lucky as hell.  I could'nt shoot a carbine if my life
> depended on it, and the only gun I got near during entire
> 5 years of duty was when was Chief Opr at WVN also had to
> be crypto ceftified to enter the code rooms and they had
> Thompson sub machine gun hanging on the wall ready for
> use on a seconds notice.  I would'nt have been able to
> shoot the thing as had never seen one before or since.
>              Joe/KH6JF
>
>
> ****************************************************
> * Ham KH6JF AARS/MARS ABM6JF QCWA WW2 VET WD RADIO *
> ****************************************************
>
>
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