Sharing Our Stories

Dan Callahan
PC/LAN
Atlanta

I joined the Army in February 1968 took my Basic Training at Fort Dix, N.J. Stayed in New Jersey for my advanced training in ground controlled approach for aircraft radar repair at Fort Monmouth. After my radar training, I attended NCO school for 16 weeks and was promoted to Special Five. 

My next stop was Phu Bai, South Vietnam, where I was stationed with the 578 th Light Equipment Maintenance Company. During my whole tour there, Phu Bai never came under attack. An article was written in the Stars and Stripes about that fact. I extended for seven days to get an early out. (If you had 150 days or less you would be discharged when you returned to the United States.) Of course, that was when Phu Bai got rocketed. Go figure! When I got back to states, I got out and stayed out for seven years. 

After seven years, a friend talked me into joining the 101 st Engineers of the Massachusetts Army Guard. I just happened to join in 1977 and had the pleasure (not) of driving a 5½- ton dump truck hauling snow for seven days during the blizzard of 1978. In addition to dump truck driving duties, I did OJT as a demolition man. I decided this wasn’t for me, but I didn’t want to get out of the service. So I went to Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, and became a crew chief on a KC 135 tanker. I found this job to be very rewarding. I also enjoyed that the crew chief went with his airplane on cross-country refueling missions. I was with the Air National Guard for 14½ years. I had less than 3 years to go until I could retire with 20 years. So when I moved to Georgia, I enlisted in the Army National Guard, and finished my 20 with the 166 th Maintenance Company in Jackson Georgia. 

Considering my crew chief training didn’t cross into any MOS in the Army, I did whatever job was needed from greasing trucks to driving a forklift just to finish my time, which I did in 1995. So now I am just waiting to start collecting my retirement pay when I turn 60. I am glad that I made the choice to join and stay in the service. I think it made me a more well rounded person. I received valuable leadership skills in addition to exposing me to men from different and varied backgrounds.