“There are no bad assignments in our command."
Goodfellow AFB training instructor to trainees receiving their initial base assignments, Summer 1984
Goodfellow AFB training instructor to trainees receiving their initial base assignments, Summer 1984
Today, June 30 2014, marks 20 years since control of Iraklion Air Station, Crete, Greece was transferred completely to the Greeks, ending a 40 year mission that stretched nearly to the end of World War II. Hellenikon Air Base in Athens had been closed the previous year. Other related bases in Germany, Italy, England, the Philippines, and elsewhere around the world closed around the same time. Most of the closures were the inevitable result of the end of the Cold War.
It's an interesting coincidence that a number of bases and squadrons were reassigned or redesignated on July 1, 1994. Note that this would be less than 18 months after Clinton began his term of office, and solidly before the mid-term elections that year changed the balance of power in Congress. The closure of bases was always a political question, trading between pork for constituents and national security concerns. That suggests that the short-term combination of Democratic President and Congress allowed political cover on both sides. No doubt there was more to it than that.
Other bases continued in their missions for a while longer. Today, June 30 2014, marks the end of the 301st Intelligence Squadron mission at Misawa Air Base, Japan. In the heyday of Iraklion, Hellenikon, etc., the unit was known as the 6920th Electronic Security Group. It will evidently become part of Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base, and continue its mission in some form.
For better or worse, though, the available postings simply aren't the same as they used to be back then, when the sun never set on these units. Any recruit who found themselves in that area of the military could count on an overseas posting to start their career, and it was true enough that every one had its charms. This many decades later, though, it is definitely a different world.
It's an interesting coincidence that a number of bases and squadrons were reassigned or redesignated on July 1, 1994. Note that this would be less than 18 months after Clinton began his term of office, and solidly before the mid-term elections that year changed the balance of power in Congress. The closure of bases was always a political question, trading between pork for constituents and national security concerns. That suggests that the short-term combination of Democratic President and Congress allowed political cover on both sides. No doubt there was more to it than that.
Other bases continued in their missions for a while longer. Today, June 30 2014, marks the end of the 301st Intelligence Squadron mission at Misawa Air Base, Japan. In the heyday of Iraklion, Hellenikon, etc., the unit was known as the 6920th Electronic Security Group. It will evidently become part of Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base, and continue its mission in some form.
For better or worse, though, the available postings simply aren't the same as they used to be back then, when the sun never set on these units. Any recruit who found themselves in that area of the military could count on an overseas posting to start their career, and it was true enough that every one had its charms. This many decades later, though, it is definitely a different world.
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