Airman's Story Part V

Part V Out of Texas
When in-clearing at the base personnel office at Lockbourne I was informed that I would be assigned to the J-47 repair shop because of my most recent training. I pointed out to the clerk that I was also a flight engineer by training and requested assignment to one of the refueling squadrons that was equipped with KC-97 tankers. I suppose that fate played a part in the clerks mind when he said, “OK I will send you to the 91^st.”
The 91st orderly room clerk saw that I had an aircraft maintenance AFSC and assumed that I was intended for the flight line as a mechanic. (In the 50s flight line maintenance and operations were in the same squadron.) I insisted that I was a flight engineer and should be assigned to that section.
It was pointed out to me that a true “catch 22 “ applied to my situation. In the first place I didn’t have the required 250 panel hours to become an engineer on the 97, secondly, that only one AFSC applied to the engineer career field that was a seven level skill number. To hold a seven level the person had to be a Staff Sergeant (E-5) or above. The result was that I didn’t have the AFSC because my rank didn’t match.
The First Sergeant suggested that I talk with the OIC of the squadron’s flight engineers section. The Captain agreed to give me a chance to train for the AFSC while we worked through the regulation maze. I was back on flying status and now on a path toward earning the coveted flight engineer’s wings with the propeller symbol.
During training I met a Master Sergeant named Stan Jozwiack who had just transferred in from a B-36 unit and who was to play a part in my future career.

After about 18 months of training that included two months of KC-97 aircraft systems ground school as well as a two month Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-97 simulator and transition course at West Palm Beach, Florida I was promoted to Staff Sergeant and awarded the seven level AFSC. By the spring of 1956 I had accrued the required 250 panel hours, passed the flying proficiency examination and was assigned to a combat crew. I was now a SAC trained killer.