Subj : Military Radio
To : Don Vally
From : Dennis Scott
Date : Thu Mar 16 2023 07:46 am
Re: CQ CQ CQ
By: Don Vally to DENNIS SCOTT on Thu Mar 16 2023 08:07 am
> Your job sounds harder to me, you actually had to do some problem
> solving! Just a quick aside, what was your MOS?
>
Well, the learning side was a little difficult I guess. I went to a year of tech school for electronics before cross training in the Air Force over to Communications. Then that course was another year and of course that's only the beginning as every assignment had new types of fixed and portable transmitter/receivers and ancillary equipment like consoles, ATIS, video and audio recorders, etc. But, none of it was hard, quite the opposite really. I enjoyed it, got to travel all over the world and even got a little bit of money each month for my troubles.
I had one assignment to Kelley AFB in Texas, at that time, headquarters for electronic security command - the super secret Air Force command for people sort of like what you did but by that time (1990's) it was mainly audio and data that they were listening to/monitored. I hated entering that complex as the security was unbelievable with multilevels of entry points, guards at all hallways and stairs, and even the cables had to run outside the walls in color coded conduit. No windows, etc. No, man, you can have that crap, I hated it, so I retired and resumed my next life.
In the Air Force, it was not a MOS, it was an AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code). I was a 30494, Two Way Communications Tech. The comparable MOS would probably be a depot level repair tech for field radios like VRC-46's, PRC-66's, or fixed base radios like KWM-2A's, etc, all of which I have repaired at some point in my career. I don't know if they still use AFSC's or not. Things have changed so much in the military now...
Anyhow, thanks for your service!! It was guys like you that kept us safe at night whether most people knew it or not.
