lessonslearned Wedded Bliss?
When a pair of young Air Force officers are sent to Clark Air Base, in the Philippines, their first assignment as a married couple gets off to an inauspicious start.
I
n 1978, my wife and I were both young officers in the Air Force. Our first assignment as a married
couple was to Clark Air Base, in the Phil- ippines. At that time, Clark was probably the largest base in the Air Force, both in geographical size and in personnel. During the Vietnam War, Clark had
been a staging area for all of Southeast Asia. It had every amenity imaginable, including a massive hospital with all the medical specialists necessary to treat those wounded in Vietnam, as well as a large morgue to receive the bodies of those who had been killed. Most of this in- frastructure still was in place in 1978. Travel to Clark was not easy in those
days. Along with over 200 other personnel and their families, we flew out of Oakland, Calif., in an aging airplane. Our first stop was Hickam AFB, Hawaii, where we had a three-hour layover. Then it was on to Guam. Descending into Anderson AFB, Guam,
we were notified of an indeterminate lay- over. A typhoon threatened Clark, and we had to wait it out. The terminal at Anderson was ill-equipped to handle 200 people. After approximately five hours in that small terminal, we were on our way to Clark. On our arrival, we found the base, a mere two hours after a typhoon had side- swiped it, to be hot, steamy, and battered. Standing water was everywhere. Trees were uprooted. Branches and palm leaves were scattered as far as the eye could see. Finally, the power was out. Only those
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facilities deemed mission-essential were operating, relying on generators. After going through customs and a pro- cessing line, retrieving our luggage, and checking in to the base motel, my wife and I realized we had completed a 25-hour trip. The hotel had no air conditioning or lights, but we did have a battery-operated radio. We turned the radio on, anxious to hear
what was going on. We tuned in to the only station we could — Clark’s Armed Forces Radio Network. The announcer explained the condition of the base and the weather fore- cast and concluded by saying base authorities were not sure exactly how long it would be before power could be re- stored; it might be days before everyone had power. He said listeners who
were concerned about their refrigerated and frozen goods spoiling could bring them to the morgue, where they would be stored in the refrigerated vaults that were not being used. Despite that less-than-romantic be-
MO
After … five hours in that small terminal, we were on our way to Clark.
ginning, my wife and I still are married (to each other)!
— Michael Kilroy is a retired Air Force colonel in Billings, Mont. For submission information, see page 4.
Tell Your Story Military Officer seeks service-related anec- dotes that left an im- pression. See Directory, page 4, for submission information. All submis- sions will be considered for publication.
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