The Intelligence Years

 My second life in the Air Force, I was a programmer with a Top Secret/SCI clearance. I belonged to AFEWC (Air Force Electronic Warfare Center). The JEWC (Joint Electronic Warfare Center) was in the same building. The things I worked on aren't classified anymore as it's all old school stuff.

Remember, this is 1984 and at the height of the Cold War. Maybe it wasn't on the news but I promise there was a war going on in the intelligence arena. My job mostly dealt with Parametric data for EWIR (Electronic Warfare Integrated Reprogramming). Building and loading databases for this data from several intelligence agencies. The data was classified as blue, gray, and red that corresponded to the classification of our allies and communist enemies. The data came to us on magnetic tapes.

Fighter aircraft used to have these electronic panels they would plug into the aircraft. It held all the data needed for that mission. The data would feed the onboard computer and help avoid ground radar systems. It held data such as frequencies, directional capabilities, etc. There was also data for CCC (Communications Command Control) which knew how an entire "system" worked. What controlled what. Order of Battle data was used for locations of radars.

In 1986, we attacked Tripoli, Libya with F-111 Fighter/Bombers. Many F-111e aircraft (Electronic mission) and way up high was a C-135e controlling the battle. It was all planned using computer simulation tool called IMOM (Improved Many on Many) which was not online at that time. The software was on an old school graphical computer system with a pen to interact. This is early 1980s. Today it's probably part of a much larger system and online.

What they could do was simulate scenarios of taking out radars and their effects on the battlefield. We would send in helicopters equipped with missiles and target certain radars which opened a corridor for F-111 aircraft. We could effectively dismantle the entire system within the first minutes of the attack, leaving the air space free of any danger. We lost one aircraft that received a lucky hit. The media reported it was a mechanical failure.

Our aircraft were not given permission to fly over French airspace. The French objected. Incidentally, we "accidentally" bombed the French Embassy. Whoops. We were able to hit every single target. Tripoli was guarded by the most sophisticated, systems built by the Soviet Union.

This attack was in retaliation for the West Berlin discotheque bombing ten days earlier, which U.S. President Ronald Reagan blamed on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. There were 40 reported Libyan casualties, and one U.S. plane was shot down. One of the claimed Libyan deaths was of a baby girl, reported to be Gaddafi's daughter, Hana Gaddafi. However, there are doubts as to whether she was really killed, or whether she truly existed. (Wikipedia)

THIS was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. All countries who were allies of the Soviets realized they were not protected. We had stepped up the game. We won the war in 1989 when the Soviets began to crumble.

That IMOM tool was fed data from MY databases. I often talked to the developer on "smoke net", smokers on smoke breaks where you can keep up with what is going  on. Even non-smokers went out there to plug in.

In 1988, I was transferred to AFTAC (Air Force Technical Applications Center), Patrick AFB on Satelite Beach, FL near Cape Kennedy. I will not reveal what I did there. There were AF active duty stationed there for their entire careers, never being transferred. Many grew their hair and wore civilian clothing. That's all about that.

I was proud to be a part of all that. Pretty good for a guy who had no clue when graduating from high school. Not only did I have to learn programming but I had to know how to build databases and learn fundamentals of Electronic Engineering. I worked in a building that was guarded by armed security forces, outside and in the building, and I was advised to take several different routes to and from work each day.

I couldn't discuss my job to anyone including my wife. When I separated from the AF in 1990, I became a defense contractor back at the same place until 1997. I helped them adapt to web technologies. My second wife had a Top Secret/SCI clearance and worked in the same building. There is an Internet that is Top Secret.

I tell you all this so you understand who I am, not to impress. I share in hopes that you share. I've had an exciting life. You can see why I require so much excitement in my life.