Re: [IRCA] Truthfulness and the seafarer

["W. Curt Deegan" <WWWR@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One more checking in.  I too was in the US Navy, and in the spirit of 
the topic, must admit it was as an officer.

Not a ships officer though, but rather a member of the Navy Civil 
Engineer Corps.  With my education in electronics and my Navy 
assignment in the CEC, a construction oriented organization, I 
enjoyed the position of being the guy all that weird electronics 
project stuff went to.  My peers did construction and had no desire 
to be bombarded by the strangeness of NORAD Switchboards, 
Motor-Generator Uninterruptible Power Systems, Wollenweber Antennas, 
PERT/CPM analysis of construction project schedules, and least of all 
building a radio network.

I had modest associations with such projects as: Early planning for a 
proposed DOD Office Building (another Pentagon but shaped like three 
overlapping bananas, no snickers please) -- which died on the drawing 
boards.  Refurbishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis -- which did 
proceed.  Project Saguine/ELF -- downsized, built and recently 
decommissioned.  Navy Receiving Station construction at Sugar Grove 
W.Virginia -- later to become notorious as an NSA electronic spy 
center.  Navy Deep Submergence Lab testing of a high pressure 
pump  -- actually performed at a desert rocket test site in the event 
the pump blew (it was a big mother).  Several other 
computer/radio/technology projects around the world as a Washington 
based design and construction administration officer.

My last major assignment was as the on-site design and construction 
officer for the Vietnamese Radio Network.  A project funded jointly 
by the US Army and US Agency for International Development, and 
overseen by the USN as were all construction projects in SE 
Asia.  Comprised of four sites, each with two AM stations, the 
network was to cover South Vietnam for both civilian and military 
(ARVN) broadcast needs -- underway until US politicians turned tail and ran.

It was a challenging and rewarding time.  I've often thought I should 
write an article about the Vietnamese Radio Network -- the stations 
that were planned, the mixture of electronics and blast proofed 
bunker construction, other tidbits of the project -- though the 
ultimate outcome of it is unknown to me.  Another should'a done.

I also wish I had taken pictures of the existing Saigon transmitter 
site.  There, in a monsoon prone subtropical climate, in a building 
open to the elements on all sides, sat the high power transmitters, 
protected from water that ran in covering the floor during heavy 
rains, only by a small cement berm that surrounded their base.  I 
feared of electrocution every time I was in the place.  I never 
questioned the wisdom of building new facilities.

Curt
-------
W. Curt Deegan
Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida, USA


_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx