Going Postal

I see that Congress is telling the Post Office that they have to keep delivering mail on Saturday. That is just stupid, but no one ever lost money betting against finding intelligence in Congress. Australia, Canada and Sweden all deliver five days a week, and I am not sure that is even necessary. I try to use electronic delivery from all businesses that offer it. I got one letter on Thursday, and one on Friday. Today I got a magazine. Maybe I'll get an iPad someday and eliminate that.

Mail is certainly important in a war zone, and was especially important to those who served before e-mail. There was no need for phone cards in Vietnam, as there were no phones to call back to the States. Letters were the only means to connect with family.

But, mail is important at other times, also. I left MacDill AFB in Tampa in 1974 and headed to Iceland. The road from Hofn to the radar site ran along the mountain. We didn't often get snow, but when we did, it was accompanied by 60 knot winds that piled the snow on that road and closed us off from civilization and mail. I watched grown men blubber like babies after going days without mail. They finally had to fly over and drop it in.


When we flew into Hofn, it was on C-47/DC-3 out of Keflavik. A noisy rattling plane that was the only aircraft I could ever sleep on. Go figure. We'd fly all the way to Hofn, and the winds would be too strong to attempt a landing. The runway was gravel, and iced over in winter. Back to Keflavik to try again tomorrow.  It took three attempts before the pilot said. "the heck with it" and put her down. It was a bit scary and we flew over the beach where one plane sat that didn't make it the year before. I found out later the site had a cabin made out of another plane that didn't make it.

Hofn was a radar site that monitored Russian Bears flying across the Arctic  I imagine satellites do this today. I was not a "scope-dope", but managed the site exchange. I was in the Air Force and the Site Commander was my boss, but the exchange belonged to the Navy, so I also worked for them. Not a problem except for the time I had to tell my boss the Air Force IG could not enter my office. Maybe I could have been more tactful, but tact is not a strong suit with me.

Sgt Joe Pyrdek 1967-68

When I wasn't minding the store, I kept busy working as a DJ. We had an AFRTS station that was 1400 KHz and cranked 10 watts. It was enough to reach into town. I did country before I went to work in the morning, soul on Saturday, and classical on Wednesday night after the movie. I was also the projectionist for the 8 movies they sent us each week. There wasn't much else to do, and I still remember it as one of my best assignments.