Welcome Back Nukies...

It's kind of hard to believe the Cold War has been over for about 20 years now. But, during the height of the Cold War and America's big nuclear buildup Abilene was a big part of it with the Atlas missile project. And the guys who attached the warhead to them were the men of the 42nd Munitions Maintenance Squadron, who back then were known as the "Nukies," at Dyess Air Force Base. It's really crazy when you think about it that 18-20 year old boys were in charge of the one key element in the destruction of the planet. And one of the first devices to deliver those warheads were the Atlas missiles, which had their silos almost in a circle around the city of Abilene.

So, last week, the men of the 42nd MMS had a 50th anniversary reunion. To get together and reminisce about old times. It was really cool listening to some of these guys talk about what they did. Thinking back on it, it was kind of a big deal, but most of them had the same response about it back them "it was just a job and we did it." In the morning, the group got to go take a tour of their old work area at Dyess and meet with the guys doing the similar job to theirs now. The one major difference being that the guys now only work with conventional bombs as opposed to the nukes. Then, later in the afternoon the guys were going out to Oplin to tour one of the old silos that they worked on the missiles, that has been converted to someone's home now. That was really cool, being able to go into the silo, see how it had been transformed into a really cool home, while at the same time being able to go into the silo and see just how massive the place was, not to mention how the guy had fixed it up and put in a new hydraulic lift to open up the missile doors. Between that and getting to hear the old stories of what things were like back then made for a really cool history lesson you just can't read about.

Airshow...

These are the photos from the airshow I shot the day following the Thunderbirds dress rehearsal. This was supposed to go a lot smoother than it did. I had a parking pass to get on base and was supposed to be cleared to get through the front gate in the morning, well that didn't happen. So after waiting 40 minutes at the front gate to be turned away, then after waiting another 30 minutes in traffic and know I'd never make my noon assignment had I actually gotten on base, I left to shoot a crappy softball game only getting in about 40 minutes and then heading back to the traffic jam.

This time I figured I'd try a different route at getting in. I took the back way in through Tye and got right up to the gate. So, here I am thinking cool I'm almost there... not so much. It was STILL another 40 minutes to the parking lot. Then after that more than a half mile walk to get in the gate! So by the time I got there the Thunderbirds were about the only thing left. I guess I'm glad I shot the dress rehearsal, at least I knew how the performance would go! I was able to get most everything I needed plus some shot from the static displays and get out.

Ironically, the traffic getting out was just as bad, not to mention that there were still people lined up to get in after all the performances were over. I did feel bad for them. And, since the cars going out weren't moving that fast if at all I sat in my car and edited all my photos. After another 30 minutes I saw things were moving pretty quick, since everyone had gotten in they reversed the direction and had all lanes going out. Luckily it was only 30 minutes to get out!

World's Largest BBQ....

This is one of those events I cover every year. I've tried to shoot it differently in the past but after 10 years you kind of run out of ides. So, you just have to keep an eye out for nice moments. Since we pushing so hard to put more content on the web and my day was pretty open and I didn't have another assignment for a few hours I was able to spend a little more time than normal. Usually I concentrate on just shooting the airmen since they are the ones being honored, and deservedly so. But since I had extra time and an outlet for the photos I decided to shoot some extras with the volunteers as well. I think the overhead meat cutting shot is one of my favorites, mainly because it was a shot I hadn't done from here before. However, a close second would be the little girl in the pink cowboy hat. She was an absolute doll. When I was getting her name and the names of her family members I told her I liked her hat, and after I did that she raised her leg up above the table to show me her matching pink cowboy boots, it was just too cute and I got a great laugh out of it. It's the little things like that, that make my job so much fun.