From My Service in Korea, I learned…
Michael R. Betzer
MSgt. USAF (Ret.)
I arrived at Osan Air Base on 28 October 1974. I was assigned to the Weapons Control Systems Shop in the 51st Avionics Maintenance Squadron. I was just qualifying on the F-4E Phantom II. I thought I knew about Korea. In 1963, I read a book titled “Back Down the Ridge” by W.L. White; it was an intriguing account about the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) in Korea. I watched “The Hunters”, “The McDonnell Story” and “Sayonara” as a young boy. Yes, these all helped prime me. But there was so much I did not know about the Land of the Morning Calm.
The moment of truth came in March 1975. I was working the flight line that morning, and while waiting for a truck to take me back to the shop, it suddenly hit me: this is the “Real” Air Force! Not Lackland AFB, not the Defense Language Institute, not George AFB, not Lowry AFB, not even Seymour Johnson AFB. This was it, a war zone, albeit during an Armistice. Indeed, just three weeks after I arrived, the first of four tunnels was discovered along the Demilitarized Zone. I was also aware of several scrambles by F-4Es on Zulu Alert, of which one mission came within 18 miles of North Korean aircraft.
I was so impressed with the mission, I extended my tour for a year. After three years of Instructor Duty at Lowry AFB, I returned to Osan Air Base in 1980 for a one year tour. Those six years constitute the most rewarding of my Air Force career.
Michael R. Betzer
MSgt. USAF (Ret.)
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