Douglas Mills -United States Airforce
Douglas J. Mills
DOB 10-07-1976
USAF
Last rank obtained was SrA (Senior Airman)
Was stationed at Vandenberg, AFB; Lompoc, CA; and Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
I enlisted into the Air Force approximately one year after graduating from Brooke High School. I was tired of working in fast food, and wanted more out of my life. I was living in a small town that I grew up in, which was Windsor Heights.
Why I chose the Air Force? Two fold really, it was the branch of service that appealed to me the most and it was the only branch of service that no one of my relatives had ever served in.
The first days of my enlistment was at boot camp. Boot camp for the AF is at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. Naturally, I enlisted in July, and Texas in July is very hot.
Boot Camp was an eye opener for me. I had played organized sports, but this way was more intense than anything I ever experienced. The instructors being all in your face, screaming orders and making you do things you didn’t think were possible.
My Drill Instructor for Boot Camp was a woman named SrA Fuller. She was tough, but very nice to look at. For the Air Force boot camp is/was six weeks of intense training. PT every morning, then other training throughout the day. Your day started roughly at 0600 and didn't end until 2100 or later. Seven days a week. No days off for the entire six week program.
We all just took it one day at a time. Once they broke down the forty-four individuals that formed the three hundred twenty-two, and made us one unit working together with forty-four parts, things started to go smoothly.
I did not serve in wartime, but I was apart of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia for this. Many of my friends whom I was stationed with at Vandenberg AFB had been deployed to PSAB and they reported back as to how the conditions were so I was not completely surprised when I got off the plane in the middle of the desert.
The job that I had while in the service was titled Vehicle Operator/Dispatcher. In layman's terms, that means if it had wheels, I could operate it. Everything from a forklift to a tow truck to a tractor trailer was all in my area of expertise.
While at PSAB, our mission was to support the flight crews that crew missions to enforce the no fly zone over Iraq. Running the flight crews to the airfield and back, transporting troops to different locations, things like that.
The most interesting part of my time there was living in what was referred to as tent city. Practically everything was in a tent.You slept in a tent, showered in a tent, used the restroom in a tent, and ate chow in a tent. The only non-tent I spent time in was while I was at work that was a converted convex trailer.
I have numerous stories from my time in the desert, but this stands out. We had a plane crash approximately 5 miles outside the base. I was assigned to the group to recover the plane.The plane crashed into the desert and busted up into millions of pieces. The pilots ejected safely, but the military needed all the pieces to determine what happened. The crash site was in an area that was not protected by the Us military. So we had to have armed guards at the site around the clock until we was finished with the recovery. The recovery took 3 days of nonstop work. We worked in shifts, but the recovery was on going until the very end. As we loaded up the last of the equipment and headed back towards base. We were followed by an unfriendly group that didn’t like us being where we were. Thankfully, we made it back to the base without and incident.
The unit I was with received an award for being the outstanding unit in the Air Force. As well, I received an award for being an outstanding airman for my contributions in that unit. Then was awarded a Middle East ribbon for my deployment.
Typically while I was in the military, I kept in contact with my family through phone calls. In the first year, I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB. My older brother was stationed at a naval base a few hours away. We would visit each other once a month.
While stationed in the Middle East contact with family was mainly done through mail. It was harder because the mail took about 2 weeks to get to and from.
The food in the military was as good as school lunches. Not all that great but some meals were better than others. Sometimes, you would have to eat MREs, but those were not all that bad.
Entertainment while in the desert was minimal. Most troops would listen to music or play cards on their free time. Occasionally, the military would bring in entertainers for the troops that didn’t happen while I was there.
When I would leave, I would always go home for a visit. Other than that, I would just do local things on my days off.
While I was in the military, I got to visit several countries. Italy, Ireland, Egypt, France were all the countries I got to see while serving time in the military.
I got out of the service on July 5th, I would tease and say that was my independence day. I ended my military time at Vandenberg AFB and then moved back to WV. I did bring along something that I found in the military, my first wife. She served as well, we met when she was stationed at Vandenberg as well.
Shortly after getting back into the swing of civilian life, I got a job in a warehouse operating forklifts. Worked that job for about 5 years until I took the test to become a police officer. I got hired with the Brooke County Sheriff Office and have been serving citizens of Brooke County ever since.
While in the military, it is hard NOT to make lifelong friends. I keep up with most of them through social media like Facebook.
DOB 10-07-1976
USAF
Last rank obtained was SrA (Senior Airman)
Was stationed at Vandenberg, AFB; Lompoc, CA; and Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
I enlisted into the Air Force approximately one year after graduating from Brooke High School. I was tired of working in fast food, and wanted more out of my life. I was living in a small town that I grew up in, which was Windsor Heights.
Why I chose the Air Force? Two fold really, it was the branch of service that appealed to me the most and it was the only branch of service that no one of my relatives had ever served in.
The first days of my enlistment was at boot camp. Boot camp for the AF is at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. Naturally, I enlisted in July, and Texas in July is very hot.
Boot Camp was an eye opener for me. I had played organized sports, but this way was more intense than anything I ever experienced. The instructors being all in your face, screaming orders and making you do things you didn’t think were possible.
My Drill Instructor for Boot Camp was a woman named SrA Fuller. She was tough, but very nice to look at. For the Air Force boot camp is/was six weeks of intense training. PT every morning, then other training throughout the day. Your day started roughly at 0600 and didn't end until 2100 or later. Seven days a week. No days off for the entire six week program.
We all just took it one day at a time. Once they broke down the forty-four individuals that formed the three hundred twenty-two, and made us one unit working together with forty-four parts, things started to go smoothly.
I did not serve in wartime, but I was apart of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia for this. Many of my friends whom I was stationed with at Vandenberg AFB had been deployed to PSAB and they reported back as to how the conditions were so I was not completely surprised when I got off the plane in the middle of the desert.
The job that I had while in the service was titled Vehicle Operator/Dispatcher. In layman's terms, that means if it had wheels, I could operate it. Everything from a forklift to a tow truck to a tractor trailer was all in my area of expertise.
While at PSAB, our mission was to support the flight crews that crew missions to enforce the no fly zone over Iraq. Running the flight crews to the airfield and back, transporting troops to different locations, things like that.
The most interesting part of my time there was living in what was referred to as tent city. Practically everything was in a tent.You slept in a tent, showered in a tent, used the restroom in a tent, and ate chow in a tent. The only non-tent I spent time in was while I was at work that was a converted convex trailer.
I have numerous stories from my time in the desert, but this stands out. We had a plane crash approximately 5 miles outside the base. I was assigned to the group to recover the plane.The plane crashed into the desert and busted up into millions of pieces. The pilots ejected safely, but the military needed all the pieces to determine what happened. The crash site was in an area that was not protected by the Us military. So we had to have armed guards at the site around the clock until we was finished with the recovery. The recovery took 3 days of nonstop work. We worked in shifts, but the recovery was on going until the very end. As we loaded up the last of the equipment and headed back towards base. We were followed by an unfriendly group that didn’t like us being where we were. Thankfully, we made it back to the base without and incident.
The unit I was with received an award for being the outstanding unit in the Air Force. As well, I received an award for being an outstanding airman for my contributions in that unit. Then was awarded a Middle East ribbon for my deployment.
Typically while I was in the military, I kept in contact with my family through phone calls. In the first year, I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB. My older brother was stationed at a naval base a few hours away. We would visit each other once a month.
While stationed in the Middle East contact with family was mainly done through mail. It was harder because the mail took about 2 weeks to get to and from.
The food in the military was as good as school lunches. Not all that great but some meals were better than others. Sometimes, you would have to eat MREs, but those were not all that bad.
Entertainment while in the desert was minimal. Most troops would listen to music or play cards on their free time. Occasionally, the military would bring in entertainers for the troops that didn’t happen while I was there.
When I would leave, I would always go home for a visit. Other than that, I would just do local things on my days off.
While I was in the military, I got to visit several countries. Italy, Ireland, Egypt, France were all the countries I got to see while serving time in the military.
I got out of the service on July 5th, I would tease and say that was my independence day. I ended my military time at Vandenberg AFB and then moved back to WV. I did bring along something that I found in the military, my first wife. She served as well, we met when she was stationed at Vandenberg as well.
Shortly after getting back into the swing of civilian life, I got a job in a warehouse operating forklifts. Worked that job for about 5 years until I took the test to become a police officer. I got hired with the Brooke County Sheriff Office and have been serving citizens of Brooke County ever since.
While in the military, it is hard NOT to make lifelong friends. I keep up with most of them through social media like Facebook.