I was a 30454 Ground Radio Repairman. Switched from AFCS to TAC when I went to NKP. Was assigned to the GATR site. Took care of the radios, mostly GRC-27's, with a couple of KWM-2's, also did the KY-8's in the CRP. I bypassed tech school, went directly to Langley from basic. Decided that I liked being in the tower more than I liked messing with the GRC's, so made myself an expert on all the tower stuff that the tech school grads weren't familiar with. Spent most of my two years there up in the tower, my best man was a controller and they would let me work ground control at night occasionally when they needed a break. You can imagine my surprise and horror when I got to NKP and they showed me the radio room filled with GRC-27's, turned out they weren't really that bad to work on. First question when I got to the shop was if I had gone to crypto school, I hadn't, they just sighed and said that we were all supposed to, but for some reason more missed it than went. Couldn't have been much, as all we did was change the codes at midnight. Would go through the checklist and if it failed, would just swap the indicated board and go on. With banana pellets, a chimp could have done it. Had been at NKP for about six months and was making the 23:30 walk up to the CRP for the code change. Knocked on the door of the crypto vault and an unfamiliar face appeared when it opened. Said I was there to get the codes and the paddle, he checked the list and said that I wasn't on it and couldn't come in, had never been an issue before this. After a short discussion, I said that if anyone asked about me, I would be back at the radio shop. About the time I walked in the door, the phone was ringing. They wanted to know why the codes hadn't been changed, I told them about not being cleared. I was told to start walking, got back to the vault, knocked on the door, when it opened, my name was on the list in big red letters. Never had a problem after that.

Les "Worm" Thompson
Det 5, 621st TCS INVERT
NKP RTAFB 1970-1971