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Kwaj -
Home for 23 Years |
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by
Shermie Wiehe
(1972 - 1997) |
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After
receiving my technical degree in Electronic Engineering Technology at Missouri Institute
of Technology, I located an advertisement for technical positions overseas in the
Kansas City Star newspaper. I applied and about 30 days later I was scheduled for an
interview with Kentron, Hawaii at the Hilton Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri with
the late Jerry
Brewer and Red Wilson. About a month after the interview, I was flying to Kwajalein
to begin my new career and life at Kwajalein (23 years, 3 tours). I spent the first
2.5 years on Carlos working as telemetry (TM) technician my supervisor, Mr. William (Bill)
Patton. I learned a lot from Bill and his technical team of technicians.
They motivated me to be become one of the range rats from Carlos Island. One of the guys I
admired as a real rat at Carlos was the late Jim Schilling's. Carlos
island had a great bunch of guys. The big trip to Kwaj on the
shoppers boat every Thursday evening was the big thing of the week. I'll never
forget the my first fishing trip at Carlos with the TM crew. Bob Horn and
the late Emery Kingery got a big kick out of watching me feed the fish
during the boat trip near typhoon conditions that
day. From the farm to the ocean, what a big change I made in my life. I made
friends with the Marshallese there and they taught me how to play guitar in my spare
time. After a little over two years at Carlos, I moved to Kwajalein
so I could use
my music (piano) skills. I worked for Nick Skoglund and Tony Utz in Optics
section (The Animals) for several years. Later, I moved to the Range
Instrumentation Computer Maintenance group where I worked for the late Bill Turvey and
the late Jim Enking for about
three years. I spent the rest of my years working on Kwajalein providing technical
support on computer systems in lead and supervisor positions. I worked at
ALTAIR from 92-97 for Tom White,
Dale Sponseller, Norman Larivere of Raytheon and for Steve Chapman and Steve Hunt (good
friend) of MIT Lincoln Labs. I enjoyed the work and technical challenges at ALTAIR
most of all.
I enjoyed playing softball, bowling and providing entertainment (Shermie & Friends
band) for many years at Kwaj. Musicians I remember that performed with me were as
follows: the late Lonnie Smith, Jim Burns, the late Tony Timas,
the late Brian Buckley, the late Kajo
Balos, the late Mari Laina, Rick
Medeiros, Lauren and Gretchen Rodecker, Bob Sanders, Mary Couture,
the late Harry Kalihiki, Bob Thornton, Harold Lakabun, the
late Jerry Milung, the late Elwin
Pound, Kalani Kaiminaauao, Elika Kaiwi and
Ed Hamblin.
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