How A Boxer Got A Big Promotion In The Army’s Air Defense


The key to my success is that in the Army a graduate of West Point cannot be seriously reprimanded. No, I was only a humble Dartmouth ROTC guy, suddenly thrust from the ivy league to El Paso and then Wurzburg. My chief accomplishment in life to that point was that I had been on the Dartmouth Boxing Team and had transferred the skill seamlessly to the (then) all Black (except me) Ft. Bliss Falcons Boxing Team.
But greater glory, loosely related to boxing, followed.

In 1961 and 1962, I was “Fire Control Platoon Leader” of A Btry, 6th Missile Bn, and moved with it from El Paso to Germany, where we faced down the Russians and East Germans, when the Berlin Wall went up 13 Aug 61. Exciting days. On the many alerts, I had to leave my only asset, a beautiful ’60 Plymouth Valiant at the Emery Kaserne with the keys in the ignition, so the civilians might use it, should the balloon go up. That was SOP, the Army envisioned a massive withdrawal along the Autobahn.

I loved the job and the good men, but was on duty about (I counted once) 88 hours a week. Then one day, Lt Col Tichenor summoned me and said there was a very important opening at 32nd ADTOS - the largest radar site in Europe, which controlled some 90 + HAWK batteries and a similar number of Nike Hercules batteries. The entire NATO air defense was run by the USAF, and we were supporting the Army’s side of it. So I shortly found my self at the Langerkopf  mountain radar site, outside of Ramstein AFB in Kaiserslautern. I had to temporarily part from my beautiful and loving fiancée in Wurzburg, another story, one of wartime romance.

Langerkopf was accessed by a mountain road. At the bottom was a sign in Russian, German and English, which said words to the effect, “Stay out or Be Shot.” My wimpy Valiant skidded up to the top. I learned that on certain week ends the AF sponsored road races up the incline. The current victor was a Lt. Gen from the AF who had a souped up British Triumph. I was delighted with the AF people, no saluting and more of a Dartmouth attitude, that is competence prevailed over form.

We worked 5 days on, sleeping at our desks, then 4 days off. The map of Europe from Ireland to Moscow was displayed on the three story plastic wall. Airmen on scaffolds with color coded markers worked behind the wall tracing all the “aircraft of interest” on the plastic. We also had a simple green-yellow-red light warning system. On my introductory tour, the AF Lt General told me that basically the AF was to handle any flight incursion from the east. Their SOP was to send up two flights of fighters to challenge any overflights. The yellow light would go on and we would tensely watch the progress as the Soviets would turn back. The Lt General said this to me: “We Air Force people will take care of first response, don’t go pulling your lanyards.”

Eventually, the story leaked out as to why I had this juicy promotion. There was considerable rivalry between the Army and the AF, and it was something of a class struggle. The AF people saw themselves as the mounted knights, and viewed the Army as the surly and unwashed peasantry, footsoldiers in a high tech battle, necessary but unwanted. Deep down, they knew our Raytheon built missile system with its complex continuous wave radar and computers could lock onto the Soviet aircraft and were potentially the death knell of air war as they knew it.

The Ramstein’s Officer Club was one of the best-kept secrets of the military, a pleasure palace that booked the best dance groups from Spain and all over. It was also an informal battleground between the rival services. Apparently a West Point Lieutenant, with the help of Johnnie Walker, had taken out an AF Lieutenant Colonel, cold cocking him at the dark mahogany bar. Since West Pointers cannot be fired, he was “punished” by being sent to my job at A Btry, and I was swapped to fill his comfortable chair at ADTOS

Captain (of the boxing team and the Army) Michael O’Keeffe19 December 2003

NB: This story has been rung out to me by my Alte Kamerad, Sgt. Al Garrett.