I sent Barney a message asking if he recalled the "Radar Maintenance Party".  Judging from his reply, He Remembers!

Hi Again, Feel free to edit my letter anyway you would like, just don't change the contents of any of my statements and "yes " if you feel that it is of any value to your web site by all means feel free to use it.

If I am thinking about the same party I do remember it. Someone came into the NCO lounge and announced that Radar Maint.. were all in the club getting wiped-out. This was about eleven P.M. I immediately went to the club and found about two thirds of maint. well on the road to a champagne hang over. Realizing that there would be personnel to keep the site well manned the next day , I did the only thing I could. I sat down and joined the party for a glass or two , may have even bought a bottle and then
quietly slipped back to my room. I was well known for, shall we say, for my taste for champagne, I remember celebrating such events as "The Annual Wine Party Of The Month" Or "The First Friday Of The Week Party" and then there were the chain moving party every month, DROS party, new arrival party, and just about any excuse one could think of. It's a wonder we didn't all come back alcoholics. 

I walked thru those swinging doors to the club one Saturday afternoon and saw a table full of maint. personnel around it. I walked up behind Sgt Marino who was talking and
had his back to me. He wanted to go to Kef for some reason and he was telling all how he was going to pull it off. Before any one could get him stopped he finished by saying "All I have to do is feed "The Big B" [ME] a good line of BS and I'll be out of here". I put my hand on his shoulder and he turned and saw me. He was speechless as was the whole table, and all thought I would be POed. Needless to say he DID get to go to Kef. How could I refuse after that performance. [I think I had to ask him if he still planned the trip] This is one of my favorite stories from H -3.  

When the Russian fleet was there it became a big event. The Navy had to bring in a fleet and chase them out. It was an International event. At one point a Soviet fighter was buzzing one of our ships and got too low and crashed into the sea. They tried to say we [the navy] shot it down. This was just another part of The Cold War, always something going on.

I have some pictures etc. that I will send you. not too much that is any good. I had a 8mm movie camera when I was there so I don't have a great deal of pictures. My scanner is acting like B channel of the 93, guess I will try reloading the program. I never did get B channel to run at full power the whole year I was there. I have often wondered if ever ran at full power before or after I was there. I got to thinking about that damn channel after I came back to the states and decided it must have been the
power sampler. We had no way of checking that but it would run perfect at 92% power. That is the only problem that I could never resolve while I was in maint. I can ramble for hours about this radar site, I, like everyone hated being there in isolation and away from family but we had a great bunch of young men and it was a good experience in that respect. 

Till later,

 Barney