Russell L. Pagano, CTMC, 1967-1986 I tried to join the Air Force first. So I headed to the Federal Buiding in Sarasota, Fla to seek out an AF recruiter. In 1967 there was a tenth month waiting list to get in the Air Force. When I left the office a Navy Chief was sitting in the hallway smoking a big fat italian stogie and said "hey kid I wanna talk to you". I took the ASVAP test and the next thing I knew I was in the Navy Cache program and went for induction two months later. In the classification section of recruit training I selected AEP which was the advanced electronics program because I had a strong mathematics background in high school and community college. They put us through a battery of tests including morse code. I knew morse code from the boy scouts and purposely failed it because I could not envision a career wearing headphones. Following boot camp I was transferred to ET "A" school at Great Lakes as a CTM striker. In ET school they normally only sent CTMs through the communication phase. ( this was prior to the establishment of CTM "A" school at Corry Station Pcola). But I did not get immediate orders so the staff graciously allowed me to complete the last phase of radar training. Following a wonderful period in transient status I was assigned to a course in transistors and semi conductors at Ft Geaorge G. Meade Crypto logic scools and upon sucessful completion was immediately shifted to Flexscop school for a year. Then it was onto the first duty station at the FLEXSCOP operators school at Corry Station and to Guam at the end of that tour. It usually requires a couple of years experience to become a good repair technician. I'll never regret joining the Navy as a career in NSG was very rewarding. The highpoint was RAF Edzell 80 to 83. Never was a better crew assembled than in Edzell at that time. It was cutting edge stuff. Using the tuition assistance program I was able to complete my BS degree but it took eighteen years one or two courses at a time. I received the degree the month I retired in Rota, Spain. I suppose I was in the last generation of technicians trained to component level repair. Somewhere along the line the DOD decided swapping black boxes was cheaper. NSG was the greatest and filled with professional sailors who could get the job done. Russell L. Pagano, CTMC USN Ret., 1967-1986