WEBMASTER'S AIR FORCE BIOGRAPHY

Tom Sandman

Entered the Air Force:  February 20, 1959

            In San Antonio - April 1959 (Anyone remember the "Bush Jacket?")    

Attended Air Police School: April 1959 - June 1959

 
    In front of Air Police School Barracks - May 1959

             San Antonio, Texas - 1959

The Blue Bonnet Hotel

I spent my first weekend pass in April 1959, at the Blue Bonnet Hotel in San Antonio along with a number of my fellow classmates from Flight 15049. Rumor was, you could meet a "lady of the night" there if you asked the bell man. Truth was, there were no ladies of the night, at least for us, and the bell man, who was about 80 years old, looked complelely confused when asked "where are the hookers" by a pack of 17 and 18 year-olds. Maybe the offer of a tip might have helped? But we got good night's sleep, stayed in a piece of San Antonio history, watched a movie the next day, went to the USO, and wandered around San Antonio along with about 10,000 other underage, horny, Air Force trainees. The Blue Bonnet Hotel was "imploded" in 1988 and has become another memory of San Antonio's past.

        Assigned 7th Tactical Depot Squadron: June 1959

    
      At Travis AFB June 1959 Headed for Oki

Transferred to 6313th Air Police Squadron - April 1959

Reassigned to 22nd Combat Defense Squadron, March AFB, CA - January 1961

                                OTHER AIR FORCE ASSIGNMENTS

Retrained From Air Police to Missile Maintenance Career Field - June 1962
June 1962 - December 1962 - Chanute AFB, IL - Hound Dog Missile School
January 1963 - February 1966 - 5th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron, Travis AFB, CA
February 1966 - February 1967 - Lowry AFB Colorado - Mace Missile Guidance Electronics School
March 1967 - January 1970 - 498th Tactical Missile Group, Kadena AFB
January 1970 - June 1970 - 92nd Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron, Fairchild, AFB, WA
June 1970 - June 1972 - California State University, Sacramento, CA (Airman's Education and Commissioning Program)
June 1972 - September 1972 - Officer Training School, Lackland AFB
September 1972 - June 1975 - Air Force Plant #35, Air Force Systems Command, Aerojet General Corporation, Sacramento, CA
June 1975 - January 1979 - Computer Systems Instructor, Lowry AFB, CO
February 1979 - September 1982 - Assistant Professor, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
September 1982 - Retired from the U.S. Air Force 

Officer's Training School - August 1972

 Tom - First Row (3rd from the left)

Captain Tom Sandman - 1977

Since my Air Force retirement I have worked in the private sector for Boeing, Litton, and Emulex Corporation in computers and networking.  I am currently the Telecommunications and Networking Manager for the National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Silver Spring, MD.  I plan to retire in a couple of years in the San Antonio, Texas.

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