Thanks for Calling
An Air Force officer remembers setting up a phone tree to activate a group of 1,500 servicemembers, only to find he got a wrong number.

In 1958, after being trained as a radar intercept officer, I was transferred to the 60th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Otis AFB, Mass. Upon arriving, I learned that I was an overage (they did not have a flying slot for me), so after three months I was assigned additional duty as the adjutant of the 33rd Air Defense Command Fighter Group. One of the biggest problems you have when your primary training is not your routine daily job is logging enough flying time to receive your monthly flight pay. As group adjutant, I could log time in any aircraft that could carry me as a crewmember. I flew in the F-89D, F-89H, F-89J, and F-94C, as well as other aircraft, such as the H-21 helicopter.

After I got my feet wet in the adjutant’s job, the group commander asked me to prepare an alert phone tree that he could use to expedite an emergency call-up of the members of the entire group. He also ordered me to hold a practice or actual call-up of the necessary members of the group.

This was no simple task because Cape Cod consisted of many small townships. Residents could call someone in an adjoining township without having to make a long distance call, but there was a toll charge for calling beyond the next township. Understandably, the group commander did not want members to have to pay long-distance charges for practice alerts, but it made my task that much more difficult.

To keep the preparation of our group’s phone tree confidential, I set up the tree using directories from the telephone company. The plan was to have the tree operate within each township, with one person calling the adjoining township to activate the tree in that township. This would continue throughout all of the townships until all members—more than 1,500—were contacted.

Once the phone tree was set up, we had to practice the plan to make sure it worked. So one morning at 0400 hours, the group commander made the first call, activating the phone tree. The plan worked well, and all but a few members reported to their duty station.

After some minor adjustments, we decided to try the plan again a few weeks later. The results were even more impressive, and the commander was satisfied. But later that day he received a call from a civilian who had the same name as one of our group members. He told the commander, “I don’t mind you having an alert and having me called at 4:00 in the morning to advise me of that alert. I do resent, however, your having someone call me later to chew me out for not reporting for duty.”

Needless to say, some adjustments were made to our phone tree.