Reporting for Duty
In a time of national crisis, our U.S. military stands ready to protect and defend. In 1962, a brave, young Air Force medic finds it’s his time to answer the call.

I enlisted in the Air Force in March 1962, arriving at Lackland AFB, Texas, for basic training with about 60 other “rainbows.” One day, each of us, based on our test scores, was asked to list our career field preferences. At barely 18 years old and overcome with the glamour of being in the Air Force, I wanted to fly and fight! My last choice was to work in any area of the medical field.

Come graduation day from basic, 58 members of my flight were selected for either air police or cooks. One classmate was selected to become a chaplain’s assistant. And me? I was told I was going to become a medic. Not only was it my last choice, but now I would have to stay at Lackland even longer to go through a medical helper’s course.

By late summer of that year, I had completed the necessary training, and my first PCS assignment was to the Air Force’s Regional Hospital at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas, where I was assigned to work in the orderly room.

My boss, a technical sergeant, informed all my coworkers that because I was so young and inexperienced, I was not to be left covering the orderly room by myself. A bit embarrassing, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before they would all discover my true capabilities.

On Oct. 22 of that year, President Kennedy told the world of the Cuban missile crisis. Since Carswell AFB was part of the Strategic Air Command, even our hospital went to 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, to respond to the crisis and its potential threat.

This was it! My time had come, and I was ready to serve. So that Saturday, I took it upon myself to open and staff the orderly room. Because it was the weekend, and because the orderly room was way off in the hospital basement by itself, there was not much traffic. In fact, in seven hours, there was nary a phone call, not even a visitor. Perhaps I was not needed after all.

But, wait … I heard footsteps! Soon the colonel who was the hospital XO entered the orderly room, and I sprang to attention. The colonel looked around at the empty office, then at me, and finally asked, “Airman Biggerstaff, what are you doing here?” I proudly responded, “Sir, I am here because of the Cuban missile crisis!”

The colonel gazed at me for a very long time. Finally, he said, “Son, I think we can handle it OK. Why don’t you go on back to the barracks.”

And there you have it — my very first contribution to a national crisis as a member of the U.S. military.

— John Biggerstaff is a retired Air Force medical service corps officer. He lives in Commerce, Texas, where he is president of MOAA’s Northeast Texas Chapter.