Earl Walters

The Airman Earl Walters

Brock Collins wants to be in the Air Force. At seventeen, filled with excitement, he boards the train to Parks Air Force Base for nine weeks of basic training. Upon completion, Brock and fellow graduate Melvin Turner are transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station where they are the only two Air Force men among ten thousand sailors. Brock still wants to be in the Air Force, but upon graduating from tech school, he's assigned to a defunct crash boat outfit in Florida. Reporting for duty, he learns that he is the lowest ranking as the only airman among thirty-nine sergeants and one officer. Monotonous daily routine is sporadically disrupted by unexpected events, including a high-speed boat chase, a hurricane, an attempted murder, and the sinking of a forty-two foot rescue boat. When the crash rescue flight is disbanded, Brock finally finds the real Air Force. He's retrained as a loadmaster, and spends the remainder of his enlistment as an air crew member traveling the South Pacific in support of historic events; such as the perceived invasion of Formosa, atomic bomb testing at Eniwetok atoll, and the 1958 Scientific International Year project at Antarctica. Find out what the real Air Force meant to this young man.