Here's a fascinating article from the March issue of Air & Space Smithsonian, on the history of Defcon alerts. I was amazed to read that in 1976, we went nose-to-nose with North Korea over a tree...

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-...n-3-180949493/

Very interesting, Thank You
for posting that link.
Chipmunk6

Oh my God, my memories are now other people's history.

Very interesting. That nonsense with the FB-111 crews and their folders is the sort of BS that makes me scream.

I also found this a telling statement.

I was roommate with Sarge Bill, who was there at the time of the "Tree Incident." He was a Medical Platoon Sergeant in one of the 1st or 3rd Battalions of the 7th Cavalry at the time. He never served in Custers exact outfit.

New Year's Eve 1985. A group of off-duty American soldiers celebrate the new year by shooting bottle rockets across the border toward an East German gun tower. Even at the time I didn't think it was such a good idea.

Don't quite understand the FB-111 comments either.
When you have personal possession of go code material, you must by regulation maintain two officer policy. You usually don't have personal possession except when you pick it up at the vault and take it to the aircraft. Then you lock it in the plane, which already has nucs loaded and is guarded.
In this scenario maintenance is under a lot of pressure to 'generate' aircraft. They prepare the best planes first, these go to the missions scheduled to launch first. When you get a mission farther down in the stack, getting an operable plane can be a problem. You may wind up going out to the flightline several times through the night.
You may wind up trying to nap on the couches at the squadron. Usually poker games break out. But usually your classified including your go code material is still locked in the vault.
When you finally get a plane preflighted, then you go get your classified combat mission folders and lock them in the plane. Then you tell the guard 'its cocked.' Then you call the command post and tell them Cocked.
Is all this a pain in the ***? You had better believe it.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

My brother had just left S. Korea a short while before the tree incident.
We thought he might still have been there.
He was a track driver and went from Ft. Lewis to Korea and back to
Ft. Lewis to finish his enlistment.

My best friend growing up was there. He told me of it many years later, basically he was smack dab in the middle of the tree trimming.. Don't remember the details, just that he was involved... crazy stuff, all the while, I was stationed in Roosevelt Road, PR... enjoying the local fair... driving the base CO to off base functions and generally having a heck of a time before returning to the New London sub base.

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Jack C

Man, does that bring back memories. Our ship had just pulled into Subic Bay (PI) and our squadron was half way unloaded to Cubi Point NAS when we got the word to get everything back aboard and prepare to set sail.
That night we got the word we were headed for the DMZ between north and south Korea, that US troops had been killed, and we were out for payback. We spent several days steaming back and forth waiting for the "go" order, then were told to return to Subic Bay.

I've never heard of the tree trimming incident . . . course I was still in junior high then.

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