... while this one leads you astray!

About 20 years ago I was discharged from the military, after having traveled pretty extensively with my assigned MOS (Military Occupation Specialty). I say assigned rather than chosen because that is exactly what it was.
Originally I had chosen a 13R, which is Fire Finder Radar Operator, and as a secondary I had chosen to be in the armory (sign the weapons in and out) which I never got into. I actually had considered getting into weapons design and got to work on a couple of small projects test firing some different rifles and handguns, due to my having a friend that was in one of the armories. Lots of fun burning off rounds, but that was only after I had already been selected for a special combined forces project. Babysitter.
For those of you who do not know what this is in the military I’ll tell you. Diplomatic escort. Which by all standards is handled by the Marines. That is why my selection was odd. I was one of 16 men, that I know of, to train as a diplomatic escort for limited assignment. We were simply on call as needed.
After already doing the job for nearly a year, I found out my First Sergeant had pointed me out to someone that was connected with the project. He told them I knew martial arts, which I had been training at since I was a child and actually went to Korea to train with my master who had moved back a couple of years earlier. Knowing a martial art and certain other things were required for this test project.
For nearly two years I worked on the project and actually do not know if it ever made it mainstream.
My joining the military goes back several years prior to this point. When I was 12 I was giving a battery of tests, since I was having problems in school. They knew I was smart, but they refused to challenge me. This battery of tests was to show what I already knew and how to best continue with my education. This series of tests was also handed over to the government and became part of the EXCEL program that is in use today. Another point for me being a test bunny. The tests showed that I was well into the college graduate level, but was bored. This is why I was doing so badly with the homework.
When I took the ASVAB I actually found errors in the test and received a perfect score. This allowed me to choose any MOS that I wanted, and in turn I picked the one that would take me to Korea as my first overseas duty station and a near where I wanted to be. I was immediately sent in for a mental evaluation and three doctors later enlisted into the Army. I remember it took me nearly 3 months of researching to figure out what MOS would put me where I wanted to be in Korea, since most were at multiple bases. The one I chose was at only one base and nearly on his doorstep. It was a very short bus ride to his home and after 6 months he actually got permission to train students on the post.
You are probably asking yourself what this has to do with anything. At this point I am merely giving you a little background about myself so that you will understand my choices and why I would end up going where I did, and seeing what I saw.
I was shipped to several posts stateside for training and examination. Finally after nearly 18 months I found myself on my first babysitting job. Escorting a diplomat to Germany from Korea where he had been assigned for some discussions between Korea, Japan and the Philippians. Myself and my team where handed the package in Seoul and escorted him to the airport in Osan Airbase for the flight to Germany. A couple of hops later we were in Germany. A week later I was back at my normal MOS in Korea.

(Part 1)

(PART 3)
When we excited the lift platform we were lead to a large open area that had a curtained area that cut the room in half. Behind the curtain was an aircraft that I had never seen the design of before. Nothing too different than the B1 Bomber, but this was well before I had ever seen a picture of it, and it was not the B1. Maybe a prototype, but I do not know.
What I do know is that they had a large machine along one wall that they took us over too. Part of all our teams at this point were told to wait where they were. I was one that was told to come with them. Myself and my one teammate followed our package over to the table where there were several pieces of metal displayed. There were a few men and a woman who started explaining that the material that we were seeing was what they had been told about before. Nothing further was giving.
One of the men picked up a piece of what looked like a cross between aluminum foil and the silvery Mylar that is used for balloons, and from what I could tell was not much thicker than that. The piece was about 8 inches wide and maybe 18 inches long. The man placed one end of the material into one of the vises on the machine, draped it over the saddle looking part and fastened it into the other vise.
He pushed the green start button on the machine and the two vises started to roll away from each other with the foil stretched over the saddle part. The lower vise that had what looked like a hydraulic piston attached to it snapped clean off of where the piston hooked too it.
The foil was undamaged and the same size.
They then took a piece of the small I-beam that they had and put it into another machine and a ram slammed down into it that must have been 6 inches across and didn’t even dent the I-beam, or leave a scratch on it.
The last test they showed was they took a piece of what looked to be similar to the foil and after wading it up and it flopping back out to its original shape, they put a blowtorch to it while the other man held it in his hand. The man was not burned, but the leather welders sleeve that he was wearing was smoldering when they stopped. He had nothing protecting his hand except this little piece of foil.
When we left a few minutes later we were once again strip searched, taken back up the lift and loaded back into the van. We were then flown back to Vegas, where we spent another three days and actually allowed to have some fun, though we were told to talk to no one and they did not attempt to hide that we were being watched.
Our package had a few meetings in his room over those days and we were then flown back to Presidio and back to Korea by way of Anchorage and Japan.
Over the next two months we were taken to the same location once and two other locations that I do not believe were in the US, but in fact due to the little I heard being spoke, I think was in Ukraine.
At each location we were not allowed in the meeting rooms, except on the last occasion when I sat against the wall while my package was shown some items that were on a large table that looked similar to what I had seen in the demonstration.
It was not until a long time after I got out of the military, which was only a couple of years later, due to my refusal to reenlist, did I figure out where I believed I had been. It was because of a balloon that I saw and the mountains behind it that I believe I was taken to a place just north of Yuma. If you know of anything about that area than you will know that one of the largest military bases is there. Yuma Proving Grounds.
The balloon I saw was the Doppler radar balloon that they can retract on a spool.

(PART 2)
This same diplomat requested me and the other 3 members of my team (no I was not in charge) on 7 other occasions. Once more to Germany, twice to Japan and two times stateside. The other two I am not sure of. The three to Germany and Japan were nothing but dull days in the hotel and hanging out in the nightlife, which was enjoyable. On the last run to Germany I was injured and expected to be shipped home to recover, but instead was stuck in a hospital in Germany not seeing anyone for nearly a week. I was then shipped back to Korea and sat another 4 days in the hospital at Camp Casey, partially because some of the stitches had come loose during the flight. During this entire time I was not allowed out of my room and the only ones who were allowed to see me under escort were my commanding officer and my First Sergeant. I was informed I was not allowed to tell them where I had gone, or how I had gotten injured.
If you have ever been in the military then you will know that when your Captain and First Sergeant shows up to visit you it is merely for show. This was no exception for my Captain, but my First Sergeant I think was feeling guilty for getting me into this situation.
Two days later I was back at my post and serving light duty for two weeks.
A month later I got a call saying I was to report for duty. A basic military sedan picked me up in front of the Post Commanders Office about three hours later and I was driven to Seoul where I met up with the other three members of my team. One of the guys was new. I was told that the one he had replaced had gotten injured and wouldn’t be coming back.
The next morning we were on a military hop to Japan where we picked up our package. The same diplomat that we had had the other times.
Now, prior to my getting injured I had escorted a few other diplomats in country, but this one is the only one that I had escorted anywhere else.
When we landed at Presidio, which was officially closed at the time (or so I was informed) we were taken to an office that my team spent a full day in answering questions, taking tests and signing papers. Papers that stated if we spoke to anyone about what we had seen, would see, had heard, would hear, and all the other hoops they like to make you jump through, we were told in no uncertain terms that we would not have a trial, but thrown into the darkest hole they could find and buried. Today it makes me think about G.B.
At this point we met back up with our diplomat and drove to a small airfield and boarded a very nice little jet. We flew to Vegas and sat another day in one of the bays at the airport that they had setup cots in. We never left the bay. The diplomat stayed in one of the offices.
The next day we were joined by two other teams and their packages.
After being strip searched and having all but what they gave us to wear, including the packages we were escorting, we all boarded another plan that was blacked out and headed off to who knows where. When we landed I remember how hot it was. I thought Vegas had been hot, and a little humid, but this place was miserably hot. When they opened the door to the plane it was like they opened a blast furnace. It was still early morning.
Due to the relatively short flight I literally thought we had been taken to Area 51 when I looked back on it years later, but it wasn’t until I happened to move to the area that I realized exactly where we had been taken.
When we got off the plane we were loaded into three different blacked out vans and drove for about a half hour over some very rough roads. When we stopped we were in a building and there was nothing but a large metal plate in the middle of the floor. We were told to stand on the plate that had a post with a control box on it and the sides folded up and we went down several floors. I do not know exactly how many, but I do know it was more than ten and less than thirty.

(PART 4)
Over the years I have done some research about this area and talked with some people that have worked on and around the base. Things happen in that area and it is a very short flight into Mexican airspace to test any aircraft that you want nearly unobserved. Take a look at a map and you will know what I mean. And you will see how close it is to Area 51. And to the old JPL test lab that most people didn’t know about, though it is just off of the Arizona Highway 95 between Quartzsite and Parker, Arizona.
Take a trip out to Bouse and ask about the lights in the sky and the string if black helicopters that have flown over that area multiple times.
After you have done some of that, tell me what you think I saw and witnessed.

Sorry for this being out of order, but I think you can figure it out.

I hope you are plinking away at your keyboard as I am wide awake now and ready to hear some more.

I like your writing style. Please.. continue .

Good job. Thank your for not dragging your storey on for several pages as some of us sometimes tend to do.

What you had to say was very interesting. One part struck a nerve with me.

Several years ago I was on what I thought a good will/ medical/dental mission in Southern Mexico. I traveled from the Jacksonville Airport to Dallas, Texas alone and was told somebody on the team would find me if I painted a blue strip around the duffel bag we were required to carry our personal belongings in. I Was assured I would see other blue stripped duffel bags in the airport upon arrival in Dallas.

I didn't see my duffel bag again until I was much further into my trip so I was walking around Dallas airport not having any idea what my next move was going to be. I saw no other duffel bags either.

I started walking and checking out the face of every one I passed in the waiting areas. I finally spotted a group of about thirty people that looked like they were traveling together. I sat close and within ear shot.

After a few long minutes two young women from the group sat beside e and began speaking to me in Spanish. I spoke with them in Spanish and asked that they speak my native tongue as I was bit rusty to carry on an important conversation in Spanish and I was very tired.

They explained they were my greeters and interpreters for the duration of our mission. Seemed logical to me at the time.

We were finally ready to leave the US and go to our next stop in Mexico City. While in the air we were required to fill out the necessary papers we needed to land on Mexican soil. I began writing and a man beside me , who was not with our group, began to instruct me how to answer the questions. I was to say I was an American housewife going to Mexico for a vacation.

We had` to lay over 2 days in Mexico city. Then our trip began to get interesting. Finally given the word our flight to Tapachula ready we boarded the Mexican airplane. I was on ride like none other I had ever had.

I though our pilot must have been a drug runner also as he was very radical. We flew so low I could almost see the the little eyes on the growing pineapples. I had a window seat. We banked and we swung around in the sky like a bird on acid.

So, I do know exactly how and why we or anyone else could use Mexican airspace to conduct aircraft tests. That part of your story i can attest to 100%. I learned that anything goes on land and air travel in Mexico during the next few weeks.

Forgive the intrusion into your thread but I'm now on my third cup of tea and very much awake.

[edit on 6-12-2008 by dizziedame]

[edit on 6-12-2008 by dizziedame]

Yep. I agree. Good stuff. If there's more, I'd love to hear it to.

How did they let you out so easily? They had a lot of trust vested in you. I'm surprised they weren't more insistent that you reenlist, actually.

Replies to comments:

Hello Cosmic Egg,
My separation from the military was not exactly easy, or without its conditions. The major point being that according to them I was not in the military, but actually a civilian contractor, which did not add to my military time.

This was during Desert Shield, and they were doing everything they could to get troops out, not knowing that we were actually going to be needing them a short time later.

My injuries precluded me from reenlisting for a period of time while I was healing up, since I let them actually believe that they were worse than they were. And no, I did not get out on a medical, since they would have had to give me full benefits. If you ask most vets who were discharged around that time, you will find that most of them were not given benefits through various ways.

Since my discharge, I worked for the government several times in various capacities directly due to my clearance levels. And have you ever known the government to use an asset to its capacity?



Hello Anonymous,
Take a trip down to that area of Arizona and then run your ignorant mouth. Two hours and you can see several of the locations that I'm referring to very easily. Including at Yuma Proving Grounds where just like Area 51, they have the same signs on the fence. And the JPL test lab is at the junction just north of Quartzsite and south of Parker. Which most people are familiar with if they have ever been out from California for Spring Break, since it is a stones throw from Lake Havasu City.


Hello Dizziedame,
The US government is fully capable of tracking aircraft up to 400 miles into Mexican airspace, which I believe is actually a little further than that, but the Mexican government has no such ability in like kind. In fact it is unable to track several common drug running paths that are taken over by San Luis and several other areas around Yuma and Calixico.

There are three air fields that drug runners commonly used around the town of Quartzsite, that the government are fully aware of, because the government uses them too. How they get rid of the runners is simply to bust them at other locations, to make them think they have been compromised. It keeps them from interfering too badly with the government usage.

Did you end up every doing any work for the people?