The Great Bus Escape

We had a good time at the Officer Candidate School reunion in Washington DC. The final event was the banquet last night.

These reunions started out with just three classes of 1963 (63A, 63B, and 63C which was my class) showing up for our 40th anniversary in San Antonio. Now we have been joined by 63D, the last class of OCS, plus a number of individuals from prior classes, the oldest of which was in 1949. OCS was established in the early forties to enable enlisted people the opportunity to become officers. In 1962 USAF made the decision to close OCS following the graduation of 63D and limit future commissions to folks holding at least a bachelor's degree. Enlisted people who received commissions have long been called Mustangs. (Whinny!)

We went on a tour of the CIA that was arranged by a classmate who, although retired, continues to work in some capacity for the CIA. He told us that he got special dispensation for our group to go on the tour, with which he was helped by the CIA museum curator and tour guide. Her father and father-in-law were both USAF pilots so she went to bat for us. She was excellent. Very knowledgeable and entertaining. We came away with a newfound respect for the organization.

Saturday, we loaded up on a bus to go to the Udvar-Hazy Center which is a new addition to the Air and Space Museum, where large planes and spacecraft are on display. We got about two miles from the hotel when the side doors for wheel chair access popped open, and the automatic braking system engaged. We came to a halt while the tour guide, driver and a few of us tried to get things rolling again. No luck, so after sitting for over an hour, six of us walked down the freeway about 100 feet, climbed the railing, slipped through a hole in the fence and made our escape. (See the attached pictures.) Subsequently, the tour guide called taxis which would only respond when police officers were on-site to allow it. We were back at the hotel within 20 minutes, while the rest didn't get back until nearly two hours later.