Patrick D. McCaslin Interview, 25 February 2001
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| PM: | OV-10's. | |
| INT: | What was the function of an OV-10? | |
| PM: | Forward air control. We'd locate targets, put in strike aircraft—mark the target and put in strike aircraft. | |
| INT: | Okay, with the lasers, or no? | |
| PM: | No, just mark it with a white phosphorous smoke rocket, normally, or sometimes, you know, you could just talk—the first choice was to just talk 'em into the target, say, "Do you see this do you see that?" and talk 'em in without firing anything. And then at the end of that tour, came back to the United States, was an instructor pilot in Arizona at William's Air Force Base until 1975, for four years, and then went to Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Went from there to be a squadron commander in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I was in charge of a recruiting squadron for 3 years. Went to the Pentagon in 1979, and I was there in the programs directorate for 4 years. Went from there to Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for a year. Left there and went to San Antonio where I was the director of programs in Headquarters Air Training Command for 2 years, and then I was assigned at Bergstrom in 12th Air Force Headquarters as director of programs for 2 years. | |
| INT: | You moved around quite a bit? | |
| PM: | Quite a bit. When you make Colonel, they move you a lot. From that and General, I guess, they move a lot too. And I left there in 1989. Actually, in 1988 I went out to Monterey, California to learn Spanish, and prior to going to my assignment as the chief of the military assistance group in Lima, Peru, and I was there from ninety—summer of '89 until '91 when I came back here and retired at Bergstrom. | |
| INT: | I'm assuming there's an American Air Force Base in Peru? | |
| PM: | No. I was assigned to the embassy there. My boss was our ambassador to Peru. I had 2 bosses, our ambassador to Peru, and South Con Commander of 4-Star in Panama. We were basically in charge of the military end of the drug war. | |
| INT: | Oh, okay. | |
| PM: | Talk about a quixotic operation. | |
| INT: | Oh yeah, meaning? |
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