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West Point Class of 1969

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Archives for January 2020

Jan 08 2020

What I Learned from the Iranians – 1976

US Improved Hawk missile platoon points towards Iraq during the 1970s before the Iranian regime change of 1979.

I arrived in Iran in 1976 to serve as an advisor to the Iranian Air Force.  I was assigned to TAFT (Technical Advisory Field Team) and assisted Iran in the employment of Hawk missile systems as part of its air defense mission.

My specific assignment was at Vahdati Air Force Base, located in a remote region on Iran’s western border with Iraq.  The Shah of Iran was in power and had created alliances with the United States and Western Europe to improve Iranian national security and economic development.  The religious revolution which turned Iran upside down was still two years away.

Iranian society was held together by three unifying forces:  Islamic religion, Persian heritage, and autocratic rule.  The Shah of Iran, assisted by the Shah’s secret police (Savak), ruthlessly controlled the country and sought to minimize any social dissent.  The large divide between the upper class and the average citizen could be measured by the differences between Tehran and the rest of Iran.

Iran was not prepared to incorporate high-tech military equipment into its military arsenal.  The standard joke often told described the Shah as the owner of the world’s largest static display of military weapons.  A large part of the imported military infrastructure either did not operate or operated only when under the firm watch of advisors.  The Iranian military could not incorporate the modernization envisioned by the Shah.  In short, it was too much, too soon.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

My initial impressions of Iran were formed as a result of living in remote regions far from the influence of Tehran. At first glance, I believed Iranians and Americans to have very little in common. The apparent, cosmetic differences I observed as a newcomer were striking.  Iran seemed to be a land of opposites.  Weekends took place on Thursday and Friday, not Saturday and Sunday.  Iran’s time zone shifted one half-hour, not one whole hour, from the adjacent time zones to the west and east.  Iranian publications began on the back page and finished on the front page, not front to back.  Iranian drivers often centered their cars on the lane dividers, not between them.  A family’s valuable rug was sometimes dusted by placing the rug in the street and having vehicles drive over it.  Dust embedded in the tightly woven fabric was efficiently loosened and rendered rug beating unnecessary.

Prized Persian rugs

Oil derricks released ignited natural gas into the atmosphere as opposed to collecting it.  These bright plumes could be seen from long distances and reminded me of oversized Bunsen burners.  These differences in culture and historical development strongly influenced my initial views of this strange land.

Iranian women usually remained in their homes.  If they ventured out, they were covered from head to foot with a black shawl (chador).  Women were essentially seen and not heard.

Fat-tailed sheep graze in the Iranian desert in contrast to the plumed oil derricks

Most military advisors were prohibited from socializing with their Iranian counterparts.  The Iranian government wanted to minimize the effects of Western influence on its society.  Use of alcohol was publicly prohibited in most areas of the country.

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

During my one-year short tour, my perspectives and conclusions about Iranian society dramatically changed.  The barriers to socialization set up by the Iranian government made it difficult but not impossible to communicate with members of the Iranian military.  After several months, I managed to build a few relationships which helped me better understand Iranian people.  In some instances, my Iranian Air Force counterparts invited me into their homes.  These were risky invitations.  Permission to bring an American military advisor to one’s home was rarely granted.  The visits were usually during mid-day and involved conversation over a meal.  I was uneasy about the risk these young airmen were taking.  Other times, the associations involved sporting events such as soccer and tennis.  The encounters were not numerous, but they were genuine.

As my understanding increased, my attitudes changed.  I learned that Iranians were not so different from the friends I made in Germany, France, or in the United States.  I also began to understand that help from the West, especially from the United States military, was not always welcome.  Western intrusion by military forces and civilian corporations often forced religious and cultural clashes.  The Iranians could not understand many American social norms involving marriage and dating.  Many of our advisory teams were located on military bases in the Iranian countryside.  The cultural differences encountered in the small towns were even more pronounced.  Drinking alcohol was largely forbidden in the countryside regions.  However, numerous exceptions were made in many parts of metropolitan Tehran.  In contrast, American military organizations of the 1970s viewed drinking alcohol as a required skill set.  Our team house on the air base had its own bar-lounge area built by the military members who lived there.  Members of the Iranian Air Force assigned to the base would rarely enter our building mainly due to the presence of alcoholic beverages.

Western modalities applied to a “developing Iran” were often worse than the maladies our “help” was trying to cure.  In many instances, the construction expertise brought into Iran was supposed to involve Iranian labor and on-the-job training.  Construction companies, either American, German, or French, saw on-the-job training of local Iranians as an inconvenience.  The solution was to take the local Iranian labor and pay them to sit in a caged area where they drank tea and stayed out of the way.  Such approaches irritated and resentments grew.

Many of the societal differences I noticed were created by government and not by those being governed.  When I put aside the governmental influences, I found I had more in common with Iranians than I either realized or felt comfortable acknowledging.  The examples I have discussed all have analogous examples in America.  We have large regions of our country in which our differences are beginning to take center stage.  Additionally, my Iranian experience, coupled with the last forty years of hindsight, has changed my approach to giving and receiving help.  I have learned that giving constructive help should start with a thorough understanding of commonalities and differences.  My help should strengthen and provide a lasting benefit.  Additionally, my helping or receiving help from another person, Iranian or American, should always be a reminder of how much we rely on each other.  I should think carefully about personal interactions and invest more thought and reflection before I interact.

CONCLUSIONS

In retrospect, I realize cultural and individual differences are largely insignificant when compared to cultural and individual similarities.  The Iranian people have always impressed me as warm, sensitive, and friendly.  My military counterparts’ discussions of family, changing times, and harsh governance often sounded like those I would hear from Americans.  The differences I first experienced largely occurred because I was a strange American in a foreign country.  It took time for trust to develop and guarded attitudes to relax.  I often ask myself if I even understand the beliefs within my own society.  Yes, the governments of our two countries operate in drastically opposing modes.  Or do they?

In a world which is rapidly becoming more interdependent, we all need each other’s cooperation and spiritual support.  Worldly survival is at stake.  It is true in Santa Cruz, California and it is true in Tehran, Iran.  Emphasizing differences can be humorous.  The over-emphasis on differences can be distracting and non-productive.  Sometimes, it can be destructive.  Today, I often feel the differences within America are more pronounced than those between Iran and America.

“We are all in this together,” is a common phrase which is becoming more applicable each day.  We need to develop more understanding and cooperation among all societies if we are to create a better world — a world which offers opportunity and achieves productive evolution.

 

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By Jack Gafford

Jan 04 2020

Destination Alaska – 1970

I didn’t meet Harold Lee Maxson (called Tub) until he was close to the end of his years at West Point. Tub and I would have been married 50 years this year. I was headed for an entirely different life before I met Tub. I was studying Fashion Merchandising in New York City and fully intended to have a buying career that I hoped one day would take me on wonderful buying adventures – my ultimate goal: time in Paris.  Little did I know that before any of that came to pass, I would meet my soul mate and the adventures that I would eventually go on would be far superior to anything I could have ever imagined.

My father and all of his brothers served in the military during World War II and there was always a reverence for the military in our family that I came to respect as I grew up, but I never thought that other than our family history I would have any direct connection to the Army.

I met Tub by default at the Army/Navy Game in 1968.  I was not supposed to be his date.  I have to say the minute he walked into the room I was smitten.  I came from a large Irish family, so I recognized his as a handsome Celtic face and he had the most engaging smile. After a bit, we started dating.  As a result, in June of 1969, I was there with him to celebrate “June Week” and his graduation.

June Week 1969

That is most likely where our story begins.  Tub drove me back home to New Jersey after graduation in his shiny new AMX.

Tub’s brand new AMX

He had planned to stay a few days at my parents’ house.  The time turned into most of the summer.  My family was beginning to wonder if this was becoming serious.  I knew it wasn’t, He would be going to Alaska with a stop at Fort Benning.  He had dreams of getting a motorcycle and an English Bull dog and seeing the world. His future was set.  Although I was hoping for Paris, I had been offered a job in the buyer training program at Best and Company, a department store on 5th Avenue in New York.  I thought i was going to accept it.

One evening in July, Tub and I decided to go to a drive-in.

Waiting for dark so that the movie could start at the drive-in

I loved movies and since I didn’t have a car, drive-ins were a special treat. Somewhere in the course of the evening Tub asked me to marry him. The problem…I was not expecting it and I missed it entirely.  For days after he was annoyed with me, but I had no idea what I had done.  Finally, he said, “You could have said something.”  I had no idea what he was talking about and after some convincing, he realized that.  Lucky for me he asked again and instead of taking the job I took a leap of faith.

We decided to get married in February but with orders changing and leave availability we decided on an earlier date in November.  We were married on a three-day pass and by Monday, Tub was back in the field at Fort Benning.  I really missed my large family, but it was not long before I realized I had become part of another family not related by blood but by purpose and friendship. The military that I had grown up respecting was now part of my life. Our next assignment would be Alaska and some of the friends we knew in Georgia would be joining us there.

We left Georgia for our drive across country, to the state of Washington, in late winter; there we would fly to Alaska. After stops in New Jersey and Michigan to visit our families we began our trek West.

Heading from Georgia to Alaska

I had never been further west than the Dakotas and Tub had always wanted to go to Alaska.  We were so excited to be making this trip.  Had Willie Nelson already written the song “On the Road Again” it might have been our theme song. “On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the

road again…” The changing terrain was beautiful sometimes blanketed with snow. The small towns, the big cities, the open land, it was a joy to see.  Gosh, what is that? I’m excited. On a practical side, we were traveling with some cash, traveler’s checks, and a gas credit card.   

Travelers Checks in several denominations

In those days, credit cards were not readily available and we didn’t qualify.  We were also traveling with two dogs. Tub gave me a Miniature Schnauzer as a wedding present and we acquired Cinnamon Cinder the 11th, a Miniature Dachshund, while in Georgia.  Since we were practical and poor, we decided to travel with an electric fry pan and a cooler.  How much simpler life would have been if smart phones had been invented and we could have found a list of hotels that accepted pets and credit cards to pay for dinners out, but it would not have been nearly as much fun.  So, each night Tub put the dogs in his coat, and I carried the fry pan and the food. This was our nightly version of covert ops and we hoped we would not be discovered. The next morning, we were “On the road again”.

When I think of arriving in the state of Washington, I think of a mountain pass covered in snow with beautiful large birds that may have been pheasants and thinking that I wished I could capture that moment. I don’t remember where Tub had to check in, maybe Ft. Lewis; the logistics of the second leg of our journey were in his purview not mine.  I became more engaged in the process when his paperwork stated that since Alaska, at that time, was considered an overseas assignment, his dependent had to be given the required injections for said assignment.   I remember getting shots in both arms and shortly after I was sick.  I was so sick that I could not leave the hotel room to get to a medical facility – that lasted for three days.  We were quickly running out of money. I’m sure Tub was frantic, but he had to get our dogs and car shipped and rearrange our flights until I could travel again.

I don’t know if it was the original flight plan, but we flew to Alaska in what I believe was a C-130; I remember a cargo net in the front of the plane that appeared to be holding luggage.

Travel to Alaska

Someone said that they put regular seats in for the flight.  I was new to this and at the time I didn’t know what irregular seats might have been.  We would have been able to buy a box lunch but after the extended hotel stay, we had 30 cents between us. We didn’t know what would happen when we eventually arrived in Alaska with 30 cents in our pockets and no car but one chapter of our adventure had ended and the next was about to begin.

Fortunately for us, the heavens and the military realized that the exuberance of youth and 30 cents was not going to do it for us, and we had been assigned sponsors.  They met the first three planes, and this was the last one they were going to meet before concluding that we were not coming.  They were such a welcome sight.  They took us to the post guest house at Fort Richardson and promised to take us the next day to see the sights and look for moose. I don’t remember the first few days there and I don’t remember their names because I was still decidedly unwell.  I do remember the fleeting thought when I got off the plane: Oh! there is the tarmac and mud along with snow. I knew nothing about Alaska. I thought I was going to be landing on something akin to an iceberg. I had no idea what we were coming to since this was before the advent of the internet. The written word was not adequate to describe what we would find in Alaska. Our time there witnessed magnificent scenery, new directions, lessons learned for me about the military,  a motorcycle, camping in the wilderness while six months pregnant, camping on a glacier (Tub) one of his oft told stories, babies born, joys, sorrows and news of friends tragically dying.

We grew up a lot there. I was 21 and Tub 22 when we left Georgia. The kids who drove across country young and bulletproof left Alaska as adults. We were a bit older and considerably more aware.  We were also the parents of a wonderful baby girl.

Tub and daughter in Alaska

In the 47 years that I was blessed to have with Tub, there were countless more adventures.  He had several motorcycles and many trips on them through the USA, Canada and parts of Europe.

Tub with German friend, Michael

I eventually got as far as a layover in the Paris airport and for a brief time I was a buyer for a small store in PA. The cross-country trip and Alaska were really where my interest in art began and has remained. I discovered that art and life are all about capturing the moment.

I often think in terms of song lyrics, just lines from songs where the bits and pieces fit the situation. In writing this I keep thinking of a song by Ronnie Milsap, “I Wouldn’t Have Missed It for the World”. With a few changes to reflect how I felt about my husband and our life together. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, wouldn’t trade one memory. You made my whole life worthwhile with your smile…I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Forever and always,

Cyn

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By Cindy Maxson

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