Come to New Mexico Come to New Mexico
"But it's a dry heat"...but so is a sauna.
We went from the tropical heat of Guam to the dry heat of Holloman AFB, NM. Talk about a change. Overall, we pretty much enjoyed ourselves there. We spent 2 1/2 years there. Of course, I was still loading munitions. I was first assigned to the 7th Fighter Squadron "Bunyaps AKA The Screamin' Demons". Later to be cast off to the 8th Fighter Squadron "Black Sheep". This would be my first time working on the F-15 Eagle. I didn't know what to expect about the plane. All of my time until then was on aircraft that carried bombs of some sort. Now, I was on America's premier air superiority fighter. My general impression of the greatest fighter in the world? They rank pretty close to dead last for planes I've worked on. Anyhow, I still like B-52s better.
Things got somewhat better when we got rid of the F-15s. I was lucky enough to work on the F-117 Nighthawk! That was really fun. I can say without a doubt that I had the best load crew in the 416th Fighter Squadron. I was able to hand select my load crew and my efforts paid off well. Not only for myself, but for the standards we set for our squadron in the load barn. All crews had their sights set on us and we didn't mind it a bit. The camaraderie was really fun. It made work taht much more fun knowing your co-workers were gunning for you.
The Alamogordo area lies in a basin close to a mile above sea level. You can go from desert environment to pine forest within a matter of minutes. The diversity is beautiful. From the gypsum sands of White Sands National Monument to the Lincoln National Forest in Cloudcroft. The area has it all. People like to talk about tropical island sunsets but they don't come anywhere near the sunsets in the desert of New Mexico. Even the lightning storms are a thing of beauty.
Here are some more weather links for you.
Please, click on a link below for official descriptions of the F-15 Eagle and F-117 Nighthawk courtesy of your United States Air Force!
The local area had plenty to offer. Alamogordo has it's Space Museum with an IMAX theatre. They also have a small zoo downtown. However, you quickly run of things to do in the local area. Therefore, you need to get in you car and drive. It's well known that anything under a four hour drive in New Mexico is considered a short drive. We went to Carlsbad Caverns once. Enjoyed that. Also within an hour or so is El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. Shopping in Alamogordo could be better. Unless things have improved, the White Sands Mall is all there is. Las Cruces is a little better.
Click here for photos of the area.
