[jingram058]

Originally Posted by HercDriver

Ha...I forgot about those Chanute shows! I was a student at U of Illinois, down the road a few miles, and in ROTC. We could go up to Chanute with my military ID and get cheap booze for our parties at the Class Six. A few times, one of my roommates and I stopped at that show and would pick up a few boxes to rip open, when nobody was looking. We definitely didn't want to get busted by any of our girlfriends dropping by the house and catch us playing with baseball cards. I graduated in 1990, by which time, Chanute AFB was gone, or at least on it's way out. I remember wondering what was going to happen to us ROTC officers-to-be, after the wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed, and we started closing all our bases. No more bad guys...we won! I was in pilot training when Schwarzkopf stormed into Iraq, and then spent a twenty year career on a war-time status. Mostly in Kuwait and Iraq, with a halftime show in Croatia for a bit. Your Chanute AFB reference brought all that flooding back...thanks!

Cheers,
Geno

Wow, Geno, I used to go to a bar on the U of I campus, called Kam's. It was a great place to meet college girls! I forgot about the ROTC Unit there. Even though I was an AG (Aerographer's Mate), I was asked to be the Bos'un at an ROTC ceremony when several fellows were being commissioned. I actually have a silver dollar, and a real dollar bill given to me in one of my photo albums, when I piped a new Ensign aboard. The Navy has a tradition of the Ensign's first salute, and I was the first to salute Ensign Alan Oshirak! Those were great days and great times at Chanute and Champaign!