Through hindsight, Ken Meller's military career assumes the semblance of a pinball game, with duty assignments bouncing across the bumpers of the United States and into overseas locations in Europe and the Pacific.
Despite the frenetic nature of these temporary duties, Meller applauds the cultural exposures he was privileged to have experienced as part of his two-decade career in the Air Force.
"It really broadens your horizons and gives you the opportunity to see places you otherwise wouldn't have been able to," said Meller, 67, Lohman.
In 1965, shortly after graduating from Helias and just about the time the Vietnam War draft became a pervasive reality, Meller made a decision that would influence his life for years to come.
"I knew the draft was coming - we all did back then," Meller said. "I went ahead and enlisted in the Air Force because my dad (a combat veteran of World War II) told me I should do something other than pack a rifle," he grinned.
Inducted on Aug. 20, 1965, Meller traveled to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, for his basic training. He soon realized the accuracy of his earlier premonition when he was informed that his draft notice came in the mail during his second week of military training.
The recruit then traveled to a five-month technical school at Lowry AFB in Denver, where he received thorough instruction on ammunition, learning to identify, assemble, store and handle everything "from a .22 bullet up to a 2,000-pound bomb."
In January 1966, with his initial training completed, the airman was given his first duty assignment at England AFB in Louisiana, spending the next 15 months applying his ammunition expertise by assembling and maintaining the rockets and bombs used on various aircraft.
Meller was then sent to Udorn, Thailand, in May 1967, where his ammunition credentials were used on aircraft supporting the air war in Vietnam, including the F-4 Phantom, F-101 Voodoo and A1 Skyraider.
During his combat tour, he returned home on leave to marry his fiancee, Helen Kay, in St. Martins in December 1967.
After completing his one-year overseas deployment, the airman was transferred to Whiteman AFB and retrained as a security policeman; this consisted of providing security for the Minuteman II missile launch sites.
The combat veteran's military path took pause in early 1969 when he was discharged due to an overage of personnel in the security police field, noting, "I tried to go back into the ammunition field, but they said they didn't have the slots available."
Meller returned to Lohman and for the next three years worked in farming and construction, before reenlisting in the Air Force in October 1972 after he learned that his previous expertise was again desired.
"They were critically short of ammunition people," Meller said. "Imagine that," he chuckled.
Back on duty, he returned to England AFB, where he remained for the next two years, while also serving a brief deployment to Guam in support of B-52 bomber missions.
During the next several years, he completed tours in locations such as Hawaii and New Mexico, all the while accompanied by his wife. But it was an assignment at Eglin AFB, Florida, in 1984 that would again shift his military role.
"I helped coordinate the efforts in the research and development process of conventional ammunition, evaluating contract proposals," he said. "It was really a quite interesting process to be involved with."
The following year he was transferred to Royal Air Force station near Mildenhall, England. He spent the next three years involved in the war-planning process including the logistical aspects of supporting various mission requirements.
The final seal on the veteran's career came in 1988, when he transferred to Randolph AFB in San Antonio to work in logistics until his retirement in 1990.
"It was a good career," Meller said, "but I had reached that point where it was time to come home and spend more time with my family."
After working several part-time jobs, Meller fully retired in 2009. He admits that although he and his wife enjoy the solitude of country life on their rural property near Lohman, the feverish pace of his earlier Air Force career has provided many uplifting recollections.
"The Air Force was really a good career - there are so many good benefits that it leaves you with," Meller said. "You get a chance to go to so many different places, meet many different cultures."
"If it weren't for the military, my wife and I would never have received the chance to travel. It has been a wonderful opportunity that has left us with great memories and friends from all over the world."
Jeremy P. Ämick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.