• Commissioned Second Lieutenant, USAF, 22 May 1970
• Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course, Chanute AFB, IL, 1970-71
• T-37 and T-38 Flightline Maintenance Officer, Reese AFB, TX, 1971-1973
• Law Student, Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock, TX, 1973-1976
• Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Barksdale AFB, LA, 1976-1977
• Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Incirlik CDI, Turkey, 1978-1979
• Staff Judge Advocate, RAF Chicksands, England, 1979-1982
• Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, Carswell AFB, TX, 1982-1985
• Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, HQ ATC, Randolph AFB, TX, 1985-1987
• Student, Defense Language Institute (Turkish), Presidio of Monterrey , CA, 1987
• Deputy, then Chief Legal Adviser, Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT), 1987-1989
• Staff Judge Advocate, 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath, UK, 1989-1992
• Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, Sheppard AFB, TX, 1992-1995
• Legal Adviser, Operation PROVIDE COMFORT, Incirlik AB, Turkey, Oct 1994- March 1995
• Chief Legal Adviser, Office of Defense Cooperation-Turkey, (formerly JUSMMAT), 1995-1997
• Retired from Active Duty, 1 Jan 1998
• Current Occupation: Elected County Attorney and Misdemeanor Prosecutor

Click photos to see enlargements
		Commissioning ceremony, Perrin AFB, TX, 22 May 1970. My wife and my mother pinning on my the gold bars of a second lieutenant.
		Me outside our house on 33rd Street in Lubbock, Texas, where I served as an aircraft maintenance officer for 2.5 years. We still wore the 1505 khaki uniform, but not for long.
		Texas Tech University School of Law, where I was a student from 1973 to 1975.
		During my second year of law school as an AFIT student; we slacked up a little on the haircuts.
		My wife and I after a flight in a Cessna 172. I earned my private and commercial pilot’s license while in law school.
		The main gate at Incirlik CDI in January 1978. As a result of provisional status, we could have no USAF presence at the main gate. Unfortunately, we had many incidents at the main gate during provisional status.
		Wing Headquarters, TUSLOG DET 10. We were not allowed to fly the American flag on the installation.
		TUSLOG DET 193, the Base Commander and his staff, occupied the left (nearest) half of the building. TUSLOG DET 10/JA occupied the other half. Both buildings were still being used (but for different purposes) when I last left Incirlik in November 1997.
		Our house apartment on Vali Yolu in Adana. The owner, Mr. Abdullah Paksoy and his family lived on the first floor (second floor to Americans) and we lived on the top floor. I must say that we were blessed with one of the nicest off base housing in Adana.
		The huge stone fireplace in our living room. Yes we burned wood in the winters.
		Family seeing us off from DFW airport en route to Adana via New York, Rome, and Istanbul.
		Left to right, my boss, Major John Brancato, and Captain Bill Agin. This was a party at the apartment of our court reporter, Ms. Ida Nagelhouse.
		Left to right, Kemal Dagtekin (“Big John”) talking to Colonel B. J. Martin, Base Commander.
		Big John talking to Diane Asdourian at Ida’s party.
		The USAF Defense Counsel, Captain James P. Knox and his wife, Adra.
		Picture I took of one of the houses in Pozanti that was burned down when USAF Airmen on a snow camping trip accidentally set four houses on fire.
		The Cilician Gates, a narrow pass through the Taurus Mountains about 40 miles north of Tarsus. The area around Adana and Mersin was called Clilica in Roman times. Various Roman legions carved their insignia on the rock wall of this pass. Construction of the six-lane motorway through this pass in the 1980’s obliterated the ancient pass.
		I took a picture of my wife leaning on this tree just outside the legal office. She was taking a hop on a MAC flight to Athens.
		The same leaning tree, the same wife, 17 years later.

“Incirlik 1”: Jan 1978 – Aug 1979

The deteriorating condition of Incirlik Common Defense Installation-Turkey in the late 1970’s was rooted in the Turkey-Cyprus conflict. Since at least 1950, the Government of Cyprus had sought to be joined with Greece. The Turkish Government opposed this effort because it felt the Turkish Cypriot minority on Cyprus would suffer discrimination and repression.

In 1964, when tensions between Cyprus and Turkey were highly volatile, President Lyndon Johnson wrote a letter to the Government of Turkey (the “Johnson letter”). In this letter, President Johnson threatened that if Turkey invaded Cyprus, the United States would not stand by its NATO Treaty obligation to defend Turkey against attack from the Soviet Union. The Turkish military has never forgotten the Johnson letter, and this helps explain a certain lack of trust between some Turkish military leaders and their US counterparts.

On July 20, 1974, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus and took control of the northern 40 per cent of the island. In February 1975, the US Congress imposed an arms embargo on Turkey. As a result, in July 1975, the Government of Turkey placed all US military units in Turkey on “Provisional Status.” Turkey cancelled all existing bilateral agreements with the US. A Turkish “Installation Commander” was posted to each installation. All construction and facility maintenance was cancelled, which led to deterioration of facilities. The base exchange in Ankara was closed and receipt of packages through the APO was suspended at all installations.

After three difficult years of Provisional Status, Congress realized that the arms embargo did nothing to solve the Cyprus problem, and was seriously undermining US-Turkish relations. The embargo was lifted on 26 September 1978. A week later, the Government of Turkey cancelled most of the restrictions placed on US forces. However, the “bell had been rung,” the damage had been done, and relations with the host nation had been permanently damaged.

During Provisional Status, 1975 to 1978, tensions were higher at Incirlik CDI than at any other installation. The Staff Judge Advocate, Major John Brancato had been tasked to do whatever could be done to protect and expand US operations at Incirlik. Capt Bill Agin, an astute lawyer from Mississippi, took care of military justice actions and claims. I was assigned to the “Turkey portfolio.” In addition, I was the NATO Trial Observer for all criminal cases brought in Turkish Court against US personnel in southern Turkey. I was also responsible for monitoring the welfare of 7 US airmen confined in the Adana Prison on drug charges.

Housing was critical at Incirlik in 1978. My wife and I were billeted in a small VOQ room for two weeks. There were no cooking facilities and we had only a shared bathroom. Fortunately, the VOQ was just across the street from our office, which also housed TUSLOG DET 193, the Base Commander and his staff. After two weeks, we had to leave the VOQ and were moved to the Merhaba Palas in downtown Adana, just off “River Road.” It was a large apartment building rented by the Air Force for long term temporary housing. The heating was inadequate, this being the middle of January, and we stuffed pillows in the broken window in our bathroom to keep out the wind.

After two miserable weeks in the Merhaba Palas, we were able to rent a large, spacious 3-bedroom flat on the top floor of a 3-story villa on Vali Yolu, just across from the Kapali Spor Solunu (the municipal gymnasium). The owner lived below. We were very fortunate and blessed to be able to rent the flat, and we lived there the entire 18 months we were at Incirlik. We never moved on base. Our flat had a huge wood-burning fireplace, one of the few in all of Adana.

We had shipped over a 1971 VW Camper, and our building had an enclosed parking area for the van. Incirlik CDI was about 10 miles from the eastern edge of Adana. There were three basic ways to get to and from work: drive your own vehicle or ride with someone else; catch a contract “Adali” bus that ran between Adana and Incirlik on a set schedule; or take a taxi. Most times, I drove the van.

In addition to my primary duties as NATO Trial Observer, Chief of Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction, and Chief of “all Turkish problems,” I also had my share of legal assistance, contract reviews, and routine JAG duties such as giving the weekly newcomer’s briefing. I still have the original outline of the briefing.

There were some interesting and exciting events, like the time two of our rotational “rote” F-4 crews broke the sound barrier over the small village of Karatas, about 40 km south of Adana. We put together a response team and deployed to Karatas to inspect the damage, mainly broken glass in homes and businesses all over Karatas. Then there was the day a USAF C-141 crew inbound from Germany to Incirlik, mistook the Adana Municipal airport for the runway at Incirlik (despite the fact that the two runways are 15 miles apart). The crew actually landed the C-141 at Adana Municipal. We had to smooth the ruffled feathers of the airport folks before it became an international incident.

In my role as NATO Trial Observer, I traveled widely to other towns and cities where US personnel had caused problems or had been charged with criminal offenses. Our faithful Turkish Attorney-Advisor, Mr. Aydin Yilmaz Tansal, and our expert interpreter Mr. Yilmaz Ozcelik, assisted me greatly. One of the more interesting cases involved several USAF enlisted men who decided to go snow camping in the mountain village of Pozanti, about 50 miles north of Tarsus. When their tents collapsed, they broke into a summer home and attempted to start a fire in the fireplace. The summer home caught fire and the fire spread to three other summer homes. We were able to get the airmen off on a light sentence, but the Air Force had to pay the damages for the destroyed homes.

Our time off duty usually involved exploring the area around Incirlik CDI in our VW camper. We made several trips to Kizkalesi and the “BP Mocamp,” a popular summer attraction for campers from Incirlik as well as campers from Europe. We spent a lot of time at Big John’s, a local souvenir shop on the “alley.” and we still count Kemal Dagtekin (Big John) and “Small” as dear friends. We were also able to take “hops” on the “MAC” flights, and we used this benefit to take leave in Greece on two or three occasions.

I was blessed to work with an outstanding group of people in the TUSLOG DET 10 Legal Office. Some of those are: Bill Agin, who is now a juvenile court judge in Mississippi; Bill Jones, my second boss at Incirlik, who is a civilian attorney at Scott AFB, IL; Dave Jenkins, who is an attorney in Des Moines, IA, practicing “pig law;” Jim Knox, our defense counsel and stand-up comic who practices law in Florida, and Ron White who was also a defense counsel at Incirlik.

The dedicated and hard-working enlisted paralegals included SMSgt Jerry Flagg, TSgt Gary Silva, SSgt Earl Hamilton, and later TSgt Kerry Miller who retired as a CMSgt and Paralegal Adviser to The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force. Civilian staff included our two secretaries, Diane Asdourian, and her replacement Marilyn Lowney; and our gracious and dedicated court reporter Ida Nagelhouse.

But my greatest blessing and honor was the opportunity to work for Major John R. Brancato. He was and is the most skilled and dedicated judge advocate I have ever known. It was my good luck to work for him at Incirlik, to benefit from his counsel and advice, and to learn the importance of being a “detail person.” [I also learned the importance of being a Day-Timer man, and he learned from me the importance of even-numbered post office boxes!] In 1985, I was assigned to HQ Air Training Command, and worked for him again when he was the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for ATC. He has always been my friend, my mentor, my coach, and my strongest supporter. His only weakness is that he always gave me more credit than I deserved.

My initial tour of duty at Incirlik CDI was for two years. Major Brancato departed in July, 1978, after I had been at Incirlik for 8 months. On the day of his going away party, the thermometer topped out at 116 degrees.

Shortly after my one-year point, my new boss, Major Bill Jones, was notified that my tour of duty was being curtailed by five months. I was being reassigned as the Staff Judge Advocate at Royal Air Force Station Chicksands, England. My reporting date there was the end of August.

The remaining days at Incirlik passed quickly, and we made every effort to do and see all those things we had been putting off. On our departure date, Dave and Mary Jenkins, Bill and Judy Jones, Ron and Shelly White, and other friends took us to the “MAC” terminal. We would fly to Athens, Greece, and spend two weeks on leave in Athens, in the apartment of a JAG friend who was on leave in Hawaii. As the engines on the C-141 wound up and the wheels broke ground, my wife and I looked at each other and we could see a few tears in our eyes. We had loved our 18 months at Incirlik. We still regard it as one of our very best assignments. We were sad our Turkey adventure was over, and we wondered if we would ever see Turkey again.

“Ankara 1”: July 1987 – Aug 1989

The last installment ended with us, teary eyed, leaving Turkey in a C-141 cargo aircraft and wondering whether we would ever see Turkey again. After leaving Incirlik CDI in August 1979, I spent three years at RAF Chicksands, England; three years at Carswell AFB, TX; and 19 months at HQ ATC, Randolph AFB, TX. In December, 1986, my boss at Randolph was Colonel Henry G. Green. Colonel Green was my first boss in my JAG career field at Barksdale AFB, LA. In the brief 21 months I worked for him at Barksdale, he taught me about leadership, accountability, and courage. I was blessed to be able to work for him again at Randolph AFB. Col Green continues to be a friend and confidant to this day. I had the good fortune to work twice for two of the most respected JAG officers in the Air Force, Colonels Green and Brancato.

In December, 1986, I had been at Randolph AFB only 17 months. Our office was hosting a conference for all the Staff Judge Advocates in ATC. On the second night, we took the entire group to eat at the Tower of the Americas. On the way to downtown San Antonio in a “blue goose” (Air Force school bus), Col Green came and sat behind my wife and I and said “Bart, I got a call last night from the assignments officer. They want you to go back to Turkey, this time to JUSMMAT in Ankara. [“JUSMMAT” was the lengthy acronym for “Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey.”] You’ll be the deputy legal adviser for a year and then take over as legal adviser when Lt Col Randy Harshman leaves.” My wife and I were stunned into silence! We had a wonderful house on base, I had a good job at ATC/JA, and I liked all my coworkers there. But by the time we finished dinner high above San Antonio, we were already getting excited about returning to Turkey. I eagerly accepted the assignment. My reporting date in Ankara was 7 July 1987.

Before leaving for Turkey, I was scheduled to go TDY [temporary duty] to attend a 4-month Turkish Language Course at the Defense Language Institute’s Foreign Language Center, located at the Presidio of Monterey, CA. There were six officers in my class: Cdr Fritz Krafft, USN; Maj Memory Holland, USA; Maj Bruce Bailey, USA; Maj Tim Holman, USAF; Captain Rick Spencer, USAF; and myself. We were all enroute to Ankara, and all of us except Cdr Krafft would be working in the JUSMMAT building.

At Monterey, the head of the Turkish Department was Mr. Safa Cicin. The main instructor for our class was Cumhur Dirgin. Other instructors in our class were Ulviye-Hanim and Sait-Bey. As part of the curriculum we were required to learn about foods, ordering meals in restaurants, etc. The beautiful outdoor restaurant “Nepentha,” about 40 miles south of the Presidio on Highway 1, was a popular place for a Friday afternoon language lab!

The DLI Turkish Language Course was built around “situational dialogues.” We learned to speak Turkish by studying situations we might encounter, such as going shopping for food, making an airline reservation, or engaging in conversation at a reception or dinner party. We were not learning Turkish in order to conduct business with the Turkish military in their own language. Almost all our meetings and planning sessions with the Turkish armed forces were conducted in English, but we hoped our rudimentary Turkish would be helpful and would be appreciated by our Turkish hosts.

The six of us in language class and our spouses became very close [four of us had our families with us at Monterey]. When we all arrived in Ankara in July 87, we quickly bonded again, visited in each others quarters, and ate out together at least once a month. We shared Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at each other’s homes. We are still in contact with some of our language school classmates.

On this trip to Turkey, we flew Dallas-New York-Zurich-Geneva-Istanbul-Ankara. We broke our journey and took a week’s leave in Zurich. Upon arrival at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, we were met by Colonel Anthony Farina, the TUSLOG SJA, and Lt Colonel Randy Harshman, the JUSMMAT SJA. I had known both Col Farina and Lt Col Harshman from previous assignments, so it was an exciting reunion with old friends. We were taken directly to our apartment, which was furnished and ready for occupancy. After we were alone, we gazed out our living room window and saw a 20-mile view of Ankara at night. It was breathtaking. In the middle of the view was Ataturk’s Mausoleum illuminated by hundreds of floodlights.

Our higher headquarters was the US European Command, located at Patch Barracks, Vaihingen, Germany. Chief, JUSMMAT reported to the US European Command Deputy Commander for Logistics.

Chief, JUSMMAT wore “four hats.” He was the United States Defense Representative-Turkey; the US Country Representative for Turkey for foreign criminal matters; the USCINCEUR Contact Officer Turkey; and the Chief of the Security Assistance Mission. JUSMMAT was a joint-service organization, with US personnel drawn from the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Chief, JUSMMAT was also a member of the US Ambassador’s Country Team.

JUSMMAT is located just west of downtown Ankara, across the road from the Turkish Army Headquarters (Kara Kuvvetleri Komutanligi), and just a short walk from the Turkish Navy Headquarters (Deniz Kuvvetleri Komutanligi), the Turkish Air Force Headquarters (Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanligi), and the Turkish General Staff Headquarters (Genel Kurmay Baskan Komuntanligi.

Our building was a long, rambling 3-story stone structure. We occupied` half of the building. The other half was occupied by our Turkish Liaison Commander and his security forces. [We had no US security at all. The Turkish Army provided security for our building and the surrounding grounds.] The building also housed the Turkish Armed Forces Sports Training School. One of the first things we learned was how to tell the taxi driver to take us to work. “JUSMMAT binasi, lutfen” (JUSMMAT building, please) was the simplest phrase. If the driver didn’t know JUSMMAT, we could say either “eski yedek subay okulu” (the old reserve officer’s school) or we could say “devlet malzeme ofisi karsisinda” (just across the street from the state supply office).

Because Chief, JUSMMAT also reported to the US Ambassador, the JUSMMAT staff and their spouses were issued diplomatic passports. We were also provided with fully furnished quarters in US Embassy leased housing, which was scattered throughout the hills south and southeast of downtown Ankara. My wife and I were assigned quarters on the third floor of a 7-story apartment building in the Cankaya section of Ankara. We had 24-hour security guards, standby electric generators, and a large concrete holding tank for extra water.

For the first year of my assignment in Ankara, I was the legal adviser to the JUSMMAT Agreements and Negotiations Section. My boss was Army Colonel Frank Cummings. Our office symbol was “TDA” which stood for Turkish Defense Affairs. Our division included an Air Force Civil Engineer, Army and Air Force Communications Officers, an Army officer who tracked all US vehicles in Turkey, an Army officer who worked weapons issues, an Air Force pilot who worked aviation issues, and several highly skilled Turkish employees.

Some of the projects I worked on that first year included negotiating (but not completing) an agreement with the Turkish General Command of Mapping. We also negotiated the issues in “construction circulars,” unilateral documents issued by the Turkish General Staff (TGS), which established the ground rules for US construction at the installations. We spent a lot of time working issues involving Belbasi Installation, a seismic research station just outside of Ankara. We also served as the liaison team to work with TGS, TAFC (Turkish Air Forces Command) and the Turkish Commander of Konya Air Base, concerning the use of Konya Range by TDY Air Force aircrews flying out of Incirlik Air Base. Some of the Turkish officers we worked with on these issues were Major Hasanoglu (mapping), Col Altintas and Col Cavusuoglu (TGS J-5 issues), and Col Ali Camlibel, (TGS-J5 communications issues).

Our section was also often responsible for doing “advance work” for VIP visits. In Feb 1988, Army Major Greg Pepin and I spent three days in Istanbul organizing a visit for Ambassador Lehman, a DoD dignitary, and we returned again to Istanbul for his actual visit. Lt Col Jack Roberts and I flew to Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey, conducting a survey for a possible visit for a VIP from the states, but the visit was later cancelled.

In early 1988, we worked issues and prepared US talking papers for an upcoming High Level Defense Group meeting which involved high-level Department of Defense visitors who came to Ankara for talks with the Turkish General Staff. We also conducted a series of negotiations concerning the possible use of the Turkish Gulhane Military Hospital by US forces.

From May 14-22, 1988, ten or twelve JUSMMAT couples joined a US Embassy group on a tour of eastern Turkey. We were accompanied by an American archaeologist. We flew from Ankara to Malatya, and then traveled by bus to Nemrut Dagi via Adiyaman and Khata. The rest of our route included Urfa, Haran, Diyarbakir, Van, Dogubayazit (for Isak Pasa Palas), Kars (for Ani), Igdir (for Mt Ararat), and Erzurum, flying back to Ankara from Erzurum. During the land portion of our trip, our bus was always followed by a carload of plain clothes Turkish security personnel.

On the day after we returned, May 23, 1988, US Army Major General Fred Elam assumed the office of Chief, JUSMMAT.

I should have mentioned earlier, but the Turkish General Staff does not allow the US forces to have any permanently assigned aircraft in Turkey. From time to time, USAF aircrews deploy to Incirlik Air Base for training purposes. One exception has been made, however. The American Embassy and JUSMMAT each have a C-12 aircraft based at Guvercinlik Army Air Field just west of Ankara. The C-12s, a military version of the Beech King Air, were configured for seven passengers and two crew members, and they were used for almost all in-country air travel by the Chief.

My good friend and mentor for the first year in Ankara, Lt Col Randy Harshman, left Ankara in mid June for an assignment to Clark AB, Phillipines. When Randy left, I assumed the duties of JUSMMAT Staff Judge Advocate. At this time I moved into the “front office” suite. The occupants of the front office were Maj Gen Elam, Deputy Chief Col Chan Robbins, Exec Officer Major Greg Pepin, Aide-de-damp Captain Warren Loman, all Army officers……and me. One Air Force Blue shirt in a sea of Army green! Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed working with our Army and Navy colleagues.

About a week after Randy Harshman left, Lt Col Dick Price, another Air Force JAG, arrived at JUSMMAT to take my place in Agreements and Negotiations. I had known Dick from earlier encounters, and I was thrilled to have him at JUSMMAT. Dick had been an intelligence officer, attended law school on an Air Force scholarship, earned an advanced law degree in International Law at George Washington University, and had worked in the Pentagon in the Air Force International Law Division before coming to JUSMMAT.

My second year at JUSMMAT went by quickly. We were consumed with working two major issues with the Turkish military. One was the dependent hire issue. The Turks have very restrictive laws on foreigners working in Turkey. The Turks wanted to apply these laws to prevent the dependents of US forces from working on the installations. The US position was firm – we believed we had the right to hire dependents to work in certain jobs on the installations. At one time, in a bungled attempt to enforce the law, the Turks had several people arrested for working illegally, but they were never convicted. During the first week of October, 1988, Dick Price and I flew to Ramstein AB, Germany, for meetings and discussions on the status of all open international law issues adversely affecting the US presence in Turkey.

The second important issue involved the payment of Value Added Tax. The Turks had decided that the US should be paying Value Added Tax on all purchases made by the US forces in Turkey. We believed the 1980 Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement (DECA) and the NATO Status of Forces Agreement prohibited collection of such a tax. To my recollection, neither of these issues was ever resolved during my first tour of duty in Ankara.

One of my most difficult tasks at JUSMMAT involved the operations of an installation in eastern Turkey. I was tasked by Chief, JUSMMAT to travel to this installation and conduct an investigation. I was at the installation for two or three days, interviewing witnesses. I then returned to Ankara and spent about a week writing my report. I was subsequently asked to brief Ambassador Strauss-Hupe and his senior staff on two separate occasions regarding this matter. I never learned what actions may have been taken as a result of my investigation.

In my two years at JUSMMAT, I was fortunate to work with JUSMMAT’s excellent Turkish Attorney-Adviser, Ms. Sezer Gokhan. There is much to say about Sezer-Hanim, but I am going to save it for a later installment.

In addition to work, there was also recreation. We had a small gymnasium in the basement of our building, which included a sauna, a racquetball court, a weight room, a Jacuzzi, and a Turkish masseur. [We had to pay the masseur!] We were also allowed to use the facilities of the Turkish Sports School, which included both indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a walking/jogging track, and a basketball court.

In 1985, my wife and I had sold our faithful red VW camper and bought a new Volkswagen Vanagon camper, which we shipped to Turkey. It actually “rode” on a train from Oakland, CA to Charleston, SC, then traveled by ship from Charleston to Istanbul. We traveled extensively in our camper, as time allowed. We drove the Black Sea Coast from Ankara to Trabzon and back. We drove the entire coast of Turkey from Antakya (Hatay) along the southern coast to Marmaris, and then up the Aegean coast to Canakkale, then across the Bosporus and on to Istanbul (not all at one time!). We took friends from the states on a tour of the “seven churches of Asia” mentioned in the book of Revelation, and we organized a bus tour from Ankara to Aphrodisias and Pamukkale. On another occasion we drove from Ankara to Thessaloniki, Greece, and back to Ankara. We made numerous trips from Ankara to Incirlik AB, and from Ankara to the BP Mocamp at Kizkalesi.

My wife was a member of a Turkish-American women’s club, and through the club she got to know a lot of English-speaking Turkish women in Ankara. My wife also taught university courses in Archaeology for the University of Maryland, which had an office in Ankara. She conducted at least two field trips for her students to the Hittite ruins near Bogazkale, Turkey.

In November, 1988, I was notified that following my assignment at JUSMMAT, I would be reassigned as the Staff Judge Advocate, 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath, England. In preparation for my next assignment, I spent from 2 Jun to 24 Jun 1989 attending the SJA Course and the International Law Course at Maxwell AFB, AL. During those three weeks, my wife took care of shipping our goods and then she made a quick trip to Rhodes with one of her friends. I flew back Montgomery-Atlanta-Frankfurt-Ankara, arriving Ankara 24 Jun. Our last day in Ankara was Sunday, 25 Jun. On Monday, our van packed with “stuff,” we drove to Izmir and processed paperwork to clear our car through Turkish customs. On Tuesday we drove to Kusadasi where we camped out one last time. Then on Wednesday, we drove our faithful VW camper onto the MV Orient Express cruise ship which would take us and our van by sea from Kusadasi to Venice, Italy. From there we would make our way by road and a North Sea ferry to “Jolly Old” England.

This time there were no tearful farewells on leaving Turkey. The weather was perfect, the sea was calm, and we stood at the stern of the big cruise ship and waved “farewell” to Turkey as the ship moved away from the pier. We were content. We thoroughly enjoyed our second tour in Turkey. I was honored to have been able to work closely with my fellow JUSMMAT friends and our colleagues in the Turkish armed forces to strengthen our alliance. We now looked ahead to a busy three years at the largest fighter base in England. We might see Turkey again as tourists, but we were certain we would never again know Turkey as our home.

“INCIRLIK 2”: October 1994 – March 1995

In Aug 1992, I was reassigned from RAF Lakenheath, England, to Sheppard AFB, TX. One of the fallouts of the early ending of the Gulf War was the exodus of Kurds into Northern Iraq (NIraq), trying to reach the Turkish border. In order to protect the Kurds while keeping them out of Turkey, Operation Provide Comfort (OPC) was created. OPC had a dual mission: provide humanitarian relief, and patrol the no-fly zone over Northern Iraq.

By 1993, OPC was a four-nation coalition: the US, France, Great Britain, and Turkey. Most of the US OPC personnel were on 90-day TDY’s to Incirlik AB. This was also the arrangement for the Legal Advisor’s billet. In September 1994, I was asked if I would “volunteer” for a 90-day TDY to Incirlik as the OPC Legal Adviser. Naturally, I was elated to do so. My boss at Sheppard at the time, Col Clif Daniel, agreed to let me go on this deployment. Thanks again, Clif, if you ever see this!

The orders stated the uniform of the day would be BDU’s. I had some extra sets made up, got a new pair of boots, but also threw in one regular blue uniform just in case. On 2 Oct 1994, I flew out of Wichita Falls to DFW. At DFW I caught the very first scheduled military charter flight from DFW, via St. Louis, to Rhein-Main AB, GE. I flew from DFW to Rhein-Main in the first class section of a Tower Air 747. Good ride! At Rhein-Main AB, I rented a car and drove first to HQ USAFE at Ramstein AB, and then the next day to HQ USEUCOM, Patch Barracks, Vaihingen, GE. At both of these headquarters I received briefings and participated in discussions concerning the legal aspects of the OPC mission.

On 6 Oct, I flew from Rhein-Main AB direct to Sakirpasa Airport, Adana, Turkey…a weekly charter flight for OPC replacements. [The main runway at Incirlik was being rebuilt…more on that later.] Then we traveled by bus from Sakirpasa Airport to Incirlik AB. We got to Incirlik about 1400. By bedtime, I had obtained my gate pass, checked in to my VOQ room, gone off base to the “alley,” found Small and Big John, had a great meal at Mujdat’s with Lt Col Don Cox, whom I was replacing, and met my JAG counterpart, Lt Col Mike Schmitt, the 39th Wing SJA.

At RAF Lakenheath in 1990, I had met Col Erdogan Karakus, the Turkish Air Attache in London. He came to Lakenheath two or three times to meet a Turkish military aircraft flying back to the US. I escorted him around our base when he visited. Now fast forward to Oct 1994….I’m walking down the hall of HQ Combined Task Force (CTF) on my second day on station. As I passed the office of the Turkish Air Force Co-Commander, who should I see but Col Karakus, now a 2-star general! He still remembered me, we kissed each other on the cheek, and he invited me into his office for cay and cookies.

After I left Gen Karakus’s office I was introduced to the Turkish Ops Officer, and then the Assistant Ops Officer, Major Ugur Bas. I had known Major Bas at Sheppard AFB, where he was an instructor in the Euro-Nato Joint Jet Fighter Training Program. So after being on the ground only two days and I had aleady met two Turkish officers whom I had previously known. I was quickly beginning to feel real comfortable!

My boss was USAF Brig Gen Roger E. Carleton, Wing Commander at Bitburg AB, GE, and TDY to Incirlik as US Co-Commander of OPC. His Deputy Commander was US Army Col Lerew. Col Lerew was later reassigned and US Army Col Mark Guy became the US Deputy Commander. The French Forces Commander was Col Forestier, and the RAF Forces Commander was Group Captain Gooding.

Combined Task Force (CTF) Headquarters was in a large stucco building near the transient ramp at Incirlik. CTF HQ housed the US and Turkish Co-Commanders, the French Command Staff, the British Command Staff, the JOC, the SCIF, and the CFACC (Combined Forces Air Component Commander). My office was across the street in a metal warehouse which had been converted into office space. Other occupants of the warehouse office were the CTF C-4 staff, headed up by USAF Col Donny Jones and his deputy, RAF Squadron Leader Steve Martin. French Air Forces Lt Colonel Sully Daubin and his French logistics guys were also in our warehouse.

I had been assigned a single VOQ room on the ground floor of a huge and fairly new 3-story VOQ complex. I was fortunate to have two perks: a ground floor room, and a “staff vehicle,” an almost clapped out USAF Dodge pickup. The truck was real handy since the VOQ and my office were about ¾ mile apart, and I also made daily runs to the 39th Wing JA Office.

My five months at OPC were consumed with primarily two or three main issues. General Carleton had been given the task of “cleaning up” after USAF fighters shot down two US Army Blackhawk helicopters over NIraq on April 14, 1994, with the loss of 26 lives.

Several of the casualties were Iraqi Kurds who were direct employees of the US Government. The USG had decided to make solatium payments to the families of the Iraqi employees who were killed. USEUCOM tasked me as CTF/JA to be the point of contact on arranging these payments to the families in NIraq. The issues were complicated by the fact that some of the Iraqi families wanted their payments deposited in a bank in London, England. I worked this issue off and on for all of my 4 ½ months, but was never able to reach a satisfactory settlement. This was an issue I passed on to my relief, Lt Col Wick Furcron. I never learned the eventual outcome.

A second major issue during “Incirlik 2” was a Turkish demand that we repair the runway at Adana’s Sakirpasa Airport. Prior to my arrival in October ’94, NATO had approved and funded the complete reconstruction of the main runway and Incirlik Air Base. The main runway was closed for almost a year. During that time [shudder the thought] we had C-130s, F-15s, F-16s, and Brit and French fighters, as well as our own C-12’s, flying off of the taxiways which were parallel to the main runway. The C-135 AWACS aircraft were deployed to Adana Airport, while the C-135 tankers were deployed to Antalya airport, about 200-250 miles (in the wrong direction) from Incirlik.

The new runway at Incirlik was officially opened on Sunday, January 1, 1995. The day before, the opening ceremony was conducted. Two sheep were slaughtered and their blood was sprinkled over the center portion of the runway, an appeal for good luck and safe flying, I suppose. Then, the entire base population was invited to walk or run the length of the new runway. My wife and I took part in the “runway walk,” I guess the only time in our lives we had a chance to walk a runway from one end to the other.

After we brought the AWACS aircraft back to Incirlik AB, the General Director of the Adana airport presented a claim against CTF for damage to the runway at the Adana airport. This issue was also shuffled over to me for action. This began a series of many meetings with the Airport Director and myself. Usually, we would make an appointment to see him at his office. A couple of times, he appeared unannounced at the main gate of Incirlik, demanding entrance. This was another one of those difficult issues which was never solved during my deployment.

Another element of the CTF was a Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF). They did things like practicing rescues of downed pilots, and other similar tasks. Part of their training required that they do parachute drops out of Blackhawk helicopters on the airfield. The Turkish Commander was ultra sensitive about this and almost always tried to oppose our training. On one training exercise, one of the choppers sat down in a wheat field, and we soon received a claim from a farmer for damages to his crop. The problem was that the chopper pilots had no idea where they actually set their aircraft down. No one could determine if it was this farmer’s field or someone else’s field. Another confrontation with no solution.

We also seemed to have a steady stream of visitors. We hosted a EUCOM visit which included one of the EUCOM JAG officers, Marine Lt. Col Lewis Bumgardner. Lewis and I got to know each other in the upcoming years. CTF also hosted a visit from ODC-Turkey (in Ankara), and later, I went along with General Carleton for a quick day-trip in the C-12 to ODC-Turkey.

In order to keep the Iraqis guessing when we were going to be flying over NIraq, we had a non-standard work/flying schedule. We might have Monday and Thursday off one week, and the next week we might have only Friday off. For most of us deployed troops, about the only place we could go during the week was the “alley” just outside the main gate. Members of the French, British, and US forces could be seen strolling the alley every night, shopping for carpets and eating at the restaurants.

We could not take leave during our deployment, but we were each allotted a four-day break which did not count as leave. My wife and I took our four-day break on Northern Cyprus with another couple we knew. Just before Christmas, we were able to take a bus trip to Mersin for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. And in late January, we attended a symphony concert in downtown Adana. On our days off, we were able to re-visit Tarsus and Mersin; Karatas, and Yumurtalik. On Christmas day we rented a car and drove to Antakya. Our Christmas Day lunch and celebration consisted of visiting the church of St. Peter in Antakya and eating chicken salad sandwiches we brought from the base. These visits reminded us of the first time we saw these towns and villages some 16 years earlier. Most places had not changed very much, but we were impressed with the improved roads and tollways.

I knew when I left Sheppard for this deployment to Incirlik that I might not have many options for a my last assignment before retirement. I had been at Sheppard almost three years. If I couldn’t get a good assignment, I could try to stay at Sheppard for another year or so. One night at Incirlik, in November 94, I stayed up late so I could call our JAG assignments officer at the Pentagon. The assignments officer was Major Mike Murphy whom I had known several years before, (now Colonel Murphy and Commandant of the AF Jag School). I asked him if I had a chance of going back to England on the staff of HQ 3rd Air Force. After only a short pause, Murphy said “Actually, we were wondering if you would consider going back to Ankara as the SJA for ODC-Turkey.”

I was speechless. I would have never anticipated such a great assignment as my final, retirement billet. My wife and I discussed it for only a day, and then I called Murphy back and told him I would gladly accept. Oddly enough, after about two or three weeks had passed, Murphy called again, and offered me an alternative, as the legal adviser to the American Embassy in Caanberra, Australia. I told him “I don’t even have to ask the wife about that!”

We said farewells to all our friends at Incirlik, both old and new. My wife left Adana airport and flew to London where she spent a week in the museums and art galleries. I flew the same civilian charter from Incirlik to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, then took a bus to Rhein Main Air Base, where I flew back to Dallas on that same Tower Air 747. We arrived back in Texas on March 1, 1995, one hour apart, on separate flights. We now had a house to sell and a zillion other things to do in order to be back in Ankara by July 1, 1995.

The Sheppard legal office threw a big “return” party for me at the bosses house, and then two months later, they threw a “farewell” party for me. We left Sheppard on Saturday, June 17, headed for East Texas and our families. After only 10 days leave, we loaded the cats in a rented van, said goodbye to our relatives, and headed for DFW airport. We changed planes in Frankfurt and arrived in Ankara at 1705 local time on June 29, 1995. Back to Turkey for a FOURTH assignment. What a treat!!!

“ANKARA 2”: July 1995 – December 1997