About Carl Lee Hickling

I'm Carl Hickling and I want to tell you little about myself. I was born at Mitchel Air Force Base, New York, during the summer of 1952 to Marjorie and TSgt Stanley Lee Hickling. Mitchel AFB was decommissioned in 1961 and turned over to Nassau County for redevelopment. Since that location is in the middle of Hempstead, Long Island, New York, I claim Hempstead as my place of birth.

As an Air Force Brat (all US military kids are known as Brats) I moved lots. Growing up I lived in New York, Georgia, Illinois, New York (again), France, Georgia (again), England, and last in Oklahoma. My Dad retired from the USAF in 1971 and moved the family back to England (Mom was English) but they left me behind as I was 19 and living on my own. Oh, I was the oldest child of five; Linda was born at Sampson AFB, NY, Nancy was born at Fort McPherson, GA, David was born at Marietta, GA, and the youngest, Mitchell was born at Toul-Rosières Air Base, France.

In 1972 I received my draft notice from Uncle Sam. He wanted me to join the US Army, probably to go to Vietnam, but I had a different idea. I ran to the Air Force recruiters and begged them to let me join their USAF. After maxing out the scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test they said it was okay for me to join "their" Air Force. They also said I could choose three of any enlisted career fields choices. So I picked tail-gunner on a B-52 bomber, telephone lineman, and telephone installer. I asked about computer jobs and the recruiter drew a fourth line on the job selection form then added computers as a fourth career choice. I had taken a programming class in high school in 1969 and we got to use the air base's supply computer to run our Fortran4 program decks (think 1000s of punch cards) So after completing Boot Camp guess which career field they put me in - Electronic Computer and Switching Systems. I completed 24 years of service with the USAF and spent the whole time in computer maintenance career field. Very unusual!

While in the USAF, I was attended several schools and was a maintainer on four different systems at different air bases, then a master instructor that taught maintenance to over 700+ students over a period of five years, and at the time of my retirement I was the superintendent of two maintenance shops with a total of 53 people maintaining four different air & space computer defense systems inside of NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

Before moving back to England with the family in 1971, my Dad helped me to find a job in Oklahoma City. I ended up working at the GEX Department store (like a Super Walmart) in the grocery section as a stocker. While working as the Produce Section's Manager, I met a beautiful young lady that was demonstrating RC Cola products. We got along well and was dating before I went into the Air Force. We wrote or did phone calls while I was in Boot Camp and tech school. During the summer of 1973, while still attending basic electronics and computer maintenance tech schools, I asked her to marry me (over the telephone) and she said YES! This year, Carol and I will celebrate our 53 wedding anniversary. During that time we were joined by our two wonderful children, Teresa Elaine and Travis James.

After graduating from tech school I was assigned to the Mt. Keno Air Defense site in Oregon. On my way there, I stopped by Oklahoma City long enough to get married (her Mom, Mary, had only a few days to set up the wedding as my grad date was unknown). The next day we packed up Carol's teeny tiny Subaru with all our worldly goods and enjoyed our honeymoon driving to Oregon. During our time together we have lived in Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma, Washington, Colorado (again), New York, Mississippi, Texas, Iceland, and Colorado (again),owned 15 vehicles, bought or rented several homes, cared for 16 foster children, and adopted two wonderful children. For the most part life has been good! Since Teresa is buried in Pikes Peak National Cemetery (as an unmarried, disabled child of a US veteran) I guess Carol and I know where we plan to spend eternity.