Behind the Rack, Episode 02 – Paul LaScola, USAF, 1993–2013

[0:00] Apertura del episodio — dos viejos amigos, su última estación juntos fue en Corea

Brian Lathrop: [0:00] Behind the rack episode 2 honoring those who serve my guest today is good friend and fellow Air Force paul liscola we were stationed together on two different occasions in the early 2000s so it was really good to sit down and catch up on old times I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did please welcome to the show Air Force paul the skull all right we're rolling um paul welcome behind the rack thank you Brian I've been looking forward to coming over and talking to you heck yeah.

Brian Lathrop: [0:41] This is good stuff I appreciate you coming by thanks man um it seems like just it was 2003. We were in South Korea so yeah funny how time just kind of goes by that quick yeah and within a matter of minutes it feels like we're right back there ain't that the truth man yeah so what's let's see if we can do an episode sure sounds good all right we'll um like to start off with where were you born and what did your parents do I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.

[1:18] Familia de inmigrantes italianos: St. Louis, el viejo barrio, y el servicio militar de papá

Paul LaScola: [1:18] My parents they were born and raised in Italy and they immigrated uh to uh to this country you know first it was my dad that came to this country when he was like 17 or 18 years old uh literally floated across the Atlantic ocean he didn't come by plane because he didn't have the money for a plane ticket and uh processed through you know new york city where they came to was a small italian community um in st louis so it was surrounded by.

Paul LaScola: [1:54] You know other authentic full-blooded italians but to be in st louis you still had the exposure uh to you know to the american people and so I don't think it took him too long to pick up the language and uh from that point I forget exactly what he did you know as far as jobs was concerned but I think it was from when he was what 23 to 26 is when he joined the military really yeah so uh he did United States Army and um so that's that's something that certainly.

Paul LaScola: [2:31] Helped him as far as getting his naturalization to you know become the citizen and so uh he only did three years I don't remember nitty gritty details uh I think as I recall he kind of had a thought or idea that he might like to do it for a career but uh well I guess in any branch of service there's the good and the bad right there's stuff that happens right that um I guess for him there was just.

Paul LaScola: [3:18] A few too many things that I guess you know uh didn't sit well with him for whatever good there was that you know um and uh so he decided after three years that uh you know that's it time for him to get out and try to you know move on to other but there you know he there was his experience with the u.s military where he did that much I think it was uh I don't know if he was if he was.

Paul LaScola: [3:51] In or if he had just gotten out when he did a trip back to italy and that's when him and my mom met yeah okay and so eventually from that he got married and he brought her over here and so I was born hatched a couple years after that and that was 1970 so yeah so what was it like growing up in st louis in the 70s I mean I'm a little kid so you know I might be oblivious to some of the things that.

[4:30] Creciendo en el St. Louis de los 70 y 80: Van Halen, AC/DC, y la mudanza a los suburbios

Paul LaScola: [4:30] That kind of go on around you I'm just a little kid that my primary focus is to go hang out with my friends and yeah you know play cowboys and indians and whatever but you know for as far as I can say from my perspective as a little kid it was all good you know any city you go to there's you know there's good and there's bad um I'd say I'd say I had it pretty good mom and dad you know they weren't making bucket loads of money.

Paul LaScola: [5:00] But uh they managed well enough to uh to keep things good and keep things right between me and I got two younger brothers okay and uh so yeah growing up you know was actually pretty decent in st louis through the 70s and the 80s so did you get into like big hair bands oh god yeah what was your music of oh boy you know it's so easy to make fun of that stuff when we sit here and look at that stuff now.

Paul LaScola: [5:37] But man that was actually still good stuff you know Van Halen and AC DC man that's right that's it well there was more than that but son of a gun jeez yeah I was all about that I didn't dress up like that right mom and dad were not gonna have me you know looking like uh Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth that was not happening but uh that was my music you know it has stood the test of time yeah geez you know.

Paul LaScola: [6:14] Uh it's it's always it's always good you know call me the crusty old man it's just what I hear coming out today right lots of it I'm just like nah not for me you know yeah so that was good stuff you know when I was 10 years old is when we moved out of the old neighborhood you know that it was predominantly somewhat tight-knit italian community and moved out of there because the house was so darn small I mean it was a shotgun style.

Paul LaScola: [6:50] Two-bedroom two-bedroom house and so it was me and my two brothers sharing one oh wow and uh so we had moved out and you know we went out because that was like the city technically the city and so we moved out into the suburbs where that's where actually my parents still are to this that was quite a bit of a change but that worked out it worked out still perfectly good had no problems uh blending in with making new friends and uh yeah so you know it was still.

Paul LaScola: [7:25] It was still all good you know I'd say we I mean ups and downs with anybody's childhood but overall we had a pretty good so do you remember when you first started thinking going to the military oh yeah ever since you know I was a little kid I don't know exactly what age you know where I really had it cemented in my head but you know when we were little kids you know we always going out there playing cowboys and indians and you know playing Army and this and that.

[8:00] El abuelo italiano que luchó por Mussolini — y escapó de la captura estadounidense

Paul LaScola: [8:00] But I guess I guess at some point in high you know there was my dad that did his time in the Army I got my uh my one grandfather on my mom's side that he was career military the Italian Navy and one thing was that I found quite was that he is also a World War II veteran was he died some years ago world war ii veteran in italy fought for Mussolini really fought for mussolini yes against uh against the u.s forces wow yup.

Paul LaScola: [8:48] So I always found that to be wow I you know to try and process that in my head right he even had a couple of stories about being caught by us being cut by us forces at least one instance I think maybe twice where he was captured uh and so you know here he is you know p-o-w p-o-w and it happened once or twice either way he got out escaped I thought you were gonna he was released but he escaped come on now bro bust it.

Paul LaScola: [9:34] Out I'm like oh my gosh wow I'm glad he did yeah I am too I am too but uh you know my grandfather as well pretty much everybody else in the they at some point realized that they were aligned with the wrong side right uh you know he was he was loyal uh to mussolini but I guess things really started to click at some point and it was becoming very clear that for mussolini to get himself aligned with uh with the likes of Hitler.

Paul LaScola: [10:17] It became pretty obvious so at any rate you know I had that in my it's not like I had you know everybody under the sun like some people that have yeah my dad my five uncles my grandfather my great-grandfather you know back to the civil war yeah I didn't have you know quite that much family history attached or connected to the military but I had that much and so from high school it started to cement in my head a little bit more at first I thought the Navy.

[10:51] El camino lento: vida civil, primer matrimonio, y la decisión de alistarse en 1992

Paul LaScola: [10:51] You know that kind of tapered off a little bit you know I ended up graduating high school and for most people that would have naturally stepped right into going to the recruiter's office out of high more or less I really didn't do that exactly right away I got a younger brother that he tried he did like I think a semester or something like that at the community college and he's like I'm not feeling this and he's the one that went in United States Marine Corps.

Paul LaScola: [11:23] And did that for four years but I gave it a little bit more of a go after high school with civilian life and then at some point that's where I met what was my first wife between the two of us we didn't continue the college path and we ended up getting married and then you know stepped into the regular jobs we ended up working at the same she was in the office and I was in the machine shop and that lasted for a bit.

Paul LaScola: [11:55] Until you know that thought and that feeling and that desire never you know it was always there I think it was late 92 yeah late 92 when we sat down and had a discussion and decided that okay I'm going to go on ahead and make this move to join the so there go to the recruiter's office I identified a specific afsc before signing the bottom line and it was communications and but I also did delayed entry because at that time you know here we are with a.

Paul LaScola: [12:35] And needing the time to try and sell it and get all the rest of our life in order and lined up to try and make this transition so I came to late entry got the house I left processed through the MEPS and left it so it was pretty good timing with the house yeah uh another married couple that was basically our co-workers they just happened to be in the market so it worked out easy and uh yeah it was um May of 93 when uh I.

Paul LaScola: [13:06] Left so I was 23 years old so I'm already you know a few years older compared to I guess what would be the majority but we had quite the mix of people you know there was there was a few in there that were about my age a couple that were older I was one of those that managed to stay kind of low-key okay you know if I'm alive 30 years from now I might not remember my own name but I'll remember Senior Airman whitaker for crying out loud.

[13:38] Básico en Lackland; escuela técnica de comunicaciones en Keesler AFB, Mississippi

Paul LaScola: [13:38] Big dude you know he had to have his sleeves tailored because his arms were that big he was a Senior Airman we also had a buck Sergeant because at that time there was still the buck sergeants not many uh but we had a buck Sergeant but for some reason the way the way we were set up Senior Airman whitaker was the primary t.I and uh buck Sergeant bennett I think bennett was his name uh was you know the assistant yeah you know what he was the.

Paul LaScola: [14:11] All of I it just baffles me how they come up with the stuff that they do so anyway so then you went to Kiesler keisler yeah biloxi and you're going into the communications yeah we had the old systems that were very dedicated systems where to send message traffic from one base to another an individual would have to have a computer that you created your message and you would save it to floppy disk okay old school and then you would bring that floppy disk to the.

Paul LaScola: [14:49] Base com center to send it to you know whatever old school stuff man old school stuff and at my first assignment from tech when we all picked up you know what our what our first assignments were supposed to be I picked mine up and I was supposed to go to Yokota Japan there was a handful of us that in my class that were destined to go to yokota you know there was the bigger part of me that was like oh man wow right out the gate going to Japan.

[15:22] Primer destino: el intercambio Yokota–Grand Forks, y -30 grados en Dakota del Norte

Paul LaScola: [15:22] I was all kinds of hyped but then almost I realized that what at that time was my wife that she was having a bit of a tough time being separated what it was is that when I got the I was told that the way it was gonna work is that they would send me there by myself until I was to get base housing but it wasn't available right and so at that time it was I think an estimated two and a half to three months.

Paul LaScola: [15:54] I could secure base housing and I thought to myself oh geez you know here's my wife that was falling apart because I was gone for just six weeks at basic training she didn't even last for me to get through tech school I thought dang if I got to go halfway around the world for that long not that I would have liked it but I would have been okay you know for the opportunity to go to Japan so I thought okay this ain't gonna work.

Paul LaScola: [16:24] I gotta find somebody to swap assignments with I can't believe I'm saying this you know I'm thinking it and so you know I start looking there is one individual you know this girl that she was looking to do a swap to just I can only imagine where she was her orders were to Grand Forks north did you did it I had to she was the only one that stepped up North Dakota grand forks north dakota that's respectable of you to do that for your family.

Paul LaScola: [17:06] You know so the funny part of it is that by that time you know all of us had made contact with our assigned and so we get to where we you know we accomplished this assignment swap and I make my first call up to the shop grand forks to let them know hey you know there was an assignment swap and now I'm the one coming up and they're like what happened to the ah no we're gonna kick your bleep when you get up here.

Paul LaScola: [17:41] And of course they were joking you know but it's and way to make a first impression yeah and so but you know what as it turns out the co-workers that I had there and the friends that I made I wouldn't trade that for friends yeah funny how those kinds of things work you know um there's one in particular that I still keep in touch with all the way from freaking 1993 there's a few others that I haven't which I'm gonna try to reach out to.

Paul LaScola: [18:17] But it really turned out to be something good the uh minus 30 something degrees in January wasn't uh yeah from st louis how much of a difference is that I mean st louis gets some pretty solid what you would call winter weather but holy crap grand forks north dakota son of a gun you know they were really big on preaching you know winter safety in the winter months make sure you have this list of things in your car just in case you break down somewhere because it's it's literally.

Paul LaScola: [18:52] A matter of life and death which in fact there was one winter a lieutenant that was driving between base and town which I think was about maybe 12 13 miles and sure enough he broke down and what did he do he got out of his car and started walking no way this was night time if I remember right where already it's cold enough during the day and the night time you know multiplied by the time he was found he lost a few fingertips a couple of his toes.

Paul LaScola: [19:23] Some serious frostbite and he wasn't too far from dead so yeah pretty extreme just barely over three years that was my first assignment some really good people worked old school base comp center where they did kind of start network communications in its infancy I get in on the shop there but it was kind of interesting now to think back and see it from the very start and then comparing it to how it evolved to the point when I retired so three years and all of a sudden you get.

[19:59] Base Aérea de Ramstein, Alemania: el centro de comunicaciones subterráneo y la Autobahn

Paul LaScola: [19:59] An assignment overseas Germany Ramstein and boy was I stoked for that in fact that was uh where my dad was uh it was one of the Army bases that well that shut down like years before but uh you know it was just really super exciting to get to get you know an assignment to a place like ramstein germany yeah it was old school base com center they had two locations there was the primary one in the comm squadron that most people around the base would go to and then.

Paul LaScola: [20:33] I was at the other one which was I would go down this parking lot to the end of the parking lot where it was a dead end what you saw from the ground was the small little building that couldn't have been you know more than a couple hundred square feet very small little structure and all it was you know an elevator and then a guard shack from there when you check in through the guard you go down like 50 feet or something like that yeah and that's where.

Paul LaScola: [21:05] They had you know like some sort of command post and they had some functionality yeah that you know the arrangements like for example Cheyenne Mountain you know the whole nuclear bunker kind of thing right so that was the comm center that I worked at so each day you would be going yeah which was boy I tell you what when you had to work the 12-hour shifts especially in the winter time with limited daylight you go in before the sun comes up and you don't come out until the sun.

Paul LaScola: [21:36] Has set yeah that can take a toll on you but um yeah I wanted to jump back to your dad what did he do in the Army civil really okay bridge builder where you know they had the equipment that they would roll up to the side of a river for example and then it'd be like the structure that folds out kind of like transformers you know the whole process I think that involves setting pontoons out in the water and then stretching this bridge structure.

Paul LaScola: [22:06] Across the river kind of thing and so that's close to your machinist when you were in a sort of shop kind of sort of yeah right I wanted to check because my dad was on a tank in germany oh so okay pretty cool actually the times weren't overlapping the same no but uh he did yeah from 63 to 65 is when he was there yeah my dad was in the 70s okay but uh they might have been on the same yeah okay so germany.

Paul LaScola: [22:38] Yep so I did four years there and that was pretty fun I mean duty-wise on the base it got a bit rough kind of kicked my butt a little bit the way things operated but still they're very good people uh to work with I believe that makes all the difference in the world right it doesn't matter what base you go if you get Thule greenland it could still be a good thing if you have the right people there to work with yeah and work for.

Paul LaScola: [23:05] Sometimes the more I'll steer the higher the morale absolutely just because of yeah you know getting tight-knit with the people that you work with yeah so yeah so four years there it was uh good times going to Oktoberfest a couple of years and the you know the other festivals and such going to visit all the surrounding countries when I could I never had the nice car to go buzzing down the Autobahn at 100 some odd miles an hour I always had to hoop these.

Paul LaScola: [23:39] Were you on base or there was downtown there was a short period of time where we stayed on base not by my choice it was something that it could be intimidating yeah you know the local economy true and I get that yeah and I and so I didn't I didn't fight it too much when the wife wanted to be on base I understood it but I knew in the back of my mind yeah you know that stairwell that it can get old.

Paul LaScola: [24:10] And sure enough she had enough of it and we ended up off base which to me was always you know it's always more interesting when you can immerse yourself right into those kinds of cultures it was a good experience very good anybody that joins the military if there is ever any chance to go take some time overseas everybody I think owes it to themselves to try from that came back stateside to Omaha nebraska yeah I'm doing some math and I'm thinking that this is where we.

Paul LaScola: [24:45] And we start working together yeah when was your month January of 2000 wait no wait a second 2001 yeah 2001 because I did the millennium new year in Paris when I was in germany that was easy to go to yeah my youngest brother came to visit yeah the two of us went to paris that was insane that was insane so yeah 2000 because I also did my tdy to Saudi my first tdy to saudi that year you did in 2000 yeah okay germany yeah so that was.

[25:21] TDY a Arabia Saudita: mapeando cada cable Cat-5 de Eskan Village

Paul LaScola: [25:21] That was easy that was almost like a little vacation even I don't want to call it deployment I was in the network shop there which um wasn't anything high-end but I was in yeah sort of like the help desk function over there uh Riyadh yeah that was a three-month deal I had the one special project that came basically to identify and map out all the cat5 cable that was strung around see over the way things get done in deployed it's not the way you do you know.

Paul LaScola: [25:56] And so as things were getting built up it was Eskan Village any time that somebody needed a network connection just got a length of cat 5 cable and which is the closest building that has a repeater or a hub or something and tack one end of a cat5 cable into that and then out a window to string cat5 cable to the next building and inside that window to the computer that needed a connection so after years of doing that and so here's cat 5 strung around.

Paul LaScola: [26:29] Everywhere like clothes lines wow and so there it became my task it was actually me and see I was still a Senior Airman then and so it was a staffer tech from another shop that was tagged to kind of help me out a little bit he lasted about a week and a half maybe two weeks of going around and the rest was up to me I was hiking this was all the summer months and I'm sitting here hiking around escond trying to identify and map.

Paul LaScola: [27:01] Old school paper map yeah every single strand of cat5 cable but I got it done identified everything and put it on a map because uh I think there was uh some sort of deal where eventually the Army was gonna take over escond village and they wanted that information so anyway so yeah that was summer 2000 and come back to ramstein and then I was rolled right into my out processing more or less to leave that and end up in yeah Offutt Air Force Base Air Force base so you went from.

[27:35] Offutt AFB, Nebraska: sistemas de alerta de misiles y la mañana del 11 de septiembre

Brian Lathrop: [27:35] North dakota over to and then back to brass nebraska right that got cold there too yes it did thanks so Bellevue, Nebraska just outside of omaha uh-huh January of 2001 when I got there and you got when I think August of 2000 yeah you were already there by a little bit what was the shop alternate missile warning systems centers where cheyenne mountain was our primary people now did you get a chance to go out to shia mountain yes there was uh four or five of us.

Paul LaScola: [28:09] A boy I'm trying to remember the names now sorry guys anybody out there that hears this podcast I'm sorry won't that be cool though if they're if they're yeah absolutely man figure out how to get that get it out yeah for sure so okay how about Sergeant norris yes I went with Sergeant norris and then like three or four other guys and we rented a minivan to go drive out holy smokes whatever highway that is that cuts through the state that is straight as an arrow.

Paul LaScola: [28:42] And nothing on either side except corn wheat whatever oh my gosh it was like the road to nowhere the plains of nebraska yeah we ended up out there because we communicated with them on a regular basis you know the names and all the time and then finally get to meet them face to face so that was cool and to see the whole facility and how it worked how it was set up took a little side trip to the Coors Brewery oh okay so that was fun.

Paul LaScola: [29:12] All those years that I lived in st louis and never once stepped in the Anheuser-Busch brewery for their tour that was fun to go check it all out um and then boy I tell you what then when uh September 11 hit you know everybody pretty much remembers where they were and what they were doing I remember there was sort of a dead chunk of time where there really wasn't anything going on in the shop and there was you know how there was the tv mounted up in the one corner.

Paul LaScola: [29:40] Of the floor there so we've walked over to turn the tv on just to you know flip through the channels and see what was what was on first thing showed the one tower with smoke coming out and we're like huh you know and flipping the other channels and they're all showing the same thing you know if I remember right that's you know doing that and then we're just like that's World Trade Center and uh I was like you're right and then as we're sitting there watching.

Paul LaScola: [30:11] Wondering what the heck then that's when in real time right you know we see with the camera focus the second plane plowing into the other tower and we just look at each other and we're like oh bleep yeah you know and you know immediately we get everybody else's attention and we're just like what do we do you know I remember thinking to myself son of a gun how aggravated I was that we have this equipment here that is missile warning systems right tracking missiles but.

Paul LaScola: [30:51] We were like a completely separated world from things like tracking planes yeah and being privy to that kind of information and I was so aggravated about uh you know what the heck what could we do even if we even if we had the kind of equipment and the functionality to track playing well what are we gonna do right you know the next thing I know that building that we were in locked tighter than uh I can't I don't think I could make an analogy.

Paul LaScola: [31:28] Without getting vulgar but our building right the one President Bush that came he came to our building and I was like this is real this is happening this is uh nothing I would have imagined or expected in my wildest you know dreams and uh boy that was surreal by the time I managed to get out because at that time I had my two kids with me because I was getting divorced and or I was already divorced and it was agreed that I would keep them with me for that one particular.

Paul LaScola: [32:04] School year while my ex was making her arrangements with her new to get reassigned stateside and in the meantime I would have our kids with me to do a school year at offit instead of having to deal with the whole PCS thing so I had them with me in sort of like a daycare slash kind of a arrangement and so yeah by the time I was allowed to leave I exit the building and then I see you guards posted all around the whole building I.

Paul LaScola: [32:40] Go to leave out the gate and there's a Humvee with uh you know the 50 cal mounted and someone standing there on the turret I'm like this is omaha nebraska how big did this I mean I was having a heck of a time processing all that you yeah it changed everything yeah there was no driving through the gate being waved on after that oh and I never knew that the building that we were in had that sort of command center as a location for scenarios like that.

Paul LaScola: [33:13] I just blew my mind so trying to track everybody make sure everybody was accounted for because I didn't have a cell phone no right 01. Yeah it wasn't nearly as prevalent like today with phones so dang crazy times dude so that's where we got stationed together first yep and then I'll remember your next assignment and where was that at Camp Humphreys the Air Force squadron located on an Army post how would you your first time being in a combat comm unit it was a welcome.

[33:46] Camp Humphreys, Corea: comunicaciones de combate, OPFOR, y el mejor año de la carrera

Paul LaScola: [33:46] Change for me I felt like this is the kind of you know military life that I was wanting to dive into and at least give it a try because within that unit is that sort of atmosphere and culture that was you know it's different from what you and I had there at offit what I had for the most part in germany what I had at grand forks just different and it's it was a very welcome thing for me to get that at that time it's a sort of thing that.

Paul LaScola: [34:15] I would have felt well enough to keep in that kind of environment and culture at least a longer time than just that one year but uh you know we were looking through those pictures and there was that one in our shop that he actually pulled the trigger on doing that blue to green to go Army again just to plug into that sort of a environment and that culture that he felt was more his thing and that extra bit you know with us making it on the op 4 team.

Paul LaScola: [34:48] That's one of the most fun parts for me being a part of the combat.com squadron you had to go to a mob school yeah so an important part of mob school would be the enemy right yup I guess that was a dedicated team that at that time at least when we were there and for all the time prior to when we got there apparently where you had to try out for it and you and I we made it man we got in it and uh the fun that we had.

Paul LaScola: [35:20] Playing the bad guys oh my goodness good times man yeah sometimes it's not a fair fight when on our side we know what to do we know exactly where to go right and then if they haven't been in that situation before plus you know when you're out there running around and you got your weapons regardless of whether it's you know the standard M16 rifle or whatever they're all set up to fire blanks right so they can only be so realistic when there's real legit hot lead flying.

Paul LaScola: [35:49] Through the air that really changes everything so you know there is that but um yeah I would say for me korea was I mean every assignment is good in its own way but for me korea was you know top-notch yeah agreed yeah so after korea I can't remember your where you I went to Hawaii come on okay so now the Air Force is making up for sending you to north dakota germany which is still and then very to nebraska so that's a three-year deal they're back to.

[36:25] Hickam AFB, Hawái: conociendo a la segunda esposa y el club IDK con Kool-Aid–soju

Paul LaScola: [36:25] Regular fixed network kind of a thing and I tell you what though you say hawaii and it's like wow lucky you but I would tell and there's plenty of people that know this hawaii just like any other place there's good and bad there is of course all the things like you see on the vacation brochures and the calendars and so forth and that's all very real but there's also that part that is just very blah I lived in three different houses while I was there and the last.

Paul LaScola: [36:59] One there was the house next door to me where you know the guy that lived there he was nice enough to talk to but I always saw him working in the front of the house there wasn't any garage it was just a driveway coming up to the front of the house and I always saw him working on cars and I'm thinking oh you know here's a guy you know he's doing always wrenching on different cars trying to make an extra buck working from home fixing cars.

Paul LaScola: [37:24] And one day I come home for lunch first thing I noticed was a guy with the local news channels and I'm like what's going on you know I was right next door to my house what was really going on is that it was a bust the cops caught this guy running a doggone chop shop how do you do that and get away with it for any length of time and so you know my point is that hawaii there's the very nice and then there's the very.

Paul LaScola: [37:56] Not so nice so um that's where I ended up meeting my second wife which was a quite the coincidence because we first met on my first deployment um the one where I went to saudi right for three months and the summer of 2000 that's where we had first met we both end up at that same rotation at escond village so we knew each other that chunk of time that was summer 2000 and so now here we are in the early part of 2004. They had this deal in at Hickam.

Paul LaScola: [38:33] For like an orientation and so there we were for this orientation and we didn't even cross paths or see each other until there was a bus ride to go around the and it wasn't even until after that bus ride was done all this time all day long doing this and then finally to the end of the bus ride is when we crossed paths and she looked at me and I looked at her I'm like hey I know you and so shortly after that we were hooked.

Paul LaScola: [39:04] And then when it came to the end of our time there at hickam we said okay we want to stay together and so we tried to see if we can just arrange the same assignment you know even though technically we weren't married and sure enough we both ended up assignments to go back to korea to Osan and we thought I mean it doesn't work out better than that except that she had her one kid with her that she couldn't get command sponsorship for because at that time.

Paul LaScola: [39:32] For Air Force personnel it was considered a remote tour and so we decided okay let's just go ahead and get married drop the orders to osan and apply for um joint spouse so that's what we did we applied for joint spouse and we thought well we'd like to stay overseas get one more overseas assignment at least before getting brought back and for as much as we tried we kept getting denied and every time we turn around there was something going on in the system that was bringing us here to.

[40:07] Asignación conjunta a Montgomery, Alabama; retiro y regreso al taller mecánico

Paul LaScola: [40:07] Montgomery alabama and uh that's what ended up happening is that we got this joint spouse assignment to come here to montgomery and I tell you what we came kicking and you know of all the places around the world we end up here in montgomery so here I am now still retired since while I was on terminal leave picked up a contract job working in the exact same I was doing project management doing the same work in the same office working with the same people so that probably.

Paul LaScola: [40:39] Helped with the not to be too much of a drastic change true very true so that part was easy enough but it was a very short-term contract I think like just five or six months it wasn't long term it was just for one specific project to network installations upgrading old equipment around various bases around the globe so you know that was all good and well that's what got me to go back to korea I was part of a three-man team to go to a couple of bases.

Paul LaScola: [41:12] In korea to do some equipment upgrades and I took that opportunity to go back to camp humphreys and go check it out and uh holy crap how much it changed and you'll see because you said you're going you're yeah you're slotted to go right you need to go to the hump and check it out yeah I remember you sent pictures yeah you had me some pictures and our old dorm that was just completely vacant not being used just things around post dude when we were there.

Paul LaScola: [41:45] Like I said remote assignments very few slots that were authorized for family members I went back and there's day care centers you know and spouses walking their kids in strollers four five six story barracks buildings or I don't know if they were barracks or if they were family housing it was just really something to see I was just completely discombobulated you know knowing what it was like from when we were there earlier versus what I saw in 2013 you gotta go you'll see I was just happy to see the tri-tac.

Paul LaScola: [42:21] Where we worked and then just trying to from that to try and see all around me even the road itself is different now part of the roadway as we knew it is still there but just cut off and it dead ends into just nothing and then a new road that was paved down all these kinds of details that was just so confusing if you get there man uh you gotta go check it out so I'm gonna do that and then plus how different right outside the base.

Paul LaScola: [42:50] With all the clubs and the bars a lot of them just boarded up completely shut down because of you know the whole thing with the human trafficking right so it's more of a family yes I think I remember sending you a picture where there was still the idk club oh was it still there that was still there and it looked like you know it wasn't all closed up like a lot of the other ones so that I looked at I'm like okay at least this is still in business.

Paul LaScola: [43:15] So I was glad to see that it was about the size of this room wasn't it was and we would pass in like I don't know 30 people or something like that and then at the end of that bar I remember where there was like you know when you could go to any of these souvenir shops and they have the what is that bell that korean bell with the little swinging hammer deal that you can yeah she had one of those there at the end.

Paul LaScola: [43:39] Of the bar and the rule was that for anyone who would go ring the bell they would buy a round of Soju shots that was the you know the standing rule you go ring the bell and I remember a few times where I would go and I'd hang out and I'm like okay just hang tight and I would wait until I'd see where the place was pretty much just jammed damn full I mean would not be allowed anywhere here in the united states for.

Paul LaScola: [44:09] You know number of personnel allowed in one space but you know in korea anything goes and I would wait for that and then I would I would squeeze my way on over to where you know this bell was sitting at the end of the bar and then just and then one big collective yeah from and I you know I'd be the one to buy a round of soju shots for everybody which was easy because you know it's just super cheap you know simple soju with the.

Paul LaScola: [44:44] Flavor of Kool-Aid all right yeah so good times man good times there and so I had that chance to go back through that short period of a contractor and having that project but after that you know as far as anything military related that ended up being the end I always had that thought in my in the back of my mind you know that I liked before I came in the Air Force the whole thing of doing machine shop work metal working machine shop type work.

Paul LaScola: [45:17] And so um there's the local community technical college here in town that has that program you know they have things like that diesel mechanics welding the machinist program and some various other things like that so I decided you know I'd like to kind of pursue something more along those lines again and so there I signed up and I and I ended up going through that whole program and that you know that felt good that felt right something like I wanted to get back to.

Paul LaScola: [45:49] Complete departure from my high-tech world of network communications in the Air Force uh I would say that it is an extremely good job to get into you know the training that you get and the things that you can do it is very much a good job to get into and then especially military people that have security clearances geez that in itself is worth its weight in gold I mean I managed to keep a ts security clearance for my entire military career tell you what I could.

Paul LaScola: [46:22] Stepped into any number of jobs with the time in the field and having that but I felt like I've had enough of doing uh you know sitting in front of the computer all day long feeling like dilbert you know delbert comic strip cube farm and then those times like at working in that comm center you know four or five stories down you know in that bunker kind of environment working 12-hour shifts it sounds cool and all but it kind of wears on you after a while.

Paul LaScola: [46:55] So yeah I ended up complete departure from all of that when I got out you it sounds like with your dad being a civil engineer and you're working machine shop before the Air Force that it's maybe you're like you're going back to what feels yeah right yeah that's good it just kind of what ticked in my head a little bit so that was that but I tell you what I guess all in all I didn't get to do nearly as much as some other people in the.

Paul LaScola: [47:28] The super exciting high-end high-speed and I think about that sometimes you know the different track that I could have done in basic training I remember there was my flight and my brother flight that we were gathered in a room and uh there was one each guys from pararescue and combat control which is special forces for the Air Force that were there to give their spiel about what they were about and if there was any of us that had an inclination to you know to get in on it.

Paul LaScola: [48:03] That was the opportunity that moment at that during basic training here's your here's your chance and in my mind I'm like oh man this is what you know got my blood flowing an alternate course in life that I passed up and then you know in korea where I ended up having a conversation with a warrant officer because we had the Chinook helicopters you remember we had the chinook it was right across basically right across the street from our compound that was the flight line.

Paul LaScola: [48:41] And so I got to talking with a warrant officer that was a pilot for those chinooks and he let it known to me that the door is wide open in the for the warrant officer program to do that and at that time I was divorced I wasn't attached to anybody or anything and for whatever reason that I can't think of right now I didn't I didn't try so you know just big fat blah on that and you know those kinds of things you know the exciting.

Paul LaScola: [49:17] High-speed things that you can do in the military and I didn't pull the trigger on any of um but everything for a reason you know I didn't do that bit from basic training and so things went the way they went where the easiest thing to point to is having my two kids which I didn't at that time mm-hmm and who knows how it would have worked out so I can't be so angry or regretful because I got I got those two kids me not pulling the trigger.

Paul LaScola: [49:47] On that warrant officer program from when I was in korea I landed in you know hickam where I met well again my now is soon to be x um but my point is that with her you know she had her daughter there already with her and in that time she became my daughter you know in my mind she you know she is my girl and so I can't have an ounce of resentment or regret just simply because of that's right man and over the next 30.

Paul LaScola: [50:29] I think all those things are going to multiply sure yeah absolutely right now I have a grandson grandpa I am a grandpa for the last congratulations four years five years five years yeah what do you go by well you know in grandpa is non-no n-o-n-n-o you know in those languages the o's and the a's masculine feminine and all of no so yeah that was weird becoming you know a grandpa at 40 something years but um you know it's uh all together I guess what I would say is.

[51:18] Camp Phoenix, Kabul: las fuerzas de coalición y el despliegue que se quedó

Paul LaScola: [51:18] To have decided to pull the trigger and go into the military there is absolutely zero regrets I would do it all over again 100 times all of us that wore uniform in some way shape or form we all served our country and uh you know for me I did one bit there in saudi I had two other deployments uh the most the last one was to Kuwait and so you know there's mostly Air Force but there was some interaction with Army I think a couple of Navy.

Paul LaScola: [51:56] A couple of marines but the one you know that was quite different from me was Afghanistan boy what a cluster that was just oh my gosh what a cluster that was I got sent to Kabul and um that was the most exposure for me I mean aside from korea being on an Army but in you know in a deployed setting like that the primary body of personnel where I Camp Phoenix was uh an Army national guard unit and then there was a presence of naturally the marines.

Paul LaScola: [52:41] In the Navy so to interact you know with the different services in that context just adds a lot to your experiences and your life as a whole I mean as frustrated as I was about certain things um being over there um yeah bad things that will stick to for the rest of my life um but you know not just the u.s forces but the coalition too see and there was a lot of that there and so my respect and my thoughts extend to the foreign nations.

Paul LaScola: [53:26] You know when Memorial Day rolls around you know first and foremost you know my mind is full just flooded with the thoughts of our fallen brothers and sisters but in my mind I don't stop there I think about the coalition forces that um didn't make it back home alive so it's uh to be a veteran it's actually something so thanks for coming on the podcast man oh geez thank you so very much for this is there anyone you would like to dedicate your podcast.

[54:05] Dedicatoria: a los niños que vieron a sus padres ir y venir

Brian Lathrop: [54:05] To no goodness I would say my kids you know because it's never easy kids to have their moms and dads coming and going right and to be gone for you know birthdays and christmases and stuff like so to my kids dedicate this to them and then you know again to all the other veterans out there I salute all of you yeah that's it awesome paul from one vet to another thanks for your service and thanks for coming on the podcast roger that thanks Brian it was an honor to serve with you.

[54:45] Cierre: el Juramento de los Veteranos de Behind the Rack

Brian Lathrop: [54:45] So thank you hey everyone thank you so much for listening I want to leave you with the behind the rack veterans pledge if you know someone in your life that needs to hear it please pass it on I believe as a veteran I am part of an exclusive community and the best exclusive communities are the ones you had to do something to be a part of not pay to get in I believe as a veteran my military brings value to the civilian world I realize the parts of my service.

Brian Lathrop: [55:22] That May ordinary to me seem extraordinary to and I believe as a veteran I am on a hero's journey and the things I've learned during service can bring value purpose and meaning to my life after.