Transition

Airman John David Wild operates one of AFTV-22's three low-end Dage black-and-white cameras during a local live broadcast. Note the four-lens turret at the front of the camera. We all managed to accidentally rack (turn) the turret at least once while the camera was live.

I had never considered changing my MOS (military occupational specialty) from OR medic to TV broadcaster. It's not something that's easily accomplished in the military. But the commander at Bitburg decided one day that because of budgetary and administrative reasons we had one too many OR medics at the 36th Tactical Hospital. I wasn't the new kid in the OR any more, so the problem didn't look like it would affect me. But the sergeant in charge of the enlisted men in the OR dropped a suggestion in my ear: If you want to crosstrain to the TV station and they'll have you, now's your chance.

That afternoon I was on the phone to Tech. Sgt. Ray Santangelo, the AFTV-22 station manager. "Yes, I'll take you. You can do the required coursework by mail." Within a few days, the paperwork was in progress at the hospital and at the TV station, and I was reading through a stack of manuals Ray gave me.

It was hard leaving the hospital and my medic friends behind. In 18 months, we'd formed some close bonds. I knew I'd miss the intense teamwork around the OR table, and I'd miss our shenanigans in our off-duty time. As a going-away present, Lt. Goldman, a fun and dedicated OR nurse and an amateur artist, gave me a pastel chalk drawing of me with an AFTV microphone in hand.

By the summer of 1968, I was full time at AFTV-22, and Ray Santangelo had appointed me news director.

My days in uniform were headed in a whole new direction. But that didn't mean I'd be spending my days in uniform. As a medic, I wore whites and scrubs instead of fatigues or 1505s. At AFTV-22, because the chain of command thought we should look like TV broadcasters without regard for rank, I'd be wearing a navy blue civilian blazer with an AFTV crest on the pocket. My complete set of cleaned and pressed uniforms would still spend most of the time hanging in my locker.