Linemen Train on Grove of Junior Phone Poles (Feb, 1951)
Filed under: Telephone — @ 2:09 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1951
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1951
| Buy on Ebay
Linemen Train on Grove of Junior Phone Poles
This is how you learn to climb poles in the Air Force. The grove of stub poles makes an open-air classroom for future linemen at Warren Air Base in Wyoming. The poles last about a month—by then the students’ spikes gouge them so badly they must be replaced.
And…let the male enhancement jokes begin!
Comment by John M. Hanna — September 20, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
Does the air force have a lot of telephone lines to fix?
Comment by Charlene — September 21, 2008 @ 7:25 am
Each branch of the service was at one time responsible for all the maintainence at there bases. The US Air Force currently has 330,000 personel at 68 bases in the US and 17 overseas. So yeah, I would say they had a lot of telephone, power, and other communication lines to maintain.
Comment by JMyint — September 21, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
Really.
Phone lines on Canadian Forces bases belong to the local phone company. Why would they so egregiously and shamelessly waste money and manpower doing when experts can do better for less?
Comment by Charlene — September 22, 2008 @ 4:59 am
Or doing “what” experts can do better for less. I hate not being able to edit posts.
Comment by Charlene — September 22, 2008 @ 4:59 am
Charlene, I guess Americans think more highly of their military. The photo is from 1951, but don’t forget it is a security issue, the military also needs to build out power/communications at various temporary instillations where ever they go.
Comment by Mike — September 22, 2008 @ 6:14 am
Huh, are you sure that’s not some Al Queiada training camp?
Comment by Steve — September 22, 2008 @ 9:17 am
Mike – no, we think highly of our military here in Canada, but we’ve gone to civilian contractors for a lot of the more mundane tasks (and some technical ones, that I don’t agree with) over the years. It started with things like the base maintenance pools – who joins the air force to paint buildings, after all? I also remember living on bases with military telephone systems AND Bell systems intermixed, depending on their use and security requirements.
Sadly, now the CAF has subcontracted out things like aircraft maintenance. Then again, I could point to major Canadian (and American) private companies that have “outsourced” things like computer networks that are core to their business, too.
And then there’s Haliberton and Blackwater and their ilk.
It’s not 1951 anymore.
Comment by Toronto — September 22, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
John Hanna (First comment)… were you ever at RAF Bentwaters? As far as the “linemen”…
this is really pilot training. Their first expierience getting off the ground. Sorry so late…
I just saw this.
Comment by Wally — January 22, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
To all: Having served in both the US Army and Air force in the electronics maintenance field. Over the past 50 or so years much of the services which should be provided by the military personnel have been outsourced to civilian contractors. No one seems to consider that when the military moves out to do the job they joined for, the outsourcing stays at their home base. There is no one trained to do the work in the combat zones. Another political policy of not thinking beyond the payoly point (you don’t really thing civilians can do the work better and cheaper than the military personnel, do you?).
Comment by Tim Johnson — January 9, 2010 @ 1:08 pm