We arrived safely in Denver in the fall of 1963. I was sworn in as a sergeant and assigned as an Air Force instructor. Programmed learning principles were at their peak at this time. Also the Air Force was running very low on Electronic Technicians. At time of enlistment, inductees were given a written test. The results of this test was divided into four areas of duty, clerical, mechanical, electronics, and ?. If an inductee scored 90 points on electronics he was qualified for electronics training. Practically no one was scoring 90.
My assignment with one other sergeant was to develop a program text to solve this shortage. We did this very thing. We guaranteed that 90% of the trainees would score 90% on the final test currently being used. WE didn't require an entry score of 90 either. An entry score of 40 was sufficient. Less time was needed for training. A few men completed training and were assigned as technicians. The supervisors reported that they were above average technicians.
Much to everyone's surprise I was promoted to Staff Sergeant in a few months. We had decided on our way to Denver that even though our new income was going to be much reduced that we would at least buy a comfortable house. We found a nice home in Aurora, paid $1000 and took over the payments. When we left two and one half years later we took $500 and let someone else have the house.
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