Customer Reviews

North of Knoxville - South of Atlanta: A Silent Warrior's Story

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It's Hard to Soar Like an Eagle When You're Surrounded by a Pack of Machi Rats! However, Chief Babb has done exactly that with "NORTH OF KNOXVILLE, SOUTH OF ATLANTA".

When Wayne Babb left his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee looking for adventure in the U.S. Air Force neither he, his family, nor the people he would meet down the road had any idea what lay in store. Settling in at a barracks at Lackland AFB, back in the days when barracks had no air conditioning, tv or radio, he started his journey up the enlisted ranks in a very tough career field.

But, as he would learn before long, the education is only part of the deal. His path takes him (and us, as readers) along for the ride, through a hard time at 202 technical school, a time filled with apprehension and new people, past a confrontation with his instructors, through the red tape involved in just trying to adapt to the Air Force rules and regulations (as applied by the instructors) finally to the eventual (if not belated) graduation day.

North of Knoxville, South of Atlanta is more than a memoir of an Air Force
experience... it is a testament to the value of friends, the importance of family, and the quest for that perfect moose, who, as often is the case, was sitting just across the barroom all along.

Knowing that he succeeded as an analyst doesn't make this story any less entertaining to read. It is a fun one, filled with crazy characters and bad Machi runs. As readers we once again don our Machi Boots and cruise along with Wayne as he comes of age in the 1960s It makes the reader long for
those carefree Air Force days when we thought we were so busy but still got
a 3 day break at the end of every duty cycle. Whether you knew Wayne or not, or have had the extreme priviledge of wearing a Trick cap does not matter...you will still appreciate Wayne and his Air Force journey.

I suppose what makes this story so special to me is that not only was it
fun to read, it was fun to experience. I have the extreme fortune of having served as a 202 at Misawa and San Vito (2 of the places where he followed me). We made memories back then that still exist today as our own folklore, a folklore we can pass along to our children and hope that they, someday, will have just as much fun as we had. I was riding shotgun throughout most of this book, and although the car didn't always start, it was one hell of a ride. Not just fun...it was pure Buck Owens beautiful.

This book is about the first four years of a military man's career in the USAF Security Service. Sergeant Babb didn't set out to make the Air Force a career and he never dreamt that someday he would become a Chief Master Sergeant. He tells of the trials and tribulations of adjusting to life in the Air Force and once he is stationed in Japan, the pursuit of fun and happiness. Then after about three years he is abruptly thrust into a position of great responsibility which he neither wants nor is prepared for. The story is written with candor and humility and he shares his honest feelings of the times when he felt he was in way over his head. Descriptions of the mission during the Cuban missile crisis and his time at Wakkanai are especially interesting. But best of all, he doesn't leave out the sex and romance. This is a very entertaining book. I bought it because I knew Sergeant Babb briefly when I was in the Air Force, but I think that anyone who has an interest in the military and especially the USAF Security Service during the cold war will enjoy it. Wayne Babb was one of my instructors in tech school and he would occasionally mesmerize us with tales of his overseas assignments. We would always beg for more but he did have a class to teach so we were left wanting. In this book I was able to read all of his war stories from his first four years and a brief synopsis of the rest of his career. Particularly enjoyable are the "Looking Back" sections at the end of each chapter. They look at the previous chapter from a modern day perspective and tie up loose ends. Wayne Babb has also written books on his experiences at Ramasun, Thailand and Osan, Korea.

Just finished reading Chief Babb's "North of Knoxville; South of Atlanta" followed very quickly by "A Tiger By the Tail".

As a fellow veteran of that illustrious group of "silent warriors", I was surprised to find so many similarities to my own experience in a telling by someone who preceded my service by 10 years.

Besides being a decade apart, I was a one term wonder and Chief Babb made a career out of the Air Force and yet our thoughts and feelings in similar situations were pretty much alike.

I know there are thousands of us who fought the cold war doing an important job that, decades later, many still feel the need to remain quiet about the secrets we protected so long ago.

If you're one of us, or just someone interested in the intelligence community, you'll enjoy this book.

The career of an Air Force intercept analysis. This book takes you from the original enlistment to retirement. T. Wayne Babb details his career. From his bad start, to his rise to one of the top Air Force enlisted positions, he tells the reader what happened to him and what he was thinking at the time.

A must read for all current and former members of the Air Force intelligence community.

A very true account of one man's experience in the service of our country. Very funny, and very similar to my own experiences in many ways. The author's story telling ability is what makes this book special.
I would think that anyone that was in the military service during the 50's, 60's, and 70's would truely enjoy this book.
It is even more true for anyone that was in the U.S. Air Force Security Service of which the author was a part, as I was.