Memories of Bob McNeil written by Al Connarn for Karen McNeil in March 2020
These were the good old days:
I first met Bob McNiel at the JDSRF, a research station outside of Alice Springs, Australia in 1972. As singles, we lived on the base with about 50 other guys and gals. We were coddled, living in BOQs - bachelor officer quarters. We had a beaut swimming pool at our disposal, a nice bar, a good cafeteria and a tiny golf course.
Typical costs: a pint of Aussie draft beer was 25 cents, a grand meal in the cafeteria, including salad, a cheese plate, filet minion, veggies, and desert was 80 cents. Or that meal with a bottle of nice OZ wine was $1.50. And we were paid handsomely - our regular LA salary plus bonuses of about 55%.
Most of the yanks tried to emulate our host country’s speech and clothing. For instance, I tried to speak ‘Strine’ and wore the popular shorts and knee-length socks. Bob, however, being a former Texas Highway Patrolman, stuck to his drawl and wore Levis, cowboy boots, and a fancy long-sleeved shirt, even in the desert heat. He was entertaining then, and remained so thereafter.
A few years later, both of us left OZ for the CONUS but then returned. I married by best friend Daughn in the Alice, and Bob was my best man. I remember he was nervous before the ceremony, so I supplied him with shots of a liquid from his native country, called scotch whisky. Calmed him down.
We would go running in the outback with his newly-acquired best friend, Karen. After the run, we would cool down at his apartment in town with orange juice. Except that it was diluted with water to cut the expense, because Bob, being Scotch, was being Bob.
Eventually, Bob and Karen got married, and I was Bob’s best man. I remember I was nervous before the ceremony, so he supplied me with shots of a liquid from his native country, called scotch whisky. Calmed me down.
Shortly thereafter, a new opportunity arose for our families: job positions at the Rosman Research Station, near Brevard, NC. We enthusiastically took the change of venue to that beautiful place.
We had a daily routine at the RRS, called “shift changeover”. The outgoing mids crew would brief the day staff (called day-ladies) on what transpired, and then the day-ladies would brief the new crew on what was expected for the day.
We would sit around the room and the day-ladies would take turns. A typical briefing from me would be: we’ll gather at console B with headsets at 1315 Zulu, and start procedure X at precisely 1330Z.
One briefing sticks in my mind. In mid-December 1987, I told the group “a classified project you are cleared for, but until now didn’t have the ‘need-to-know’, will now be revealed. Lift-off on this project occurred at oh-dark thirty on 29 October 1987. The expected touch-down will occur nine months later on 29 July 1988, time TBA”. Bob was in the briefing, and his jaw dropped! The project was to be later renamed: Lawrence McNiel.
Now, 48 years after I met him, I still think of him as the ever-entertaining Texas Highway Patrolman.
Al Connarn