Oral history interview with Charlotte Holder Clinger
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Primarily documents Charlotte Holder Clinger's service with U.S. Air Force from 1967 to 1994, her job with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and her education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Clinger discusses her adventurous family; her childhood; living in Mexico for one year; and her secondary education at various instructions, including UNCG, in the early 1960s. She comments on her excellent professors and challenging classes at the school. " Clinger chiefly describes her lengthy career in the air force. She explains that she joined to get her brother out of the draft for Vietnam and then discusses her military education and her various duty stations, particularly those in Southeast Asia. Clinger briefly describes Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, including the lack of sleep and the importance of looking appropriate. She also remembers reporting for intelligence training at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado, during a snowstorm; being in an integrated flight; and her desire to go overseas during the Vietnam conflict. " Clinger speaks at length about her assignment in 1969 to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand, where she was stationed with the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing. She describes her work collecting intelligence information; doing briefings and debriefings for the flight crews; changing schedule shifts; being the first woman to ever join the 553rd; how she was received by the men and her interactions with them; social life at the base club during time off; her off-duty party suit; learning that being in the air force and at war meant killing people; and not being able to fly because she was a woman. Clinger also describes her one-month temporary duty at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Air Field and the differences between the Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command units. " Clinger talks about her return to the United States and her work at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas, in the early 1970s. She describes her culture shock; her love of Thailand; her feelings about Vietnam; her feelings about the draft and its benefits; and the satisfaction at doing a job that she was trained for and helping save lives. She also comments briefly on the political and military situation in Vietnam; Robert McNamara and President Lyndon B. Johnson; and how her attitude toward the war changed between her first and second tours. Topics related to Clinger's service at Bergstrom include her intelligence work at the 12th Air Force Headquarters with the Tactical Air Command and as part of the inspector general team. Other topics include visiting and inspecting other bases; the F-111 fighter bomber; setting up bombing sites for practice; and her desire to go back to Southeast Asia to promote the F-111. " Clinger discusses receiving her orders for Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base with little notice; becoming Colonel Thomas Lacy's wing executive officer and what the job entailed; resentment because she was a non-rated woman holding the position; and learning to stand up to some of the men. Other topics include: recreational activities, including hosting a pig roast and going to Bangkok; Col. Lacy and what it was like to work for him; and her decision to return to Austin. " Throughout the interview, Clinger describes incidents of both personal and institutional discrimination because she was a woman and how the discrimination changed when she became a married woman in the service. She also comments on changes that have taken place for women in the military; on women in combat; and on what she liked about being in the air force. " Clinger recalls her decision to leave active duty and go into the reserves; looking with her husband for civilian jobs and finding work with the CIA; becoming an operations chief with the CIA; becoming the first female commander of a Joint Military Reserve Training Command in the early 1990s; and her volunteer work after she retired from the CIA.
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