Charline Ahlgreen:
CLASS OF 1964
Morgan Park High SchoolClass of 1964
Chicago, IL
Merritt Island High SchoolClass of 1996
Merritt island, FL
Fenger Junior CollegeClass of 1969
Chicago, IL
Alice L. Barnard Elementary SchoolClass of 1960
Chicago, IL
Beechwood Elementary SchoolClass of 1957
St. clair shores, MI
Charline's Story
Ten years USAF (Airman basic through Captain Selectee)
Graduated from:
Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA -- Russian Linguist
University of MD/European Div -- BA English
University of Central FL -- BA technical theater
Taught High School theater/English 7.9 years (which taught me to be careful what I wish for because I might get it)
Worked as a Technical Editor/Writer contractor to the Air Force (operations, launches and engineering on Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center/and Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB), FL
Technical Writer/Editor for SAIC, contracted to the Air Force
Data Manager for Air FOrce Aeronautical Systems Center/Detachment 3 at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB)
Technical Documentation Supervisor for Navy and Army projects with JHT, Inc.; supervised 10
Proposal Manager for assorted small businesses and currently for VDC Display Systems (VDCDS) Cape Canaveral, FL
Married 29 years to Thor (born in Norway -- we met on an Air Force Tracking Ship in Japan)
Daughter (Tyra Elyse) is 27 years old; conceptual graphic artist (mindsend.deviantart.com/gallery)
Reside: Merritt Island, FL (30 years)
Schools:
Beechwood Elementary School, St. Clair Shores, MI (1st through 6th)
Alice L. Barnard Elementary School, Chicago, IL (7th & 8th)
Morgan Park High School, Chicago, IL (1960-1964)
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL (1964-1965)
Fenger and Olive-Harvey City Colleges, Chicago, IL (1966-1971)
University of Maryland, European Division (1975-1977) - BA in English
University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, FL (1985-1988) - BA in Technical Theater
Military
I joined the Air Force to serve my country (and to give them 4 so they'd give me 4 years of college). They sent me to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA to train me as a Russian linguist then off to San Angelo, TX (the second worst assignment location I got while I was in) to train as a linguist technician. From there, I was stationed in England!! It was a phenomenal location and I got to spend three years there -- during which time I also got my first degree (English major). I was sent TDY to Crete for three months (that was fun) and got to vacation in Berchtesgaden (southern Germany), Wiesbaden (central Germany), Paris, Rome, Scotland and Wales. After I finished college, I applied for Officers Training School (OTS) and while I waited to see if they'd accept me, I was transferred to Berlin (while it was still 110 miles inside Comm...Expand for more
unist East Germany -- my WORST assignment location). I had the opportunity to visit a number of places in Germany and took a trip to Amsterdam while I was there. I was also sent TDY to the top of a mountain for Operation Reforger and back to San Angelo for NCO Leadership School (did I already say I didn't like San Angelo?) and was stunned to find out upon my return that I'd been selected for OTS. While in training I was selected to be Squadron 2 (Evil Blue) Commander (with 125 personnel under me) as an upper classman. Upon graduation (and the dreaded 1.5 mile run), I was sent to Signals Intelligence Officers School in (you guessed it!) San Angelo. From there I was assigned to the National Security Agency (THE NSA!) as a watch chief and then as the first 2nd Lieutenant and first woman Special Team Commander aboard the Air Force's tracking ships. I joined a ship (the H.H. Arnold) in Japan and, on the first night, met the man who would become my husband (of now 29 years!). We sailed around the Bering Sea and then the ship sailed into the middle of the equatorial Pacific, after which we spent New Year's Eve in Hawaii. After I had been on the ships for 1.5 years, I was assigned as a Directives Writer back at NSA. My career counselor called to tell me that my next duty assignment would be as General's aide in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ). I had watched Lieutenant Colonels making coffee for Generals at NSA, and I figured that, as a newly minted, female Captain (it was a different world in those days, kiddies!), I would wind up washing out his underwear on a rock someplace in the middle of a river while the North and South Koreans shot at each other over my head. I told them since they did not see my career heading the same way I saw it [they had been asking for me by name for the Air arm of the ships' program at Patrick Air Force Base. If I had gotten that position, I stood a good chance of making at least full bird Colonel before I retired but as a General's aide, I stood a better chance of being hauled up for court martial (Generals do not find it amusing when they ask you a question and you respond with - Do you want the truth or do you want the party line?)]. So I told the career "counselor" that I was not re-upping. I bid the Air Force adieu late May 1983 and, although I still miss all the travel, and the fact that I knew definitely that the work that I was doing was important, I cannot honestly say that I have ever truly regretted my decision to get out.
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