my hobbies
Military
My nephew, Marcus Lee Roganti (my late brother's son), is currently serving in the Marines since '05
One of my buddies since kindgarten, Rob Brown, joined the Marines after high school in '80, but I lost track of him ever since.
My late brother served in the US Air Force as a Avionics technican during Vietnam, out of Lakenheath AB in England. Funny thing is, that he was at an remote F-111 airbase, Tahkli Airbase in Thailand, which was only about an hour away from the B-52 airbase, U-Tapao Airbase, which my cousin, Francis Roganti (a B-52 pilot) was stationed and never got to meet each other.
My cousin Francis was in US Air Force , and served in Vietnam from '65 to '73, Beginning in '65 he was with the 1st Air Commando Unit on ambush patrol along the Ho Chi Mihn trail in Laos. In '66, he was then assigned to Special Ops to defend all the Special forces camps scattered around South Vietnam. From '67 to '70, he was then assigned to Air Combat Squadron and flew bombing missions against targets in South Vietnam. In between this, from '70 - '72, he spent 2 years in Military War College and then was reassigned back to the Air Combat Squadron from '72 - '73. This time he flew bombing missions against targets in North Vietnam, primarily in Hanoi and Haiphong Harbor. He jokes how that in the military, the only thing he learned was how to break things, shoot well and fly. After he retired, he went back to school and is now a research scientist in pharmaceuticals.
As for myself, I served in the US Air Force during the mid 80's in Europe at a great AirBase called Camp New Amsterdam at Soesterberg AB with the 32nd TFS Wolfhounds. During that time we experienced Operation El Dorado Canyon, which some of you might remember, as the result of the terrorist attack in Berlin. Also, I spent most of my time in Zulu Alert, where the F-15 fighter jets are kept on standby 24/7, armed and ready to scramble in 5min --just in case-- since it was still during the last years of the Cold War. I still have my picture of when our Zulu pilots intercepted a Russian Tu-95 Tupolev bomber. Holland was a great place to visit, I met my wife there, and miss the old times, the beer , and the hangouts with my buddies.
I have pics and video from back then that I plan to post on here
Some of our distant and close relatives who immigrated to America served in the US military from almost every branch of the Armed Forces since WWI . One of our distant relatives, Henry Philip Roganti, worked as an engineer to design the optical navigation equipment for the bombers during WWII at Wright Patterson Research Laboratory.
If anyone hears from Dan Betting, please email me, he still has my copy of the picture with Chuck Yeager.
Pittsburgh
Operation Pittsburgh Pride - local volunteer support group
Soesterberg AB
32 TFS, Soesterberg Air Base (Camp New Amsterdam) - Unit Pages
Soesterberg Wolfhounds
Slobberin' Wolfhounds
Soesterberg air base
Soesterberg Air Base - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camp New Amsteram photos -1966-1970
32 TFS
32nd Virtual Fighter Squadron Wolfhounds
Historic Wings : the online magazine of aviation
USAFE TACS
Gomer - our mascot- Irish Wolfhound
YouTube Videos of Soesterberg AirBase
Operation El Dorado Canyon
Operation El Dorado Canyon
Special Operations.Com
MIA - Operation El Dorado Caynon
Bombing of Libya (April 1986) - Wikipedia