My Dad was a Ham; He got his license in 1929 at the age of 11 (K4xx)(4 digits). During my first tour in Vietnam 1966-67 all the Special Forces A camps were equipped with Collins KWM-2A SSB's and all of us commo guys bootlegged Ham call signs pretending to be "maritime mobile in the South China Sea" to call back to the states and have a ham patch us into the phone network.
I got my license in 1967 in Germany while with the 10th Special Forces Group between Vietnam tours - WB4IPW. (.-- -... ....- .. .--. .--) I built a Heathkit HW-100 Single Side-Band in 1969 upon return from my second tour in Vietnam. But let the license lapse when I was assigned overseas in 1973.
About 5 years ago I bought an AN/GRC-109, the 1948 CIA radio adopted by Special Forces in 1960 which I had trained on, and played around a bit using a fake call sign using CW (now sadly much slower that it once was). I recently donated it to a museum. But the memory is still there and my bug (automatic key) is still sitting by my chair in the family room.
If anyone is interested in reading about the AN/GRC-109 here is an article I wrote last year for a Special Forces Association newsletter - twin brother and I are on the front cover - picture taken 30 May 1968 at B-24 in Kontum.
http://specialforces78.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/0215-Sentinel-News.pdf
