| Range Instrumentation Assignment |
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| The Navy Dolphin Program facilities were located at the junction of the ocean and Calleguas Creek. As can be seen in this drawing, the Creek is the drainage for all the major cities in the Ventura County area except for Ventura and Oxnard. All the farm waste was also a part of the discharge, and in the days of the Dolphin Program, environmental controls were almost non-existant. All the oil and other chemicals that were washed into the Creek from every street in every city made its way into Calleguas Creek. Not only the dolphin became ill, but those of us in the human element, also became sick from the chemicals and waste in the Creek waters and in the tidal estuary of the Creek. |
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The Navy Dolphin Program came to a screeching halt in late 1961 with the death of most of our dolphins. This was a terrible situation brought on by them having to live in polluted water in our pools and pens. The water was taken straight out of Calleguas Creek, filled with chemicals and waste products of all kinds that were brought from a huge area. This Calleguas Creek watershed brought farm waste, street pollutants and chemical waste into the very area where our dolphins had to live and we had to enter to work with them.
The Navy called a halt to the Dolphin Program with the intent of looking into the benefits derived from the effort so far versus the expenditure required to keep the program going.
In the meantime, all of us associated with the Dolphin Program had to find other jobs at Point Mugu.
I was offered a position as the Section Head for the Engineering Section responsible for all the instrumentation on the Pacific Missile Range, the Naval Missile Center, and the Naval Air Station including that instrumentation on the off-shore islands, San Nicholas, Guam, and others. This job was intended to be temporary until a decision was made at the highest levels as to what the future was to be for the Navy Dolphin Program.
We had all the tracking radars, telemetry and command systems, data handling and transmission systems and communications systems on the entire range. What a fantastic opportunity to put some of my Army training to work and learn all the various support systems that the military was using for its missile work. Little did I imagine at this moment of my life that all this exposure plus my miitary experience and the electronic warfare experience would soon affect another major decision point in my life.
I was called into the Base Commander's office one day and given a chance to make a very important decision as to my future. I was offered an opportunity to go back to school at Navy expense and get my Doctorate in Physical Oceanography, to then return to the Navy Dolphin Program, or some other program that could use my experience at a later date.
It took me about five seconds to accept, after I got over the shock of the opportunity.
Please proceed to: "NASA Houston"
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