My husband was working in the Hole on 9/11 when they got locked down and I was due any minute!

-Left on message board by CFMAD visitor

 

I first visited the Complex on a tour with my Scout troop in 75. Little did I know I would be working there as a controller in 1982. We were the last SAGE Course and actually completed our Live Operational Check on the ROCC system after spending many months in the "Hot Storage" as simulated pilots for the Operational Crews ROCC conversion. It was during the period of time as they removed the Old SAGE Computer and installed the rest of the Scopes in the Canada West Ops Room, that we spent many quiet Midnight shifts exploring the building and learning how unique the place was from any other building in Canada.

-Maj Jim Maunsell

 

With the federal government's ban on smoking in the workplace, service men and women in the UGC faced a special challenge. Whereas smoking was initially permitted in the Ops rooms (some of our senior personnel recall ashtrays on the control positions) it was forbidden in the early-mid 80s. Since it was not practical to "step outside" for a quick smoke, (it's a LONG way up the tunnel!) the leadership provided a "smoking room" off the dinning area on the 3rd floor of the UGC. Owing to the large number of smokers and the small size of the room, actually lighting up a cigarette for a fix of nicotine was optional to those entering the room. Ventilation? Who needs it!!! It's for wusses! (One can argue about the rationality of smokers demanding ventilation, but I digress.) So for a few years, the smoking room on the 3rd floor was a popular spot and provided all who walked by its closed door with a nauseating reminder of the plight of the smokers. Then, in a genius flash of light, an area outside the building, near the main entrance doors, but still under ground, was desigated as the smoking area.

 

To protect the innocent, some office dividers were erected, and church pews were installed allowing the smokers to rest from their strenuous walk from the building, down the 6 stairs and across the 20 meters to the smoking area. But mostly, the smoking area was notorious for being the starting point of countless rumours circulating through the complex. One need only reflect on the effect that over hearing the end of a conversation including with the words: "shut-down, or cut back, or re-engineered" could have on the fertile minds of the "mushroomers", as UGC personnel were known. In fact, some more enterprising section heads determined that the smoking area was a more efficient and effective method of deseminating information than any other means - such as Routine Orders and the like. Need to pass on a new directive? Tell a smoker. Within hours, word got back to the section head. Unfortunately, what came back to the originator rarely resembled what had originated... Human nature is what it is. And for us non-smokers, the smoking area was the default place to find those who were away from their desks. I recall being told by a senior NCM that there was more accomplished in 10 minutes in the smoking area than there was all day in the office. Sometimes, I wondered about that.

-Marcel Farley, UGC 1987-89, 1993-2002

 

 

I was stationed at CFB North Bay from Aug 1994 - Oct 1997. Assigned to the USAF's 722nd Support Squadron and "attached" to the CF 21st AC&W Squadron. Worked as a Senior Director Tech and later Crew Chief of "E" Crew. My records show I was only the 2nd USAF troop to be assigned as a Crew Chief on a 21st AC&W Crew. Leter, I was moved upstatirs to the old Fighter Group Operations Center (FGOC). When the Canadian Region was relocated to CFB Winnipeg and paired with the 1st Canadian Air Division (1 CAD/CANR), I was given 3 choices: 1) Back to crew for 3 months and return stateside on schedule; 2) Rotate home early; or, 3) Take my FGOC slot and travel with it to CFB Winnipeg. I chose Door #3 and thus became one of only a small handful of Americans to PCS (Permanent Change of Station) BETWEEN 2 CF Bases. I served in Winnipeg for 2 years (Oct 97 - Dec 98), before being assigned to HQ NORAD in Colorado Springs. I truly LOVED my time in Canada, and especially in North Bay!

-Senior Master Sgt Ken Youden (ret.)

 

There was always a bone of contention amongst us shift workers that we ended up with the sort end of the stick when it came to the mythical 40 hour week. Typically, for a planned 07:00 shift start, we would arrive at 06:15 - 06:30 to get the changeover brief from the out-going crew. This was needed to prepare the slides for crew brief on the hour. Of course, in order to arrive in the Ops room at 06:15, one needed to take the 06:00 bus from the North Portal entrance. That bus ride, although wondrous for the un-initiated, soon became very tedious for the rest of us. But if one wanted to ensure they were at the portal on time for the bus, one needed to arrive at the portal no late than 05:55. Of course, leaving the Ops room, the process was repeated. After providing the in-coming crew with their handover brief, one wandered to the Main adit, that was the one and only bus stop in the underground complex, where unavoidably (or so it seemed) one would arrive just in time to watch the bus depart and have to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus. All told, they were easily 9 hour shifts, perhaps more if you were really un-lucky with the bus. I have a certificate that states that I have logged 35,000 subterranean hours, but I suspect there were more than that...
-Marcel Farley, UGC 1987-89, 1993-2002

 

As any tracker (Tracking Technician) can remember: Skip, 035, Skip, 1, Enter. This sequence relates to the information input onto the ODC console when initiating a track for the computer to monitor. Skip was the button we called spacebar now.
-MCpl Allan Silk

 

In the 80s, we went to a lot of parties on Trout Lake in North Bay, some of which were at my house on Silver Lady Lane. One night in 1984, we were at a very good party on Anita Ave and we decided it would be a shame if there was an attack by the USSR as we would go to Heaven with hangovers. We knew North Bay would be a target because of the SAGE. So we called the USSR's embassy in Ottawa and spoke to someone and asked that they hold off any planned nuclear attacks for a couple of days or so. They said that they would see what they could do. And so the world was saved by a bunch of drunken Canadian teenagers.

-Marc Petrick

 

Posted there 1991-1998 with just about 15,000 hours spent underground. It was a real challenge being a weatherman in the ROCC. I remember once meeting my grade 8 teacher in the mid 90s, she asked what I was doing these days. I told her I was a weatherman and worked a mile underground, she looked at me with a real puzzled look and said "you always were a good story teller Joe".

-Joe Owen

 

June 1982 was my first introduction to SAGE in "the hole". Worked in surveillance for over a year and when the ROCC became the new system I was one of the initial group of Data Quality Monitors. It was a different system and I recall Dan Theus, a radar tech, worked on the team until he attended university through Officers training. I was glad to leave in 1986 only to be posted back in 1988. Last posting was with surveillance in 1993. I have anumber of memories of those years but none as the mrmory of leaving for the last time in April 1994.

-Paul Lagace, CD, Sergeant Ret'd