HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --
Imagine spending 50 years of your life dedicated to public service.
Most people cannot imagine this, and neither did a man who did it.
On April 28, 2017, Harvey Stevens, 49th Civil Engineer Squadron assistant chief of fire prevention, hung his helmet in the fire station for the last time at Holloman Air Force Base.
“Fifty years. Wow,” said the Portsmouth, Virginia native. “At no time did I ever think that I would serve the Air Force for that many years.”
Stevens was planning on completing four years, but liked what he was doing and decided to stay in the Air Force.
Fifty years later, he logged 27 active duty years and 23 more in civil service.
In 1964, before his long tenure, Stevens had to make a decision to either go to Florida A&M on a music scholarship or join the Air Force.
“I was in music for the majority of my childhood, I was looking for something different,” said Stevens. “It was Nov. 22, 1963, my high school homecoming when President John F. Kennedy was shot.”
With the President’s assassination headlining the news, the statement he made during his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” weighed on Stevens.
“That statement sunk home to me, I knew I could play music anywhere,” Stevens said. “So, I asked myself, ‘What can I do to serve the U.S. of A? So, I decided to join the Air Force.”
Arriving at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, on July 6, 1964, Stevens was greeted by his Military Training Instructors, Staff Sergeant Ferguson and Airman 1st Class Long -- at that time in the Air Force, an A1C was an E-4. The summer was hot and Stevens was thankful he listened to his family members that told him to join the Air Force.
“Basic training, oh, it was a good ole’ fun in the sun type thing,” Stevens said. “You go to summer camps and go on hikes and swimming. Then, there’s basic training. That is where the fun stops. My TI’s really indoctrinated me with a good hup, two, three, four.”
Stevens joined the Air Force not knowing what his job would be. After four weeks of his “Fun in the Sun,” Stevens learned he was going to be a firefighter. He then reported to Greenville Air Force Base, Miss. to learn fire protection.
“Technical training was a good time, Jerry Lee Lewis held a concert there and with all of us Airmen on our way to becoming firefighters, his song ‘Great Balls of Fire’ played, we all got up and started singing,” said Stevens. “That was a great time.”
Finishing technical school, Stevens was sent to Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Mich. While there Stevens volunteered to deploy to Vietnam, but was sent to Royal Air Force Lakenheath Air Base, England.
“I wanted to go to Vietnam,” Stevens said. “I did not want to go to England. I wanted to go and participate in the action in Southeast Asia. But needs of the mission sent me to England. England turned out to be a great thing for me. There was a similar language, which helped me and it is also full of history. The castles and jousting matches were incredible. London is my favorite place.”
Stevens returned to the states and volunteered to go back to England. However, the Air Force had other plans and sent him to Guam.
“Guam was challenging, I was there when Linebacker I and II were happening,” said Stevens. “Normally 50 aircraft launch a day, but during that time it was over 150 aircraft launching. I was there to fight fires though. There was a fire on a B-52 and a C-130 that crashed on take-off in the jungle. I helped recover those aircraft.”
Although Guam was a challenge for Stevens, he wasn’t ready to leave the Air Force, and was sent to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
“After Eglin I was told that I would be an instructor at Chanute Air Force Base, Ill.” Stevens said. “I did not want to be an instructor, but sometimes the Air Force knows best, and it was the most rewarding experience that I had in my active duty days.”
After being an instructor and going to Thule Air Base, Greenland, Stevens had assignments at Guam followed by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Finally, Stevens got his wish, and was sent back to his home away from home, RAF Lakenheath. Going back to England wouldn’t be the same for Stevens. He would watch history in the making, although he did not know it at the time.
“We were playing war games and on the second day that I was on shift at Lakenheath, everything went quiet,” Stevens said. “We were told to stand-down. Those things don’t happen. The flight line was dead. We knew something was up.”
About 4:00 P.M. Stevens went back on alert and was told to send all his fire trucks to their dispersal point.
“I told myself, something is definitely going on,” Stevens said. “The roaring started and I looked to the sky, and four FB-111s, with yellow bands on the bombs loaded on the rack, were taking off… that isn’t supposed to happen during war games.”
Stevens took a look towards Mildenhall RAF, which was seven miles from where he was, and saw a KC-135 was taking off.
“F-4’s, FB-111’s, KC-135, were taking off like crazy,” Stevens said. “Around midnight, word came down that our birds were heading to bomb Libya.”
That was the beginning of El Dorado Canyon, a long-range U.S. Air Force and Navy led strike at terrorist centers in Libya.
Those aircraft weren’t expected back until morning time. So Stevens and his team waited.
“My tour was up but I wasn’t leaving,” Stevens said. “I was going to be there when those aircraft came back. At the time we didn’t know that moment was history and that Airmen today would be reading about this event. Those were jobs that we were doing. We were protecting those pilots. They were doing something for the U.S. of A.”
Five years later, Stevens would retire from the Air Force.
“Retirement was scary,” said Stevens. “I am leaving the Air Force, what am I going to do? I wanted to stay in England, so I did. I found myself going back into the firefighter career field. Something about being a firefighter, you are always a firefighter. ”
Stevens found his way to Holloman AFB after spending five years overseas.
“Holloman is a great place. Lots of opportunities. I look after the people.”
Stevens spent his time in fire prevention and made sure the community was doing what they are supposed to do to make sure that they are fire safe.
“Speaking from the firefighter point of view and speaking to my firefighters, learn all that you can learn,” said Stevens. “Be a sponge, soak up all the info you can. You never know when you may need it. We train today, for what might happen tomorrow. The bell could ring within the 30 seconds and you are in a real fire fight, whether it be from an aircraft crash or a structure fire. Or saving someone’s life. You always need to be prepared through training.”