Interview with Bobby E. Mayfield. CCSU Veterans History Project.

Interview conducted by Ruth Evans. Mayfield registered for the selective service in 1969; however, he also wanted to attend college, so he joined the ROTC at Texas A&M. In 1973, Mayfield was commissioned as a signal officer in the U.S. Army, but because the Vietnam War was winding down, he was never deployed. He elected to leave the service in 1978, and became a Biology and Physics teacher at his hometown high school. In 1983, Mayfield joined the Army National Guard in Austin, TX, and became a member of the Signal Corps. He trained at Fort Hood, TX for mainly Cold War communications scenarios. It was also in 1983, that Mayfield received a call about the "Teacher in Space" program at NASA. There he worked with other trainers to send Christa McAuliffe into space. From 1983-1989 he helped design and implement new communication equipment and strategies for the Army National Guard. In 1990, Mayfield began teaching at Seton Hall University as an ROTC instructor, and later began working at the Pentagon. Mayfield was promoted to Colonel in 1999 while working in Atlanta. He also witnessed the Pentagon bombing of September 11th, and describes how he and a colleague wanted to help during the aftermath. Mayfield retired in March of 2004 with numerous medals and citations.

Category:

Education

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• CCSU
• VHP
• veteran
• interview
• oral history
• Interactive transcript
• Signal Corps
• National guard
• ROTC