Reflections Of A Cold War Air Force Intelligence Officer

COL(R) Alfons Broz enrolled in ROTC while attending the Schreiner Institute in Texas. In 1952, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and was commissioned as an Officer in the Air Force. He then attended the Russian Language Institute at Syracuse University. His operational first assignment was as a Communications Intelligence Officer in Japan and Korea during the Korean War. Returning from Asia, he was assigned as a Signals Intelligence Officer at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland. He then served as a Military Social Aide to both Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy before being assigned to Germany, where he was a Liaison Officer to the Soviet Commander-in-Chief of Soviet Forces in East Germany. His next assignment was Vietnam, where he was the Director of Human Intelligence Collections. After returning from Vietnam, he served at the Pentagon, and later as the Defense Air Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Prague. He retired from the Air Force in 1982. In this interview, COL Broz describes his service in the Air Force, focusing on his deployments to Korea, East Germany, and Vietnam. He discusses his service with the United States Military Liaison Mission, working behind the lines during the Cold War. Finally, he describes what his service in the Air Force means to him. COL Broz is dealing with Parkinson’s Disease; therefore, the audio has been slightly processed to improve clarity.