Nike Videos on YouTubeCharles D. Carter
Nike Historian
Upon hearing President Kennedy's speech on October 22, 1962, Charles contacted the Army recruiter office the following day to enlist. Being only age sixteen, he had to wait a few weeks until his birthday in November.
After completion of basic training at Ft. Gordon near Augusta, Georgia, he was assigned to the Nike Hercules branch of the Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM).
He was temporarily assigned to a Nike site at Jeffersonville, Georgia (R-28) where the Nike missiles were in an inflatable tents. He was trained as a launcher crewman.
In May, 1963, he was assigned to his permanent location in NW Miami near Red Road and Miami Gardens Drive at C Battery (HM-01) where them men worked and lived in tents. The launch area was along the Snake Creek Canal near where the Florida Turnpike Extension (which wasn't there then) and NW 47th Avenue intersect. NW 47th Avenue was a sandy road then and there were no houses nearby.
In May, 1964, he was reassigned to B Battery which was co-located with A Battery just outside the main entrance to Everglades National Park (See B Battery on Main Menu).
He was temporarily assigned as the driver for Battalion Commander, LTC Wallace N. Fluckey from July 1964 until September 1964 and was stationed at Homestead AFB nearby.
He returned to B Battery and retrained as a section console operator. In June 1965, B Battery relocated to Key Largo. Charles remained at B Battery until his discharge in December 1965.
After his discharge, he remained in the Army Reserves 81st ARCOM for another twelve years.
In 1967, Charles was hired by IBM at Kennedy Space Center as a Missile Guidance Technician. He installed the flight control and guidance computers on the Saturn IB, Saturn V and Skylab.
He continued to serve as a Army Reservist during the Viet Nam Era when he re-trained as a 91C Combat Medic and flew with the 145th Medevac until the end of the war. In 1975, after Viet Nam ended, SSG Carter became a training NCO.
In 1977, he worked for Xerox Corporation as a Senior Technical Representative in Atlanta. He was certified as an Army Recruiter at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana in 1977.
He received his final discharge in 1980.
In 1984, he left Xerox for a political appointment. He left public life as a Senior Special Assistant to the Secretary of State in 1991.
He founded a public safety training company where he has written thirty-three certification and professional development courses.
In 2002, he wrote a research paper, America's Air Defense of South Florida During and After the Cuban Missile Crisis: 1962-1979. It was published by the U.S. Army Center for Military History after he presented it at the Bi-annual Conference of Military Historians in Washington, DC in August 2002.
Since his recent retirement, he spend time developing the Nike252.org website and documenting the history of the south Florida Nike Hercules units.
After completion of basic training at Ft. Gordon near Augusta, Georgia, he was assigned to the Nike Hercules branch of the Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM).
He was temporarily assigned to a Nike site at Jeffersonville, Georgia (R-28) where the Nike missiles were in an inflatable tents. He was trained as a launcher crewman.
In May, 1963, he was assigned to his permanent location in NW Miami near Red Road and Miami Gardens Drive at C Battery (HM-01) where them men worked and lived in tents. The launch area was along the Snake Creek Canal near where the Florida Turnpike Extension (which wasn't there then) and NW 47th Avenue intersect. NW 47th Avenue was a sandy road then and there were no houses nearby.
In May, 1964, he was reassigned to B Battery which was co-located with A Battery just outside the main entrance to Everglades National Park (See B Battery on Main Menu).
He was temporarily assigned as the driver for Battalion Commander, LTC Wallace N. Fluckey from July 1964 until September 1964 and was stationed at Homestead AFB nearby.
He returned to B Battery and retrained as a section console operator. In June 1965, B Battery relocated to Key Largo. Charles remained at B Battery until his discharge in December 1965.
After his discharge, he remained in the Army Reserves 81st ARCOM for another twelve years.
In 1967, Charles was hired by IBM at Kennedy Space Center as a Missile Guidance Technician. He installed the flight control and guidance computers on the Saturn IB, Saturn V and Skylab.
He continued to serve as a Army Reservist during the Viet Nam Era when he re-trained as a 91C Combat Medic and flew with the 145th Medevac until the end of the war. In 1975, after Viet Nam ended, SSG Carter became a training NCO.
In 1977, he worked for Xerox Corporation as a Senior Technical Representative in Atlanta. He was certified as an Army Recruiter at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana in 1977.
He received his final discharge in 1980.
In 1984, he left Xerox for a political appointment. He left public life as a Senior Special Assistant to the Secretary of State in 1991.
He founded a public safety training company where he has written thirty-three certification and professional development courses.
In 2002, he wrote a research paper, America's Air Defense of South Florida During and After the Cuban Missile Crisis: 1962-1979. It was published by the U.S. Army Center for Military History after he presented it at the Bi-annual Conference of Military Historians in Washington, DC in August 2002.
Since his recent retirement, he spend time developing the Nike252.org website and documenting the history of the south Florida Nike Hercules units.
Charles and his wife Nancy love traveling and living in Atlanta.
Contact:
3535 Peachtree Rd, NE
Suite 520-417
Atlanta, GA 30326
NikeHistorian@Nike252.org