Strange Happenings at Liberty NAAS
©1999 Doug Iannelli

You and the rest of the staff are familiar, through sporadic local affiliate news broadcasts, with the "flaps" of UFO sightings that frequently are reported to occur throughout the San Luis Valley as well as the occasional cow turning up "mutilated." This has apparently been an ongoing occurance since long before the current staff arrived at Liberty and the media has even dubbed the phenomena the "Ghost Lights of the San Luis Valley." Interviews with so-called "experts" aired in conjunction with these segments indicate that while sightings in the region are not uncommon, they have never been successfully photographed nor has any physical evidence of their activity been discovered. These broadcasts have sparked some lively discussions among the staff members watching them on the big-screen TV at the Exchange because up until recently, no one at Liberty had ever seen any "UFOs."

November 12, 1997, six weeks ago

Gonzales and Fuller, while pulling guard duty in the early hours of the morning, woke the entire staff reporting that they were observing a group of strange lights - appearing, disappearing, and moving at incredible speeds over the Sierra 6 Range east of the Station. By the time the rest of the staff donned their cold-weather gear and hustled out to the guard shack to see what the two men where talking about, the skies over Sierra 6 were clear.

Gonzales and Fuller were adamant about what they claimed to have witnessed, and Cpt. Tauch quickly telephoned CANG HQ at Colorado Springs to verify that the Air Guard wasn't conducting night training operations over the range. When no explanation from the Guard was forthcoming, Sparks brought up the "Ghost Lights," much to the amusement of the others and the chagrin of Gonzales and Fuller. That one little comment almost sent Liberty's two resident short-fuses off the deep end and required the collective efforts of much of the staff to restrain Gonzales from throttling Sparks.

Finally, the CO put his foot down, blaming the two men's bizarre report on a combination of lack of sleep, overactive imaginations, and probably some of the contraband liquor Degrassi was busted for distrubuting to the staff members only a week earlier. When Gonzales and Fuller pressed the issue further, Tauch snapped, "If those dumb-ass news reports are going to mess with your ability to perform your duties around here, we'll unplug that damn television! I don't want to hear any more crap about "Ghost Lights" or UFOs or any of that kind of stuff. What's next? You going to wake us all up to tell us that there are spacemen at the gates?"

At that point, Galloway interceded. "Whoa, wait a minute, sir. They seem convinced they saw something out on the Range. I'm not sayin'. . ."

Tauch spun on Galloway, and in an uncharacteristic outbust, ended the conversation. "The Air Force closed the case on all that UFO crap back in the 60s with that project. . .what the hell was it called? Bluebook. Project Bluebook. As far as I'm concerned, if the Air Force says it isn't there, it isn't there. I don't give a fuck what the news people say."

With that, the CO stomped off to return to the bed he was obviously nonplussed to have been dragged out of.

"Damn," quipped Spacek, "Cap'n sure do need his beauty sleep."

As the men dispersed, enlisted towards their barracks, and Galloway and yourself to your quarters, Galloway wondered aloud, "I wonder if Tauch knows the Air Force actually operated out of this place back in the 60s?"