HISTORY - Page 75
From the outset, the training program was hampered
by a lack of equipment. Thus, at the beginning the
REDSTONE program had to furnish the nucleus, but
many courses were unsatisfactory "paper and pencil"
affairs. Eventually, excellent synthetic trainers were
fabricated, but even this phase was delayed by the
late delivery of the manufacturers. This, and other
problems having a bearing, caused frequent
rescheduling of the training. To make up for some of
the unsatisfactory conditions, ABMA development
laboratories were used to the extent possible. Still this
was not sufficient to acquaint students with checkout
and maintenance procedure
105
.
Because of the lack of an agreement with the NATO
countries, toward the end of 1958, it was necessary to
make major changes to the training plans. It was
realized that NATO troops could be used to man the
second and third squadrons. Thus, this left ABMA with
one USAF-manned and two NATO squadrons to plan
for. In fact, planning was the only thing that could be
accomplished because of the lack of an agreement.
However, before the entry of foreign students into the
course, the opportunity was afforded to remove
Restricted Data information from the texts and
training program
106
. In many ways, at the end of 1958
the JUPITER program was at an impasse, a situation it
had experienced many times before.
For all practical purposes, little in the way of training
was accomplished during the first half of 1959
although several false starts were made. For one thing
a government-to-government agreement was
concluded with Italy on 27 March, and it was thought
that deployment could commence. However, there
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105. Hist of the JUP Tng Pro, pp. 36-37.
106. Hist, ABMA, Jul-Dec 58, pp. 19-20, Hist Off files.