That wasn’ t his only embarrassment: “At the Signal Corps, | accidentally flushed my top secret badge down the toilet. It took a lot of official paperwork and the notation ‘irretrievably lost’ to finally get a new badge. Also, in 1954, the McCarthy paranoia was paramount. |, and fellow civilians--and military personnel, | assume--had to empty our lunchboxes and briefcases for inspection every time we entered the building.” Five months after he had begun as a civilian scientist, George was drafted. In the army, he was assigned to the 82" Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He was a “leg,” though. Instead of jumping out of an airplane, his job was to maintain all radios, phones and electrical equipment. He also started the U.S. Helicopter Square Dance Team to demonstrate the mobility of helicopters. When assigned KP (Kitchen Police), rather than peel potatoes, he scheduled helicopter square dance practice. Eight months after Sputnik, his team began working on the design of the world’ s_ first communication _ satellite, SCORE (Signal Communications Orbit Relay Equipment). “There were no reference books, precedents, or Google for information. We were the pioneers. It’ s HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015429