Iceland in the 90’s

In this episode, Mike takes a break from Northern Michigan stories and heads far north—way far north—to share memories from his year living in Keflavik, Iceland in the early 1990s while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Life on the NATO Base Mike talks about being assigned to Naval Air Station Keflavik, a joint-base environment with Air Force, Navy, Marines, and other NATO personnel. He recounts working with the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron – the Black Knights, maintaining F-15 electrical and environmental systems, and occasionally pulling duty in “FISneyland,” the alert barn for interceptor operations. The Journey to Get There Before Iceland came a whirlwind of military orders: Originally headed to remote Galena, Alaska, the Air Force cancelled those orders at the last minute. The next day, new orders arrived sending him to Keflavik instead. He completed F-15 training at Tyndall AFB in Florida, drove across the country, shipped his belongings, and ultimately hopped a Hawaiian Airlines DC-8 from Philadelphia to Iceland—a strange but memorable experience. Daily Life Before the Internet Mike recalls what it was like living overseas before modern connectivity: Expensive phone calls back to the States ($1.06 per minute!) Mail arriving once a week on the “rotator” DC-8 Magazines being precious entertainment Trading software, playing early PC games, and marveling at a 286 computer with 1MB of RAM A handful of TV channels including AFRTS, BBC, RTL4, and Sky News/Sports Food, Weather, and Icelandic Oddities Mike shares a mix of practical and quirky details: The legendary Icelandic hot dogs (a recurring theme!) Navy chow halls, the USO, and Friday fish fries with cod caught the same day Wild weather with winds over 100 mph, handrails along sidewalks, and dumpsters blowing around Surprisingly mild temperatures thanks to the Gulf Stream Extreme daylight shifts—near-constant darkness in winter and 24-hour light in summer Exploring Iceland During his tour, Mike bought a quirky little Škoda 120 and used it to explore beyond the base. He describes: Driving through the first roundabouts he’d ever seen Visiting the Hard Rock Café in Reykjavik, where one of his Idaho ham-radio license plates hung from the ceiling Cheap hops on Navy P-3 “airline-style” flights to London or Shannon, Ireland Customs rules that prohibited gas cans, extra cigarettes, and oddly… cassette tapes Looking Back Mike reflects on how much Iceland has changed—from relatively untouched in the early ’90s to a major European travel destination today. He also notes a past interview he did on the All Things Iceland podcast in May 2020, sharing more of his experiences from that era.   I appeared on an episode of All Things Iceland Episode 61 in May of 2020.