My first Navy assignment was Naval Communication Station United Kingdom, Scotland — a tight-knit command of about 200 personnel supporting critical submarine communications closest to the then-Soviet Union, plus HF and SATCOM operations. The local Scots welcomed us Yanks as part of their community. We worked hard and played harder. I served there 1985–1990; the base closed in 1992.
Last week, I returned with my wife and daughter.
The communications building where I worked is now a Scotch whisky distillery. The ground floor operates as the distillery itself – but it was the basement that drew me back. That space, once home to Tech Control and the Message Center, where the most sensitive equipment and material lived, is where I asked to go.
They said yes.
That basement now houses barrels quietly aging toward their 12-year release. Our guide listened as I described what the space looked like 40 years ago. I wasn’t the first American to visit, but as he noted, everyone remembers it differently.
The room where I once pulled long nights resolving critical communications issues now does its own patient, unhurried work — maturing my spirit of choice.
My sincere thanks to North Point Distillery for the access. We’re hoping to make it back for the release date in 2028