1 hour ago, norfolkandchance said:

I was at JOC Maarstricht the same time. Endex,Down the pub.

PROTO was several minutes walk, maybe 1,000+ feet and then a left turn through those blast doors.  The U.S. 6th Fleet in the Med had a Fleet Broadcast and the TARE computer, a PDP model, switching center to relay teletype messages.  The routing indicator was RXFE.  The PROTO link had this comment by myself: "Terry W Colvin here. I worked the Tunnel 4 communications center at Bagnoli. Recall the NATO war games (CIMEX/WINTEX) at Proto 1977 to 1980. Those of us living at those no longer existing apartment towers at Pineta Mare had the option of taking the bus back to our homes which I did. We had five children and my wife did not drive. When the Iran hostage crisis broke o/a November 4, 1979, we were working the war game at Proto. When the teletypes started to go silent we knew that something big had happened. Rumors that an airborne division would be deployed to Turkey began to circulate. As we know that did not happen. Good to read the stories here. A great assignment and the best shift duty I've ever had. Terry, now living a few miles south of Hua Hin, Thailand. "

 

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/proto-former-nato-allied-forces-europe-southern-europe-afsouth-underground-hq/

The long abandoned facility is no more.  I wonder if there is a replacement somewhere near Naples.

Another comment re PROTO: "Obligatory CC-1 note excerpted from the comments:
 Anonymous
@ 2013-09-01 10:31:50
1977-1979 -- Lived in the barracks in Bldg D on AFSOUTH. Since I was a day worker I had to ride a bus for an hour to get to Proto. There was always one or two games of hearts or spades being played in aisle between the seats. Man, this is bringing back memories. I was there when the DoD offered AFSOUTH a connection into the AUTODIN system. Trouble was, the slowest they could communicate was 600 baud and the fastest line in Proto's system was 300 baud. Luckily, we were able alter the computer software to poll the AUTODIN line often enough to pass traffic successfully. Yes, we were using a computer, a Dec PDP 1135, to move traffic from one NATO teletype machine to another. The wonders of technology.

 

Fortean1's comment today: Yes, that was a Mode V circuit to the ASC, AUTODIN Switching Center, in Coltano, Italy.  Their routing indicator was RUFLCSA.  Our routing indicators were RXFEAA and RXFEAD.  I recall we sent a few messages weekly and received almost nothing.

 

Terry