Son of Former Redstone Commander Visits Post

He wore a sports shirt, a friendly smile and a visitor badge. But he wasn't a typical visitor to Redstone Arsenal.

Mike Shinkle, 66, of Phoenix, Ariz., spent some of his childhood at Redstone in the 1950s. A decade later, he returned as a Soldier student at the Ordnance Guided Missile School. June 29 marked his first time back at Redstone since 1965.

"And it's changed a little," Shinkle quipped. "It's really grown. They still have some of the things I remember, and a lot of them are gone - like my old house is gone."

He was one of three children - a son and two daughters -- of Maj. Gen. John Shinkle, who commanded the Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency from 1958-60. His father, who left to become commander of White Sands Missile Range, N.M., was retired when he died in Phoenix in 1965 and is buried at West Point, N.Y.

Mike Shinkle attended class at OGMS in 1964-65. "I came here as a private and left as an E-4 (specialist)," he said. He left for Germany then attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. He stayed at Benning as an instructor at the Infantry School, went to Fort Bragg, N.C., for special warfare school and then went to Vietnam as an adviser. He was in Vietnam from 1969-70.

Shinkle left the Army as a first lieutenant in 1970 after more than five years service. He is retired from General Dynamics in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he worked as an electrical engineer.

Shinkle and his wife, Beverley, were escorted June 29 by Mary Compton, who retired in January from the Program Executive Office for Aviation. The Shinkles have three grown sons.

"It's still pretty at 'Squirrel Hill,'" Shinkle said, referring to the former site of his Redstone home. "It's always been a nice area. And the city's grown. When I first came here, the city was about 40,000 (people)."

John Shinkle was a brigadier general when he served as the first commander of ARGMA, which existed from April 1, 1958 until Dec. 11, 1961. His successor was Brig. Gen. John Zierdt. ARGMA and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency were abolished in December 1961 and their functions and people were merged with the then Army Ordnance Missile Command, according to the Aviation and Missile Command's Historical Office website.