A barber for nearly 45 years, Mr. Rodney Tucker has seen "very little'' change in men's hair styles.

That's because Mr. Tucker has been working his scissors at the US Naval Air Station, slated to close on September 1.

"There's been very limited change in the military,'' the 64-year-old Smith's Parish resident told The Royal Gazette . Since he started in December of 1950, "I've gone through three lots of military,'' he said.

"It was an Air Force Base, and they tended to wear theirs a little longer.

The Army was here, and their hair was shorter.'' The Navy, which took over the Base in 1970, was in between, while the Marines wore their hair the shortest of all.

Even when someone turned up in civilian clothes, "I could almost tell by the hair cut'', what branch of the services they were in, Mr. Tucker said.

Mr. Tucker is among 368 civilians who were employed at the US Naval Air Station as of February 1, of which 100 were Bermudian. They will all lose their jobs when the Navy pulls out on September 1, although some will be rehired by Government contractors running the Base.

The number of civilian employees is already down sharply from the 1960s, when the workforce peaked.

"When I first started out here, we had six, eight, or maybe ten barbers at one time,'' said Mr. Tucker, known to his customers as `Mr. T'. "This was a busy barber shop. We're down to one barber now.'' He went to work as an apprentice at the Base right after graduating from the Berkeley Institute. American Mr. William Snyder, who held the barber's concession on the Base, offered to train him.

Unlike a barber shop in town, "work in a military shop, it's more like an assembly line'', Mr. Tucker said. "It was one after another,'' and no more than 10 to 15 minutes was to be spent on a single haircut.

Precision was also important. Hair "couldn't touch the ears, and it couldn't touch the collars on the shirts.'' And on top, "it couldn't be any longer than their identification cards.'' A nephew of the Talbot Brothers, Mr. Tucker has also worked as an entertainer, playing accordion and piano with his uncles and a group called the Talbot Nephews. "I think I did one of the first live TV shows on the Island here, when they had TV on the Base.'' He was also choir director at the Base chapel for many years and is now an organist at Wesley Methodist Church.

Mr. Tucker and his wife Wynette have two sons, Mr. Gil Tucker of Kempe & Whittle and Mr. Greg Tucker of the Bank of Bermuda. He enjoyed his job and said he will miss the Americans.

"Bermuda's going to miss this whole Base,'' he said.

Mr. Tucker has worked at the Base a long time. But he is by no means the longest-serving Bermudian.

For Mr. Arthur Burchall of Pembroke, who turns 70 in May, it will be 52 years in June. For Gladwin C. Peniston, of St. George's, it will be 50 years in July. Mr. George Washington of St. George's also started at the Base in 1945.

Although the possibility of the Base closure was not new, the reality took all of them, as well as Mr. Tucker, by surprise.

"I wasn't expecting anything,'' said Mr. Burchall, a foreman in grounds maintenance. "I thought the Base would always be here. All the other ones were going down, but I thought this one would stay up.'' "It had been talked about off and on, but it had never happened, so I wasn't really expecting it,'' said Mr. Washington, who spent most of his time on the Base as a driver before switching to purchasing in 1970. "After a while, you think it's a ghost story.'' "My big disappointment is going to be, with all the farewell parties we've attended over the years, we're not going to have one,'' said Mr. Peniston, who worked mostly in the maintenance area, working his way from an apprentice to supervisor of heavy equipment mechanics. "Maybe they'll let us present the key to John Swan.'' All the men said they enjoyed their jobs. "This has been my second home,'' Mr. Burchall said. "It's been the only job I've had from a teenager. "I could have retired here four or five years ago, but I stayed on. I like the job. I'm active, and I exercise every day with the Commander.'' "In my department, we are in the heart of the Base,'' Mr. Peniston said.

"We maintain the most important equipment, like the fire trucks. We've got to keep that Airport in readiness. Our mission was always a challenge. We don't have too many dull moments.'' They remember seeing world figures like Winston Churchill and Harry Truman on the Base. And they remember the blimps, giant US Navy airships, which were occasional visitors to the Base between 1954 and 1961, and were used for anti-submarine warfare.

Civilians will be finishing up at the Base at different times up to August 25, with firefighters among an early group that is done at the end of May, a US Navy spokesman said.

Local businesses will be invited to a Job Fair at the Base on March 20 and 21, when they can meet some of the talent coming on to the job market with the closure.

Farewell events for those at the Base are planned in March, with an official ceremony marking the handover planned for June 2.

Mr. Gladwin C. Peniston Mr. Arthur Burchall ASSEMBLY LINE -- Mr. Rodney Tucker, a barber at the US Base since 1950, says he can tell what branch of the armed forces a man is in just by looking at his haircut. A military barber shop was like an "assembly line,'' with 15 minutes allowed per cut.

Mr. George Washington