Sometimes ya just need to decompress…
And that’s what we did. The usual suspects gathered to turn $$ into smoke and noise and eat, drink and solve whirled peas…
Sadly, it was as always too short a time, but I think everybody had a good time.
Turning around and making the trek back is always a downer, but I’ve got a smile on my face and the good memories will last for a long time!
Thanks to FarmFam for the gracious hosting, and to ALL the ladies for the great food!!!
This one is a ‘generic’ recruiting poster, not just military, but was a lead up to the victory bonds, and the other material drives…
Interestingly, the quote used is actually from Lincoln’s Gettysburg address… I have seen a slightly different version, with Roosevelt’s day of infamy quote, but I can’t find it…
Light blogging and little/no commenting, I’m ‘otherwise’ occupied…
Go read the folks on the sidebar… I’ll be at the range…
And I’d like to thank those who’ve given me feedback on The Grey Man- Payback. They mean a lot, especially when folks say it brings back good memories of people they knew growing up. That means I got it pretty close to right in what I was trying to do with the book…
It just doesn’t pay to fall out of bed in the morning…
Sigh…
Had an offsite meeting yesterday, and of course it was early, so I had to fight traffic. Since I refuse to drive through DC, I got to go ‘play’ on 395/495 in morning rush…
So I ‘finally’ get to the facility, and oops, gotta go through a security check. Okay fine…
Go in, fill out the paperwork…
Get the vehicle inspected… Open the doors, glove box, back hatch…
Tap, tap, tap… Finally cleared, get a pass into the facility…
Go to the gate I’m supposed to go in, get ANOTHER pass, drive around for 5 minutes, NO parking places…
Back out, ask guard…
Words to the effect of “Overflow parking is about 1/2 mile back ‘thataway’…
Drive back find the right lot (making sure BOTH passes are visible). Finally find a spot all the way out at the back of the lot. Hike back to the personnel gate, only to be told ‘I’ can’t go through that one, walk another two blocks to the vehicle gate…
FINALLY get into the building 10 minutes before the meeting starts… Get ANOTHER pass, wait in line…
Get in the meeting, spend 15 minutes waiting for everybody in the building to show up. No coffee, no restroom close…
Meeting finally ends, hike back to the truck, and they’re PAVING the damn entry to the parking lot… You can’t leave I’m told…
Watch me… drive across the grass, jump the curb, and I’m outta there!
Get back to the office, go to laminate my new CWP. And… the damn laminator eats it!!!
Sigh… Back down to the courthouse, back up stairs and stand in line. ‘Present’ my little problem, the lady literally burst out laughing… And calls over co-workers. And they all laugh…
The lady finally comes back, still snickering, and apologized, but she said she’d NEVER seen one that badly mangled. She disappears with it, and about 20 minutes later, I get another one…
With a cheap shot of, “You really need to use a better laminator.” And a chuckle… At least she didn’t charge me!
To add insult to injury, my back decided to spasm as I was leaving work.
I would ask for a do over, but I’m not sure what ELSE would go wrong…
Digging WAY back in the vault…
Of memories, and the few operating brain cells that remember…
Setting the way back machine to 1974-5 thanks to a conversation last night with an old shipmate, he sent me a picture of the bar map from Olongopo, RP from 1973 (note- These were probably good for two or three days… Then somebody would change their bar’s name, and the Shore Patrol would have to go re-do it)…
Clicken to embiggen
There were over 100 bars and ‘restaurants’ in about 4-5 blocks of Magsaysay… interestingly, ‘our’ bars were on the first street to the right, Gordon Avenue, and NONE of them are listed…LOL
The picture below is from the cruise book from 1975, kinda says it all… The Mayaguez rescue, Jenny the donkey in Diego Garcia, and a monkey in the BOQ at Cubi eating popcorn it had stolen from a room…
The donkey loved beer, and would actually drink it from the can (until she got too drunk, then she’d go lean against the Butler hut that was our ‘hangar’)…
A ‘normal’ road trip was 6 weeks, 7 countries and about 11-12,000 miles of just transits, not counting the operational flying…
Fun stuff, and good memories (the bad ones have been long forgotten)! An interesting side note, we never called ourselves ‘combat’ air crews, just alpha crews (You had to complete multiple qualifications to meet all the requirements to actually be certified to perform all the P-3’s missions).
I think this would come under the heading of ‘conflicted’…
It’s purple with sparkles…
But…
Sooo… Would ‘you’ carry something like this???
Ladies??? (No, I’m NOT going there, I know better)
Larry is doing a book bomb for Brad Torgersen’s first book, Chaplain’s War. Go help out if you enjoy the MilSF!
Brad is another military guy that’s now writing, and doing damn good at it!
Thanks to all of you that have purchased book two in the series! Thanks also to Momma Fargo for identifying an issue with Amazon, as the paperback and kindle weren’t properly linked, but I’m working on it. Hopefully will have that sorted out this week.
Dead tree books have been ordered and hopefully will be here today (hoping for yesterday but they didn’t make it). I’ll get the copies out to the alpha and beta readers as soon as I can, along with those that have requested signed copies.
For those who contributed to the KTKC fund raiser, I’ve ordered books for y’all and hope to have them out in two weeks. Mea culpa for not having them on hand… I honestly didn’t think that many of you wanted copies.
I also want to thank those of you who’ve taken the time to comment via email on Payback. I do appreciate the feedback, the constructive criticism, and yes, there is a third book in the works. And no, it won’t be out before Christmas… Sorry…
To those who caught the ‘easter egg’ on the cover, that was Mrs. Garceau‘s idea, and she executed it flawlessly! 🙂
Now back to the salt mines… er… writing…
Oh yeah, and the first book just went to four figures in sales! Thank you, thank you!!!
Yep, they DO run…
Need some land plowed???
Centurion heading out to ‘play’…
And a series of rifles…
03, 03A3, M-1, M-1 Carbine, all with bayonets… Drool…
Edit- Thanks to Roger, the second one down is actually an Eddystone in .30.
And stepping forward a generation- M-14 to the M-16 Note- NO forward assist… Vietnam issue weapons, along with a LAW, and machete…
Two more versions of the M-16A1. Note the different flash hiders- Upper was Army, lower was apparently issued to the Air Force… And forward assist.
And since we’re talking Nam…
And it’s NOT an airsoft… 🙂
Normally I’d do a WWII poster today, but since we were at the tank show I decided to do something a bit different today.
At breakfast yesterday we had a great discussion on America’s ability to step up and do what needed to be done.
Singer made 1911s, Saginaw made M-1s, and Cadillac made tanks!
This is part of a magazine spread from early 1943.
As Prof Hale said, it wasn’t about wanting to do the work, it was NEEDING to do it. Need a furnace? Here, go look at these guys. Got it? Okay, build one and we’ll send somebody over with the build to specs. First articles are due in 30 days.
AND THEY DID IT!
Nothing about we need to get approval, we don’t have the people, yada, yada. They just DID it…
And they didn’t change designators every time they made a change either…
Original M-4 Sherman tank… Cast armor
Later M-4 Sherman tank… Welded
Next week I’ll get back on ‘track’ so to speak…