I think it was the summer of 1968, we were living in a little apartment over a shoe repair shop in Lampertheim, Germany. We used to listen to an English radio station (Radio Luxemburg) in the evenings because AFN just played an hour of popular music and the brits played it all night long. It was cool to listen to, it sort of faded out and then it would come back in sometimes but it was music young 'uns like us liked. The British news reader (that was what they called him...no putting on...
Several times during my stay at the 301st we were tasked to do what we called, "drive-aways". We would be whisked off in a bus to someplace and pick up some one else's equipment and drive it to some place else. I am cryptic on purpose...these were usually classified and I don't know how long it is supposed to stay that way. Sometimes we had to train on special equipment before we could move it. It was a lot of fun. On this particular drive-away, we picked up the vehicles and stuff at ...
One of the missions of the 301st Trans (Fort Ord CA) was a general support of the depot activities in the western USA. One of the depots we saw a lot of was just outside Stockton, CA, in Lathrop. They transferred material and equipment from one depot to another, or to ports, or to end users. It usually meant a mission for about 15 tractor trailers lasting a week or more. It was TDY for the drivers (that meant extra money...), so these runs were pretty popular. The other mission of the ...
LH challenged me on my article about the guys in the barracks at Ft Huachuca. I claimed that the Article 15 I got because Cicely attacked the company clerk wasn't my fault. She said, "That's what they all say." She wants to hear the whole story. So here it is, you judge: It was very early in the morning and we were all about our normal get up activities. I was making my bunk and the clerk, one bunk over behind my wall locker, was starting his daily rant about what a crappy soldier Ci...
Rich was a Vietnam vet, a senior NCO, a native Missourian, and a friend of mine. He lived on the family farm commuting distance from Fort Leonard Wood, he was a hunter and fisherman, soldier, and farmer. Tracker makes boats, really nice aluminum bass boats that were the Cadillac of fishing boats. They were made just down the road from Fort Leonard Wood (a great place for huntin' and fishin') and every fishin' soldier at "Lost in the Woods" wanted one. At the time, mid eighties, a nice Bass T...
I came to the 515th in the summer of 1989. I was so very pleased to have been promoted and to finally achieved a career-long goal...I was the First Sergeant of a working truck company in Germany, a place where Army trucking is a real mission, real world, full time operational job. I couldn't wait to get into it. There was the added benefit that the company had a terrible reputation for lack of discipline, mission failures, and generally a mis-managed mess. The previous 1SG had been a buddy o...
On a sunny afternoon at the community park in Baumholder housing area, a lady came by with a little toy Yorkshire Terrier on a leash. The dog was spotlessly clean and brushed and with her long "feathers" as long as her legs, she looked like a hovercraft cruising by. MamieLady was about 12 years old at the time. She saw that Yorkie and her heart was nailed. Nothing was ever going to be right in the universe until she had one of her own. Fast forward a couple of years; we have moved to L...
Just a quick disclaimer, folks. Despite the similarity in handles, I am not in any way related or connected or in agreement with the perpetrator of the current flood on JU. When I first saw the name the other day I thought it may be confusing but managable, but when I went in to check the recent posts this evening I thought I had gotten her site by mistake. Whew! Anyway, she ain't mine and we ain't in the same corner.
There have been a few times in my life when things just sort of came together and it became clear what I should do. One of those times was in a pancake house on El Cajon Boulevard near the San Diego State Campus. I treated myself to an early lunch, late breakfast...brunch, I guess. Sirloin and eggs. It was pretty tasty as pancake house breakfasts go. I had left work early, feigning illness. I had driven around a little, settled on a surface street return to El Cajon as opposed to the freeway, j...
It is the 14th of July. It is the day in 1789 that the French Revolutionaries stormed the prison and let the prisoners out...they call it Bastille Day. Typical of the French, there were only seven prisoners in the prison at the time, but the event served to spur the revolution and is looked upon as a great step in creating modern France. So Happy Bastille Day. I always remember the date because it was on Bastille Day, 1967, when I got out of the Army the first time. I was at Fort H...
Three of us were loading at the small maintenance Kaserne behind the main barracks in Bamberg. Bamberg was a town with a tough reputation among the GIs. It had a large Kaserne with two different kinds of units,I think it was Artillery and Armor. And when they weren't practicing to go to war with the Russians, they were really going to war with each other...in the bars of Bamberg. The local labor force guys were loading three one-axle, pintle-towed, cargo trailers on each of our flatbed...
The number two son was at the age when he wanted a drivers license. We were in Ludwigsburg, he was working for the PX gas station in Stuttgart. He had a social life, and he felt that not having a car and a license was a serious crimp in his style. We went through a lot of hoops but finally the fates were kind and his dream car fell into his lap. A multi-colored 1977 TransAm (predominately faded black and rust, with some various shades of primer), a project car of one of my mechanics. The projec...
It is an old time-honored tradition that Army units field sports teams and compete. Each season produces its own following. Boxing, softball, basketball, flag football, volleyball and some others...racket sports are more individual but there are numerous tournaments for folks who prefer those kinds of activities. The tradition includes that the teams are mainly composed of enlisted and managed by NCOs...although lieutenants are often included and the odd commander or two will play in some sp...
I know this is hard to believe for those of you not old enough to remember a world before mail order restrictions clamped down. The Clamp Down started around the time it was discovered that Oswald had bought his guns mail order. Prior to that there was a booming (I crack myself up heeheeheeee) business in mail order guns. All kinds of guns. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, replicas, phonies, you name it, you could buy it and have it shipped right to your door. There was a booming black market in ...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USA !!! And all who in it are. You know how I feel about it, I hope you all feel the same way. I REFUSE to apologize to the world or anyone it for saying that this is the greatest nation on the Earth...because I am a speaker of truths.