I woke up feeling well-rested, fairly comfortable, and curious. Well-rested because I had apparently slept well into the morning; fairly comfortable because I was lying across the seat of the 2 1/2-ton fuel tanker I was assigned to drive and the seat was about two feet shorter than the driver so total comfort was not ever possible; and curious because it was fully light out and quiet as only a deep German woods can be. It shouldn't have been quiet. I had arrived in this wooded area about 0200 ...

Ditzy, blonde, and busty...she was a young SoCal fella's ideal.  One evening she told me she had a new favorite song, "Canada Dry".  She deduced that the singer was saying that when your baby says good-bye, you need Canada Dry to mix with the booze you're gonna drink to forget her...or something like that.  It was a couple of days later when I heard the Buckingham's singing "Kind of a Drag" for the first time.  As my buddy Pat used to say, "She's shiny but not too bright". &n...

When the 4th Training Brigade closed its doors for good, most of the instructors and drill sergeants from all of its service schools were transferred to the newly activated 7th Infantry Division.  Most of the instructors from the drivers' school wound up in the 7th's Supply and Transport Battalion...B Company was a medium truck company in that battalion.  Some of us went to the 7th AG Company, the company where division's staff support personnel were assigned.  I was assigned to w...

In the days leading up to D-Day, General Eisenhower wrote two speeches.  One was the famous "Great Crusade" speech he gave to the troops as they prepared to mount the invasion of Fortress Europe.  Lots of people have heard that speech.  The other one, which very few people heard at the time, was kept private until after his death.  It was the "failure" speech...a short message, really.  The one he would deliver if the invasion had failed and we wound up repeating the Dun...

June 6th, 1944.  Please remember them and the sacrifices they made.

Just another sleepy, dusty, Delta day....

Hope you have a great one.  Also hope you can take just a minute and give a thought to what this day represents and why we have the day off.

Dragging my Slinky up to the top of Palm Ave was a struggle for a seven-year- old. Visiting the area a few years ago, I was amazed at how steep the hill wasn't. But at age seven, it seemed a mountain. I was displaying an unprecedented courage; we had been coasting down from Marshall, the next street up, but I was heading to the top, almost up to Cuyamaca. I figured that I would be the fastest coaster in the group and become a local hero. (For those of you in colder climes, you have to wait for...

The Great Blue Herons come every year in the spring; the males start arriving a few days before the females and scout out nesting sites in the "Rookery". They are clumsy nest builders and vulnerable to predator birds less than half their size, but they persist and provide awe and giggles for lots of folks. The local paper even made a front page story out of the fact that a local hawk nested in one of the rookery trees and defended it mightily; they ran an almost cartoonish picture of the hawk ...

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY TO ALL YOU MOTHERS AND THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO !!

You can jump on Interstate 8 in San Diego and go all the way to where it combines with I-10 in Arizona and be on freeway all the way. Wasn't always like that. In the sixties the freeway ended just past where it crossed over the top of Business 80, in El Cajon. It curved really hard to the left and then joined the Business 80 just south of Broadway. It remained a two-lane highway for quite a while, then had small stretches of freeway here and there. To anyone who is familiar with it now, with i...

I try to avoid Taco Bell most of the time. I mean...the food offered there is about right and some things they offer I like a lot. But I have had better...in fact...I believe I have had the best. The problem I have with Taco Bell stems from what it is...a fast food joint...and what it has done to the image that comes to most peoples' minds when you say "taco" (Jack in the Box and Burger King sell tacos that are closer to the truth and bless them for holding the line, but they lack the authenti...

In December of 1971 I got out of the Army after seven years active duty and three months Reserve. The "New Action Army" was to be made up of all volunteers. And a lot of the traditional controls and routines were being cast aside in favor of a more comfortable Army...comfortable for the pogues that drifted into it...not for those responsible for herding them. But that is grist for another mill. We left Fort Hood, Texas and moved to Phoenix, AZ. I am not sure what I expected, but it sure wasn't...

More Zen and cleaner Weapons... I sit down with the M-14 and begin the process again. Flip it upside down, pry the trigger guard out and lift the trigger mechanism out of the stock. This allows me to pull the receiver and stock apart... The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified that obesity in young people is a national security issue. Too many youngsters have to be turned away when they try to sign up for military service because they can't make the weight standards. This will ...

Since I mentioned Gary in my last post, I thought I would tell you his story; it is a good one. Gary was a Navy Chief. He was assigned to run the Command Distribution Center in the basement of the Headquarters Building at EUCOM. When he first came on board I asked him how a sailor managed to find himself in Stuttgart, Germany, miles and miles from the nearest ocean. He just shrugged and said he got "sea-sick". It was several months later, after we dealt with each other through the distribution...