My Neice Kim Called

Kim is my brother's daughter from his first marriage. The other day she called to tell me she'd just heard from my step mom that Barbara has passed away and how sorry she was to hear the news. She also told me how touched she was those many years ago when we helped her out. That thats the reason she called me once in a while to say hello and to keep in touch.

We were on the phone for almost an hour talking about many different things. She is living in North Carolina, is married to a medic in the army and has two children. Her husband is assigned to and infantry company in the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. He is home right now on R&R for two weeks. I talked to him for a while and we exchanged stories about each others army service. He's very interested in knowing more about my time in Vietnam so I'm giving him my Vietnam Story blog url. He's going to share it with guys in his unit, because he's sure they would all be interested in reading about it too.

Kim had a tough time growing up. She has cancer when she was nine and was in trouble a lot in her teens. They finally had to put her in a place for problem teen girls. While she was there, she called me asked me to bring her some things she needed. She told us that no one was visiting her, not even her mom, step father or my brother, who is her father. I told her we would be there on visiting day, which was Saturday.

Barbara and I went shopping before we went and picked her up some toiletries and a few things to wear. We went back each weekend to visit her until she was released. Her mother had come once or twice, but never my brother. After she was released, she stayed with a girl friend. We picked her up one afternoon and took her shopping for clothes. She hardly had anything so we bought her quite a bit. We didn't hear from her for about a year.

When she did call, she asked me to help her out again. Gave me a sob story about how she was didn't have any money and needed our help again. She was bouncing around from place to place and couldn't keep a job. This time I wasn't so generous. We figured she was just trying to take advantage of our generosity,

It was several years before she called again. I could tell by her voice that she was a very different girl than the one I'd spoken to years earlier. She told me she was working at a dinner as a waitress near were my brother lived. She asked me if Barbara and I would come there for dinner one evening so she could visit with us. We agreed and went there a few days later.

She was so happy to see us and gave us big hugs and couldn't stop thanking us for all we did for her when she was having trouble. Her coworkers all told us how highly she spoke of us. We had a good visit and left feeling a lot better about helping her out.

Every once and a while over the years I'd get a call from Kim. One time she called to tell me she had gotten married, twice to tell me she had a baby. Each time she asked me to call her dad and ask him to call her. He usually did and even visited her off and on over the years too. I never understood why he didn't see here more often. They only lived about 20 minutes a part. Now that she's living in North Carolina, who knows when hell see her again.

Flash Back to 1948

This is a picture of my mom, my future Uncle Johnnie and his wife, my future Aunt Esther on John's and Ester wedding day. The reason I say "future", is because I wasn't born yet. In November of that year, but not yet.

Yea, I know I'm not in this picture, but use your imagination, I'm still ovum and sperm.

Happy HNT and be sure to check out Lori's blog this week. She's in pain, so I'm sure she needs sympathy.

Chapter 4: Basic Training - Part 6

While going through my '1968 Basic Training Yearbook', I was amazed at just how much I'd forgotten. Things like eating shit-on-a-shingle, the 10-mile strolls to the rifle range, the enticing scents of the gas chamber and everyones favorite pass time, KP. I was trying to figure out how to write about everything, so you'd get a good picture in your minds about exactly what it was like. I'm sure that many things have changed since I went through basic, but I'm also sure it's not all that much different either. Then it hit me. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll scan things in the book that are relevant, post them on my blog and write a little about them all. So here you go, my life as a trainee at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1968.

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KP:


There was a mess hall in each company area. Ours was right next to my barracks. That's why the cooks stayed in a room upstairs in it. The mess hall's day started early, so when you had KP, the man on night fire guard was responsible for waking you up. Somewhere around 4:00 am if I recall. You did everything dirty there was to do like cleaning tables, mopping floors, washing dishes, scrubbing pots and pans, even scrubbing the garbage pails and cleaning out the grease traps. We ate potatoes with every meal, so there were always tons of them to peel. We peeled them all by hand with a paring knife.

We were issued a meal card that you had to show to a mess cook before they would allow you to eat in the mess hall. Here's my meal card.

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Barracks:

Our barracks were old wooden buildings built in the 1940s as "temporary" housing for soldiers during training in WWII. The photos below are excellent example of the thing we were responsible for in and around the barracks. Our foot lockers MUST be organized exactly as we were instructed. No deviation was allowed or the drill sergeant would usually dump it out and make you keep at it until you got it right. The bunks had to be made perfectly too or the mattress and linens would be dumped on the floor until it was made correctly. Many guys either slept on the floor or on top of the covers so it would get messed up. Mail call was the high light of every day. I loved getting mail. So if you know anyone in the service, please write them or email them so they can keep in touch. We were allowed to make a limited amount of phone calls. I always called home.

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Inspection:


The army inspected everything and everybody. They inspected us, our uniforms, foot lockers, wall lockers, weapons, the inside of our barracks, the outside of our barracks, under our barracks, hell, they inspected everything we touched. If it didn't pass you caught hell, if it did pass, they hardly said a word. One morning we were standing in formation and the drill sergeant found one guy that hadn't shaved that morning. Did he just punish the offender, oh no. He punished us all. We were a team and when one man failed, everyone failed. He sent us all back into the barracks to get our razors. While the drill sergeant and the drill corporal closely watch us, he made us dry shave. That means that we had to shave our faces without using shaving cream or even water. Then he sent a man to company head quarters to get a gallon of mimeograph fluid. The fluid is basically an alcohol based fluid used in the predecessor to today's copy machine. Then he walked around, poured a little in each persons hands and made us rub it on our faces like it was shaving lotion, and you men know how much that can burn. HOLY CRAP! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! Man did that shit burn! He told us that from now on, we were to keep our razors in our shirt pocket. Next time someone didn't shave, we would all have to do this again. We never did.

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We went through all different types of training during basic. Some fun and some not fun at all. Training consisted of many different subjects all of which you had to be proficient in to graduate from basic. I used to play "War" all the time with my friends when we were kids and during a lot of the training, it was almost like I was playing it all over again.

Basic Combat Training is divided into three phases. During Phase I, recruits are subject to "Total Control," meaning their every action is monitored and constantly corrected by drill sergeants. The first week of training is commonly referred to as "Hell Week," due to the intense period of adjustment required on the part of the new recruits. Marches are common throughout basic training. For this and many other exercises, soldiers are issued fake rifles known as "rubber ducks," so that they can become familiar with the proper handling of their weapon before they have actually been trained to use it. Recruits are sent to the "gas chamber" during Phase I, as part of training for defensive chemical warfare. They are also introduced to their standard-issue weapon, the M16-A2 (with us, it was an M14) assault rifle. Phase II is where Soldiers begin actually firing weapons. With the assault rifle (M14). Other weapons the recruit becomes familiarized with include various grenades (such as the M67 fragmentation grenade) and grenade launchers (such as the M203). Recruits are then familiarized with the bayonet, anti-tank/armor weaponry and other heavy weapons. There is also an obstacle course which the soldiers are expected to negotiate in certain amount of time. Additionally, there is continual, intense PT, as well as drill and ceremony training. At the conclusion of Phase II, soldiers are expected to demonstrate proficiency with the various weaponry in which they trained. Phase III "Blue Phase" is the culmination and the most challenging of all the training phases. During the first week, there is a PT final. Recruits that fail are not allowed to go into the field with the rest of the platoon. The final PT Test consists of the Standard Army Annual PT Examination. A minimum of 150 points is required to pass US Army Basic Training. Those that pass will move on to "Bivouwac" (camping) and FTX (Field Training Exercises), such as nighttime combat operations. Drill sergeants will make much of this an adversarial process, working against the recruits in many of the night operations, trying to foil plans, etc.

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Physical Training:



JUMPING JACKS, PUSH UP, PULL UPS, SQUAT THRUSTS! We had physical training, or PT as it was called all the frigging time. Most of us weren't in that good of shape, so we needed it to get into condition to make it through basic training. If you couldn't handle it all, you didn't graduate from basic, simple as that. None of the drill instructors EVER wanted to have any of there men not graduate. I'm sure it was a reflection on them in one way or another.

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Hand to Hand Combat and Pugil Stick:


This was kind of scary. Not that I was afraid of doing it, but scared that some day I may have to use these skills in combat. There was no frigging way I EVER wanted to get that close to the enemy.

Hand-to-hand combat is an engagement between two or more persons in an empty-handed struggle or with hand held weapons such as knives, sticks, and rifles with bayonets.

Hand to hand combat is a crash course in martial arts, including boxing and wrestling. It was a lot of fun beating up on each other. Sometimes you got paired up with a DI and even though he'd kick your ass, it felt good getting in a shot or two.

A pugil stick is a heavily padded training weapon used by military personnel for bayonet training since the 1930s or 1940s. Similar to a quarterstaff or Japanese bo, the pugil stick may be marked at one end to indicate which portion represents the bayonet proper and which the butt of the rifle.

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CBR - Chemical, Biological and Radiological:


This was our introduction to gas attacks. I disliked this training more than anything else. First we practiced putting the gas mask on and getting it make a good seal. Then they sent us into a sealed concrete bunker with a DI or two. One time they released chlorine gas and made us take our masks off. Then we had to stand there for what seemed like forever before they let us out. If you could hold your breath a long time, you had it made. If not, you coughed your lungs out. The worst part of this training was without a gas mask. One time they made us all sit in a group on the ground. We were instructed not to get up or run away when they released the gas. Next they popped a canister up wind from us. We felt the effects immediately.

CS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called o-Chlorobenzylidene Malononitrile) a substance that is used as a riot control agent and is claimed to be non-lethal. The chemical reacts with moisture on the skin and in the eyes causing a burning sensation and the immediate forceful and uncontrollable shutting of the eyes. Reported effects can include tears streaming from the eyes, running nose full of mucus, burning in the nose and throat areas, disorientation, dizziness and restricted breathing. In highly concentrated doses it can also induce severe coughing and vomiting.CS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called o-Chlorobenzylidene Malononitrile) a substance that is used as a riot control agent and is claimed to be non-lethal. The chemical reacts with moisture on the skin and in the eyes causing a burning sensation and the immediate forceful and uncontrollable shutting of the eyes. Reported effects can include tears streaming from the eyes, running nose full of mucus, burning in the nose and throat areas, disorientation, dizziness and restricted breathing. In highly concentrated doses it can also induce severe coughing and vomiting.

Of course a bunch of guys took off running, a lot just stood up like me and then others stayed on the ground. The guys that ran away had to go through it again.

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Bayonets:


"FIX BAYONETS! Then they had us go through the drills you learned with the pugil stick. They had some straw filled dummies we practiced stabbing too.

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First Aid:


You better pay attention here. We all carried at least one bandage with us in Vietnam. You never know if you'll be called upon to use it to dress your buddy's wound or even your own.

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Drill and Ceremonies:


"FALL IN! DRESS RIGHT DRESS!" Those are the orders we received more time than I can count. If we ALL did it correctly, we were standing in formation with straight ranks and everyone evenly spaced. "ORDER ARMS! RIGHT SHOULDER ARMS!" Damn, that rifle got heavy after awhile or practicing these drills. Then there was the marching. Oh how we did march. Frigging everywhere. Sometimes we had to stay in step with double timing! Oh what fun that was. ;-)

The one thing that helped everyone stay in step when we were marching, was cadence.

In the armed services, a military cadence or cadence call is a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching.

Here's an example something we sang often.

They Say That In The Army

They say that in the Army the coffee's mighty fine
It looks like muddy water and tastes like turpentine
Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH!
They say that in the Army the chow is mighty fine
a chicken jumped off the table and started marking time
Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH!
They say that in the Army the biscuits are mighty fine
one rolled off the table and killed a friend of mine
Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH!
They say that in the Army the training's might fine
last night there were ten of us, now there's only nine
Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH!
They say that in the Army the pay is mighty fine
they give you a hundred dollars and take back ninety-nine
Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH

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25-Meter Range:


This is the first rifle range you go to and where you learn the fundamentals of marksmanship. These are the targets I shot at on the first day at the range. The one on the left was from the morning and the one on the right the afternoon. I fired a 22 cal while I was growing up in Florida, so had some idea how handle a rifle. Not bad for my first day at the range with an M-14 with unlined sights.

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Target Detection:


This training teaches you how to spot the enemy when your on patrol or on guard duty. You are taught how to scan the area and spot "targets" they have placed as you walk through it.

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Field Firing:


Here we fired at targets about the size of a man that popped up out of a trench. When you hit the target it dropped back down.

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Train Fire:


This range is where you learned all of the different firing positions. We practiced here quite a bit. Practice, practice, practice. You won't do well when you qualify if you practice firing your weapon.

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Record Firing:


This range has firing positions at different distance from the targets. When you hit one it goes down. A scorer keeps track. If you fail to qualify the first time, you go back for retraining and keep trying until you do. I qualified as a Sharpshooter with the M-14.

RATING STANDARD

EXPERT
36-40

SHARPSHOOTER
30-35

MARKSMAN
23-29

UNQUALIFIED
22-BELOW

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Cleaning Weapons:


Obviously when your done firing for the day, you have to clean your weapon. You completely disassemble it, clean it and apply a light coating of oil to the metal parts. Then the DI is usually the one to check it out and make sure you did a through job. If not, you do it over until he's satisfied.

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Bayonet Assault Course:


This was another thing I hoped I'd never have to do in combat. Who in their right mind would want to stand up and charge the enemy and try to stab them, all while they are firing at you? Not me that's for sure.

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Individual Tactical Training:


This was kind of cool. You crawled on your belly through this course, while making believe you were sneaking up on the enemy. We became good at crawling, because every morning, we crawled the length of a canvas mat stretched out on the ground at one end of the company area that we had to do a belly crawl on every day. We learned that when you use both your arms and feet together, you go a lot slower than if you pushed mostly with your feet and slide along the ground on your chest. That method didn't do much good when your carrying your weapon in your arms.

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Hand Grenade:


FIRE IN THE HOLE! Now this was cool! When we were kids and played army, we made believe we were tossing grenades a lot. Now we actually got to do it. We practiced a lot with dummy hand grenades and then got to throw a live one. The instructor stood in a bunker with you and then handed you a hand grenade. If you did what you were trained to do, everything was fine. But if you were like one asshole in my company, you fucked up and almost killed yourself and the instructor. MAN! Did he catch hell for that one! We only threw one in basic, but in Vietnam, I threw quite a few. We tossed them in about any hole was saw when we were on patrol. Every where there were vent holes for the tunnel system in the Cu Chi area where we were. When we found what looked like a tunnel entrance, we'd tossed a hand grenade in it. We blew up lots of stuff there.

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Guard Duty:


Guard duty SUCKED! From day one in the reception station we all took turns standing fire watch guard duty. You always wanted to be the first one to stand guard. It was only for an hour, I think, so while everyone was trying to get to sleep, you walked guard. You got to sleep just a little later than everyone else. The worst guard duty was the last one. That meant you had to get up extra early and sleep was very precious.

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Confidence Course:


This course was used to help you build your confidence. It was made sufficiently difficult, so when you completed everything, you gained confidence in your self as well as gained confidence in others when they successfully completed the course too.

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Infiltration Course:


This simulated actual combat as best as it could. You started at one end and crawled 100 yards to the other end on your belly. You cradled your weapon in your arms and crawled across and under barriers and barbed wire. We did this course at night. The pits you see in the picture had explosives in them. They set them off randomly as we all crawled along. Scares the living piss out of you. All the while someone is sitting in a tower firing live rounds from an M60 machine gun over your head. You can here the bullets and see the red tracer rounds as they whizzed by.

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Marches and Bivouac:


Camping! We marched a long frigging way with full pack and our weapons to the bivouac site. Then we joined our tent half with someone else's and put up the tent. We dug foxholes and then ate a meal with our "mess kit". That night, we were taken to someplace some distance from camp and told to find our way back using our compass and the things were have been trained. This was so cool!

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Technique of Fire:


Here's where we learned how to direct our fire in a simulated fire fight. We had designated areas to cover. When your in combat you are usually side by side in your perimeter and must cover your area. The rest of the guys cover theirs. That way the entire perimeter is covered by someone. This is where the Target Detection training came in handy.

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Close Combat:


Here you learn to work as a team while approaching and objective. You can cover a lot more area spread out than moving in the typical single file.

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Night Fire:


This one is done at night, so I'm not sure why it shows this in day light. While scanning for the imaginary enemy, they shoot off flares over head. They tell you to to close one eye and keep looking. That way you don't totally loose your night vision. We all got a chance to look through a hight vision scope too. It turns night into day, but everything is green.

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Physical Combat Proficiency Test:


They run you through this course a number of different times while your in basic. It's used to see test your level of conditioning.

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End of Cycle Proficiency Test:


This was the make you or break you test. If you passed, you graduated basic training, if not, you didn't, then you were left back and had to go to a special kind of basic to get you in shape. Nobody that failed was discharged. That would be too easy. We were told that those that achieved a particular high score, would be allowed to go on leave into Columbia on the weekend. This would be the first time we were allowed off base in something like 8 weeks. I busted my ass and made it! After everyone finished, they told those that qualified that we had a decision to make. That either just the group of men that qualified could go into town, or we could vote to let everyone go. Of course we voted to let everyone go. We all had a ball!

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That was pretty much the end of basic training for us. All that was left to do now was to practice for the graduation ceremony. Graduation! That word was music to our ears.

What will they think of next?

WARNING: THIS SHIT IS KINKY!
AND
IF YOU CLICK ON THE LINK, YOU WILL SEE BOOBIES.

Yesterday I was browsing the TMZ web site and came across a piece about Vulva Original vaginal scent. It's being marketed by SmellMeAnd.com. No shit, it's a scent that smells like a woman's love muffin.

This is too kinky even for me.

Why Did I Ever Buy Lori That Camera HNT?

WHAT WAS I THINKING? TELL ME, WHAT WAS I THINKING?


Happy HNT Y'all!

Lori caught me off guard in another picture. That ones on her blog this week. Yes, she's back and on a mission.

PS
I swear, she just caught me mid blink.

The Dead Guy

Recently I saw a message in Classmates.com by the niece of someone I was friends with in high school, Tom 'Stretch' Williams. Stretch passed away the year before his niece was born and she is interested in finding out as much as she can about her family. I contacted her and we have exchanged a couple of emails. She asked me a lot of question, most of which I couldn't answer, but I did sent her some photos of her uncle from my yearbook. I also sent her a story about the dead guy a group of us found when we were in high school. I thought since you all seem to enjoy my stories (thank you for that), I'd let you read the one I sent her. So here's the story about finding 'The Dead Guy'.

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It was late afternoon, on a warm day in the mid 1960s. A few of the guys and I were walking back home from town after a tough day of hanging out doing nothing significant I'm sure. I don't remember everyone I was with, but I do remember being with my best friend Gary Kijik, Eddie Wilson my stepbrother and Tom 'Stretch' Williams. We all lived in the same neighborhood, Riviera Ridge, so we hung out a lot together.

We were walking west along 25A just west of the old Billy Blake's in Smithtown, New York. When we got near the bull, we saw a friend of ours running towards us yelling.

"There's a dead guy in the car! There's a dead guy in the car!"

"Where?"

"Over there!" He pointed towards a car park on the side of the road just up ahead. "Joe (I forgot his real name) went over the the bar," pointing across the street to the bar, "to call the police!"

I started running towards the car. "I'll go check it out." The rest of the guys followed right behind me. I got up the car and sure enough, there was a guy in the car sitting in the back seat. The top of his head was missing and there was blood all over the place. There was rifle or shotgun across his lap.

I turned to the guys and said, "The guy blew his head off! If you have a weak stomach you better not look!"

A couple of guys did look, but the rest didn't. The biggest guy Stretch didn't. Guess he had a weak stomach. Stretch was about 6'6" and was a good sized guy. Not huge by any means, but still a big guy.

About then Joe (?) ran from the direction of the bar over to where we were. "I told the bartender and he's calling the cops!"

We didn't really know what to do and just kind of stood there wondering what the cops would think. Would they we killed him? Things like that. Before we knew it, the cop cars started pulling up, marked and unmarked, one after the other. Eventually there must have been 10 or 12 of them.

"What happened?", one of the cops said.
We all started talking at once saying something like, "There's a dead guy in the car! Looks like he shot himself!"

The cops looked in the car and then started talking amongst themselves. One of the plain clothes cops told the patrolmen to separate us and put us in different cars. Then interview us and get our stories. Each of us was put in a different police car.

We all got the same kind of questions. What's your name? Where do you live? Who found him? Where were you coming from? What were you doing here? Questions like that. One by one the cops questioning us finished, told us to wait there and then got out to talk to who was obviously the guy in charge and then talked to him.

By now, the cops were swarming all over the car with the dead guy. They took the gun out of the car. I could see now that it was a shotgun.

"Ewwwwww, the guy blew his head off with a shot gun! No wonder there was blood all over the place."

One of the cops put the gun up to his shoulder as if he was aiming at a flock of ducks flying by. Then he passed it to another cop and they all took turns aiming it. That struck me as weird, because you'd think they should be getting finger prints off of it or something. Wasn't it evidence? What if the guy was murdered or something?

We were told we could get out of the cars, but we had to hang around for a while. We all hung out together talking and comparing note on what the cops asked us. Pretty much the same questions were asked of all of us.

By now the traffic on 25A was back up and bumper to bumper. A few cops were out in the road directing traffic and trying to keep traffic moving. Everyone in the cars were looking at us all probably wondering what "those juvenile delinquents" had done?

Stretch and I were leaning against the hood of one of the cop cars. I told Stretch, "Hey Stretch, let's put our hands behind our backs like we are handcuffed. Everyone will think were being arrested." LOL, so that's what we did. The people in the cars were pointing at us and we were laughing at being the center of attention. It was pretty cool actually.

Next thing you know, a car pulls to a stop in the lane on the other side of the road. It was Stretch's mother. She opens the car door and runs directly at Stretch screaming.

"What did you do? What did you do?" She started pummeling him with her fists. "I'll kick your ass! What did you do?"

Poor Stretch. He was scared to death of his mom, even though she was a lot shorter than him. He had his arms out in front of him trying to intercept his mom's blows.

"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!" All the while his mom is swinging away. This goes on back and forth for a moment until the cops come over and pulls her off of Stretch. She still trying to swing away, but can't so she starts kicking in his direction. "What did you do? I'll kick your ass!"

I'm laughing my ass off by now. It really was a sight to see. There is this little old lady (not really all that old, but old to a teenager) swinging away at this 6'6" man who is trying to block her blows. Funniest thing I'd ever seen.

A couple of cops are holding on to Stretch's mom and trying to calm her down. "Lady! Lady! What do you think your doing? Stop it right now!" She's still screaming, kicking and swinging in Stretch's direction. "Who are you and what do you think your doing?"

She stops her yelling and swinging and tells the cops who she is. She asks him what we did. They tell her that we didn't do anything and everything was okay. They told her to just get back in her car and move it to the side of the road and wait in the car. Remember, her car is blocking one lane of a major two lane road, 25A. Her son will be over in a few minutes and she can take him home.

Stretch's mom pulls the car over to the side of the road and stops. But she didn't stay in it, she got out and starts to walk back over to where we were. A patrolman stops her and makes her go back and get in her car. The cops tell Stretch he can leave and to get in the car with his mom and ask her to leave.

They tell all of us that they are done with us and we can leave now too. I tell one of the detectives that a couple of us live about a mile form there and that I'm very late for dinner. I tell him that my parents will kill me for being late and could they give my stepbrother Eddie and Gary a ride home? He tells one of the patrolman to take us home.

We get in the back seat of a patrol car and in a few minute he pulls up in front of my house. I ask him to come in and tell my parents why I'm late, but he says no that he has things to do. I walk into the front door and into the dining room, where everyone is eating dinner.

I'm sure they saw Eddie and me getting out of the cop car and were jumping to conclusions about what we had done.

"What did you do?"

"We didn't do anything. We found a dead guy in a car."

"What?"

"Yea, he blew his head off with a shotgun." I briefly told them what had happened and told them to call my friend Gary or Stretch if they didn't believe me. They said they believed us and to just get something to eat and sit down and eat dinner. As we ate, we told them all about it.

I cut out an article from the local paper, but can’t find it. If I remember correctly, the guy that killed himself was a professor at Stony Brook University. That’s about all I remember about him.

Life is Normal

OJ holds up a memorabilia dealer in a casino with a million security cameras watching every move and a guy taping the hold up. Britney shows us her coochie AGAIN, ewwwwwww and then gets banned from a high brow restaurant because she smeared food all over her face.

Yep, just another day in the world of celebrity fuck ups.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 4: Basic Training - Part 5

One day towards the end of basic training I was asked if I would volunteer to drive an honor guard to a funeral off base on Sunday. The funeral was for a soldier killed in Vietnam. Another driver volunteered to drive the rifle party. The honor guard would be the casket escort and the rifle party would be firing the 3-volley salute. There was a bugler in the group too, but I don't remember which van he rode in.

3-Volley Salute The 3-volley salute is a salute performed at military and police funerals as part of the drill and ceremony of the Honor Guard. A rifle party, usually consisting of an odd number of firers, usually from 3 to 7 firearms. The firing party is positioned such that, when they shoulder their arms for firing, the muzzles are pointed over the casket of the deceased who is being honored. On the command of the NCO-in-charge, the firing party fires their weapons in unison, for a total of three volleys. The three-volley salute is not to be confused with the 21-gun salute (or even lesser gun salutes, such as 19-gun or 17-gun, etc) which use cannon.

The night before the funeral, the drill sergeant in charge of the detail, supervised us as we prepared or uniforms for the next day. We had to look or best and our best it would be. We spent a good part of the time before lights out getting our uniforms ready, polishing our brass and boots and then spit shinning the toe of our boots. That's where I learned to spit shine my boots. Yes, you actually do spit on the boots.

The next morning we woke up extra early and ate breakfast before everyone else because we had to be on the road very early. After breakfast we got into our uniforms and stood inspection so the drill sergeant could make sure we were ready. After the inspection, I walked over to the motor pool with the other driver to pick up our vans. We drove the vans back to the company area and picked up everyone. The drill sergeant in charge rode with me.

The drill sergeant was very relaxed and very friendly that day. A friendly drill sergeant was strange to us, but we were getting very close to graduation and most of the bull shit had stopped by now. Still, the drill sergeants had a rep to up hold and a friendly drill sergeant just wasn't the norm.

The drive took about 1 1/2 hours, but we arrived at the church with plenty of time to spare. The church was a baptist church and looked pretty much like the one on Kingsley Lake I'd attended when I was growing up in Florida. A plain cinder block building lined inside with pews, but not much else.

Here I am that day in my finest army issue khaki's. The church is in the back ground.

The pastor came over and explained what the service would be like and showed us around. The honor guard did a dry run and then we all took our places to wait for everyone to arrive. I stood out in the parking lot near the van with the other driver, the bugler and rifle party.

Pretty soon the mourners started arriving and eventually filled the church. The honor guard took their position and was ready when the hearse pulled up. I think the hearse was waiting near by until everyone had entered the church, because as soon as the honor guard was ready, it pulled up.

The honor guard then escorted the casket into the church. One man from the honor guard was assigned to stand at each end of the casket. Every 15 minutes they would be relieved by two other men. They would repeat that until the service was over.

When the singing of the hymns started, I walked over to the church and looked in a window. Everyone was standing up and singing. I remembered most of the hymns from my days in church and sang along quietly to myself. My parents weren't big church goers, but I did go a lot on my own. I could walk to the Baptist church on Kingsley Lake or I went with my friend and his parents to their Episcopal church. They were in the choir and got me permission to sit with them. From day one in that church I was in the choir.

Not long before the service was over, the bugler and rifle party took their positions near the grave, out in the field behind the church. When the service ended, the honor guard escorted the casket out into the field and placed it over the grave. The pastor said a few words and then the 3-volley salute was fired.

Next the bugler played "Taps" and a chill ran up and down my spine as he played. I'm pretty sure I got the chills because this was the first time it really hit home that the young man we were there for had been killed in Vietnam. I knew it was almost certain that I'd be sent there too and what was happening and that some day I might be the one killed in combat and had Taps played over my casket. Then the flag was removed from the casket, folded and handed to one of the family. I think it was the man's mother.

Not to long after that, all of the soldiers headed back to the van. We all talked for a few minutes about what everyone had experienced. The drill sergeant told us how proud he was of all us and how good of a job we'd all done. He said that we should be proud of ourselves too, because we volunteered to do something very important. He reminded us of how much it meant to the family and friends of the deceased soldier. A few minutes later, the pastor and a few members of the family came over to speak to us. They wanted to thank everyone for what we did that day. That made everyone feel pretty special to be thanked like that.

On the way back to the post, the drill sergeant had me stop at a gas station and so we could make a pit stop and get a cold drink. The man at the gas station in the gas station asked us what we were all doing out here and when we told him, he wouldn't let us pay. We stood around talking for a few minutes until everyone had finished in the bathroom. Then we got back in the van and headed back to the base.

This was really my first direct exposure to the effects of the war in Vietnam. Before this funeral, almost everything I'd seen or heard about Vietnam was on the news or in the newspaper, but this was the first time I felt the effects in person.

Sports HNT

In the mid-60s I lived with my mom, big brother and little sister in Jacksonville, Florida. My mom couldn't deal with me any longer, so she put me on a Greyhound bus for New York to live with my father and step mother. Maybe he would be able to straighten me out.

My father was an avid sports fan of the New York Giants, Mets, Rangers and Knicks, but especially the Giants. Of course I became a fan of those teams too. If you follow sports, you know that being a fan of those teams is lets say, disappointing A LOT! These New York teams seem to disappoint us at every turn.

The Giants season started off last weekend in typical Giant fashion. They scored 35 points, which is great, but they also gave up 45. :-(

Things may turn around for the Giants LOL, so I'm not giving up hope after just one I've seen this a million times before game. I'm still NOT looking forward to another disappointing season of Giant's football.

LET'S GO GIANTS!

Happy HNT Y'all!

Two ways to look at everything ...

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asks, "Do you know her?"

"Yes," I sighed, "She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since."

"My God!" says my wife, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"

So you see, there really are 2 ways to look at everything.

September 11, 2001

That day started like mosts days did for me at the time. I woke quietly at 7:00 a.m. trying not to wake up Barbara. I had to be to work by 8:00 a.m., but she got to sleep a little later. She didn't have to be at school until just before 9:00 a.m. I left the house by 7:30 a.m. and went to the 7-11 to get my coffee and a newspaper. I arrived at work just before 8:00 a.m. like usual.

8:45 a.m. (all times are EDT): A hijacked passenger jet, American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.
Time line: http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/

I walked onto the production floor a few minutes later. One of the assemblers told me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, but that no one knew anything else. She turned up her radio, as did others that had them and we all listened intently. I listened for a few moments and then was called away for something.

9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

By now, everyone knew what had happened and stopped working to listen to the radios.

A short time later our president and part owner of the company came on the PA to announce what most already knew. He placed the microphone by the radio so everyone could hear what was happening. He also said that everyone should go back to work, but to listen as they worked. That was a lot easier said than done.

9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.

9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.

9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.

9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.

10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.

10:10 a.m.: A portion of the Pentagon collapses.

10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, also hijacked, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.

10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs.

10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank.

10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses from the top down as if it were being peeled apart, releasing a tremendous cloud of debris and smoke.

10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.

10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.

10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, are postponed.

10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.

10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed.

11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.

11:16 a.m.: CNN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing emergency-response teams in a precautionary move.

11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175.

11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175, from Boston to Los Angeles, has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard. It hit the World Trade Center's south tower.

I went to the cafeteria for lunch a little after noon. Everyone was talking about the hijackings and what happened as a result. That's about all anyone talked about.

4:10 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex is reported on fire.

I arrived home from work just before 5:00 p.m. and immediately turned on the television. All I knew was what I'd heard on the radio, but seeing the actual devastation was a shock. I couldn't believe my eyes. I truly was in shock.

5:20 p.m.: The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses. The evacuated building is damaged when the twin towers across the street collapse earlier in the day. Other nearby buildings in the area remains ablaze.

Until I went to bed that night, I spend every possible moment watching television, flicking from channel to channel to see if anyone had anything new to report.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fatalities
http://en.wikipedia.org

There were 2,974 fatalities, not including the 19 hijackers:

• 246 on the four planes (no one on board any of the hijacked aircraft survived)
• 2,603 in New York City in the towers and on the ground
• 125 at the Pentagon

Among the fatalities were:

• 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters
• 23 New York City Police Department officers
• 37 Port Authority Police Department officers
• 24 people remain listed as missing
  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little did I know how much this one day would change everything. The world will never be the same.

Did you watch the VMAs last night?

I did and why not? I didn't have anything else to do, because Lori was still at her brother's. She'll be here this afternoon, so I'll have "something" to do later. ;-)

Shortly before 8:00 last night, I freshened up my G&T and sat down to watch the train wreck named Britney Spears. She was the opening act on the MTV Video Music Awards. Her performance was hyped as her BIG comeback performance. She was supposed to have partnered up with Chris Angel for the show. I love good magic and hot chicks, so what else could I ask for.

The show started right on time and there she was, "The New Britney Spears"! Some of the reviewers said she looked fat, but I didn't.

WTF!!!

Discounting the terrible hair weave, she looked great. Does she look fat in this picture to you?

NO FRIGGING WAY can you call her fat!

Does the model to the right here look good to you?

She makes me ill.

Who would you rather snuggle with, a girl that looks like Britney Spears or the model to the right?

Sorry, I got side tracked.

I was going to give you a review of the VMAs, but my mom said, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all".

Therefore, my silence speaks VOLUMES!!!!!!

Actually, I feel badly for Britney. Her enablers and hanger-on yes men/women are killing this poor girls chances of ever making a come back. They've turned her into a laughing stock and a train wreck mom that's seriously risking loosing her kids. I hope for the sake of her and her kids that she dumps every frigging person that she associates with and "straightens up and flies right". I really do.

I would like some recipe suggestions please.

I went shopping today for a few things I needed. While I was out, I stopped for a delicious lunch of a slice of pizza with mushrooms and a small diet Pepsi. My favorite is pepperoni on my pizza, but I need to get my figure back for our trip to Las Vegas in November. We’ll be visiting our friends Tara and her beau.

Anyway, then I stopped at Home Depot to exchange an outside light. I bought two last week. One of them had been previously opened and carefully resealed to hid that fact. There were parts missing and it was damaged and useless to me.

Anyway #2, after that, I stopped at Costco just for the hell of it. Nothing else to do really. Lori’s at her brother’s place this weekend and I’m all alone.  I miss her when she's not around. :-(



Love that song. It’s always been a favorite of mine.

Anyway #3, I wandered around Costco picking up things that struck my fancy. Let’s see, I bought some detergent for the clothes and fabric softener. You know, the one that goes in the dryer. That’s a hell of a lot easy than using the liquid softener, don’t you think?

There I go again, sorry.

Anyway #4, I also pickup a couple of pounds of frozen uncooked shrimp. Lori and I lovvvvveeeee shrimp. I also got 4 cans of lump crab meat. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but I bought it anyway.

I bought a 4-pack of spotlights for the driveway. They burned out. Don’t worry, I bought the florescent ones. “They have 120 watts of light while using just 23 watts of power!” GO GREEN!!!!!

Aw hell! Here’s the recipe. You can read about the rest of the stuff I bought if your interested that much.


After that, I went to Pathmark to do some food shopping. I’m out of diet tonic and that just won’t do! I usually go to Stop & Shop, but they don’t sell fresh seafood anymore. BOOOOOOOOOOOO, for that!!!!!!!!!

I wandered the aisles like I usually do, picking up things that interest me as I go. I almost never shop with a list, so that’s normal for me. To make a long story short, LOL, me? make a story short? That'll be the day! here’s what I bought there if you're interested.


I went home after Pathmark.

I put away everything, well almost. I left out the crab meat, canned fruit and canned tuna. It was time for Happy Hour by then and well, you know me, that takes precedent.

I looked back through my email recipe archive, while indulging in my gin & tonic, to see if I found a recipe I wanted to cook for dinner and came up with Cheesy Tuna Skillet.

If you'd like the recipe, click the link above. That shit was GOOD! I substituted low fat soup, mixed veggies and whole grain pasta. Much better for me.

Remember that trip to Vegas to see the lovely Tara?

Dinner was yummy and so easy to make. Try it you’ll like it! I have a lot of left over, so if you want to try some, come on over!

Geeze! I keep getting side tracked from the point of this post!!!!!!

Anyway # must-13-by now, I’d like to know if anyone has a recipe that uses lump crab meat. I really like crab meat, so am looking forward to eating some.

I have a lot of inventory of cooking supplies in the house, so ingredients aren’t a problem. I only ask that the recipe not be fried, low fat and low sodium if possible. Thank you in advance for your help.

Here’s my food inventory if it helps.



I have plenty of spices too.



I did buy a few fresh produce; tomatoes, green peppers and mushrooms.



And for snack, I have 94% fat free popcorn and Movie Theater Butter flavored if your not worried about your weight.

The high-in-fat-Movie-Theater-Butter-flavored popcorn isn't for me. My son Brian eats it. He doesn't have a too-short-for-his-weight problem, YET. Yet, I say because I was a skinny-as-a-bean-pole kid growing up. Then I got old and the waist line started to grow and has been growing ever since.

Well, there was that time I was on Weight Watchers and loss 50 pounds.

But that's another story.