Movie Nostalgia part #4

Another batch of rain came through last night and will continue this morning as a cold front gets ushered in, bringing in snow flurries and cold win tonight.  My personal cold is still hanging on, with the drain plug open, making it difficult to get a good nights sleep.

Another Junior High Girls double header tonight at Spencerville, then after a day off, another pair in Celina Thursday....Boys action begins Friday, and I'll stay busy with a JV game Friday and 3 games on Saturday, 2 in the morning and a JV Boys game Saturday night.

The Jeep Wrangler suffered it's 3rd broken windshield in the 8 years I've had it....and the guys from Lima that do the work for Nationwide Insurance, will be over sometime today to replace that...I'm guessing the flat up and down design of that model makes it susceptible to rocks damage, and that's why I've had the problems.

Movie Nostalgia Part #4, the Final Chapter the 1970s___

After I turned 30 in 1979 I found myself going to movies less and less, instead choosing to watch most on VHS or DVD releases....there have been some exceptions, The Harry Potter Stuff, Spiderman, as well as Indiana Jones, but for the most part, we have chosen to catch the vast majority at home.  Up until that time I was a movie junkie catching the good and even some bad flicks, at the walk in theaters in the towns I lived or the bases I was stationed in my four year Air Force stint.  I caught a few hundred at the area drive-in show places as well.

As I mentioned yesterday, the 70s began at Tan Son Nhut Air Base Theater, which was located right next to the 377th Security Police Compound where I lived the first six months of the new decade.... the movie house was a quick 5 minute walk, at most, from my barracks.  I saw a few afternoon shows there(since I was working the 7pm to 5am shift), including "The Undefeated" and "MASH".  Later in 1970 I returned stateside, and was stationed at Griffiss AFB, in Rome, New York, and frankly don't remember a base theater there, although I'm sure we had one.  I watched most of the flicks from the early 1970s in a movie house in nearby Utica.  Usually with my buddies, the late Jack Friedl or George Hundley, and a few others, whose names I have forgotten in the nearly 40 years since.

There I saw the first of Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" offerings, as well as the coming of age classic "Summer of 42".  After moving back to Celina in 1973 I saw some of my favorite movies of all time.  Included in that list was another coming of age flick "American Graffiti", in which the acting and story were only topped by the classic music that flowed throughout the film:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFgTMYEaWlc

 In 1974, on Patricia and my first "real date", we took off on my Kawasaki Motorcycle and after a meal at the local Pizza Hut, we took in "Blazing Saddles" at the Celina Theater.....those great movies were followed by more viewed at the same location.  "Rocky", Star Wars","Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and my all time favorite Eastwood Western, "The Outlaw Josey Wales"...as well as  dozens of others.  I was so impressed with Josey that I named one of my Airedales after the flick....changing the spelling, naming him "Josie Wales".:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvf8r3cX3vo

In late 1977 we moved to Wausau, Wisconsin, where we remained for a couple of years....I remember the night before Anissa was born, February 16, 1979, we took in the hilarious Cheech and Chong in "Up in Smoke"...Anissa was born late the next Afternoon. We finished out the decade of the 1970s in Kokomo, Indiana, and took in the first "Star Trek" movie on the big screen.

There are plenty of great movies that I left off the list..."Rio Bravo", the John Wayne and Dean Martin entry from the 1960s...."House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price, from the 50s, and those from the 1980s, like "Airplane", and "Caddyshack", through today.  Of course I saw some trash as well...like the Mega Disaster themes, "Earthquake" and "Towering Inferno", and those God awful Blacksplotation movies "Shaft" and "Superfly",  racist garbage that insults the intelligence of viewers of any and all races.

All in all though most of the movies I have chosen to view, whether on the big screen, or via TV or DVD, have been worth the couple hours spent...many are worth watching many times over.....

back later>>>>

Photos-MASH the Movie, the last flick I saw while stationed in Vietnam.  "Rocky" was a surprise blockbuster from the mid 1970s.  Eastwood was at his best in "Dirty Harry" and as "The Outlaw Josey Wales.  "American Graffiti", "Blazing Saddles". and "Up in Smoke" were among my favorites of the decade.

More Movie Nostalgia, part #3, the 1960s/Leslie Nielson RIP

The Thanksgiving weekend is done, my weight this morning was back down to 187, where it began last week, so no disastrous weight gain over the holiday season...Round One is in the books.  The Buckeyes defeat Michigan..again, and my first regular season basketball games are completed, the legs and back are still attached and doing OK.

Movie Nostalgia, Part 3_____

First off, on a sad note, one of the more enjoyable actors of my time, Leslie Nielson passed away in Florida yesterday at the age of 84.  Nielson, who is best know for his lines from "Airplane"   "Don't Call me Shirley", as well as his naked gun movies from the 1990s, was a veteran actor who was doing drama long before "Airplane" came along.  From Debbie Reynolds love interest in "Tammy" to the Captain of the ill-fated SS Poseidon in the 1972 blockbuster "The Poseidon Adventure", Nielson had a career that spanned over 5 decades....R.I.P. Leslie Nielson 1926-2010:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40410087

The 1960s____

For me, the 1960s saw a vast array of movies viewed....from my days in Florida, walking to the Venice Theater, located next to the Venice-Nokomis Bank on West Venice Avenue.  Then on to the Celina Theater in Ohio, as well as various base movie houses in Dover, Delaware, and the outdoor Movie house at Nha Trang Air Base in South Vietnam.  I saw hundreds of movies...add that to the fact that Movies came to Television full circle in the 1960s, the number viewed is beyond counting.  Still a few stand out.

Early on in the 60s, most of the movies I viewed were of the Disney variety, along with some thrillers which pushed the envelope for someone in his early teens.  I remember Robert Mitchum in "Cape Fear", the superior original which came out in 1962.  After we moved to Ohio late that year, I was stuck watching the campy old horror shows with Vincent Price and Boris Karloff...until I neared graduation and got my wheels.

After getting my drivers license and the Ford Falcon, I would drive off to the movies whenever I choose...whether it was the young Clint Eastwood or the veteran John Wayne, the westerns were then, and still are favorites of mine.  The early Eastwood "spaghetti westerns" and the more upscale stuff of Wayne were all eventually shown at the Lake Drive In near Celina, or the Starlight near St. Henry.  On a rare date night, I would take a girl to the Celina Theater, which had only 1 screen, unlike today where it has 5.  Two movies I remember from my Senior year are still classics today.  Dusty Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate" and the scary "Wait Until Dark"...I cannot remember to this day, who jumped farthest out of their seat when Alan Arkin flew out of the dark at the blind housewife played by Audrey Hepburn...but we both jumped, that was for sure...here is the 8 minute segment that includes that climatic scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_SJVA7YN48&NR=1

After I headed off to the Air Force, my movie haunts included a drive in near Dover, as well as the base theater there.   In Vietnam the aforementioned open air move house at Nha Trang, shown on the right and our own private Security Police digs called "Baileys Speakeasy", where we would show the latest in movie releases as well as NFL Films and video delayed TV shows.  After heading down country from Nha Trang to Tan Son Nhut(Saigon), the decade changed from the 1960s to the 70s, and the three last movies I remember seeing at the base theater were John Wayne, along with Rock Hudson,  in "The Undefeated" and Wayne, in his Oscar winning role in "True Grit"....enter the 1970s where I saw the anti-war, making fun of the military, movie "MASH", being shown in a war zone, on a military base, no less....great movie and how ironic I thought that was.....

Some of my favorite movies came along in the 1970s...and I'll take a look at those next_____

back later>>>>

Photos-Leslie Nielson RIP, Robert Mitchum in "Cape Fear" 1962, Ross and Hoffman in 1967s "The Graduate", the thriller "Wait Until Dark" from the same year.  Our open air theater at Nha Trang AB in 1969, and John Wayne won an Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn, in 1969s "True Grit".

Wrapping up the Thanksgiving Weekend....

Tomorrow(Monday) I'll revisit some of my favorite movies from the past...Part 3 of Movie Nostalgia.

The Thanksgiving weekend has been cold, I've managed to come down with a cold, and at the same time, gain 3 or 4 pounds.....what the Hell?

The family get together was at sister Marty's house, with much of the family there...Anissa and the boys, 2 of 3 of Marty's daughters, one out of 2 of Mike's, plus a couple of mom's Great Granddaughters, Hal's fiancee Lisa, and a couple of the son-in-laws in the family as well...plenty of food, enough beer for the guys, and everybody seemed to have a great time....

Friday, I got up, feeling a bit heavier, but trotted off to Minster High School to work a 3 team scrimmage with the home boys Freshman team, and squads from Columbus Grove and Indian Lake.  I felt the cold coming on, so watched a bit of football, and then hit the sack at about 7:30 in the evening, where I stayed for the next 12 hours....back up Saturday morning, back to Minster for a Girls Freshman game...then home in time to watch the Buckeyes hammer Michigan for the 7th straight season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J01GA5K2QA

The all-time greatest rivalry in college football, according to experts, is becoming pretty one sided the last decade since Jim Tressel came to Columbus.  "The Vest" is 9 wins against 1 loss to the Wolverines, and yesterday was the 7th straight.  Sam worked the game for the Big Ten Network, and Hal got his seat in the student "O" section....while I watched on the tube.

After the game, I packed my duffel bag, and headed over to Spencerville for a Girls JV game....as luck would have it, my partner was a no show....so I started the game by myself.  That lasted the first 5 minutes or so, when two of the Varsity crew showed up, and we worked a 3 man crew for the rest of the game....those two, joined by the other Varsity guy then did the Varsity game, while I headed home to down a couple Guinness Extra Stouts, and nurse the cold some more.

Today, I sat around some, did a few chores, and watched a great old movie, the Steinbeck classic, "Of Mice and Men"...then caught the last of the Bears vs Eagles game, and some of the Blue Jackets vs Detroit Hockey match....and that about closes out a long weekend.  The cold is still with me, but it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.  I've been lucky over the past decade or so...most of the time I get the virus, it doesn't last long...must be the beers and cigars that keep me healthy?

Tomorrow, I have a few things on the "must do" list, including the movie blog part #3, and then in the afternoon I'll head north to Antwerp and officiate a Girls Junior High double header.  Then back to Celina to catch a game or so of Dartball(maybe the team can win one with me away, cannot be any worse than we have to start the season)...Tuesday another JH Girls DH at Spencerville, then the boys begin their regular season action, which combined with the ladies games will keep me busy for the next 12 or 13 weeks.

back Monday...

Photos:  The Buckeyes blast Michigan on Saturday for the 7th straight season...which gives them a share of their 6th straight Big Ten Football Title, and a probable trip to the Sugar Bowl in January....and today I caught "Of Mice and Men" on Turner Movie Classics...shown are Lon Chaney Jr, and Burgess Meredith, as the movie reaches his climatic final.

Ohio State vs Michigan~Snow Bowl 60th Anniversary 11/25/1950

I will continue to look at movies, and movie clips from my youth and earlier tomorrow 11/26/10

Heavy rains throughout yesterday and last night have continued in a lighter vein this morning....I'm guessing we had at least 3 inches so far with more on the way....as we get ready to head to my sister's place for our annual Thanksgiving get-together.  Hal came last night, his fiancee, Lisa, will join us before Noon, and Sam is heading home from Columbus for the day....the rains are slated to continue through early evening.  Of course it could have been snow...much like it was 60 years ago today...A Saturday November 25, 1950...when the annual All Time Greatest Rivalry in College Football took place in a massive Midwest Snow Storm:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Bowl_(1950)


It was too bad Michigan won the game 9-3 to move on to the Rose Bowl...UM came out on top despite having Zero First Downs and a like number of completed forward passes...blocked punts and a single Field Goal were the offense of the day....here is some great old footage with accompanying play-by-play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP1ZfZMbarI

80,000 fans braved the elements to watch this "classic" in the series...Saturday, Ohio State looks for it's 7th straight win in the series, and their 6th consecutive Big Ten Title, or at least a share of, with a win.

Enjoy Your Thanksgiving...back tomorrow with more Movie Nostalgia>>>>

Photos-60 Years Ago @ Columbus, Ohio, The Snow Bowl Michigan 9 Ohio State 3

Movie Nostalgia, Part 2~The Thing and Other 50s "Classics"

I Finished off a scrimmage at Waynesfield last night.  A boys Freshman Scrimmage at Minster Friday AM and then a Freshman Girls game at Minster on Saturday morning...then a few hours off to watch Ohio State knock off Michigan for the 7th straight season(and 9 of 10 under Jim "Vest" Tressel).  Then Saturday evening, I head for Spencerville for a girls JV High School game.  Next week the full season, both boys and girls, gets underway.

Looks like it's going to be a wet Thanksgiving....maybe starting off with some snow this morning, then the forecast gerbils are predicting 3 inches of rain in the next 36 hours or so.....something we don't need, at least not that much.  Flood watches are already in the forecast.

Tomorrow, early afternoon, we head for my sister Marty and her husband Pat's place....for our annual Thanksgiving get together.  Most of the family will be there, including our brood, Anissa, Sam, Hal, and Hal's fiancee Lisa....Mom and brother Mike are bringing the Turkey, Patrica making a boatload of food, and the rest will be chipping in as well...these days make it a little tough to keep the 30 pounds lost in the past 15 months off, but I survived last Holiday season with little weight gain, and am down about 5 more pounds since then....so Let's Roll, and Pass the Turkey.

Movies of my youth, The 1950s____

Having been born in 1949, my first viewing of movies was in the early 1950s...at first with brother Mike, Mom, and Dad, at the Drive-In theaters of Van Wert, Ohio, and New Haven, Indiana, where we often went.  I particularly remember an old 3D Movie where the Cowboys and Indians did battle, and arrows would look like they were coming right out of the screen at you...cannot remember the name of that one, but I couldn't have been more than a couple years old.  In the early 1950s, before we moved to Venice, Florida(where I saw the majority of movies of my youth).  We lived for awhile in mom's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, around 1952.  I couldn't have been more than 2 or 3, but I still remember to this day, nearly 60 years later, the movie "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms"...we saw that at a Wilmington area drive in.  What I remember best is this clip, where the "Beast" eats a traffic cop writing a ticket:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z8HsIm94cY

Classic to this day....and burned in my memory banks for a lifetime...Great Hokum at it's finest.

The 50s were full of classic horror and Sci-Fi stuff....much of it predicated to the thought that the Atom Bomb and Radiation would soon destroy us all.... it's didn't, at least not yet, Obama and Company may beat the "Atomic Wars" to it.

The Thing____and Them!

Most of us remember James Arness as "Matt Dillon" of Gunsmoke fame....however, one of his first parts was as a giant "carrot like" creature from Mars in the classic 1951 Sci-Fi thriller, "The Thing from Another World": 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gEO2_MFNoU

Old Matt finally gets fried by the modern day art of electricity in the end...a classic if their ever was one...."Watch the Skies" the reporter says at the close...great stuff.  Arness also played the straight man in another classic from the early 50s called "Them".  Giant Ants escape the desert and invade L.A.                                                            

We headed south to Venice in 1954, and after a couple years there I was old enough to head to the Venice Movie Theater by myself...or with brother Mike.  Usually with 50 cents in my hand, which was enough to get in(35 cents), and buy a pop and giant dill pickle...10 and 5 cents respectively.  Only one movie was playing per week back then...usually stiff from Walt Disney, like the tear jerker "Old Yeller" or more lite fare.  On occasion we would get to see some great horror movies, like Mike Landon as the young werewolf, in "I was a Teenage Werewolf".  Which came along before his days as Little Joe in Bonanza and Poppa in Little House.  Vincent Price was a common favorite, from "The Fly", "House on Haunted Hill", and others.  I also remember wearing 3D glasses there to view the "ghosts" in the original "13 Ghosts".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3cV9_RAxBk 

Hitchcock and More______

Of course all the movies from the 1950s were not Sci-Fi, Schlock, or Horror movies...John Wayne was doing good War and Westerns, which got only better in the 1960s and 70s.  But my favorite non Horror/Sci-Fi stuff had to be some of Hitchcock Movies...especially the stuff staring Jimmy Stewart,  Grace Kelly, and others...from "Dial M For Murder" to "Vertigo", and "Psycho"...but by far my favorite was "Rear Window", with Stewart and Kelly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0yPuI7EVs 
                                                                                                                   
It was and is, a pure classic....of course Alfred Hitchcock had more excellent stuff, both in the 30s and 40s.  Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright in "Shadow of Doubt", and in the 60s with box office money makers like "The Birds".  But none better, in my opinion, than "Rear Window".


That's enough for today...I may post one before the Turkey is cooked tomorrow, or maybe Friday, but regardless the next post will focus on my favorite films of the 60s, then we move into the 70s...this may take longer than I had planned, the more I look back, the more films that were classic to my youth and early adulthood, I remember.


back later>>>>

Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart from "Rear Window"  The Cop eating "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms",  the gang from "The Thing" in 1951..."Them" from 54, Michael Landon was a "Teenage Werewolf", Vincent Price played in more than his share of classic horror films in the 50s and 60s.

Movie Nostalgia, Part 1

I got home from a late Dartball match at Schumm, Ohio, about 10:15 last night....another bad night for St. John Lutheran.  We now stand at 0 wins and 9 loses....in my 16 years of playing, I cannot remember a season starting off like this.  And we can't even blame an overcrowded lineup or new players...we only had 8 there last night, and 5 of us were veterans of many years, we still stunk.  I ended up going 7 for 15, but slumped late, after starting out 5 of my first 6 with 3 RBIs.  We lose to the host team 4-3, 3-1, and 3-2, in 14 innings in the final game...again close, but no Cigar.  We will return home next week, although I will be full into basketball, and be missing the first game or so of the night for most of the remaining games through early February.

After I got home I grabbed a glass and poured a Sam Adams Dark Beer, called Cream Stout...a good brew, along the same lines as Guinness Extra Stout, although not quite as bold...or as tasty in my opinion.  The storms and heavy rains moved in and lasted most of the night...cooler with sunshine this morning however.

Tonight I'm at Waynesfield-Goshen for more Basketball scrimmages...Wednesday and Turkey Day off, then starting Friday, I'll be officiating roundball in one form or the other most days, except Wednesday and Sunday, for the next 12 or 13 weeks...taking time out for the Holidays and Hal and Lisa's wedding that comes in early February.
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Nostalgia=Yearning for the past, returning home in ones thoughts, sentimental yearning through books, films, etc.______________

I guess my Nostalgia runs along the lines of Movies, Genealogy, old photos, Civil War, and World War II History, my year in Vietnam, and some childhood reflections, especially from my years in Scott, Ohio, and Venice, Florida.   Do I yearn for the past?  Hardly, but I do enjoy American History, old movies, researching my family roots, music from the 60s and 70s(only because today's stuff stinks), old photos, and America on the home front during the 2nd World War...especially old black and white photos of that era, and the Great Depression, a few years before I came along.

My taste in movies, as I mentioned early this week, tends to run the gamete from Film Noir, to early comedy, westerns from Wayne to Eastwood, and hard boiled detective films as well...sadly, most modern films are politically correct and rooted in bullshit and diversity, which have no real relationship to reality, at least my reality.  Most modern stuff, whether on the big screen, or on the tube, is garbage these days.  I keep Cable TV, and it's outrageous costs, if for no other reason than the knowledge that I get Turner Movie Classics Channel....which, despite my dislike of Ted Turner, is still, IMO, the best channel on TV.

Favorite Movies and some Clips_____part #1

Posted today are a few clips from some of my favorite movies...and accompanying photos or posters.....


First Casablanca, with Bogart, Bergman, and pals....the clip is not the "Play it (again) Sam" but one from Co-Star Claude Rains:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gf8NK1WAOc


Despite the darkness of much of the movie, there were a few "funny" parts involved in the dialog...this being one of them.

An earlier Bogart entry saw him reach stardom, when he played "Mad Dog" Roy Earle along side Ida Lupino in High Sierra...once again the gangster flick did have some Comedy, this segment, with Bogey and type cast black actor Willie Best, shows a piece of that:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6xB7m8dCVY


No way you could get away with that type of comedy today...the PC police would never stand for it....Willie Best made a good career out of it....if you find it offensive, you need a reality check from life in America 70 years ago.


Bob Hope, before his "Road" Movies with Bing Crosby, had one of the best lines ever, especially if you think Democrats are lemmings....2010 or 1940, not much has changed....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6syRRHTTic


Yes, Democrats are the same now as they were 70s years ago when "Ghost Breakers" came along...Sheep, Lemmings, Zombies....not much has changed.


And finally today...a look at a movie, that cannot be categorized as anything but "American Classic"...is on any top 5 movies of all time list of mine.  The Best Years of Our Lives" from 1946.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jh2HXUY81Q


Liberal, Conservative, Moderate?  Doesn't matter....this movie was a classic portrayal of post war life of the American Soldiers,  who came home to a different world and life.  The movie garnered 7 Oscars.


Tomorrow I will move forward to the years of Sci-Fi Classics of the 1950s....and more on Detectives,  Westerns and Comedy's,  to follow in the days to come.  I am pretty sick of writing about politics, TSA "gropers", and Obama BS....the next few days, pre and post Thanksgiving, will focus on a much more lite fare.

back later>>>>

Photos-Bogart, Bergman, Ida Lupino, Bob Hope, Harold Russel, Dana Andrews, and Fredric March...all from some of my favorite movies of the 1940s.

JFK, Basketball, Bristol Palin, Bengals, Buckeyes, and Harry Potter

I would say the title of the blog says I have much to say about nothing, or little to say about a lot of things, will see how that works out as I type.  It was a weekend that kept me busy from Friday afternoon until late last night.....and I would say, it was better than sitting around ...although I did plant my butt on the leather recliner for the Buckeye/Iowa game Saturday afternoon....a come from behind win that sent Ohio State to a 10-1 record and still tied with Wisconsin and Michigan State atop the Big Ten standings.  Next weekend will see the final Big Battle of the season, this one between arch rivals Michigan at Ohio State....looks like both of the boys will see that game live.  Sam working for the Big Ten Network, and Hal in the stands.  As for me?  I've got a early morning Freshman Girls game at Minster, will come home watch the Buckeyes beat Michigan again, and then head off to Spencerville for a girls JV game that evening, that should be enough keep the blood flowing all weekend....and the legs sore.

The Cincinnati Bengals were "blacked out" locally(since they didn't sell out)...and it appears they didn't show up for their game with equally hapless Buffalo in the 2nd half.  Leading early 28-7 and at half 31-14, the Bengals were skunked after halftime and lost 49-31...the trademark of a pathetic season, just one year after they swept the division rivals and made the playoffs.  So with no "Bungles" to watch, I caught a bit of NASCAR, which saw Jimmy Johnson win his 5th straight crown, and some of the Packers blow-out win over Brett Favre and the Vikings...Packer fans have to be smiling at the downfall of the "Drama Queen"...at least I know Sam is, he's a life long Pack fan, as are all of the wife's family....although some of them still like Brett, Sam not being one of them....he can no longer stand the guy....I'm pretty ambivalent....in fact, the NFL, like NASCAR, is pretty contrived and boring these days, at least in my mind.

Harry Potter Reviewed_____

  My taste in movies pretty much runs the gamete.  I especially like 1940s Film Noir, from Bogart to Cagney,  funny stuff of the same generation, especially Cary Grant movies.  Enjoy almost all Hitchcock, and some Abbot and Costello, and The 3 Stooges comedies....then the John Wayne westerns from the 50s and 60s...and just about anything Clint Eastwood, from the 70s and 80s...but not that politically correct crap he produces and directs these days, that stuff isn't worth getting on the shoes to go see.

Patricia and I usually take in 2 or 3 movies in the theater a year....of late it's been action stuff and Harry Potter and The C.S. Lewis "Chronicles of Narnia" series....the latest of which comes out next month.  Anyway, after we, along with Anissa, had an early supper, we headed off to see the latest installment of Harry...."The Deathly Hallows" part 1...meaning that the studio had in mind making at least a second installment, so they could rake in more millions of bucks...not that I blame them.

First thing off, the Celina Theater had the volume way too loud....that in itself was irritating as Hell.   The movie was a little over 2 hours long...and dragged in the middle.  The special effects were, as usual, pretty darn good.  the kids stars are getting a little old, with some sexual suggestions present...I'm for sure no prude, but aren't these books for the younger set?  The movies are not to be sure...dark, well acted, but not suitable for the impressionable set, in my opinion.  The movie started strong, dragged for the next hour, then ended with a bang....and left you with the knowledge, if you had any interest in what happens, you will be back and paying to see the final episode(?) come 2011.  I give it a C+, and we will most likely trudge off to see the next version.  By that time, the actors will be way too old, and the series, at least in this form, will come to an end.

Dartball tonight...our longest drive of the season, the 20 miles or so to Schumm Lutheran, where we will try to win at least a game....Schumm is the usual winner, and the most powerful team in the league over my 16 years playing...although last week they did get swept in 3 games by Hopewell, like we did the previous week.  We stand at 0-6 and they are 2-4.  This will be my final full Monday for awhile...for most of the season I will have games on Monday, and be arriving late to toss the feathered wood darts.

The Death of JFK, 47 years ago today____

I have not seen or heard much about the assassination of John Kennedy,  some 47 years ago today, on the news...maybe they are saving things up for the 50th observance in 2013?  Most of us over the age of 55 I'm guessing, can tell you where they were when the young Prez was gunned down. 

A cold rainy November in 1963...our Algebra teacher, my Freshman year at Celina High School,  tells us that "President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas, and is presumed dead".  I wasn't a JFK fan, but I despised Lyndon Johnson.  And still do to this day.  "The Great Society", my war, the Vietnam War, and his lies, are enough to put LBJ in my rankings of the 5 worst Presidents in my recollection....joining him are FDR, Carter, Clinton, and the current Kenyan asshole in the White House.  JFK, by today's standards was a Conservative....both fiscal and social, far more than some so-called Conservatives today.  Johnson, on the other hand was a jerk, a certified lying bastard, who is responsible for much of the ills in America today.

The weekend that followed the Kennedy murder, the funeral, the shooting of Oswald, and the black and white TV news reporting, seem surreal today....those that were of age, unless hiding in a cave, cannot possibly forget that weekend, 47 years ago.

So that's where I was on November 22, 1963...sitting in Algebra Class, on a cold, rainy, Friday afternoon. in Celina, Ohio, when JFK became the stuff folk lore is made of.  A young President from a suspect family, who would produce more useless politicians than any before or since.  He was by far the best of a Kennedy bad lot....his father and brothers, especially one Ted Kennedy, would prove to be a cancer on America...a group of men and a family, given far more love, credit, and respect, than they ever should deserve.

That's my take, and I make no apologies for it.....

Finally, I've never watched "Dancing With The Stars", but hopefully tonight Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin, will continue to advance on the show....can she dance?  Who knows?...Who cares?  I just want her to continue on...it really, really, drives the Kennedy, Obama, loving a-holes of America nuts, and that is reason enough to root for her to continue on.  So if you watch, make sure you give her your vote....as John Lennon would sing..."Imagine", imagine the left wing losers on a suicide watch?  I wonder if you can?  And if you can, remember, the thought of it, brings a smile to my face.

back later>>>>

Photos-JFK(the best of a bad lot),  Bengals, not quite as hapless when I took this sideline photo in 1983...OSU shoots for at least a share of their 6th straight Big Ten Football Title against Arch-Rival Michigan next week, Harry Potter's latest Deathly Hallows part 1 dragged in parts.  Finally the worst(IMO) of the Kennedy Clan, the abortion loving drunk, Ted Kennedy, who is still glorified by the left...but let's face it, all the lefts heroes, whether a Kennedy, or a half baked Kenyan asshole, are pretty much pure trash.

The Legend of Harry Billie~Star of the Seminole Nation

Typical November weather for western Ohio...a little rain, then some sun, a good breeze..then clear and cold at night, with heavy amounts of frost on the windshields in the morning....it may warm up by Sunday, with a high near 60, then back in the 40s with lows in the 20s and 30s for most of the next week.

I was all set to begin my basketball work tomorrow Noon at Lincolnview High School, outside of Van Wert....instead, after a call yesterday, I will begin tonight on the other side of Van Wert County at Crestview High School in Convoy, Ohio.  Seems the Athletic Director had a scheduled official cancel, to do a college game, and he needed somebody else to work the threeway Varsity/Junior Varsity scrimmage tonight between Crestview, Antwerp, and Fort Recovery.  So off to work I will go this evening, and give my legs, lungs, and back, a workout, and if my 61 year 8 month old body and parts survive that, I will head to Lincolnview tomorrow morning, and do it all over again.  Basketball Season, for me at least, if officially here.

Harry Billie, Everglades City and Naples, Florida_____

Over the past 50 years or so, I have seen more sporting events, and participated in as many as a player, coach, and official, than I could ever count.  On occasion you work with or view a player that sticks out in your mind for the rest of your life.  I have been on the sidelines at NFL games, in the press box for Major League Baseball contests, pro Hockey in the stands, and thousands of college, high school, and youth sporting events...coaching, playing, officiating, or just a fan in the stands.  I've seen some great ones, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Walter Peyton, and hundreds of others, some hall of fame types, some close, and thousands of everyday players.

The first "star" I can ever recall seeing in person, was a young full blooded Seminole Indian, named Harry Billie.  I had not thought much about Harry in the nearly 50 years since I watched him work his magic on the Venice Indians that night during the 1961-62 season in south Florida.

I was in 7th grade at Venice Junior High that year, and we had all heard of Harry Billie, and he was on his way to take on our Venice Indians as they hosted Naples High School that winter night in Venice.  Harry turned out to be everything that was advertised...I don't remember the final score, but I do remember Harry Billie hitting a half court shot to end the first half...he was something else, that something was an athlete the likes of which I had never seen in my 12 years on earth...at least not in person, I have seen few as good as he was to this day.

I lost track of what had happened to him until this Wednesday....

I was reading some posts on our Vietnam Security Police Bulletin Board and noticed a post from a man named Thomas Billie, likewise a Seminole Indian...he, was from the Oklahoma Nation, and not the Seminole Nation of Florida, but the correspondent I had with him, and with Glenn Miller, the man who wrote the following piece, that got me to thinking about and researching,  "Harry Billie":

http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2001/writing/40-100.feature.fourth2.html

My family, after a decade in south Florida, moved back to Ohio late in 1962, while Harry was signed by the Florida State Seminoles to play football....after a year, he switched to baseball, signed a pro contract,  playing a few years in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  A broken hand, alcohol, and the system at the time, ended the sports career of this man, who was the greatest athlete I had seen in my first dozen years on this earth.  Harry Billie was not a big man...5' 11" and 180 pounds were his playing stats(about the same size I am today), but he was a giant of a man among boys in his time at Everglades City and Naples.

Harry it turns out moved on, got sober, and works as a Director at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation...located between Everglades City and Miami, on the old Tamiami Trail, Highway 41.  The last article I found on him was from 2005 in the Seminole Tribune....he was making his 12th appearence at the Seminole Wellness and Conference Center...and talking about life and soberness, not about his glory days in sports.  Here is a link to Harry's minor league baseball stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=billie001har

Thanks to Glenn Miller, the Seminole Tribune, and Thomas Billie of the Oklahoma Seminole Nation, for helping me revive the old memories, the material, and photo for today's blog.

Harry Potter's new release_____

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html 

This weekend another Harry, Mr Potter, and his gang will be on the big screen in the newest release of their latest adventures....if we get the time, Patricia and I will head to the local theater Sunday and take this installment in....meanwhile, enjoy the weekend.

Back Later>>>>>

Photos-Harry Billie in 2005 and Harry Potter's new adventure starts in theaters today, with part 2 of the Deathly Hallows coming in 2011

"Don't Touch My Junk"~The New Rally Cry of the American Traveler

A little fog this morning, Celina Schools were in fact delayed a couple of hours, as were St. Marys across the lake...the rest of the area was running on schedule...a little rain, cold, and, gloomy, as 9am approaches.  Last night I headed for my birth town of Van Wert, for our local Basketball Rules meeting...this gives me four, plus the State meeting online.  So I have met my requirements to continue my license to officiate basketball, baseball meeting begin in early February.  Sam still needs a couple, so I will probably go with him for one more over the holiday break he has at Ohio State.  After a few weeks off, once my football schedule ended, I will begin basketball Saturday morning...a Varsity/JV Boys Scrimmage at Lincolnview...we will see if the legs and body are ready.  Next week a partial schedule, then it's pretty much 4 to 6 nights a week of roundball, including some Saturdays with 3 games, morning and evening, on the schedule.

"Don't Touch My Junk"_____

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYykxMupiT0&NR=1 

San Diego air traveler John Tyner has brought national attention to the overreach by the Federal Government and it's band of uneducated, incompetent, Airport Gestapo, called TSA.  The invasive search proceeders from the Federal Government came to light this weekend...do you want radiated or groped? The interesting part is that Conservatives seem divided on the issue.  Many of my fellow right wingers seem all more than willing to be strip searched, fondled, or submit to a full body scan, all in the name of National Security...others say "Not So Fast".  I'm with the latter.

The Answer to the Problem_____

The answer to making air travel and America safer is pretty simple actually.  However, it would require a big dose of NON-Politically Correct Action.

First off, stop letting Islamics into the country.  Whether Students, diplomats, UN Stooges, or leaders, like that Nazi clown from Iran.  In short~Stay the Hell out of America.  And a message to our neighbors to the north..."Stop letting a half million of the sonsabitches into Canada each year, we are tired of having them cross your half assed secured border".

Let's face it, Islam, whether you want to call it Radical Islam(aren't all Islamics radicals?), Middle Eastern Islam is the problem.  Until we stop the influx of Mo-hammered, The Pedo For Profit worshippers coming into the country...we are going to lose our freedoms, once step at a time, and remain in danger from terrorist attacks.  Obama and his left wing followers, as well as some misguided Conservatives and Moderates, seem to feel that is fine and dandy.  But until we have the guts to do what I suggest, profile the Middle East Dudes, and leave the rest of us the Hell alone.

In the meantime, maybe we should  heed of Ol' Blue Eyes advice:

http://www.animatronics.org/strangers/strangers.htm

PROFILE, PROFILE, PROFILE....and we can start with that bastard sitting in the White House!

backlater>>>>



Photos-John Tyner "The Junk Man", Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, and the Real Barack Obama

Another "Face" from Radio Found....on Facebook

The rains came in from the south yesterday afternoon about 3 O'clock...the wind then switched to the north at 30 or so MPH, and the temperatures dropped to the low 40s...this made for one miserable afternoon...probably an inch or more fell, before it ended around Midnight.  Today, sunshine and somewhere in the 50s is forecast, and the next 10 days or so, look to be "normal" for November...high temperatures fluctuating between the low 40s to near 60 by this coming Sunday, then cooler next week.

Facebook, finding another face from the past_____

I signed up with the Internet site Facebook about 2 years ago...didn't think much of it at that time, it was basically, or so it appeared, to be a site where the kiddies were looking to hook up with the opposite sex, or BS with friends off at college or out-of-state.  I didn't use it much, until a few of those that blogged in my circles started posting on their sites, so I joined in...things were still slow, at least until the past election season neared...then I started using the site as a compliment to this blog, to get the word out to more folks.  It also became a Political Site for folks with like minded views on politics.  Most of the 650+ "friends" I have, lean to the right...a few lefties remain, and some apolitical types from my past are also on that list....but by far and away, most of those are right wing/patriot types who have the same dislike of the Obama crowd in common with yours truly.

On occasion I do come across a name from the past....and make contact with folks I have not talked with or seen in 20, 30, or in the case of one person, almost 50 years...some old childhood friends, siblings of deceased friends, or guys I was in the Military, College, or worked with back in my broadcasting days of the 1970s and 80s.  Before I left for Wisconsin last week, I came across the name and photo of a guy named Chuck Coon.  I had worked with a Chuck Coon at WJMT Radio in Merrill, Wisconsin, in my early days of radio, at my first full time gig, upon graduation from Ray Szamada's Trans American School of Broadcasting, in Wausau, Wisconsin....I worked at WJMT AM/FM just a short while...from the late Summer of 1978 until the next June, when I headed off to Kokomo as Morning News Anchor WIOU/WZWZ.

Chuck Coon(I forget his on air name, mine was Pat "Rogers", for the only time in radio that I did not use my real name), proceeded me on the air...he worked the midday shift, while I worked the "Afternoon Drive, and Evening Shift...all that glory for a starting salary of $112.00 a week.  The pay didn't matter, I had made it full time in Broadcasting...something I would do for the next 5 years full time, and the next 20 after that on a part-time basis.  The part time portion, which included radio and cable TV work, would be in News and Sports play-by-play, while I was working full time in the Environmental Health field.

It happens that this Chuck Coon was the guy I had worked with in Merrill...he is from southeast Michigan, and has lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the past few decades, working in News and for the past 20 years or so with the Wyoming Department of Tourism:

http://www.wyomingtourism.org/

....It is always good to meet someone from your past, especially someone that has had some success in their chosen field.  Now, I'm not sure if Chuck would be into or agree with my political views and postings, but it is good to add him to the list of old radio and Air Force comrades that I have found on Facebook, and other places on the vast Internet...damn, shouldn't we all just thank old Fat Al Gore for inventing this thing called the Internet{insert major sarcasm here}?

The basketball scrimmage season has arrived for those schools not still involved in the football playoffs...I put off my first work until this Saturday, when I head to Lincolnview for a boys Varsity/JV Scrimmage session...hopefully my legs, lungs, and back, are ready...tonight I head for meeting #4 of the local rules association in Van Wert, that will give me my required sessions, so from here on out, I can attend or not as I please.

back later>>>>

Photo-The old sheepskin from Trans American School of Broadcasting in Wausau, Wisconsin, which was owned by Ray Szmanda, the voice behind the Menard's Commercials....the Late Mike Rockwell, was my main instructor.  I am pleased that the money from the GI Bill I spent to go to TA, as well as Hocking Tech and Wright State, where I majored in Environmental Health. both led to long careers in Broadcasting and EH work.  Not many can say that they followed the career paths that they studied post high school.  I am lucky to say I did.

Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, part 2

After the return trip from Wisconsin, and then a bad night of Dartball last night, I finally crashed in the sack about 1:45 this morning.  A couple of Guinness Extra Stouts made the sleep come rather quickly, after I hit the sack, but I still was back up and around by 8 this morning.  On my second cup of coffee as I begin this morning's writing....

Patricia usually goes to Oconomowoc during the early days of June, once school closes for the Summer...then we head up together that way in early November for our "Thanksgiving" visit.  We used to rotate between Christmas and Thanksgiving when the kids were young,  but the uncertain weather and the Chicago traffic, pushed us into only going up on Thanksgiving...but the traffic around the Chicago Tollway was so bad over the Holiday, we said "enough", and started to go up a couple of weeks before Turkey Day, thus avoiding the major mess of driving through Illinois over the holiday season altogether.

In addition to the annual Fish Fry Friday, this year at the Golden Mast on Okauchee Lake, Patricia's step mom, Bev fixes a pre-Thanksgiving  Dinner of  Turkey with all the sides and trimmings on Saturday...this year she added a Baked Ham dinner on Sunday....I figured I would gain 3 or 4 pounds, maybe more, over the weekend, but despite it all(and I did pig out big time), when I weighed in this morning, I was only 4/10th of a pound more than when we left on Friday morning...I ask myself, "How did that happen"?  But I'm not complaining, I'm still down 30 pounds and holding since Labor Day 2009.

As I mentioned, I did a lot of football watching, some beer drinking, eating big time, and sitting on my can...I did get out on Sunday morning, and walked a few miles along the country bike/walk/cross country ski trail, just to get my blood flowing...I also did a couple miles in the early evening darkness on Sunday....that bike path, was plenty active this weekend.  One of the Catholic Church parishes held a 5K/10K run on Saturday, then yesterday as we were packing to leave, I looked out and a huge 8 point Buck Whitetail was standing in the middle of the path.  I grabbed the camera, and took a couple of shots....they are not the best, but I included them anyway...sorry to say, I didn't get a shot of the rack{If you have the right browser, you can double and triple click the photo and get a enlarged view, which does show the rack of sorts, on the top photo}...so you'll just have to take my word for it, he was impressive.

The Condo has bird feeders, which the local Deer population frequent...but seldom do the older Bucks wander out of the marsh and woods that lie between Silver Lake and the Condos.  Even in these days that see the city move out to the lakes and farmlands, the wildlife population still can be found....with Deer Gun season starting this coming weekend, the Whitetails will be on the move and run, even more so than they usually are this time of year.

Even though Bill and Bev have Internet, I always make a pledge to stay the Hell away from computers and cyber space when on vacation...the same goes for News.  I don't read that left wing rag, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and I don't watch the talking heads, be they left wing kooks or the folks from Fox....4 days without hearing about our Kenyan Commander and Thief is like 4 days on a tropical island with a couple cases of good beer and a box of Don Carlos #2 cigars....

It took 7 hours and 15 minutes to make the 360 mile trip back....avoiding 894 around Milwaukee, which is under major construction, then avoiding 94 from south of Chicago to the Indiana Toll Road, added a few miles, and probably a few minutes to the trip, but avoiding the mess of traffic and construction, with lunatics driving near triple digits MPH, is worth the extra miles and time....as far as Dartball last night, like I mentioned in the previous post, I should have stayed home...going 2 for 10 with no RBIs is among one of the worst nights I've had in my 16 years throwing in the league...we are now 0 wins and 6 loses, the only team in the league without a win.  Things don't look good for next week when we play at perennial power Schumm Lutheran.  I was 2nd in League batting average after last week, I will not be found in the top 10 after last night...O' Well, suck it up Patrick, it's only Darts!

Today is catch up day...Anissa back to her place, and Patricia back to her teaching....Reagan the old Airedale, the cat, and me, are left to our own devices....

back later>>>>

Photos-the 8 point buck, had to shoot quick out the south windows of the Condo, but eight points he was counted them myself...lol.  One of the runners in the St. Jerome Parsonage 10K/5K run on Saturday, along the same bike path as the Whitetail was wandering on Monday morning.  A look at a rare bit of sunshine from the same Window on Sunday afternoon....and the ice was thick on the van on Monday morning...a combanation of the Sunday night rain, and the 27 degree temperatures overnight...the Ice Pattern was as unique as I have ever seen....and below, the cold waters of Silver Lake on my Sunday morning walk...

Oconomowoc, fish fry, 8 point bucks, and no Internet....back from Wisconsin

That is about it...the headline says it all.  Patricia, Anissa, and I, left for my wife's hometown of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Friday morning...traveling around Chicago, then through the Lake Geneva and Kettle Moraine area of Southeastern Wisconsin, on the way to her dad and step mom's Condo on Silver Lake.

I first visited Oconomowoc in 1974, when Patricia and I were dating, I have been there at least once a year, every year since.  I first went with Patricia for her sister Sue's wedding  At that time her Dad and his wife Bev, lived in a house between Delafield and Oconomowoc overlooking Lake Nashoda...they sold that place some 30 years later as they aged, and purchased a condo near Sliver Lake....over those 36 years the sleepy town of ten thousand and bloomed into an overflow community, with those bored or scared of life in the Milwaukee and Chicago bergs taking over...and like so often things happen, they, even though they hated what was happening to their area, turn their new surroundings into a sad replica of where they just left.  That is Oconomowoc of today.

Malls and traffic jams, Condos, and Medical Centers, now lie in what was once cornfields and woods, nestled along I-94 between Milwaukee and Madison, the twin leftist infested population centers of Wisconsin.

Usually on my once or twice visits per year, I hang around the condo, drink beer, and an occasional glass of Brandy....I walk the bike path and out to Silver Lake....and watch football when visiting in the fall.  It gets dark around 4pm in the north country in early to mid November, so I get some good sleep.  Patricia gets to visit her folks and siblings.....that in short is the weekend, usually highlighted by a famous Wisconsin Friday Night Fish Fry.....and trust me, Fish Fry Fridays in Wisconsin, are like no place else...they are something else.

I was first introduced to Fish Fry Friday when I visited Bill and Bev's back in the 1970s....and that is reason enough to return whenever you get the chance.  This Friday we headed to Okauchee Lake and the Golden Mast Restaurant.  Patricia worked as a waitress there when in high school, and we had our wedding rehearsal dinner there back on December 17, 1976, the day before we got married in Oconomowoc, so the town still hold a special place in my heart    I may have been back to the GM once since that night, but have participated in many Fish Fry's at other locations around the lake region since that time....The Golden Mast had changed, but the food was still outstanding.

Probably my favorite fish fry location over the past 35 or so years was a place called Bullocks, located just north of Wausau, Wisconsin,  where Patricia and I lived back in the late 1970s.  We would head there most Friday Nights and hang around the bar...then pig out on the sea food, chicken, and deep fried fish.  If I recall correctly, it was $4.95 for all you could handle, food wise....we usually spent more at the bar than for the food...by a long shot.  It was a great place, and we enjoyed it those Friday Nights, to say the least.

So Friday we got the fish fry treatment.....tomorrow I'll show some grainy photos of the 8 point buck on the bike path and write about the rest of the weekend......

back later>>>>

Photos-Inside of the Golden Mast(photo from Planet99.com)...the mainstay of a Wisconsin Friday Fish Fry, and Okauchee Lake, one of the many "great' lakes in Lake Country, southeast Wisconsin.

Veterans Day 2010~The Distrespect Continues

The extension of Indian Summer just keeps getting pushed farther out...now it looks like it will last into the weekend here in Western Ohio...71 is the forecast high for both today and tomorrow, and Saturday says 68...I believe today and tomorrow are going to be near record highs.  Must be that damn Global Warming Al Gore has been warning us about{Insert Sarcasm}....?  There is no freaking Global Warming, and if there was...GOOD!

Today is Veterans Day 2010____

Probably the most disrespected holiday, next to Columbus Day, that we see these days...you can blame Political Correctness, the media, the schools and universities,  or blame the Government, starting with the Jimmy Carter Presidency.  Carter let the Draft Dodgers get a free pass, then we had the Draft Dodger in Chief Bill Clinton, whose Marxist wife "Loathed" the Military.  And now another troop hating "Progressive" is in office, and the press, the Vietnam War protesting/troop hating scum is ingrained in our national government and revisionist history.   Make no mistake, The Obama Administration, and even the leaders of the Defense Department, like Chief Robert Gates, hate Veterans, and the Military...make no mistake indeed...Hell, Islamics infest even our own Pentagon.  And we know which side of the coin their allegiance is on.

My Military Service____

When I joined the Air Force in the Summer of 1968, I joined to stay the Hell out of combat and Vietnam...no hero was I, 4 years in a warm bed, seemed a much better option than a year or 13 months sleeping in the mud and rain, getting shot at.  My brother Mike's best friend, David "Kim" Deeter had been Killed In Action in April, he had been drafted, and died 5 months into his tour with the 1st Air Calvary.  While I was in Basic Training at Amarillo, Texas, my cousin, Jackie Ray Poling, was killed in July of 1968...he was with the 101st Airborne, The Screaming Eagles.  I had a special relationship with Jack...we grew up near each other in Venice, Florida....both of our families had moved to South Florida in the early 1950s.  One day, while Jack, my brother Mike, and I were swimming in a deep Gulf of Mexico channel,  near Englewood, I panicked and started to go under...Jack was the only person who came to my aid...risking his own life, Jack did a choke hold around my neck and with me still in distress, got me to shore, safe and sound...I never forgot that, for without his help, I doubt if I would be here today.                                

Both of our families moved back to Ohio in the early 1960s after a decade in Florida...we saw each other on occasion, and mom and Jack's mom, Marty, remained travel companions and friends until Marty's death in 1998.  They traveled the world together.  Marty was my dad's first cousin...her son, saved my life, and lost his in Vietnam.  Jack, Kim, and nearly 60,000 others gave all...only to be dismissed and disrespected by the majority of those living safe and sound at home.

So I joined the Air Force....became an Air Force Cop(Security Police,  Air Police before that)...today those men and women are called Security Forces...my salute to those brave souls...no draft today, so these folks are all volunteers, making their service even more special.

After Basic and Cop School, I headed off to Dover AFB, Delaware...I hated stateside duty, so I asked to be sent to Southeast Asia, something I joined the Air Force to avoid.  I was awarded for volunteering by getting orders to Nha Trang Air Base on the South China Sea, in Vietnam...I left for duty on June 30, 1969, I loved the duty, no chicken shit, great location, and great daytime Law Enforcement Duty...6 months later, 2 days after Christmas, I was shipped out to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon....there I worked "Charlie" Flight, overnights in the towers, bunkers, and driving the Jeeps on occasion with the Security Division.  War or no war, I enjoyed my year in Vietnam...I probably would have, and in retrospect, should have, stayed my remaining 2 years there.  But, not wanting to worry the family, especially mom,  I returned home for 20 months of CS Duty(that would be CS as in Chicken Shit) with SAC(Strategic Air Command) at Griffiss AFB, in Rome, New York.  I hated it, and I hated the Air Force for it....yes I hated the military life, I never was, and never have been good at taking orders.  However,  I did not hate the men I served with...sure some of us disliked each other, we came from different background, religions, races, creeds, politics, and view of the world...dislike however does not equal hate.  Despite our differences, most of us respected each other, especially those of us in the Security Police...we still do today, and despite those differences that still exist, we Sky Cop Veterans of the Vietnam War continue to work together for the good of all of our brothers of that war:

http://www.vspa.com/

That, in short is my view of the military and it's current and previous Veterans....we were, and they are, a cross section of America...some good, some not so, and  some frankly evil, but the vast majority love this country, and I and many others are appalled at the disrespect we get from both in and out of government, especially by the so-called 5th Estate...The Media, the Current President, and those like Clinton and Carter, that despised us during their terms...not so much by their words, but by their actions.

So I say, "Thank You" to all Veterans, both those serving in crapholes like Iraq and Afghanistan, for suspect "allies"  and those keeping the peace at home...Keep your powder dry, the enemies are all around us.

back later>>>>

Photos-At the Top, 2 pictures of me, while at Nha Trang in 1969....Jack Poling's Obit, and a Air/Security Police Shield, we wore both stateside and while at war...guess it was a target right over our hearts, for the enemy to zero in on.  Below...The Defender Fortis Statue of the Security Police at the Air Force Museum on Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton..our VSPA Mini Reunion at Dayton in March 2010, and The 28th Annual Kokomo/Howard County Indiana Vietnam Veterans Reunion in September 2010, which drew tens of thousands again this year.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!