September, Out Like A Lion!/VSPA Reunion at Dayton, a Look Ahead!

As I headed to Spencerville yesterday afternoon, I had packed almost every kind of wearing apparel gear I had, into the van.  It was almost 70 degrees,  but breezy, and a large mass of rain was heading out of Chicago and Indiana, right towards us...so I packed it all.

Arriving at the stadium, my partners, and I were all discussing what to wear for the game, being a non varsity game it didn't matter that we all wore the same thing...so three of us decided on shorts and short sleeve shirts, while the other was a little smarter, Rob donned long sleeves and long pants.  The game started out cloudy, but the rain held off until just before halftime....then skies opened up, and at the half, we walked/jogged towards the lockers...it was raining hard enough for me to go to the car and grab my stripped rain jacket, although I decided to leave the shorts on....just after the second half started, with the field already a mess of mud and water, the wind picked up, and the rain came in earnest...blowing straight from west to east....by the fourth quarter, even with the lights on, you could barley see....with the home team up 28-8, visiting Bluffton finally decided to let us kill the rest of the game.  Just six minutes left on the clock, it was over....I drove the 20 miles back to Celina with towells on the bucket seat, and wet clothes still on....chilled to the bone.

Patricia was out with Anissa and friends when I got home...I warmed the American Chops up that I had fixed before leaving for the game...that and a baked potato, a couple of beers, and I knew I was done for the night....It was only 8:27 when I climbed the stairs for the sack.  I stayed in bed for 11 hours...and still fee the aches and pain of the wet contests on both Monday and last night, and their effects on my body.

September, record rain____

What a year it has been, on crops, lawns, and ones state of mind....cold and wet Spring, followed by a hot, dry, two months of July and August...and now, as September ends, we find it has been a record breaker, with rains the likes that have not been seen in the change over month from Summer to Fall....the second week of the month, and this last week, have been plagued by low pressure areas, that have had showers and storms circulating around the Midwest and Great Lakes, and dropping more than our share, and more rain than we need.

Once the rain ends today or late tonight it should improve...so they say.  A couple of cool days over the weekend, but next week looks dry and seasonable....just in time for our VSPA Dayton Reunion, they say it will be sunny and all days in the low to mid 70s for highs....let's hope they are correct.

Gearing Up for The VSPA Reunion_____

http://www.vspa.com/aspprotect/vspa-nav-index-menu.asp

Next week our annual Reunion of Vietnam Security Police begins at Dayton/Fairborn/Wright Patterson...the last time it was held in Dayton was 2002.  The VSPA has both grown and shrank since that week 9 years ago...it has grown in membership numbers, but it has lost many members as well.  When your organization is made up of guys from their late 50s through early 80s, things happen...our numbers had swelled to the 1200 area a couple of years ago, as the Internet grew...now as we age, and guys start passing on, I doubt if our numbers will be increasing in any significant way.  Of course over 700 of us are life members, and our dues have been paid for life..so the association, financially, is in good hands.....but numbers wise, you cannot stop father time.

Despite banging heads with some of the leaders of the VSPA over the 12 years since I found the group, I have found many new friends, whom I didn't serve with, plus contacted with several old friends that I have not seen in over 40 years..from my days at Nha Trang and Tan Son Nhut.  This year, after 42 years, I will get to see my old friend from the 14th SPS at Nha Trang, Harry Bevan.  Harry returned home in late 1969, and after his discharge from the Air Force went on to become a K9 Officer in his hometown of Philadelphia.  I have not seen Harry, although we have corresponed for some 10 years, since the late fall of 1969.  Patricia and I are looking forward to seeing him and his wife Anna next week in Dayton.

Some of the other guys, Tony Niemotka, and maybe Bruce Thompson, will be there as well....it's been a long, long time.  Add these to my friends from other bases and times, Sam Lewis, Tom McCandless, Jackie Kays, Bill Ramey, Jack Smith, my old homie from Scott, Ohio,  Bill Marshall, and a dozen or more others, should make this reunion a great one...too much to do, in a short time, but will get as much done, and as many visits in as possible, before heading back late Saturday night.  I will be in and out of the Dayton area, and on the highway between there and Celina some days, Patricia will take Thursday off, but return to work Friday, and head back to Dayton on Saturday, in time for the final Banquet.

Hopefully I will return with many photos and stories, and I know with many memories....

back later>>>>

Photos-The Vietnam Security Police Association Reunion kicks off next Wednesday at Wright-Patterson, near Dayton.  (2) What to wear...?  Last nights game saw about everything but snow.....(3)Me(L) and Harry Bevan, in the fall of 1969, we will meet, God willing, for the first time in almost 42 years next week in Dayton....and (4) Tony Niemotka, standing many years ago at the Nha Trang Main Gate, another LE guy from the 14th in 1969 will be there as well.....