Merry Christmas and the Best for 2015

Merry Christmas to All{except atheists, Obamabots, and protesting Cop Killers}and hopeful for the best 2015{Impeachment of Barry would be a nice gift}:

After the first of the year, I will be reworking this Blog after 7 1/2 years, and begin anew with a different format: 

Thanks to all for stopping by, especially those that my Vietnam posts have brought us together with  common memories and events that we shared during our time in that war torn country.

It's Been Almost a Month.....

Between the transition from Football to Basketball Officiating, the nasty change in weather, planning for a Motorcycle Adventure in Utah in March, and other distractions....I see it's been 4 solid weeks since I last posted...without a doubt the longest stretch since I began this Blog back in July of 2007.

Other than the above mentioned factors...you can add that frankly "Blogging" per say is losing it's luster on the Internet...just not as many folks doing this, unless they have something to sell, or are involved in Politics....everybody and anybody that has read this over the past 7+ years knows my Politics....a steaming Hate of the Left, Islamic Radicals, BureauRats, and especially that useless Kenyan born son of a bitch in the White House...so no need to rehash that stuff...and even the recent election gains by the GOP{mostly RINOs} have done little to give me much confidence or hope that anything will improve, short of a total Revolution against Big Government and Big Bureaucracy...and a whole lot of people need to grow a bigger set of balls for that to happen...so I expect the sleeping dog to stay on the porch, at least for the time being.

The TW and Moab, Utah....

I purchased the Yamaha tw200 back in March from the Honda/Yamaha/Indian Dealer just outside Toledo...and have been happy with it so far....even though I put only 600 miles on it in the 8 months since purchase, and only a handful of those in non pavement areas...other than a lack of power on the street{which is not really what I bought if for anyway} I like the relaxed way it rides and handles...but I wanted more, and it looks like that will come, if all goes right, this March in the White Rim Canyon area near the town of Moab, Utah.

Several riders have agreed to meet up in March in Utah, and I have hooked up with one from Northeast Indiana, who will haul the bikes and a 4WD, along with me and my old buddy Nick, just after my 66 Birthday and the 1st anniversary of my T~Dub purchase....it should be a weeks worth of "adventure" to say the least...I started with my first "dual sport"{we called them on/off road back in 1974} motorcycle a little over 40 years ago, and I race MotorX, and plenty of time on and off the pavement...but nothing like this that we have planned.

http://www.discovermoab.com/motorcycle_moab.htm

I expect "Borneo" "Zdiver" and a few others at the TW Site to show me the ropes and keep me from going over the side of the mountain trails....

http://tw200forum.com/forum/forum.php

4 months away I will have plenty of time to prepare, or panic....

In the Meantime...

The Holidays approach...Thanksgiving next week, with Sam home from Illinois, and we will have dinner here for the family members, although I don't believe Hal, Lisa, and the boys will be here this time around, we will see them at Christmas Eve....

Basketball begin for me at Parkway on Saturday...tonight's scrimmage was snowed out, due to school closings from the freakish bad mid November weather....this is beginning to be worse than last year...time will tell if it is indeed.  Tomorrow at Delphos, and I will be back there both Thursday and Friday...a few more scrimmages, then the real season begins on November 28th for me...although I have dumped my Varsity Roundball Schedule....preferring to do lower level games...that said I have no intention to stop working Varsity in Baseball or Football...basketball is my least confident, least experienced, and frankly, least favorite to work...it is however a good winter workout...

Meanwhile I continue to workout and do a Diabetes 2 Diet Plan...down to 185 which is the lowest since the Spring of 2010...now if I can make it through the Christmas Season, my plan is to get down to 175 which is where I stood in May of 1972 when I left the Air Force....I will continue to do reps on my weight lifting routine, rather than heavy weights and walk and incline treadmill, rather than jogging .... at least that is the plan.

Now what to do with this Blog?

My plan is to post more often, but not resort to political bullcrap, frankly I have little interest these days...noting once again, I doubt if anything is going to change, anytime soon.  As for reliving the past?  Why?  Anybody interested can go back and see the more interesting things just by reading the old posts...whether it be from my days in the Air Force and Vietnam, my youth in Venice, Florida, or my crazy ass days post Air Force, back here in Ohio....

But hopefully I can come up with some interesting "Life Tidbits" to bring the readership back up....because it has crashed over the last 18 months from 6000 per month viewer wise to about 1000 these days....time will tell!

back later>>>>

{Bench} Pressing towards 70

When Football Season Arrive back in August, I put down the weight lifting workouts and let football take care of my workout routine ....in the 2 months since the season begin, I have dropped 7 or 8 pounds, and for the first time in a couple of years I have settled down below the 190 weight mark...and whenever you drop some pounds, you usually end up feeling better...even at 65.  With just 3 games left on my schedule, then a break of a couple weeks before basketball scrimmages begin, I figured it was time to get my legs ready for that season, and also get back on a weight training regiment....yesterday I began lifting again, along with the half dozen or so weight programs I work out on down in the dark regions of my basement.....I also took it upon myself to plug the treadmill back in and us the incline portion to full use...it is quite a workout, especially when you have been doing little but running up and down the football field for those 2+ months....they plan is, at this point, to do the treadmill or walk the streets of Celina 5 or 6 days a week, and continue the weight lifting/training 3 days a week for the time being....headed for 66 years old in March of 2015, just as Baseball Season begins, I figure I need all the help I can get to keep in shape, it is never easy, but especially so when you are my age, and stop the workouts....Always hard to get back into it....but here we go,

Pressing 70....

After so evaluation I figure I can umpire baseball into my 70s, if I stay in reasonable shape and the Good Lord let's me stick around and stay healthy enough to do that....there are never any "sure things" in life, especially when you start to age....If, IF, I can stay healthy and somewhat fit, I can do baseball, and perhaps football until 70.....or beyond, in the case of Hoops, Roundball, Basketball???  I'm not so sure...I will take that one game and on season at a time....the least favorite, but best workout of the three sports I officiate, keeping up with, especially the boys JV crowd is a challenge....I have already given up Varsity High School games at least on the boys side, and after this year, I will drop JV games and stick with Junior High and perhaps some girls Varsity and JV games....we will see how it goes.

Those are the long  term plans....as for the short term?  Staying Healthy is priority #1, staying Alive, if I accomplish #1 should be easier as my #2 personal goal.

2 1/2 years removed from Carotid Artery surgery, and well as 5 years down the road from a bout with High Blood Pressure and Pre~Diabetes 2....I consider it a 50/50 proposition to complete my goals...but I have never been shy on tackling things such as these.

back later....

Kam gets "dedicated", End of Riding Season

Down to the Dayton Area yesterday for the Church Dedication of the newest Grandson, Kamdyn Patrick Houseworth....a breakfast buffet afterwards, then watched a bit of the Bengals game before heading home...just in time to see the Cincy kicker Mike Nugent out of Ohio State push a chip shot field goal right and cost the Bengals a win...typing Carolina 37-37 to send Cincinnati's record to 3-1-1...they are calling for his head this morning....can't say I disagree, he has missed way to many easy field goals this season, and kickers are a dime a dozen in the NFL....

I have not posted in awhile, Blogger has been giving me problems with posting photos of late....but it appears that issue may have passed, at least for this blog.  Here is a shot of me and grandson #2 yesterday afternoon, while his brother sleep and I got to hold him after the rest of the family members headed home.....Patricia and I were the last to go.

Raining today also a MRSI Board of Directors meeting, football at Wayne Trace, and a pre~season Dartball meeting at Rockford tonight when I finish football.

With the cooler weather and rain of late, the motorcycle riding season is winding down....have not ridden as much or far, or off road as much as I had planned, but the TW still looks like new and both it and I are in one piece, so I cannot complain about my first year back in the saddle, after nearly 25 years of non MC riding...I put 600 miles o the new bike since March and hopefully we will have better weather and more opportunities to get out and explore some new highways and byways with it next season....although I still plan on riding a bit more this fall, when the weather is agreeable.

Back Later>>>>

Back from Kokomo 2014

The 32nd annual Vietnam and all Veterans Reunion has ended....this year I made it about 48 hours, however, the first few hours saw to much home made Moonshine...so I can only recall about  the last 30  :)

My 5th straight, Tom McCandless, the Head of the Boar's Nest has now been to 27 straight...Photo from the Boar's  posted here:

Kokomo 2014:


Not sure why Blogger is not uploading photos....will work on it....but frankly, after 7 plus years of this....I'm not sure where it will take me, without photos it will be pretty much a Daily Diary and not sure how that will work...or of course I could just change Browsers, but again, not sure I want to.


more later>>>

9/11/2001 Where Were You?

Sitting at my desk at the Van Wert County Health Department....I flipped on the computer and see a photo of a plane and fire sticking out of the WTC Tower...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk



Back Later>>>>

My Favorite Years: 1974....

I  think most of us, looking back, can pick out a time and place that we felt that we were on top of the world, top of our game, most happy, etc....for some it's when they were married, became a parent, retired, or on the reverse, got the job they wanted, graduated from college....whatever, they deemed to be at their best....but how about a year in total....take a look back in your memory banks, and reflect, just when it was that you were enjoying the Hell out of Life.

A time that if you could, you would do it all again, perhaps with some tweaks and a few changes, but live it again you would:

The Year 1974:

Lots of things happened around the nation and world that year....Nixon Resigned, the War in Vietnam, my war, while not totally complete, was winding down...we had surrendered, not to the little weasels in black pajamas, they just were not that tough...we lost the war to the leftist elites and the political hacks in Washington DC...59,000 or so lives, wasted and for what?  The nation would soon enough be tossed under the bus by a Hillbilly Peanut brained fool named Jimmy Carter, but that would be a few years down the road...for all the bullshit that went on in the 70s, for me, it was a great decade, and 1974 was one of the best years in retrospect.

I has lost my father in late 1972 on Christmas Eve...that pain was losing it's grip on me, although you never really get over those things....I had left upstate New York and moved back home in the fall of 73, met my future wife in December of that year, and was deciding what to do with the rest of my days....

1974 was a good year for music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRct0-85NVQ

Well some of it good, some, not so great....

Also some of the best movies came out or at least finished their runs in 1974...these 2 come to mind:

Patricia and I had our first "Real Date" watching Blazing Saddles, getting there on the Kawasaki....the uncut version still one of the funniest of all time....not politically correct enough for the gutless fools ruining the country these days....

As for me....I bought my first Motorcycle....dad hated those things, but I wanted one, and finally in the spring of 74 I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger on this 1974 Dual Sport Kawasaki 250...not the biggest, fastest, and certainly not a Harley, but it was a fun bike that I took on the road, off in the dirt and woods, and even tried my hand at MotorX racing with it a couple of times....

As for career plans...Hell, I still had none...I passed with flying colors my Civil Service test to become a Postal Security Cop, either in Dayton or Cincinnati...got offers but really it seemed like the Air Force Security Police re-run...sure the pay was good, the benefits excellent, but me, living in an urban sitting, taking orders from some half wit Redneck....?  Not a freaking chance...so I turned them down.  Instead I choose to join owner Wayne Holman and work as bartender, manager, and not so willing Bouncer at the infamous "Red Door" in downtown Celina....helping to make 1974 and most of 1975 among the memorable days of my young life back then....some of the stuff I did, I don't have the stamina or will for today...but they sure were fun times....working 6 nights a week{Monday off} and raising Hell with Bob Jones, Mike Schilling, the Late Jim Olson, Rick Tester, Nick Hromish, Randy Winklejohn, and a handful of others, was non stop....by the time I finished up my Red Door Tour in late 1975, I was ready to head to SE Ohio and College...and by this time I had purchased a house on North Brandon in Celina, just 3 doors and one block from where we live today...Patricia would live there with the Coon Hounds outside and the Airedales, Rag and Max, inside, while I played college student during the week and came home on weekends....we were basically broke, but who cared?  It was still fun....

1974 was when they still had Baseball double headers in the MLB....I would rent a chartered bus out of Dayton, and the Red Door crowd would head to Cincinnati to watch the Big Red Machine play on Sundays during that Summer of 74....way to much fun, and too much smoke and beer to remember even seeing most of the games....but at least, most of the time, we were not behind the wheel!

1974 was probably the last year I could have cared less about making money, paying bills, or getting a good night's sleep...I was 25 years old, and living for the moment.  Stupid?  Perhaps....Careless?  Yes, that is a Damn Straight....but it was the year that I realized that I was going to go my own route....make mistakes?  That is what life is about...I would not then, and certainly not now, listen to what others thought I should do.  I do not regret the things, mistakes and all, I did....40 years later, some of the things I did seem insane or perhaps just plain stupid, but then again, that was most of the fun.

Nick, Jim, Slorpe, and I headed out at 3am one Sunday Morning to Kansas City, Kansas, to buy 30 cases of Coors Beer....to bring back to Ohio{where you couldn't get it back then} and sell it, illegally as Hell, for a $1 a can at the Red Door.  We put a cooler full of iced down beer in between us, and while Nick drove, the rest of us drank that Rocky Mountain slop. We returned to Mercer County some 24 hours later and drove around the back roads, drinking Coors Beer, not wanting to go home.....then there was the time me, Tester, and Nick, headed to central Illinois one early morning to buy a Blue Tick Coon Hound from a

dog broker named Dewey O. Sarver....and anotehr me and Schilling heading to Wisconsin, just hours after Patricia and I had returned from there visiting her family, to raise Hell and buy some Wisconsin Beers  that were not available in Ohio....another 24 hour "Road Trip"

I started coaching baseball, little league baseball in 73 and continue through 75, umpired my first baseball game in 1974 as well...played Slow Pitch Softball for a variety of teams, back when that was big around here.....

I did it all, so it seems, but mostly I just lived, and enjoyed.....and don't regret a damn thing, at least those things I can remember from.....

1974, indeed, one of my favorite years.....


Photos-Top, my Red Door Days....sometime around 1974...give or take.  Blazing Saddles and American Graffiti and Blazing Saddles, my two favorite movies around that time...The Kawasaki 250 and me on same jumping my driveway at 303 North Brandon Ave, my first purchased home....and me and "Drum" the old Bluetick that kept Patricia company when I was down at Nelsonville and Athens playing college student...he wasn't a great hunter, but a good, if not maddening dog, that could climb out of any Kennel.....

1974...it was

Just Messin Around with Photo Shop/Stuff

Hey, it's my page/Blog and only so much bitching I can do about that useless Half Breed Half Wit in the White House and his Goat Fornicating Muzzies, and the American Left.....so sue me....working on some photos and sue me if you don't like it:

Football Season "Kicks Off"

After three weeks of scrimmages in the month of August{a lot cooler than usual} the heat and humidity returned to Western Ohio just in time for the start of the High School and lower level regular season...

It all got started Tuesday when I had the  Freshman Game at Celina vs Versailles....after a 2 hours rain and lighting delay, we got that one in...things were much smoother Thursday at Convoy Crestview, where we had a Junior High game between Crestview and LCC....and then Friday Night we got the Varsity season started at Hardin Northern as they thumped visiting Fostoria St. Wendelin 44-6....in all three of those contests, the new "30 point rule" came into effect.  That rule mandates that once a team goes ahead by 30 or more points, the running clock is used to speed the game up....and that happened in all 3 blow outs...finally yesterday in a JV game at Rockford, host Parkway defeated Crestview 21-8 and thus no 30 point spread ever happened.....

A full week after the Labor Day Holiday is on tap this week...I'm at Wayne Trace and Antwerp on Tuesday and Thursday for Jr High games, at Waynesfield on Friday Night for the second week over Varsity games, and then finish out the week back at Crestview for a JV game with Hicksville....

The season is underway for college as well, as the Ohio State Buckeyes, with a new QB for injured starter Braxton Miller led this years OSU team over Navy 34-17.....

May we have a nice long, slow, warm, and dry season ahead:

Back Later>>>>>

Photos:  Top, me{far right} walking off the field yesterday at Parkway with Jeff Armstrong and Matt Davis{center} as we finished up the JV Contest...

Jimmy "F~Ing" Carter=Wigger of the Week

Can there be a lower POS than this Islamic Love Juice Sucking Bastard?  Only Obama can't stop him from continuing to be the WORST President ever.....and even that might not be enough:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/08/26/jimmy-carter-keynoting-muslim-convention-in-detroit/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons  


Back Later....Regular Season Football Begins Tonight:

Obama Needs Help.....Let's Give it to the SOB...

 

Can we just drop a few 200 pound bags of shit on the Kenyan Asswipe?   Let's start with that Fat Ass Wife Man~Chelle, and toss in Hillary, Holder, and just for good measure that rubber faced bitch, Nanny State Pelosi, and let them all sink!

New Arrival, Nothing Changes{for the better} Football Begins....

Riots in Missouri, Beheading in the Middle East, Obama is still a lame brained Horse's Ass, his supporters, Dumb as Dirt....Media still biased and Anti Christian Fools and Tools....nope, not much is changing in this world of late, except for time is growing short and things will never get better in the Republic known as the Late Great United States of America....we are doomed, like all great societies of the past, due for the most part, to excess and the "do~gooder mentality ....  Thank God I am 65 and will not likely to be around until the end....I feel for the younger generations that actually produce and raise quality families...not so much for the trash that are Illegals, Islamics, Freeloaders, and Liberals....{I love how Google, Facebook, etc, don't or refuse to recognize Islamics, as in Islamic Trash....or Radical Islam...give me a freaking break.



The New Arrival....

Almost a week late, but arrive he did...Kamdyn Patrick came out into the world last Friday August 15th at 8:37pm, arriving at 9 pounds 1 oz, and a lengthy 22 1/2 inches long...daughter in law had a natural birth this time around, after the first "K~Man" was C section...needless to say we wish nothing but the best for Grandson #2, as he makes entry into this hard world...lucky for his he has two intelligent parents who are successful and grounded in this world, it makes things somewhat easier, but in the growing influence of the Obama Nation, nothing is easy....and that is not necessarily a bad thing...

Welcome to the World Kam!

American Fut~Bol begins...

Already 2 Varsity scrimmages in, and only 9 days away from our first Varsity game of the year....a couple of scrimmages and some lower level Junior High and Freshman games to kick off the season.

Not sure how many more years I will do football{or basketball for that matter}, but at least 2 more at this time....baseball?  I will probably continue until I am dead or blind, can't move, etc....some say I already am  :)

That about raps this short one up....back later>>>>

Photos-Me and Kamdyn at 1 day old..."Big" Brother Kasyn and Kam at 3 days....and Football, High School Style, Begins...

Hereos and Villians...Pissing Off Liberals, It's So Damn Easy..

Pissing off knee jerk Liberals has always been a favorite pastime of mine....they are such childish fools...especially those blinded by political correctness or an adoring love for the half witted half breed, currently the resident Grifter in the White House....the newest batch seems to have latched on to the self proclaimed Indian Princess, Elizabeth "Lezzie" Warren, the plagerizing Junior Senator from the foul state of Taxyer2shits....they always, being of weak souls and minds, seem to latch on to the worst of idols....

Here on this Saturday morning I posted on my facebook page three things to say in front of or to a "Progressive" to set their hair on fire....remember, leftists kooks only like Free Speech and Thought if it agrees with their sick and perverted view of the world....i.e. "Gays are Normal"{not}, Blacks cannot be Racist{they are among the worst in many cases, Jesse Jackass, Man~Chelle Obama, Witless Al Sharpton, are just a few examples}...here are the little ditties that I posted this morning:

George Armstrong Custer was and is an American Hero....Any thinking person, White, Red, or whatever, if they don't read revisionist history can find that out for themselves...let's face it, when one of your chief distractors was a President, General, and a first rate drunk, U.S. Grant, you must have been OK.  Mind you, I doubt if I would have enjoyed serving under Custer...in my four years of Air Force service, I did my best to drive guys like him nuts...and frankly I did a damn good job of it.  Having said that however, his goals were worthwhile, and thus why the American Left hates him so.  Note I said he was an American Hero...probably not so much for those that cannot handle their "Firewater"...

Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy was right about Communist in the US Government...this kind of statement when said to a gutless Liberal{and yes they are all gutless, especially the White Male versions}will surely make their Head Explode....something that would be a joy to witness.  McCarthy, the Junior Senator from Wisconsin was spot on with his observations, forget what Marxist tools like Edward R, Murrow had to say back in the days...they hated him, because he was ruthless in his pursuit of the Reds in Government.  Joe McCarthy Was an American Hero!
truth...current Liberals and Media are mostly Rock Solid Communists and thus the hate, even thought few can even tell you what he was doing, remains today....

Ronald Reagan was the Greatest President of our Lifetime....In my case that would be from Truman through the Kenyan/Chicago Bath House Queen in office today...In my view, this is a no brainer...look at what we have been saddled with since WWII.  If truth be known, Truman would be second on my list{after all he bombed the Japs and saved millions of lives, and returned home without fanfare or Secret Service protection}...he had many faults and made many mistakes, but compared to LBJ, Clinton, Carter, The Bushes, and even Ike, he was second to Reagan.  Number 3 on the list has to be JFK, only because by today's standards he is a flaming Right Wing Nut, he the only other good one out of the turds that have occupied the White House since the end of the War in 1945...Ronald Reagan didn't have to do much to rank #1....Flush the Rest.

There you have it...a few statements to piss off your favorite Liberal Friend or Family Member....you know?  Get them foaming at the mouth, ranting, raving, screaming, and red in the face bursting a blood vessel in their warped brain mad....It is great sport....

Back from Brown County{Indiana}

Headed to Muncie, Indiana, over the weekend, to attend the wedding of my best friend Rick's daughter...Patricia and I stayed overnight in the Ball State City then headed for a few days in scenic Brown County in southern Indiana....rolling hills, artsy fart stuff, and weekend warrior Harley Riders{AKA Hell's Angles wannabees who sit behind a desk all week, then pretend they are Bad Asses Friday evening through Sunday afternoon}...

Our Cabin was called Daffodil Hill and was originally built in the middle 1800s....bath and kitchen were added later, then Hot Tub, and deck more recently....A/C, Cable TV, and Internet Access, made the "roughing it" part not so much....we did however have a few nice days, watching wild life, I drank some beer, and smoked a couple quality Cigars outdoors....all in all a good and relaxing time. 

Not a lot of wildlife, but we did have some Doe Deer and Fawn visitors, a couple of Box Turtles mating in the side yard and various Birds and Lizards hanging around....

The Lake Festival is here in Celina which will mark my 7th full year of writing this Blog...not as active or political as when I began, but still stopping by on occasion.....

back later????

The 2014 Sunflower Crop begins

Cold Snow Filled Winter, Cold Rainy Spring, and now a mostly cool, wet, and humid Summer, have delayed the back yard flowers, some have been destroyed by storms, and others have acquired a fungus, that they may not recover from, despite my best efforts....

However, they Sunflowers that are coming out are some of the neatest in color that I have ever experienced since I began growing them each Spring about a decade ago:

Here are 3 that are currently on display in the backyard:

(1) Coffee Black (2) Burnt Orange and (3) Deep Purple/Pink

My Baseball Season Ends....

I finished up my Spring/Summer Baseball work over the weekend....94 games by my count since the 3rd week of March, if you count scrimmages, and the Summer games....

Drove 80 miles north to Archbold to work my 5th straight year in the Summer High School ACME State Championships.  Tim Copsey out of  Antwerp and I had games 3 and 4 in the opening round on Saturday Night.  Working the plate for the game between 2 time defending champion, Defiance, and the team they defeated in 2012 for the title, Dayton Northmont...The Bulldogs, as usual, got outstand pitching, and made my job easy, calling mostly strikes and watch both teams swing their respective bats, Defiance pulled away late and salted away a 8-0 opening round win, a No Hitter via Junior to be hurler, Shay Smiddy.  Always good to work a game behind the plate with quality teams....

In the nightcap, Tim and I almost got out early with the 4th straight game of under 1 hour 40 minutes...but Lima Bath tied the host school Archbold 1-1 with 2 outs in the 7th....and pushed the game to 9 innings, coming away with a 5-1 win....I will be surprised if Defiance doesn't win a 3rd straight title, especially with Coldwater losing it's first game to fall into the loser's bracket of the Double Elimination Tournament. {the Defiance team did indeed win the State for the 3rd straight year}

Sunday Wrap Things Up....

On Sunday I headed south some 35 miles to Russia{Rue-She} Ohio for a 14 and under tournament, a level I seldom do, but had worked there last year, they pay cash, so I figured what the heck?  Working the second Semi-Final and the Championship games both behind the plate,, I sweated for 5 hours, as the Championship game between the travel team Storm and Minster's 8th grade team lasted almost 3 hours, with the Storm pulling out a 14-13 win in the bottom of the 7th.

I was gassed!  And frankly happy to see the season end...love baseball and umpire work, but it's time for a break....Rick Pearson's daughter gets married this Saturday in Muncie, Indiana, then Patricia and I head for Brown County to rent out a cottage for a few days.

The next month will see the above, then before the arrival of our 2nd grandson, due about August 10th, and the start of football officiating season on August 12th....I will have some time to relax...and the old body needs it.

back later:

Photos-my rear end view in action at Elida during the ACME District and early last year during a cold weather spring HS game...

45 Years Ago July 2, 1969....arriving at Nha Trang

I had began my Vietnam vacation a couple of days earlier, leaving from the Dayton Airport, through O'Hare in Chicago, San Francisco and Travis AFB....I then jumped on a Braniff International flight to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and finally setting down in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhut Airbase outside of Saigon, on July 1st....There I checked in at base HQ and got a nice comfortable barracks complete with bed, in the humidity and stench of a early July day in my new country for the next year.....that night at TSN, I could hear the rockets and their concussion sounds and feelings into the night....first night in this war torn craphole, I didn't get much sleep.

7/2/69  Off to Nha Trang

Little did I know at the time that Tan Son Nhut would be my next duty station in Vietnam....but that was months down the road and my orders told me that I had to get to Nha Trang anyway I could and as quickly as possible.  The one thing I should mention, the Air Force, at least most of us, unlike the Army and Marines, did not get shipped together as a unit....we moved back and forth between bases and countries as individuals....I knew nobody that I served with for those first few weeks in country....I would meet up with old mates from Dover AFB in Delaware, down the road...but I had to get to Nha Trang....a small base next to the resort of a city on the South China Sea.

That morning I packed up my duffle bag, paper work, etc, and headed for Base Operations where they processed my orders and told me to head back to the TSN Terminal, and catch a soon to be flying out C~130 Cargo Plane that was "Non-Stop" to Nha Trang....five crew members, and older Mamasan women, and a few smelly goats, along with the cargo on board, that was soon in the air....cargo doors open I got a great view of the Jungles below...some apprehension  but little fear, after all, nobody would be shooting at a "Cargo Plane"  would they?[little did I know the history}....what seemed like hours, but my guess was only an hour or so, I saw the sea and adjoining beaches as we descended towards the small base and runway.....landing seemed surreal as we taxied toward the tiny terminal on the metal that adjoined the concrete runway.

Off with my "stuff" I checked in and asked "Where are the Security Police Headquarters"?  Soon I was out the door and a few minutes later, waked into the Cop Shop and announced who I was.....within minutes{at least it seemed} I was told I would be working Law Enforcement on A Flight{day shift}...How the Hell I lucked out, having been in Security at Dover, was beyond me....but I was happy as a clam....and thus it began, what would be my favorite six months in the Air Force, nothing else comes close, and as I look back, if I would have been allowed to finish my 4 years(I still had almost 3 to go) at Nha Trang, I would have without blinking an eye.

War or no war, it was grand duty....working day shift Law Enforcement 6 days a week, the beach and downtown open to me whenever I choose to go, what more could anyone ask for in a "War Zone"?

Many, some who had it much worse than me, others looking to evoke sympathy, some with major health, mental and physical, do not look back as I do....and if not having to return to Saigon and Tan Son Nhut in late December of 1969, I have little doubt I would not have left Vietnam, especially Nha Trang, until my discharge was in hand...that is my story and I'm sticking to it!

That arrival day was 45 years ago today.....and most of what transpired is as clear as it was when I was a lad of 20....I look back with a smile, the next year, especially the next six months would not be bad at all for a kid from western Ohio and the beaches of Florida's Gulf Coast.

back latere>>>>

Photos'  Arriving at Nha Trang July 2, 1969....My first Beach Photo, probably a day or two into my tour...complete with my Stateside outfit and a can of warm and nasty Black Label Beer....on duty at the Civilian Gate, and on LE Patrol with my buddy Harry Bevan, who I still have contact with today and have hooked up with him a VSPA Reunions...Harry, now retired, became a Philadelphia Cop for many years....Nha Trang Beach, now a tourist hotbed as it looks today and below my favorite shot of me with the V100s, taken by Harry in August 1969.

Remembering Joe Prokop and other "Lifers"

"Lifer"=  /ˈlaɪfər/ Show Spelled [lahy-fer]  

noun Slang.

1.

a person sentenced to or serving a term of life imprisonment.

2.

a person committed to a professional lifetime career in the military

 

Some like me would say the above two meanings are a combination of what life would have been like had we chosen to make the Military a Career....No way in this life was the Air Force or any branch of Military Service going to work for me....it just wasn't going to match my lifestyle or attitude....4 years were about 2 years more than I could stand.

 

For others however, the discipline and lifestyle fit in with what the perceived as a good life...I could, at least in those days, not understand why someone would choose that kind of life...I have mellowed, at least in that attitude somewhat over the past 40 plus years.

 

I met good lifers, bad lifers, assholes, great guys, dimwits, nitwits, and some guys who loved the lifestyle and loved serving their country....I make no judgments these days on why some choose to make the military a 20-35 year career...I just knew it was not for me.

 

Four men come to mind in what I recall as Good Lifers....Carol Marcelle, Phil Lange, Melvin Sloan, and Joe Prokop....Sloan and Marcelle were both black, Lange and Prokop white....Lange retired as a Tech Sgt{E-6} as did Marcelle, the rest as Staff Sargent's {E-5}....the lowest of the career NCO ranks...to show you how these guys were screwed in their careers, I made E-4, buck Sgt in just 18 months, and I was known throughout my 3 years and 10 months as a trouble making Jackass, especially in the minds of the guys just above me in rank....it's safe to say, these 4 men, like me, where not ass kissers during their years in the military, if they had been, they would have made rank much higher and more quickly.

 

I have written and posted photos of Marcelle, Lange, and Prokop before....Melvin Sloan?  I only have memories of our short time at Nha Trang....he was a good one, and like all of these guys, a tough one.

 

Meeting Joe Prokop....

 

46 years ago this week I met Joseph E. Prokop for the first time...I had made my first ever Airplane trip, from Columbus, Ohio, to Dallas, Texas, then flying into the night to Lubbock and finally Amarillo, in the northern Texas Panhandle.....46 years that have flown by in the blink of an eye.

 

Arriving at the Airport, we were herded like cattle into a Blue Air Force Bus and taken to the airbase at Amarillo in the middle of the night.....pretty much a blur it was, I just remember being assigned a bunk and before I knew what the Hell happened a burly guy in a Smokey the Bear Hat, came crashing into my sleep with night stick in hand banging on our bunks, flipping the lights on and off and yelling something at us...."Drop you cocks and grab your socks" or some such mindless shit such as that. That friends was my first encounter with SSgt Joe Prokop....

 

Joe looked and acted the part of the "Drill Sargent"{called Tech Sargent's in the Air Force}...he did it well.  By the time our six weeks of summer vacation were over however, I realized that Joe was a pretty good "Joe" after all, and once I got my assignment as a Security Policeman{nee' Air Police}, Joe confided in me that he was also a AP/SP and had just taken a 2 year stint as a TI for a change.  When Amarillo closed{later that fall} and all Basic Training would revert back to Lackland in San Antonio, he would revert to being a Security Police guy and we would likely meet up in Vietnam working the perimeter at Tan Son Nhut or some other God Forsaken base in South Vietnam....I'm not sure how close Joe realized he was to hitting that nail on the head?

 

Fast forward some 16 months....

 

I had finished Cop School and AZR Combat Training at Lackland and sandwiched in between was a stint at security at Dover AFB, in my mom's home state of Delaware....I lasted there about 6 months when sick of another "lifer" named Jack Adkins{who I would punch in the face if we ever met today, even though that bastard would be in his late 70s}, I volunteered to get the Hell out...Thailand or Vietnam, I just didn't care...."Get me out of here"....and they did.

 

I received my orders for Vietnam and a base called Nha Trang in May 1969....took a leave, went to AZR School in June, came home, and flew out on the morning of June 28th from Dayton, for Chicago, San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and finally Tan Son Nhut{Saigon} for a night...then I jumped on a C~130 and flew off to Nha Trang, located on the South China Sea where I would spend the next 6 months....as I have written/posted before, by far my favorite time in the Air Force.  It wouldn't last though and in late December 1969, with Nha Trang and the 14th being disbanded and sent home to the states, I got orders to Tan Son Nhut, where Joe Prokop's words to me would ring true.

 

I arrived at Saigon on a hot, humid, afternoon on December 27th....a Jeep pulled up at the terminal building, "SECURITY POLICE" was pasted below the windshield...a burley SSgt in Jungle Fatigues stuck his hand out and said..."Houseworth, I Told You So"....how the Hell Joe Prokop remembered me out of the hundreds of guys he ran through Basic Training is a mystery to me?  I guess it was because I was one of a few that ended up as a SP out of that group that graduated in August of 1968 from his "Prokop's Pups" gang.  He took me to the SP sign in barracks, and once he got off duty we headed to the NCO Club to down a few beers.

 

We talked that evening and on a few other occasions, but Joe was on B Flight{mid days-early evenings} while I was assigned to C Flight Security{overnights}...so our visits were to few and far between.  He was shipping home shortly before me in June 1970....Joe finished out his career in 1972 at that Hellhole of a Nuke Base, Minot, North Dakota.  I got out of the Air Force at the same time and never looked back...pretty much ignoring or forgetting those years until 1999 when my family genealogy and my previous life in the AF came calling as an interest....I searched for many of the guys I had served with....Phil Lange came first, then Harry Bevan, Bruce Thompson, Bruce Dei, Howie Prichard, Jack Gates, Johnny Claflin, Steve "Birdleg" Walsh, and others I found....sadly by the time I found Carol Marcelle and Joe Prokop, they had both passed on.  Marcelle I found through his son, he had passed away shortly after I got out....Joe Prokop it turns out was living in Northern Wisconsin when we were living there in the late 1970s....but I wasn't looking for anybody connected to my Air Force years at that time.

 

Phil Lange and I talked on several occasion and he purchased my Life Membership in the VSPA and left me his flags, Air Police Badge, and QC Patches, from our days at Nha Trang....Phil passed away in 2009 and I still have contact with his son Paul.

 

Melvin Sloan in the only one of the Big Four that I have no closure with.....

 

Now 65 years old and in good health and {hopefully} mind, those days, so long ago, seem so close I could touch them...these men, who in their own rights were caricatures in the best sense of the word, will remain in my memory for the rest of my life.....

 

Rest in Peace Joe Prokop, Phil Lange, and Carol Marcelle....and God Bless Melvin Sloan, wherever you may be....

 

Baseball Double Header tonight at Lima Central Catholic.....finally the rain has stopped for a couple days they say....Back Later!

 

Go USA Beat Germany!

 

Photos:  from top:

 

Joe Prokop grave site in Spooner, Wisconsin, Veterans Cemetery, my ID card issued 26 years ago today....{don't worry about the ID # steal it....if you think you can gain something from it}, Prokop and my Class from August 1968...Joe kneeling in the front with his Smoky Bear Hat....I'm the clown on the top row far left{only time I've been far left in my life}...me in front of our Barracks at Amarillo with the Caricature of Joe Prokop above...Phil Lange enjoying a Cigar{another thing we had in common} at the Sky Cop Lounge at Nha Trang, ..the flag and SP items Phil left me, and Carol Marcelle's ID card at his retirement.....