Meandering and my Air Force Days 1968-72 part 3

The record 70 degrees over the weekend has turned back to January-like and the heavy flooding rains are done, and a few snow flakes float through the outdoor air....the highs will likely be in the 30s for the foreseeable future with lows in the 20s.  I can deal with that...probably better than dealing with the pain in the neck I have had for the past week or so...weight lifting?  basketball? old age? or a combination of all of the above...getting old sucks I don't care how active you stay, how healthy of life style you try to live, or whatever...you just can't stop Father Time.....

MRSI Board meeting today...a single basketball game tonight at Delphos, then quickly back to Celina for a Dartball match....I have not played for a month, as the league was down for the Holidays and last week I contracted a roundball double header, and missed that week...we are at 3 wins, 3 loses, and early that gives us a share of the South Division lead....not sure how long that will last, hopefully I can improve on the season, so far at a .313 batting average, with 11 RBIs....the former pretty low by my standards...another aging thing?

The Air Force Days part #3....

In late August 1968 our Squadron graduated from Basic Training at Amarillo, my "Dream Sheet" had been tossed into the circular bin....no Air Control and Warning, no Air Traffic Control, nope, just a sheet that said "Security Police"..."Assigned to training school at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas"...."Cops, Cooks, Grass Cutters and Other Assorted Dipshits", the words of my brother Mike came immediately came to mind.

Six more weeks in the Texas summer heat....San Antonio was different, weather-wise than Amarillo.  Sure both were hot as the blazes...difference was however, San Antone was hot and humid...Amarillo was hot and dry, with cool sleep able
nights,  I remember some things about Cop School, but not so much with names...we did get to go downtown and managed to hit a few bars.  Cop School was pretty much a breeze, after all, what were they gonna do, kick us out?  Not likely, very few wanted to be Air Force Military Police...after-all, that is basically what we were,

some would go to Security, some Law Enforcement, some to Dog Handlers (K 9)Training.  I loved dogs, my family had a variety of Coon Hounds, mutts, Bird Dogs, and others, my entire childhood...after the Air Force I raised Airedales for 35 years...so I loved dogs, but I knew the dangers involved with dog handling, they were the first to get shipped to Vietnam, and likely the first to die in the event of an attack.

Cop School was a chance to learn the cop trade, not sure what exactly I was trained in...less than a year later I was back at Lackland for AZR School...that two week course would get us "trained" in Combat, so they told us....both schools together taught us enough about weapons, especially small arms, like the M2, M16, and .38 Special to get us by...I did become pretty proficient in the afore mentioned, that it has stayed with me throughout my life....although in the Air Force they taught us just enough to get ourselves killed...which happened to enough Sky Cops in Vietnam.

Late in the training the called us in and told us they had more 'Dream Sheets" to fill out...these would be used to send us to our bases of choice{hardly a ringing endorsement for getting you where you wanted to be....of course they told us, we have immediate opening in the grand land of Turkey if you want to head overseas and avoid
Vietnam anytime soon..."Turkey?  You gotta be shitting me?"  I had heard horror stories about that dump...even back then, the Islamic way of life wasn't going to mix with my lifestyle...."No Turkey For You"...I picked Florida, Ohio, and Delaware, my mom's home state and where my Uncle Bill lived...I had been there before, and I loved Uncle Bill and Family....so I could take Dover if needed...it was needed, I was informed a week or so later that I was heading for MACland (Military Airlife Command)...Dover AFB, Delaware...first off some leave, and then Dover for my first assignment, that would come in October 1968.

The leave, back in Celina, was pretty much a blur....drinking plenty of beer, with my still short hair....not exactly the way you want to return home...frankly, the civilian days were behind me, and for the next four years, I would find out being a military type and a civilian teenager were worlds apart....it would remain that way until I got out of the Air Force.

back later>>>

Photos-Air Police became "Security Police" right before my assignment to SP School at Lackland...today they are called Security Forces....with women involved...not a good thing IMO...sexist I may be, but I know a mistake when I see on, and the Feminazion of the Miliatry is not a good thing for America.  K-9 Patch from Tan Son Nhut....Dog Handler was not in my future, despite Sarge Prokops declaration....The Statue at the Air Force Museum at Wrigth Patterson....even in my Vietnam Days, I don't recall ever looking that "Gung Ho"....and my early days at Dover....if somebody had attacked back then, I was clueless...

The Air Force Days 1968-72 pt 2

The solid cover of snow we had has been reduced to dirty piles that have been pushed by plow and blown by snow machine....the temperatures, rising to near 50 overnight, were accompanied by heavy amounts of rain during the early morning hours...it is quite the mess outside...the temperatures will climb to the low 60s tomorrow, then the colder weather will come roaring back late in the weekend and into next week.....the January thaw won't last long.

I worked locally last night at the Celina Intermediate School, the local Freshman boy are a team that has not tasted many defeats over their years together, and last night was no exception, they handled visiting Elida 70-35...and with the school just 4 blocks away, I was home by 6:20pm...tonight and tomorrow will be a bit more active.  JV Boys at Delphos Jefferson and then tomorrow a Girls JH double header at Convoy Crestview, then back to Van Wert County with a JV Boys game at Lincolnview...my neck, back, and feet will feel the effects for sure....the basketball season has 6 weeks to go for me....I will be glad to see it end.

Amarillo and a Texas Summer 1968....

After getting the call from the recruiter in Lima, I had but a couple of days to get ready for my entry into the Air Force....back in those days here in rural western Ohio, we had "Going Away Parties" just about every weekend.  It was a chance to rent one of the local abandoned school houses from yesteryear, get a garage band booked and celebrate the leaving of one or a half dozen guys for the military....Eddie and my party was scheduled for the old Carthagena School that next weekend...Ed made it to the party, I was already in Texas...the price for getting that early call.

The night before final induction in Columbus, I took another bus to the Capital City...Eddie Bonifas stayed behind for another couple of weeks.  One other guy from Celina, Doug Giesige, who had graduated from Celina IC, the Catholic school in town, and was heading for the Army, and I spent the night before induction hitting the pool halls and bars of Columbus...I was pretty hung over by the time my flight headed out of C~Bus for Dallas, then on to Lubbock and finally Amarillo, both in the Texas Panhandle.  It was my first time flying....I would do that many more times over the next 45 years.

Landing in Amarillo, those of us arriving for Air Force Basic Training, were greeted and loaded on a Blue Bus...and hauled into the induction area of the base...it is all kind of a blur even these days nearly 45 years later.  The usual yelling and intimidation from those in charge...it seems comical looking back, but at the time, being a 19 year old small town boy, it was anything but....I just wanted to finish the 6 weeks or so that I faced at Amarillo without getting "Set Back"{where if you screwed up, you went back to a place where you would endure more weeks of basic}...moving on to my chosen career field and a permanent base is what I wanted...that and to avoid Vietnam.  After all that is why I joined the Air Force and took four years, rather than the draft and only two.

Six weeks seemed like an eternity back then...today that is just a drop in the bucket.  The blur continued for the first few days...lots of yelling, intimidation, a Sarge in Charge named Joe Prokop, as our T.I.  aka Technical Instructor, as opposed to the other branches of service, like the Marines, where they called them Drill Instructors...Joe was more like the latter, he was an intimidator, at least in the early days of our 6 weeks...he would take a leave early on, then by the time he returned, we had become used to him and the Air Force game of Basic Training.  Things were getting easier, as for Joe?  He and I would meet up in Vietnam some 18 months later.

Marching,  Spit Polish, 3 square meals a day, and a few barracks inspections later, we were ready to fill out our "Dream Sheets"...we had taken the tests back at the recruiting stations...General, Mechanical, Electronic, and Administrative....I had scored highest in the Administrative, but was slotted in General, my second highest score...that in retrospect was a set up for becoming, as my brother Mike{a Air Force Fire Fighter} described it..."General, code word for becoming a Cook, Cop, Grass Cutter, or some other Assorted Dip Shit"...My dream sheet went up in smoke and I was assigned to become one of the "other assorted dip shits"...a Security Policeman, nee Air Police, or as Joe Prokop told me when he saw my assignment..."Lots of luck Houseworth, you'll likely be walking a God Damn dog around the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut this time next year....."  Joe was a smart man...he was also a SP when he wasn't being a T.I./that career field of leading a group of recruits, was just a two year tour, Joe would soon enough be  back to the life of a Sky Cop, and heading for Tan Son Nhut himself...we would meet at the Saigon Airport 18 months later.

Amarillo, Texas, itself was different than anything I had experienced...at least weather-wise.  We got a day pass one time to go downtown...drinking near beer at the local pups or taking in "skin flicks" for whatever reason...Amarillo

wasn't much in my mind.  I have traveled through there many times in this new century, thanks to RV runs through the panhandle taking rigs west and on return trips, RV, Jeep, and occasionally on a Greyhound Bus{hate that mode for sure}...the thing I remember best about Amarillo, it was hot and dry during the day, and cool in the desert type setting at night.

Other than Joe Prokop, I don't recall ever meeting another guy I was in basic with, although a couple of them have stopped by this blog, when seeing the photo of our squad of "Prokop's Pups' you see posted...Hell I may have been the only one assigned to SP school, but I really can't say that for sure...a little fuzzy on that one.  The one thing I was sure of was, I would be staying in Texas....I may have missed the big base at San Antonio, Lackland, for Basic Training, I would spend six weeks there in the late summer and early fall of 1968...learning how to become a Air

Force Security Police guy.....

San Antonio and Lackland are up next>>>>

back later>>>>

Photos-Top Left...shortly after Basic Training at Amarillo, I was getting my mug shot taken for Cop School...in reality, I never wore a White Hat in my duties...it ended up I only worked Law Enforcement for six months at Nha Trang in Vietnam, where we wore Dark Blue Piss Pots as we called them.  Propkop's Pups were what we were called...me in front of our aging baracks and then our entire training squadron, I am the second guy from left in the second row from top.  The main gate at Amarillo AFB in the 1960s...and a mid 1960s Newspaper with headlines about the coming closure of the base...but with Vietnam in full force, the base stayed open for a while past the mid-1968 date...the last Basic Training Class graduated in December of 68....some four months after I departed in August of that year.

And So It Begins...The Air Force Years 1968-72 pt 1

Much of the snow has melted...about a foot or so has been on the ground since the day after Christmas....the seasonable cold had kept it on the ground and pretty solid, the past week it has begin to warm and with rain on the way and temperatures to approach 60 by Saturday afternoon, it appears it will all be gone by the end of the weekend...seasonable temperatures are to return by the beginning of next week, but no major storms are headed for this area, at least not according to the "Global Warming 24/7 Network"...also known as the Weather Channel, owned by the Obama Lapdog Network, NBC.  So we will get rain, and then mud, and it will probably freeze back up by the middle of next week.

A handful of the guys in charge of our baseball/softball umpire association met at Fricker's in Van Wert last night to discuss plans for the upcoming high school season...even though our first official meeting is a month away, it was good to get back to discussing the season, just 10 weeks down the road...tonight and the rest of the week is to be filled with basketball.  Here in Celina tonight for a Freshman Boys game, tomorrow boys at Delphos Jefferson, and then on Saturday a Girls Junior High double in the morning, and a boys JV game at Lincolnview that night...I almost dread what my feet will feel like come Saturday night, a couple of cold ones and ice on the injury will almost certainly be required.  I am truly looking forward to the end of roundball for the year...by far my least favorite sport to officiate, and truthfully probably the one I am least skilled at...but it's also the one that I have been doing least, time-wise, but it does keep me somewhat in shape and on the go during the slow winter months...so we will "leg" it out for the time being.

US Air Force Days...The Beginning

I have written many times about my Air Force days on this blog...usually it is about the year and the people I knew in Vietnam, and those I have hooked up with since those days...the other 3 years pale in comparison to that year, but they are still fairly clear in my mind, even to this day....I will attempt to pen them down as best as I can over the next weeks, in bits and pieces...so here goes.

I graduated from Celina High School in late May of 1967, and there was little doubt that I would not be heading for college.  I hated school, and although I would eventually attend college with success after my Air Force days, there would be no doubt that I wasn't ready for college at 18 years old.  I headed off to work at the Huffy Bike plant in Celina, realizing that sooner or later I would be called by the draft board...after-all this was the Vietnam era, my family wasn't rich, I wasn't, at that time, college material, had no plans on getting married, let alone having kids, and sure the Hell wasn't going to Canada to avoid the draft, I might have been a 5'9" 130 pound runt at the time, but I wasn't a gutless coward..aka Draft Dodger.

So me, along with several of my running mates lived the good life for a solid year...drinking, dating several girls, usually one or two dates each, never anymore than that, driving and occasionally wrecking cars, and making it to work, whenever I wasn't too hung over...it was a good year!

All good things come to an end...by the early Spring of 1968 I received my "Draft Notice"...I was to report to Columbus for the pre-induction physical.  Bob Jones, Eddie Bonifus, and several others headed down on a bus from Celina, took our physicals and were told to "stand by", the draft would be calling...of course we had options, and five of us decided to look at those options.  Bob, Eddie, Muhlenkamp, another guy whose name slips my mind, and me went to Lima one afternoon to visit the Navy Recruiting Station in that city...A slick talking black recruiter quickly had three guys signing on the dotted line...Eddie and I opted to walk down the stairs to check with the Air Force recruiter before we made our decision to join anything.

We were quickly greeted...after-all this was 1968, we had passed our physical in Columbus and we each had a pulse, we were Air Force material.  That very afternoon we took our tests, got the results, made our picks for career fields on a 'Dream Sheet" and signed our next four years away.....we were in the Air Force, on the delayed enlistment plan, we would get about 90 days to party away, get our present lives in order, and come Summer 1968 we would head to Basic Training, either at Lackland{San Antonio} or the newer and smaller Basic Training site of Amarillo AFB in the Texas Panhandle.

The next couple of months, Eddie, who I had known casually, became close friends...after-all, we had joined on the Buddy System, they promised we would head to basic as a pair{the first of many Air Force lies, which I soon came to expect}, so we worked at the recruiting station stuffing envelopes on Saturday mornings, part of another lie, they had told us it was part of the duties of the delayed recruiting system..we didn't mind.  On weekends we did our best to drink every ounce of beer in Mercer County, at that time 3.2% beer was legal, the regular stuff and the hard booze wasn't for a 19 year old, but that never stopped us...we did our best, as we partied on weekends and watched as individuals or small groups headed off to military service, some like Eddie, changed forever, others, like my cousin Jack Poling, and my brother Mike's best friend David "Kim" Deeter, never to return alive.

I got a call from the recruiter around the 20th of June...I had to go, Eddie would follow later, but it was required of me that I leave the next week...I would head to Columbus, get inducted, and fly to Amarillo, Texas...that story in the next installment.

back later>>>>

Photos-The mug shot on the day of the "hair cut" at basic training Amarillo AFB, Texas, complete with the old Military ID #...if you can use that, go for it....our numbers were soon switched to our SS #, that change came within a year of my entry.  My skinny ass, sitting on Dad's Dodge Charger, in the Summer of 1968 I believe, shortly before I enlisted...this one at my old stomping grounds on Grand Lake's southside, Windy Point.  Bob Jones and me, the Christmas break of 1968...I was at Dover, Bob was with the Navy off the coast of Washington State, we would both be in Vietnam in less than a year....and me outside our tar paper shack barracks at Amarillo, the drawing in the background was of Joe Prokop, our T.I.  Joe and I would be reunited in Vietnam as Security Police, after his two years tour as an instructor came to and end....sadly Joe passed away a few years ago, before I could make contact with him....Great Guy, although when I first met him, as a drill instructor, he scared the Hell out of me!

Can Spring be Far Behind?

I got home early last night, about 8pm, after working a boys JV roundball game at Van Wert...always interesting at that school, since for many years back in the 1980s and 90s I was the voice of the Van Wert Cougars, providing the play-by-play voice on the local Cable TV channel.  I stayed away from officiating and umpiring games there for years, because I knew everybody and they all knew me from my days, not only at Cable Channel 7, but from the years I spent as Environmental Health Director at the VW County and City Health Department.  I started working baseball at Van Wert a few years back..then started officiating basketball about 5 years ago...still everytime I walk into the massive new gym, the older folks and most of the coaches, and score table workers know me from years back...it's still a strange feeling to have fans give me the business, the way I gave officials in years past when broadcasting.

Van Wert came from behind to defeat Fort Wayne{IN} Carroll in the JV contest...my partner Doug and I talked with the varsity crew, out of Columbus for a bit, then I headed home....Patricia and I arrived at the same time, me from Van Wert and basketball, and my wife from her Tuesday Bible study group.  Checking the mail, I noticed that this year's baseball packet for both Sam and I had arrived...of course Sam won't be using his, at least not in Ohio...he plans on switching his license to Illinois, where he has been licensed before, back in 2003 and 04...as for me, I was glad to see it arrive, sure the official meetings don't begin until the middle of February, our State Clinic for Umpires{one of 3 in Ohio}is slated to be held at
Lincolnview on February 23rd...as one of the average to small sized  organizations in Ohio, it is a big deal for us to be the host association for this, the second straight year.  As President-Elect{mostly a figurehead slot}of the Mid-West Buckeye Umpire Association,  I enjoy participating in these clinics...even at 64, by the time I take the field this Spring, you are never too old or experienced to learn and teach sometime new.

So despite my first baseball work on the field not scheduled until middle March, the arrival of the packet and the first unofficial meeting at Van Wert tonight, where the veteran umpires get together and work out the association plans for the year, has me thinking baseball and the spring that comes with it.

Dover and my Air Force Days....

After corresponding with my old Dover Air Base mate Howie Pritchard the past few days, I have decided to pen the story of my Air Force days from the summer of 1968 through May of 1972...on occasion I will post on this blog stories of my on-base activity from those days, the people I knew and places I frequented...I am lucky, even at my age, when like all 60 something types, I have short term lapses in
memory, my recollections of those days, and many of the names and faces, are pretty clear, despite have only a handful of  photos from the period.  For the next few days and weeks, I will dig back in my memory banks...not sure how much or how many details I will be able to write about...but like anything else, I will give it my best shot.

Stay tuned for that over the next few days...I may start this week, next, or in a couple...but I will begin soon enough....

back later>>>>

Photos-The New Rules and Books arrived in yesterday's mail for the upcoming season...and I, like the photo of me umpiring in 2011 shows, am ready for the upcoming season...and I will look back over the next few weeks, in bits and pieces, at my four year life as a Air Force Security Cop...1968-72

Looking Back....Again...Dover AFB, Delaware 1968/69

After hooking up with my old Dover AFB comrade, Howard Pritchard, after 43 1/2 years, I got to thinking...always a dangerous proposition on my part, about just how quick it all goes, a cliche' I know, but none-the-less, it is the truth....you younger readers will find that out soon enough, as us old folks fade into memory.

Howie sent me a couple of long e-mails last night on his life post Dover...I have began returing the favor, with my first installment this morning:


Pritch:

Sending a copy of this to Gates...he doesn't use his e-mail much, his wife Lisa sends me stuff on occasion, but if you would like to snail mail him, here is his address:

Richard & Lisa Gates

 

Anyway, I'll try not to bore you, but I enjoy looking back at those days...so much time has passed, and all of our lives probably turned out much different that we had thought, and despite the time, it still seems, at least to me, like a flash in the night, where did the time go?

I received my orders for Nha Trang in March of 69...couldn't stand Jack Adkins, our Hitler Like Tech Sgt any longer, and volunteered, didn't take long, I remember coming back from a visit on our 72 hour break from my Uncle's in Wilmington, and you and Turcotte yelling down the hall at me..."Nha Trang, Nha Trang"....I had never heard of the damn place...as it turned out, I lucked out...it was the best 6 months of my Air Force years...

Walsh, me, and Lippencott, went to AZR School(combat training at Lackland in San Antonio) in May, that was in the middle of my 30 day free leave before heading over...Lip [was a pain in the ass, even back then}, we traveled back to Ohio several times, once in a snow storm during our famous 5 days on 5 days off break over Christmas and New Years that day...I took the five days over Christmas, then worked one day and came down with the Hong Kong Flu and ended up in the Hospital for the rest of the break...couple of others ended up there with me, but I can't remember which guys it was...Gates maybe? and one more...somebody snuck a bottle of Johnny Walker Red into our room and we downed that on New Year's Eve....Hell I think that was Gates or you that got us that....little fuzzy on that one.

Once I got my orders, the rest of you started getting yours and our great little group was split up...I went to Nha Trang, Walsh to Hon Tre, out of Nha Trang, Lip to Da Nang, Gates to Da Nang...Turcotte, I was never sure, but I remember a bunch of you

went to Da Nang, and I felt lucky as Hell...Nha Trang was a garden spot.  I started right off in A(Day) Flight Law Enforcement, had a great NCOIC, Phil Lange, a Tech who I would hook up with later in life, when he became a teacher back in New Hampshire...we remained friends until he passed away in 2009. Phil left me all of his memorabilia and insisted he pay for my life membership in the VSPA before he passes away...great guy....even though he knew I despised the Air Force and it's rules. We downed many a cold beer and quality cigar together...

The 14th broke up at Nha Trang and on December 27th of 69 I was one of the last SPs left.....alone again, they shipped my ass to Tan Son Nhut with 12 hours notice..."C" Flight Security roaming the perimeter for 3 months at night, then the final three months working the inter-workings of that base at night on Blue Patrol...a squad where they put all of the screw ups{that would be me}...allowing us to keep out of sight from the brass and politicians that frequented the base...my job, as a buck sgt(had got my 3rd stripe in February of 70), was to drive a jeep, loaded with coffee, water, and fruit, to keep the 20 or so guys awake and out of trouble....that worked for me...it was easy duty to finish off my Vietnam days...Gates, who had switched from Da Nang to some other base...maybe Bien Hoa(?) came to visit me on an in-country R&R....I can't remember how the Hell he knew I was in Saigon...?? But we spent a pretty good afternoon and evening with me,  showing him the sights and women of Saigon....

I left in late June and was promised a LE Gig at Griffiss in upstate New York....on the non SAC part of the base...when I got their in August, that part of the base was closed down, and here I was, stuck in freaking SAC Security....the next 20 months I did my best, and succeeded in part, to drive the lifers nuts....those stories later.

As I said, if I had known what awaited, I would have stayed in Vietnam...frankly, if Nha Trang was still an option, I know I would have stayed...Tan Son Nhut was not awful, but it wasn't Nha Trang...I loved that place....especially the beach, and the downtown, not to mention the duty....

OK, I'll let you soak that up.....and back with more...I gotta tell you, this is fun, even though as SPs we only spent a short time together, it is great finding guys that served together...there is something, even with the guys you didn't get along with, that time brings back a flood of memories. I have found about two dozen from my days at Dover, Nha Trang, and Griffiss so far....love telling these stories.

 

So, that was my first installment to Howie...and got me to thinking...maybe, just maybe, I'll be go back and look/write about those Air Force years....and share them all with you. ...well at least parts, some stuff always has to remain in the "Vault"...the deep crevices of my mind....that just is the way it has to be.....{note, some of the above was "edited" to protect the innocent.. :)- }

 

back later>>>

Photos-Blogger and it's loading of photos is still screwed up....guess it has been for a week or so, but I managed to back door some...even though it's a pain in the ass.  Top Left-Robert Little III, Howard Pritchard, and Richard "Jack" Gates...from our days in Security at Dover.  Next me, at the "Mounds" the Nuclear Storage Site we guarded at Dover...spent many a night "humping" those suckers in the wind and cold...one of the other dutes included guarding Nuke uploads ...here I am on a far outpost on the distant runway at Dover with a C-141 and some Nuclear material on board...and finally, today as I collect my memories and look back at it all.

Another Internet Find/Blast from the Past

were you stationed at dover afb in 1968?my name is howard pritchard.was also in sec police and at dover delaware.my email is bartXXXXXX.the time makes it possible.i too left for viet nam in aug of 69.just curious.thanks

 

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Sometimes things just fall into place.....

The weekend was spent officiating basketball, watching the mindless muddle of pro and college football games on the tube, and basically relaxing the final day, Sunday, of the weekend.  I tried to stay away from the endless news cycle, a battle for the Republic in the war being waged against it, but a Kenyan Bastard Child named Barack Obama...who I have come to believe has one goal in mind, the dictatorial rule of this once great Republic, and the enslavement of anybody that disagrees with his views...He is one evil Son of a Bitch, or at least his "puppet masters" are, and he is nothing but a half breed, half witted pawn in the whole shooting match, which is likely what we will become if he, and his minions try to enforce any new "Gun Grab" on the real America....not to be confused with the subjects on the left.

Anyway the weekend had flown by and I had just gotten off the phone with a radical old leftist, his own description, who I sometimes officiate with....Jon wanted me to fill in tonight at Fort Recovery in a Freshman double bill, first game boys, second game girls..."Old Jon"(about 4 months older than me) gave up a kidney to his Grandson last Summer, and is coming up with a respiratory issue, so being the kind hearted Vietnam Veteran I am, I told the old radical I would fill in.  I jumped on the computer and typed a note to the Athletic Director at the Fort...while on the Internet, I decided to visit this blog, having not done much in the last handful of days, I checked the old comment section, which is usually filled with spam and other garbage.  Long ago I decided to put a front between the spamers, left wing haters, and other garbage posted by those refusing to leave a name, preferring to be labeled at "Anonymous".

Last night there were 21 such comments...18 were immediately dispatched via the delete route, which left three others to read...2 were "iffy" but I went ahead and posted, though they were likely just promotions for other web sites....the last of the 21 comments was presented on a post from a couple of years ago and is at the top of today's blog post.  I immediately recognized the name.  Howard Pritchard is a name of a fellow Air Force Sky Cop that I had searched for on occasion.  "Pritch" was from the Chicago area, but I believe his dad lived in Columbus, Ohio...he and his running mate Ron Turcotte were at Dover, Delaware, when I arrived in the fall of 1968.  Pritch, Turcotte, my roommates Jack Gates, and Bob Little the 3rd, along with a handful of others are guys I remember from then 8 or 9 months I spent at Dover...we worked the same Security Flight, mostly guarding the "Mounds" and putting up with Bullshit from a 5 striped clown named Jack Adkins..."Smiling Jack" as we called him...he was a major league horse's ass, and if the truth be known, even today, he is probably in his late 70s, I would like to kick him in the ass...there were few lifters I despised more than "Smiling Jack"...

Anyway over the years, mostly with the help of the Internet, but some just by luck, I have found a handful or more of guys I served with...Gates, Bruce Die, Kohli, "Bird Legs" Walsh, Johnny Claflin, Harry Bevan, Bruce Thompson, Marc Payan, and more...mostly from Nha Trang and Dover....others sadly, I found too late....two guys from the Pittsburgh area, Jack Friedl my best friend at Griffiss, dead from years of being hooked on prescription drugs, and Bill "Hoke" Hochendoner, dead at the hands of a jealous ex-husband, by gunshot around Christmas 1971...just after getting out of the Air Force, upon return from his Vietnam trip.

When Jack Gates and I first found each other, the first time we had made contact since a couple days of bar hopping in Saigon during the late days of our Vietnam tour...Jack had came down from Da Nang and on a in-country R&R to Tan Son Nhut/Saigon.  Once we made contact, Jack, now living on the Kentucky/Tennessee State Line, sent me a few old photos via e-mail, and Pritch was among those pictured...an Internet search had come up empty, until by luck he apparently came across my blog...via a post that really had only a small part to do with Dover, there are other posts with his and other photos, and more on our days at Dover.

After reading his comments, I e-mailed Pritch, and sent a copy to Gates....last time I had seen or talked with Howie Pritchard was the late Spring of 1969, as I was going off to AZR Combat Preparedness School in Texas, almost all of the guys with B Flight Security at Dover would be in Vietnam within the next few months...the faces and many of the names remain clear as a bell.

Another full week of Basketball awaits me...frankly, the season is dragging, although it is less than two months old...my left foot is not getting any better, but that is my problem.  Wednesday the older umpires in our Baseball Association have a pre-season meeting in Van Wert, as we set the stage for the season and meetings to come.  With the Bengals losing on Saturday, my interest in the NFL is finished for the most part, and the season has just one more college football game, tonight's BCS Championship between Notre Dame and Alabama...a game I really have little interest in...So the new year is here, and the sooner we move into warmer Spring-like weather, the better....not that the winter, as snowy as it has been, has been that bad...but I'm ready for our mini-reunion of Vietnam SPs in early March and the beginning of baseball season...hopefull the coming year will be better, health wise for the family, including me, and will result in more "finds" like  Howie Pritchard.

 

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Photos-Not sure what the Hell is up with Blogger, but as is to often the case, something is amiss with the photo loading portion....happens way to often, this not allowing me to load from my photo files....having to back door from the blog archives....drives me nuts!  So anyway, I added a couple of photos that really have little to do with today's blog...I wanted to upload photos of Pritch, me, and Gates from our Dover Days....those will wait, if Blogger fixes it's sorry ass self, I may be able to insert those on a make-over...in the meantime..Gawd Damn f*(&&)) Son of a B&*$#( Piece of Garbage that is Blogger is pissing me off...

Avoiding the "Fiscal Cliff" with Smoke and Mirrors...

Or perhaps I should title this, "Avoiding the Fiscal Cliff, by Blowing Smoke Up America's Ass"....for that is what happened overnight, as my Congressman{for just one more day} Speaker John Boehner let the left get their package voted on...something you know Harry Reid would have never let happen in the Senate.  So the Fiscal Cliff avoidance package passed, with only 85 votes from the GOP, sadly Boehner, my new Congressman, Bob Latta, and even VP Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan, voted for this joke of a bill....So, just like we knew they would, the GOP Moderates caved, and let the Democrats have their way....

Sure, the tax rates won't go up, unless you make $400,000 or $450,000 as a family.."Screw the Rich", right?  Problem is, those that are really "Rich" know how to avoid the increases....and I don't blame them one damn bit.  And of course, if you are thinking that your taxes won't go up?  Guess Again!  If you pay into Social Security, you will still see a 2% increase in those...and just think, if you are under 50 you likely will never see a dime...Is this Country Great, or What?

But of course take a look at those spending cuts in the bill....$17 Trillion in Debt and they are cutting back $15.....Billion!  What a freaking joke...a Few Billion in Cuts and a Few Trillion in Debt...makes perfect sense to me....how about you?  Meanwhile, once the bill is signed, Obammy the Wonder Boy will jet back to Hawaii to vacation with the First Beast and their little kiddies on your $7 Million in tax dollars....aren't you proud that a family that, if not for his EEO hire, would be on the streets and welfare?

So on this second day of the new year, we have avoided the "Fiscal Cliff"{no such thing of course}, and with new spending and new taxes, the gutless in DC will "Kick the Can Down the Road"....as this once great Republic resembles nothing that our forefathers had envisioned.

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Photos-Obammy and Boehner, doing to America what have brought upon oursleves....

A :Look Back at 2012....part #3

With still a foot of snow on the ground, and no melting in site, we are in for another inch of snow this afternoon and this evening...just in time for the drunks to hit the roadways...hopefully most will use a Designated Driver, and not take out some innocents on this, the last day of the year...as for me, I'm sure I will be sacked away by the Midnight hour....seldom make it to the Ball Falling in Times Square anymore....and don't miss the New Year's Day hangovers one damn bit.  For the second straight year we will miss any party at Rick's in Northern Indiana.  Last year my accident en route was the problem, this year, the host's health issues, still not quite resolved, will push back any get together for our little crew.....so tomorrow it will be me, Patricia, Anissa home for a few hours, and football on the tube, that I can live with.

2012 part 3....

As fall began, and several family member hospital visits were behind us...I began the high school and lower level football season working with a regular crew, not something I really had wanted{preferring to fill in on my own time and choosing which games and crews I wanted to work with}.  As a Line Judge I would work the home team sidelines, and as luck would have it...I was privy to a couple of coaches who I consider some of the biggest horse's asses in the business.  Not one for putting up with that kind of conflict, I managed to survive the first 7 weeks of the season before a foot injury put my season at an end, some three weeks before it was supposed to be finished.

I had been fighting a heel issue called Plantar Fasciitis and struggling to keep up with the game...it finally came down to week #5 at Lima, when I injured it more severely, and I struggled/hobbled through the next week and more.  The end came on a cold, rainy, 7th week at Paulding, when early in the contest with Allen East, my foot gave out and I slipped forward on my face...the result was stretched ligaments and tendons in that left foot...with the foot taped I finished off the game, but was done for the season.  I was told to take 8 weeks off...I took six before beginning basketball.  The foot, at least the heel part, is still hurting, but for the most I can get up and down the court, but certainly at a reduced speed...not that I ever had much of that in recent years anyway.

On the positive sides of the last few months of 2012, we got to spend plenty of time with grandson Kasyn over the Holidays, Sam, after 6 months of interviews found, not one, but two offers to work...and ended up taking a job in the Chicago area...not in insurance, but with a major company as a Operations Inventory Specialist...lots of math and spread sheets involved.  So hopefully the upcoming "Fiscal Cliff" will not effect his employment...he is just getting settled in, has found an apartment close to work, and is enjoying his new life.

Hal, his wife Lisa, and Son, are doing well...both parents have good jobs, and face the future financially, like everybody else...with apprehension....meanwhile "The K-Man" is still well ahead of the curve in growth and size...he was walking before he was a year old and is really a heallthy, active, and alert kid.

Anissa went through some changes with the groups that work with handicaps adults, but seems to be adjusting.  What the future holds for her and the rest of the folks with major mental and physical disabilities remains to be seen in the age of Obama, anything that the Kenyan Marxist Bastard does to destroy people and the Republic would not surprise me.  It is still amazing how a dimwitted half breed Marxist, can become President of this once great nation, it should surprise me...but considering how far down the path of destruction, and how far we have dumbed down the populace, I am no longer surprised at the trash we elect and worship.  I do not have any good will towards those that voted for this idiot, nor do I have much confidence that we as a nation will survive in a manner that our forefathers envisioned.

After Patricia's health issues in the Summer, she decided to take the bull by the horns and lose some pounds that she had acquired over the past few years....and my hat's off to her, as the year ends, and working on a Diet called "Medifast", she is now at levels she was when we got married some 36 years ago.  As for me?  After being diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes 2 a little over 3 years ago, I dropped 35 pounds, the last year or so, I have slowly crept back up the fat scale...gaining about half of that back...so at just around 200 pounds on Christmas Day, I kicked in the diet and have lost 5 pounds...and another 20 or so is what I would like to lose.  Since I cut back on the Dark Beers, I should get that done by Baseball season...at least I keep telling myself that.

Meanwhile with 60 or so basketball games yet to officiate, and lifting weights 3 times per week...I hope to stay healthy in 2013...I don't make resolutions, I just set a few goals and work my way towards them.

That's it...the good and bad for 2012, it could have been better, but then again, it could have been a whole lot worse....

back later>>>>

Photos-After last year's mostly "Snowless" Winter, this winter, is looking more like the one of 2009-2010 pictured here...My heel problems during football season, was one of a handful that beset the family in 2012...Grandson Kasyn, just a month old last Christmas, was able to enjoy and participate in full this year...and hopefully next year will really get into the spirit of it all....here is is with his dad, Hal Houseworth, during a break on our Polar Express Train Ride in Lebanon, Ohio...GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, and his running mate Paul Ryan were in Celina a week or so before the election.  This good man lost, only because we as a nation are no longer good, we have become a Nanny State Nation of freeloaders and fools, how else  could a Democratic Republic elect and evil bastard like Barack Obama?  Patricia and I celebrated 36 years of marriage in December, my wife back to the same size she was the day we got married...Me?  Just a few pounds back above that time, but working to get it back down.

A Look Back at 2012...part 2

We received a surprise accumulation of another six inches or so of snow overnight...they were originally calling for a dusting, then "less than an inch" by the time I hit the sack at 11pm, it was snowing lightly, and the Weather Channel was predicting 2 or 3 inches....it snowed throughout the night and with no wind to move it around I measured between 5 inches and a half foot most places in the yard.  Patricia and I were up, and I fired up the snow blower, she got out the salt and shovel, and we were done by the time Anissa was home...I headed over to mom's place and finished off her drive and walks by 9am....tonight I will work my way to Wapak and officiate my first game in over a week, a JV boys contest between Lima Central Catholic and the host Redskins....I had two games cancelled due to the snow last week and again this, and after tonight I am off the hardwood until next Wednesday...depending on the snow and conditions, January promises to be a very busy month of Basketball.....

2012 in Review part 2....

After recovering from surgery and finishing off the spring baseball season, with my work in the D4 District Tournament at Coldwater{where Minster would pull out two close wins and move on to defend successfully their State Baseball Title}, I took a break from baseball for a few weeks before the summer ACME games began.

Patricia and I had youngest sister Kelly as a visitor, and she stayed with us and mom off and on, until Memorial Day, when we drove her and her small dog Alfie to Upstate New York, where her husband Michael, the Danish Chef, was working a summer gig on Wellsley Island in the St. Lawrence River between New York and Canada

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120701/COL01/707019961

...we stayed at the remodeled resort he was working at as the head chef for the summer tourist season.  We spent a couple of relaxing days there, dined out a few times before heading home.  I lived near here after Vietnam, until late 1973...the winter season is brutal, but the summer's are pretty nice.  We returned to Ohio in time for Sam's Graduation from Ohio State and our "Flood" on the same day.

Oldest son Sam finished off his Actuarial Science degree from OSU and was presented with his diploma on June 10th....this would be the 400th Commencement at Columbus, and the last one that OSU would have while using quarters, the school joined most in shifting to Semesters with the beginning of the new year.  Personally I despised Semesters, Quarters were much easier, not to mention I just never had the concentration to last the length of time semesters took to complete.

After watching Sam graduate with some 50,000 other parents and friends at the Horseshoe(the graduating class was just over 10,000 alone), we took him and some friends out to supper at a local Olive Garden near Dublin....then headed home.  Arriving late in the afternoon, Patricia immediately knew something was wrong when she opened the back door....

The rushing sound of water was coming from the kitchen, and the water had saturated the kitchen and part of the 2006 refinished hardwood floors in the adjacent living room....it could have been worse, even with the water draining into the crawl space under the 1945 built Kitchen area, it didn't affect the basement area much, nor did it ruin the wood floors in total....here it is at 2013's doorstep and the majority of the work still needs to be completed....seems nobody wants to do small insurance work, they would rather build us a $20,000 plus new kitchen...after some thoughts, we decided against that route, so we will take it one step at a time.  The first step was me and Nick, getting the insulation replaced under the kitchen....other that that?  It might be spring or later....we have learned to adjust, it's cheaper that way.

Sam stayed in Columbus after graduation, still working at officiating and with the Ohio State Athletic Department and Big Ten Network, as he began his job search....that finally was successful late in 2012, more on that in the next installment.

More Medical Issues....

At the end of June, Patricia had a nasty spell which sent her to the hospital for 3 days...it ended up being Diverticulitis....she was one miserable person at Lima Memorial, the same hospital they had kicked me out of less than 20 hours after major surgery back in March{not really kicked me out, but they surmised that one day was enough, not the same for my wife}.  Patricia was ordered to avoid some of the foods, like nuts, and some fruits, that she enjoyed...she will not be eating those for the rest of her days, it appears.

Mom, at 88, and then Sam both had their own medical problems....

Mom ended up in Coldwater Hospital with some oxygen level problems, and after a week in the place last August, she headed back home for therapy and now is still assisted by oxygen on a daily basis....Sam's problems were much more costly, due to being in-between jobs and college, and thus having no insurance to cover his few hours.

Home working some football games on the local level, he took a shower one morning in September, and "Pow", a dizzy spell hit him like bricks....after heading to 24 hour care in Celina, Patricia took him to Coldwater, where he entered the Emergency Room for a few restless hours....it ended up being a sort of Vertigo, which can affect one for months....but Sam's appeared to be gone within a week or so, and despite the $2000 hospital bill, he is glad to be back to, what appears to be, his normal 30 year old self.

I had more of my own issues during the fall football season...but that can wait until part 3 and the next installment...

back later>>>>

Photos-More snow this morning required blowing...about 5 or 6 more inches on top of what we already have...It was much warmer on Wellesley Island over Memorial Day, and Patricia and I(l and r) enjoyed a few days relaxing, with Chef Michael and my younger sister Kelly, dining out on a few occasions, before heading home}Sam's Graduation for Ohio State, the Floor Flooding Disaster, some Hospital time for Patricia, my mom, and then Sam, took over for the rest of the Summer, along with a few trips to see the Reds, who won the Central Division, but fell flat in the playoffs, after winning the first two games against San Francisco, the Giants rolled the Reds three straight and went on the their 2nd World Series win in three seasons.

2012 Rehased, A Year in Review....part 1

A look back at 2012....

The year which is about to fade into history has been one of ups and downs on a personal level....and of course the same can be said for us as a nation and people.  A year that saw 4 members of the family spend time in the hospital, ranging from a few hours to a week, operations, and other 'issues", car wrecks, water leaks, and other bad omens.  On the good side, we got to enjoy our first grandchild as he spent his first full year of life, our oldest son become the second of the boys to graduate from a quality university, with a degree he can use, and the purchase of a second "new" car, giving me and Patricia good rides to get us around.

January starts out with a "Bang"....

January 2nd was the official New Year's Day holiday, and as with most years I planned on heading north and west of Fort Wayne, to my buddy Rick's 17 acre mini ranch and abode.  We spend most of New Year's Day drinking a few or more beers, eating, and partying until the late evening.  Over the past years Clint and I have began staying over, that way no alcohol and driving mix to worry about. 

When I awoke that Monday morning, a inch of so of snow had fallen, but it appears to be no big thing, but decided to use Patricia's Nitro with 4WD rather than the Montana mini-van anyway...by the time I headed out, I realized that this was no normal inch of snow...the glazing of ice beneath was treacherous, as I was to find out when I decided to take the back streets through Van Wert....I made it to the north edge of town, when I began to break for the upcoming stop sign.  Once I hit the peddle, I knew I was in trouble, a Semi was crawling along the adjoining east-west street, and I hit the gas to make it out of the way...I did, but slid across to the north curb and was hit head on by a poor women in a compact car.  We were but one of 11 accidents in that area in a short 10 minute span, the streets had not been treated, and we all paid the price.

The damage to the Nitro was around $3000, her car was totaled, and I was ticketed, for failure to control...the judge only fined me $25 plus costs, because she knew the situation that morning was basically unavoidable.  The Nitro was in the shop for a few weeks, but was back on the road by the end of the month....I never made it to Rick's and our get together was done for this new year.

February, as I recall was pretty uneventful, at least until the end of the month of this leap year.  I was having, at least in my mind, no health issues, when I went into the doctor's office for a routine check-up and to refill my blood pressure meds.  As the nurse practitioner was checking me out, she asked if I had any fainting problems or dizzy issues.  "Not that I could think of",  I replied.  But she insisted I have my Carotid Arteries checked out...it ended up that one was already 100% plugged and had found a new route to my brain...the other, on my right side, was 90-95% done, and they insisted on surgery...reluctantly I agreed, and on my 63rd birthday, March 16th, I headed for Lima Memorial Hospital.  Patrica and Rick joined me and Hal stopped by later that night...I survived the procedure and was booted out of the hospital the next morning, with a neck full of metal staples and a few weeks off from the upcoming baseball season.

I delayed the season until the first of April, and probably should have stayed away longer...but being stubborn I went back, and survived the season, despite getting hit during the summer season, right on the spot where the sutures had been.  My voice took about 4 months to come back to normal, and I remained a bit paranoid for the season...but now, approaching 64, I have decided to do what I can, take the meds and let God handle it.  My medical issues were done, at least for a few months, while others in the family, and my friend Rick's, were yet to come.

The spring baseball season was hot and dry for the most part...a heat wave that had began in March, remained, except for a brief spell of cool in April, for the remainder of the bat and ball season, which for me ended at the ACME State Championships, in late July.  During the spring season I worked both Sectional and District games, and continued, despite my age and my ability to piss off a few coaches, to get the votes and respect to work deep into the tournament season.

Also in the spring, sadness hit the family....our old Airedale, Reagan, nearing 14 finally gave out her last breath....she had lived longer than any Airedale we had owned, and with her passing, we are without a Airedale for the first time since Patricia and I became a couple, nearly 40 years ago.

As we moved into the summer, more hospital visits would come about...Patricia, Mom, Sam, and Rick in Indiana had their issues...but we also got to enjoy Kasyn, the Grandson growing like a weed, and swiftly moving through his first full year...Sam would graduate from Ohio State in June, with his BS in Actuarial Science in hand, and on that same day, a mini disaster would happen, and flooded house awaited us when we returned from Graduation ceremonies in Columbus...those stories and more when Part 2 is posted...

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Photos-Top-March 16, 2012, my 63rd Birthday also brought on my Carotid Artery surgery...January 2nd, the official Holiday of the New Year, saw me slide through the Intersection on the north end of Van Wert, and wreck the Nitro, both me and it survived...The next healed quickly, although I did have that "Frankenstein" look for a few weeks in the Spring...The dry and hot Spring and Summer didn't do my backyard flowers much good, but some came out, the Sunflowers suffered however.  Reagan Roo, our family Airedale, passed away in April, leaving us without an Airedale for the first time in 38 years....and "The K-Man" Kasyn continued to grow like a weed....a happy young man, and pleasant one he is....

"The Blizzard" part 2

Not sure yesterday's event really is what I call a "Blizzard" but in today's fake science called Global Warming, or Climate Change, and the NBC owned Non-Weather Channel, the folks in the weather predicting industry will go to no lengths, including naming stupid winter storms, to make drama out of everyday weather events.

@ 7:45am 12/27/12

Not sure what the final totals will be for the storm....out and about yesterday, blowing and shoveling, it appeared in the protected areas that we may have received 8 or 9 inches tops....the level 3(top tier) emergency for Mercer County has been reduced to a level 2, and the wind have died down from the 40+mph gusts to more manageable levels....although I have not been outside of the city limits, I suspect the back roads are still pretty well ice and snow covered.  Living in town for the past 22 years, it is indeed a different world than our days in northern Wisconsin(late 1970s), where we were 8 miles from Merrill and another 20 for Wausau, living on the Marathon/Lincoln County Line Road...and even during our decade(1980-90) on Coldwater Creek, 3 miles south of Celina, it was much different than in the city.  Even a small city of 11,000 like Celina makes a world of difference than living in the rural area.

This morning we will head over to mom's and Patricia and I will shovel out her area...I've got two snow blowers, mine and mom's, but no way to get them over there, since we don't have a van these days...and I'm not putting them in the Nitro, they would not be a good fit....guess it's time to buy a trailer to haul behind, that way the Nitro can be used to take the various snow machines and lawn mowers back and forth between our place and her house.

@ 1pm....

Pretty much came to the conclusion that the "Blizzard", as far as blizzards go, really wasn't much to brag about....Patricia and I dropped Anissa off at MRSI about 9:30 this morning, then headed over to mom's...we managed to put her small Toro snow blower into the back of the Nitro, and after I gave it a shot of fresh gas, mixed at 50 to 1 with 2 stroke oil, it ran fine and dandy, and we were done with mom's carport and side walks in less than a half hour.  We then headed to Wally World to pick up some ice melt, headed back to mom's and got that spread out...our snow duties done for now. 

It appears the snow on the ground will stick around for the foreseeable future, as the thermometer is not supposed to move above 30 for at least 10 days...that's OK, no radical warm or below zero conditions I can deal with.

On the plus side, we had purchased 13 month old grandson Kasyn, referred usually by me as "The K-Man" a blow up sled...it was reasonable compared to wood sleds, and is designed to last until the tyke is 2 or 3...all you can hope for is a few snow events so they family can use it...Kasyn got it on Christmas Eve, and as luck would have it...it got to use it with Hal and Lisa yesterday with the half foot or so of snow they had down Centerville way....Ring one up for the Good Guys!

So there you have it...a nice snow event, without major problems, and no week long stuck in the house days....not a Big Blizzard, but the kind you can live with and enjoy.

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