My Air Force Days 68-72, Settling in at Nha Trang...part 7

January 21st on average is the coldest day of the year, at least in this part of the world....30 days past the beginning of winter and like it counterpart July 21st, it is the day of extremes....this day the coldest on average, and it appears that today and tomorrow morning will be the coldest days of the season so far....but I've experienced colder.  Highs in the teens for a few days with lows in the single digits and wind chills below zero...but what the Hell, it is January?

And on this "Holiday" of sorts...not really the birthday of Martin Luther King, but the Monday after, an excuse for government to take a day off...as far as our nation's government, I'm wishing they would take many more days off...and stay the Hell out of our lives.  Speaking of out of control government, today is also the day our interloping foreign born President begins his second and {hopefully} final four years of destroying our Republic...Barack Insane Obama will be sworn in this day...and hopefully this clown and his Posse' will freeze their lying, Marxist, asses off....the more uncomfortable he and his Lemming-Like supporters are, the better for all of us. 

Needless to say, I won't be watching the self appointed "King of America" be crowned by the lap dog media of this nation.....

Nha Trang, South Vietnam, Summer of '69'....

Shortly after arriving at Nha Trang, I was out the Law Enforcement Desk at the Terminal....here it was, the 14th SPS Desk, I introduced myself to the Buck Sgt on duty, and he called for a Jeep which arrived in short order to transport me and my bags to Squardon HQ at the 14th SPS....my first thoughts of Nha Trang were as follows:  {1} Pretty Small, which was nice..{2} Hot, no surprise there..{3} Pretty nice duty location...or at least it appeared to bem but then again, this was Vietnam, so what was "Nice Duty"?

I checked in, was given a Barracks location, and a bed/stall number, and told to check in there, get settled and be at the front desk the next morning....Here I was in Vietnam, a full year awaited me...that, at least to this 20 year old back in the Summer of 69, seemed like a Hell of a long time.

The first people I met, or at least remember meeting, were Harry Bevan, Marcus Payen, Bruce Thompson, and others, whose faces are are now clouded by time and a memory, while still clear on many things from those days, had forgotten more that I would like to admit.  The next morning it was back to SPS Headquarters and doing some paperwork....I'm not sure how exactly I ended up in Law Enforcement, rather than Security...it would be the first and only time I would work LE.  I was assigned to "A" Flight, which meant I would work days, with one day off per week, that would be Tuesday in my case.  My NCOIC was a Tech Sgt named Phil Lange and my immediate supervisor was a tall black man, Staff Sgt Melvin Sloan.  Phil and I had a rocky relationship to start, but we became good friends later in lift and agreed on many things through our days at the VSPA and our e-mails back and forth.  Sloan and I would become pretty close during my days at Nha Trang....albeit those proved all to short.

Bevan, Payen, and I were on the same shift, and worked LE together....Johnny Claflin, would arrive shortly after I did, and we would hang together until JC was shipped out to Phan Rang.  LE Duty was basically pretty sweet, well at least as sweet as you could find as a Air Force Cop in Vietnam.  All the Airman and Airman First, along with most of the Buck Sargent's{3 stripes} would rotate between the entry control points and Jeep Patrol Duty.  With our days busy, and rotating on SAT{Security Alert Team}, our nights were free to do anything we pleased, as long as it was on base.....

We had a open air theater that would show newly released movies, and the SPs had our own movie house, named "Bailey's Speakeasy" in honor of our First Lt...who, not much older than us, left the discipline and hands on duty to the senior NCOs in charge of the troops.  We had BBQs at the outdoor pit, cold beers, and plenty to keep us busy.  Frankly Security Police were not the most popular people on base....I have written before about my run-ins with Army Warrant Officers and others...I will try to shake the cob-webs out of my memory banks and try to recollect some of the activities and other memories of Nha Trang...as I have stated time and time again, those six months I spent at the base on the shores of the South China Sea, were the best of my Air Force days....the rest are not even close.

More on my days at Nha Trang as this story continues....

back later>>>>

Photos-The early days at Nha Trang....Me at a Civilian Entry Point on the north side of the base...Obama and his SS Troops start their 2nd term today,  Payan, Ky, and Bevan, at the Nha Trang Main Gate...and me on the beach at Nha Trang, note the red hair....I had bleached my hair blond to piss off the NCO, Jack Adkins, at Dover...then I tried to dye it back to dark brown, not wanting to look like some kind of flaming fag, and it turned a bright redish orange, and remained that way until my first hair cut at Nha Trang...this photo on the beach was taken during my first few days in country.

Flying To Saigon....My Air Force Days 1968-72 pt 6

Working a girls game last night I make my longest trip of the basketball season, to Kenton tonight, to work a JV Boys game...not sure how that contest will go, but the Varsity game to follow should be  a good one...Kenton and O-G are at the top of the WBL standings, with the visiting Titans, once beaten, undefeated in the league, near the top of the D3 State Rankings.  Tomorrow a 12 Noon Girls game, at Marion Local, then some time to rest my aching feet.

Before the game yesterday, my old buddy Dick, who is up from Florida, me, and Dick's son Ross, a local lawyer, grabbed a bite to eat at one of the small coffee shops in town...always good to get out for awhile...Dick heads back to warmer weather on Monday....this weekend ours looks seasonable and dry.

Flying to Saigon.....29 June 1969

Hard to believe it will be 44 years this Summer...of course it's hard to believe how fast time goes anyway...

Landing at San Fran International....I really don't remember much, except getting my duffel bag and gear and heading via a bus of some sort to Travis AFB...after the night there in the Transit Barracks, I climbed aboard a Braniff 707 and began flight across the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii.

One advantage of the Air Force over most of the branches, was that we didn't stay in the same outfit or squadron throughout our tour...and thus, rather than be sent en' mass as a group in some Air Force flying death trap, we got to travel in style via commercial airlines...there were exceptions, but for the most part...we flew in style.  The old and now defunct Braniff was my first flight across, I would also fly Pan Am, United, and TWA, at various times when crossing.

Our first stop was Honolulu International...my first time in the 50th State...several of us, on the stop-over, dropped by an airport bar and grabbed a drink or two...this was my first view of the Aloha State, and I saw it only from some Airport Lounge...

On to Guam, the American Territory....the land of Brown Snakes.  They had a large Air Force base there as well, as did our next stop in the Philippines.  Neither place looked like good duty to me, especially the latter.  The stops at

both locations were short, at least in my memory, and basically insignificant stops on the way across the pond.

Approaching Tan Son Nhut....

It was likely this was the time I started to get apprehensive...not about the war, or what part I may play in it...or even the long year, and whether I would survive.  After all as a 20 year old, time moved slowly and a full year seemed like a lifetime to a kid that young....at least it certainly did to me.  I was more apprehensive about the landing....as the 707 lowered over the Jungle below...thoughts raced through my mind..."Rockets, Small Arms Fire, What Could Go Wrong"?  Would I survive my first day in war-torn South Vietnam"?

Of course I did, and we landed at Tan Son Nhut, aka: Saigon International... TSN was not my base of station, at least not yet, although it would be later...I was headed toward Nha Trang some 200 miles as the Crow Flies.  Nha Trang was located northeast of Saigon and nestled on the South China Sea....and at this time I had orders to Nha Trang, and I had to get there from Tan Son Nhut....I didn't have orders  on how to reach my destination...so I headed to Base Operations with orders in hand to find out how to reach my destination. 

The military bureaucracy is much like that in public life...slow and methodical.  I can't remember the exact back and forth, but the boys in Base Ops

fixed me up with a flight for the next day...tonight I would stay at the Tan Son Nhut Transit Barracks, sleep a restless night, while rocket and small arms fire, along with the wailing of a warning siren during the night, made that pretty sleepless...a combination of fear, anticipation, and wonder, all made my first night in Vietnam pretty memorable, but mostly without sleep as well.

C-130 to Nha Trang....

By this time I believe it was July 2nd in Vietnam, maybe the first....but really I can't recall and my records, now stuffed somewhere in my basement, don't tell either.  I do remember it was sunny, hot, humid, and the smells of Vietnam came into my life for the first time.  I headed back to the airport terminal with orders in hand for the day's flight...the next few hours were almost comical, and was probably the most surreal thing I had done in my 20 years to that point.

I was to hop a ride on a Air Force C-130 Cargo Plane...a big, lumbering, and noisy contraption to say the least...I was to be one of two human passengers, along with the crew and four or five goats.....seems old mamasan was flying my way, her and her small family of goats would share the flight.  My conversation was held, for the most part with a fellow Buckeye, a Buck Sgt from Ohio who served as a Load Master on this C-130...being a cop was a somewhat dangerous assignment in Vietnam, flying in or piloting airplanes of any kind, was even more so.  Anyway the old gal nor her goats were much for conversation.  The flight itself seemed to me, much to close to the tops of the Jungle and trees below... I would be glad to land, and eventually we did.

We landed at Nha Trang, the 130 taxied up to the small terminal on a metal taxi surface...it had rained within the past few hours, but the mid-day sun was

beating down as I climbed out of the cargo doors....Here I was at Nha Trang Air Base, my home for the next six months...I did not know what I would be doing, Law Enforcement, Security, Desk Work???  Didn't know which shift, days, nights, or afternoons???  Those questions would be answered soon enough, meanwhile I grabbed my gear and walked into the terminal...."Security Police Headquarters"?  I asked.  My Vietnam Journey begins in the next segment...part 7

back later>>>>

Photos-Braniff Airlines out of San Fran{Travis AFB} toward Saigon{never will call it Ho Chi Mihn} A somewhat overhead view of the large base at Saigon called Tan Son Nhut...A lumbering C130 Hercules, much like the one that carried me from Tan Son Nhut to Nha Trang in the Summer of 1969.....inside the C330, open seating was available, if you like the Paratrooper Seating....it's all they had, just me the old Mamasan and her Goats.  Over Nha Trang heading in....and a look at the medal runway at Nha Trang as a chopper lands during the war.

Air Force Days 1968-72...preparing for Vietnam

A pretty stagnant weather pattern...not that that is bad, we have a combination of clouds and sun, with no rain or snow since early Monday...highs in the 30s lows in the 20s, not bad for January.  This is the kind of weather that is livable, not to cold, not a lot of snow or rain, and the messy melt of last week is now gone, the ground frozen.  Basketball, Girls tonight at Convoy, Boys tomorrow all the way over to Kenton, then locally at Marion Local in Maria Stein on Saturday afternoon, a girls JV contest.  Five weeks of roundball to go.....a month off, then baseball and hopefully warmer weather.

Hal, wife Lisa, and Grandson "K-Man" flew to Denver this morning....Hal called when they arrived, and said Kasyn managed his first plane ride with out any problems...a few days over the King Holiday and get some skiing while visiting Lisa's brother outside Denver in the mountains.  Meanwhile next weekend, Nick and I will head to the Chicago area and take Sam's bed, furniture, and small items, to his apartment, which he moves into within the next week...the oldest son is settling in with his new job and life outside The Windy City.

Transiting from Dover to Nam....

After receiving my orders to Vietnam and a base called Nha Trang in April of 1969, I kicked back and did as little on base as possible.  I kept on irritating the Hell out of Jack Adkins when I could, but I knew he would soon be a memory, like a bad rash that finally goes away.  I had other items on my mind....First Off, "What the Hell is AZR School"?  The combat prepardness course is what the Air Force called it....most, but not all cops heading for Vietnam would spend a week or so back in Lackland, learning the stuff we were supposed to be taught while in our original Cop School at Lackland, less than a year before.

M-16, Gernade Launchers, other small arms, including .60 cal machine guns, etc, were on the list...crawling under barb wire while receiving live fire above our heads were also part of the game plan...frankly I remember some of it, but hardly most.   It turned out that AZR was sandwiched into my pre-Vietnam leave, and I do remember it worked out well.  I was hitting the bars, drinking like I was a co-owner and getting a profit from the money spent...the week or 10 days in San Antonio was a good break, before heading back to Western Ohio...drinking more beer, and getting my mind ready for Vietnam.

I had heard that Nha Trang was close to the Garden Spot on the South China Sea...and that thought made me look forward to heading over all the more....Here I was, someone who joined the Air Force to avoid Vietnam and Combat, and here I was, heading to Vietnam after Combat training.  Now that didn't mean I would see gun fire or any type of combat, and franly I didn't want to.  I was just satisfied to get away from the Chicken Shit duty of being a Stateside SP.

I finished the final 10 days or so of leave...and Dad and Mom would drive me to the Dayton Airport...my schedule read like this...Dayton to Chicago, Chicago to San
Francisco, bus to Travis AFB. 
Overnight in the Transit Barracks at Travis....fly out in the morning to Hawaii, Guam, Phillipines, and on to Tan Son Nhut, that base at Saigon.  We left for Vandalia the morning of June 28, 1969, where the Dayton Airport is located and a flight to Chicago was boarding shortly after we arrived there...we rushed down to the gate...I could have taken the next flight an hour or so later, but why drag out the good-byes?  I was in no hurry, but I didn't want to think about his either...so we headed for the gate in a hurry, I said my farewell and jumped on the 707 bound for O'Hare.
Funny thing about that flight...it was clear as a bell and the route took us right over Grand Lake....our house was located in Montezuma on the south side of the lake, right next to the small local airport...sitting on the right side window, I
could make out the small runway and my house as we flew over the Celina area....talk about a mixed bag of emotions?
From Chicago we had a bumpy ride over the Rockies, then things smoothed out as we headed into San Fran....a bus ride that took us past Candlestick Park and the Hearst Castle, and I was at Travis...with the 3 hour time lapse I completed some paperwork and got a bed at the barracks....tomorrow there would be time to think about what would lay ahead.

"The Flight to Saigon" is next...

back later>>>>

Photos-The Terminal at Tan Son Nhut in Saigon around 1968...Aeiral Views of Dayton Airport/Grand Lake etc....and me and Mom just before heading to the Airport for my Vietnam Vacation on June 28, 1969...

The Air Force Days 1968-72 part 4

Sunny and Cold today...guess I really should not say 'Cold' per say....more like seasonable for mid January. After all, by average mid January through January 21st is the coldest on average time of the year...after that, with the days getting longer{since December 22nd} the temperatures slowly start to climb back upwards through late July.

Just a single Junior High game, that ended with a 41-3{yes 3 points, all free throws} score at Delphos last night...once in awhile at that level you get those types of games...worked for me though, a full pay check for just one game{same as two would usually get you at the Junior High level}.  So with that quick game, I was off to toss a full night of Dartball....I would have been better off working two games.  My Dartball season, as it reaches the 2/3 mark is the worst since my first season.  We lost 2 of 3 last night to drop to 4 wins 5 loses on the season's second half, and I went hitless for the first 9 at bats, before scratching out 2 hits in a row, and then ending with a 2 for 12 night and 1 RBI...dropping my average down to .296 on the season.  Even in my bad back year of 2007-08 I finished above .300 after a slow start.  The last time I batted below .300 was my first full season, when I ended up .286...I've made the All-Star team every year since, and may again this year...but not with any satisfaction.   If not for young Tyler, who is batting over .360 with more than a dozen RBIs, we would be in bad shape...he is quickly turning into the leader of the team, the passing of the torch so to speak...old age, working basketball, and sore feet are coming home to roost on my game.

Tonight to Paulding for a double header Girls Junior High Basketball....

The Air Force Years...on to Dover, Delaware fall of 1968....

After completing Security Police School at Lackland in September, I took some leave time before heading to my first regular duty station.  With my "Dream Sheet" requesting Ohio, Florida, or Delaware, as home bases....I ended up getting Dover AFB, Delaware.   It was a SAC Base, so I figured the MAC Squadron would be somewhat better duty for a Security Police guy with just one stripe and clearing $92 a month....even by those days standards, "How the Hell did one survive"?

Mom and dad, along with youngest sister drove me out...I had sold my 62 Ford Falcon and it would be a few months or maybe weeks before I took a bus back to Ohio to pick up my new ride, a 1963 Plymouth Fury 318.  Mom and Dad visited her brother Bill and his wife and kids in Wilmington...I knew I would have a place to visit on my breaks at the base....so with that, they took me the 90 miles or so south to Dover.  I checked in to the transit barracks on a fall Sunday evening, the

folks headed out, and here I was alone.  After the hustle and hurry of Basic and Cop School, it seemed pretty desolate for this 19 year old from the small Ohio town of Celina...not sure if I remember being lonely, but I do remember of the uncertainty of starting this new life alone.

The next morning I headed over to the 436th SPS and signed in...gotta say I don't remember much about the first days...except I was put on "B" Flight Security, given a room with a guy from near Pittsburgh, who was my senior by a couple of years, on the first floor of the SPS Barracks.  For the next 7 months my main "job" would be put on the dreaded "Mounds"....more on that later.  I would meet guys named Pritchard{Howie who just found me some 43 years later, thanks to this blog},

Turcotte, Gates, Little, Hochendoner, Lippencott, Walsh, Resnick, Parham, and others...in addition to "Pritch" I have found Gates and Walsh over the years..."Hoke" was murdered back in the early 70s by a jealous ex-husband...the others, I don't know what became of them or what the did in life and possible death....but those were the names, along with a 5 Strip "Tech" Sargent named "Smiling Jack" Adkins...

Adkins tried to come off as a tough guy....he always reminded me of a bitter type, who never bothered doing anything constructive while he served, but disliked those of us who didn't take well to orders.  Of all the of good guys that served as my NCOIC types...Adkins I put in the same category with Joe Gomez...he was no Prokop, Lange,  Marcelle, or Melvin Sloan...those supervisors I liked and respected, not so much for Adkins or later Gomez at Griffiss....but I probably gave them reason enough to dislike me.

The Mounds.....

On rare occasion I worked the gate houses, "humped" around and guarded C-141s that carried Nukes or Special Cargo, or drove in a patrol wagon...but most nights and days{we worked 3 overnights, 3 days, and 3 afternoon shifts, with 24 ours off between shift changes...until we finished up the three late afternoon shifts, then we were giving 72 hours off to discharge....you could never get enough sleep working that crap}....where spent on The Mounds...the mounds were akin to today's storage barns...except they housed Nuclear Weapons....that was our job, armed with Carbines

and .38 Police Specials, we stood on top of these "mounds" for 8 straight hours, with 30 minutes for a meal break..the wind blew, and blew, and since I was at Dover during the fall, winter, and spring months of 68-69, it was usually cold.  I remember one November night Turcotte and I were  standing on the mound BSing, when the small transistor we had blared out that "Richard Nixon has been Elected President" .  I cheered Turcotte didn't I was for Tricky Dick he was hoping Hubert Humpty Dumpty would be elected...looking back, did it really matter?

I soon was bored with Dover, the Mounds, and "Smiling Jack".  I was sick of going to classes when I got off from my shift and was assigned to study to upgrade my skill levels...I basically refused to worry about or work on the upgrade...What the Hell were they going to do...make me a Cook?  I mean, if I had wanted to study, I would have went to college.  I just wasn't going to do it....I've still got old test results from those days with my military records...most of the time, the tests didn't end well.

Even though I enjoyed my breaks in Wilmington at Uncle Bill's place...I hated the town of Dover....and I mean HATE.  Unlike Rome, NY, a few years later, Dover was, at least in my mind, not a friendly town for those of us serving.  I had good roommates, after the first guy I paired up with Robert Little III, Bob came across as a spoiled rich kid, but we got along....he was a cleanliness freak however...and that spring of 1969 Jack Gates and I roomed together.  Jack was from Oklahoma, smoked a few packs of cigarettes a day and was a few years old than

most of us...he was 23, the rest of us 19 or 20.  Jack, who now goes by Richard, Gates was one of a handful of good friends that I would make in the Air Force....after 40 years we made contact a few years back...he now lives on the Kentucky side of the Tennessee State Line.

But regardless of roommates, time off, or the coming summer with the Atlantic Ocean beckoning...I was sick of Dover, sick of the Mounds, sick of testing and most of all sick of "Smiling Jack" Adkins.  I strolled down to Base Ops one sunny spring morning in 1969...and told the Airman in charge...."I want to Volunteer to get out of here"...."Where would you like to go"? he inquired...I'm not sure what my initial response was, but I finally filled out another "Dream Sheet"....probably laughing to myself as I penciled in (1) Thailand  (2) Vietnam...

Yep, I had done it...I had joined the Air Force to stay out of Vietnam and Combat....I knew when I filled out that paper, I was not going to be sent to Thailand, where my brother Mike had served out his last years in the Air Force....I knew what country, just not which base, I was going...It would be Vietnam...and it was....

That story next.......

back later>>>>

Photos-The Main Gate at Dover back around the time I was there in the Late Sixties...Dartball Board, it's been a struggle this year, my worst year in nearly two decades, still time to get back to near normal if I hit better, but I'm not confident in that....Me at the "Mounds", I guess I should say "off post" at the mounds, on a winter night at Dover...we were supposed to be on toe, but when the Hawk was blowing we often snuck down to the storage buildings...the gate security made it pretty easy to get away with...Little, "Pritch" and Gates, followed by Gates and Ron Turcotte, and finally a blurry image of Jack Gate and PRH in our barracks room with our Playboy Pin Ups behind us, not long before we headed to Vietnam, all of "B" Flight, at least the guys I hung around and worked with, would be scattered off to Vietnam before the Fall of 1969....

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.

 

back later>>>>

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.

back later>>>>

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