Dressing like a "Thug".

I am getting really tired of watching the local "yahoos" (pronounced yay-whose) run around here and elsewhere trying to look like they are a "thug", a "gangster", or as they say "street". I deal with gangsters every day at work. Trust me. You ain't them. So, pull up your pants or better yet change in to some that go all the way to your shoe tops when they are buckled at your waist where they are supposed to. People do not want to see your underwear either. It's all I can do not to say something really snarky when I see some kid wearing his pants so low that I can see daylight under his crotch and he has to hold on to a hand full of his pants to keep them from falling down around his ankle.

Also, they make ball caps with a bill to shade your eyes from the sun. The bill is supposed to be pointing forward. I can make allowances for those who wear it straight backwards unless they wear sunglasses to keep the sun out of their eyes. That's what the bill is for, stupid. If you wear the bill facing at any angle to the side, you look like a 12 year old with an unhealthy Pokemon obsession who also masturbates excessively. On a side note, if you are one of those people who wear sunglasses everywhere and all the time(indoors and at night)......Well, apparently, it is always sunny in Doucheville.

Try wearing some clothes that fit as well. You "yahoos" apparently cannot buy clothes that actually fit you. They are always several sizes to large except in the few instances such as "wife beater" shirts where they are exceedingly small. This is apparently the reason that you will see them walking down the street without the shirt. Or maybe they want to show off their underdeveloped upper bodies or the maybe it's the cheap tattoos they want to show off. Here's a clue for you guys. Real prison tattoos don't have colored ink.

An American Hero Passes

I read with sorrow tonight that George E. "Bud" Day passed away yesterday. I first read about Col. Day in Roger Coram's book, "American Patriot: The Life of George E. "Bud" Day. Col. Day was to me an intelligent, brave, and principled man who believed wholeheartedly in his country and what it stood for. For, Col. Day, the notions of  honor, integrity, and fidelity were not abstractions. He lived them every day of his life. We live today in era of sound bites, talking points, and moral ambiguity and relativism. Politicians of all ilks tell us they are honorable and uncompromising and then get caught in the most salacious scandals or changed their opinions to please the pollsters. Col. Day stood his ground even when it cost him several years of solitary confinement, torture, and humiliation in a North Vietnamese POW compound. If he could do it there, why can't we do it today living in the comfort and ease of this country. Col. Day just didn't "return with honor", he lived "honor". People have a hard time defining the concept of honor. If you want to know what it is, look to "Bud" Day's life.

This story will probably be a footnote on the news if it gets mentioned at all. After all, we have to find out about what the royal baby did today or what Kim Kardashian is wearing. We live with heroes all around us yet we worry  more about some over-paid, over-preened, over-pampered Hollywood "celebrity" than any of the real heroes. You will find more heroism and courage in one veteran's home than you will in all of Hollywood. Or Washington, D.C. (except the area around 8th and I) for that matter.

Politicians think that the government is what makes "America".

Men like Col. George E. "Bud" Day are what make "The United States of America"!

Resurrection: Second Attempt

This will be my second attempt to resurrect this blog. I am going to expand my areas of interest to cover a bit about everything that interests me if for no other reason than I need to get some of this stuff off my chest from time to time. The areas covered will be Civil Air Patrol, Project Appleseed, guns, and marksmanship, Bushcrafting and survival, amateur radio, politics, and veteran's issues. If you don't like my opinions, tough. I try to act like a gentleman at all times, but this blog is where I vent. If that's a problem for you, tough.

Deja Vu(All Over Again)

Well, I certainly didn't think this thing would still be up. As you can see, it's been well over a year since I posted anything in this blog. In that time, however, I have learned a few things about blogging and about putting together material to blog about. So I am going to resurrect this blog and pull a few bones out of the ashes.

Ol' Fido's Home

When I first joined the squadron, it was based at the Benton Municipal Airport in the "terminal" building. You can see this building as it exists today in the photos above. There have been several homes for Franklin County, but this building was the most enduring during my time. The building was constructed in the early '60's and consists of one large 12' x 25' common room, two offices, bathrooms, and a utility room accessible from an outside door. Not much but the squadron made do and thrived there for many years. Our drill pad is shown here also. That is the ramp that in the late 70's and early 80's usually had anywhere from 1-5 aircraft tied down there. After the bottom fell out of the coal market and most of the mines in the area shut down, the number of airplanes based there dropped and you usually don't see them tied down unless they are staying overnight in town.

Different airport managers and FBO's have made changes over the years. The common area used to be L-shaped until one manager decided to close it off to make the second office. He also put up a partition in the north end of the common room to put in a counter and window for selling logbooks and other pilot supplies. A later manager tore this out but left the second office enclosed. Over the years, some of the furniture has come and gone. When I first joined the squadron, all of the furniture was government or school surplus and of 1950's vintage. Some of this disappeared over the years, but there are still tables and chairs that were there when I joined in 1977.

As I said, many airport managers and FBO's have been at the airport over the years. However, when I joined CAP and for several years afterward the manger was a man named Al Bays. He was retired and lived on Washington Street about a mile from the airport. Al pumped the fuel and kept the place clean and uncluttered. I often went out to the airport on Sunday afternoons just to hang out(maybe bum an airplane ride) and Al would be there as he was most days. But on Sundays, you could always count on Al to be sitting in a comfortable chair with an old AM radio on the table next to it listening to the St. Louis Cardinals playing. Al loved the Cardinals. I think that after Al most of the others paled by comparison.

Note: In front of the airport building is and old rusty flag pole. If you look carefully, you will note that it curves slightly to the right at the top. This bend is the result of us running a cadet's pants up the flag pole during one of our overnight activities at the airport. I guess we should have taken the pants off him before we tried to run them up.

Well, it all started..., Part 3

Like I said, mom came through again. Mom was talking to the lady that did her hair at that time, Jane Dollins, and she mentioned that her son was in a CAP unit at the Benton Municipal Airport. It was worked out that the next Thursday night I would go to the meeting with David Dollins. So I nervously rode out to the airport with David and we waited outside of a locked, and darkened airport building(the airport will be the subject of a future entry) with what seemed liked to me a bunch of pool hall sharks wearing uniforms and I was the chum in the water. In a little while, a vehicle came down the long winding road and I could see the real narrow headlights that mark a Jeep. The other cadets that were there said real quick to me, "Stand right here on the edge of the sidewalk and when we say, "Present Arms", put your hand up like this and they showed me how to salute, sort of. Anyway, when this highway department orange jeep rolls up, we're all lined up facing the sidewalk as sort of an facetious honor guard. Well, this guy gets out of the jeep and starts up the walk. I hear someone say,"Present Arms", and I whip out what I thought was a right smart salute. The man is wearing a service hat, a navy blue nylon flight jacket, and blue pants. He's carrying a briefcase and fumling with a set of keys. Then I hear the first welcoming words I heard from a senior member in CAP. 1Lt Wayne Sampson said as he came up the walk, "What is this bull****. If I had any thoughts of CAP seniors being a cross between Superman and Gen. Patton, that there seemed to burst my bubble. But here I am. It's been almost 33 years since that cool September night and I am still in CAP. I have had many opportunities to ask the same question myself over those years but I dearly love this outfit. CAP can be an annoying bother when it's bad, but when it's good it's the best bunch on earth. The people I have met in CAP are some of the greatest in the world. Although this history blog is about a unit, the stories will be about people as much as possible, because units don't make history, people do.

Well, it alll started...., Part 2

So on the night of the main meeting, mom and I arrived early. We found seats right up front and waited for the gym to fill with people. Then finally the moment arrived and Jim Irwin stepped out on the stage. I sat there and listened to his talk about his career, his faith, and going to the moon. At that moment, I had an eleven year olds confidence that I would grow up, go the Air Force Academy, be a fighter pilot, a test pilot, and ultimately an astronaut. After the service was over, mom and I looked for Dr. Bill and I nervously followed him to the room that Jim Irwin was using as a dressing room. I could barely speak to him but I did ask for his autograph which he gladly gave me.

Over the next few years, I got to meet Col. Irwin several more times and mom took me to Colorado twice on vacation. I even got to stay overnight at his house in Colorado Springs once. We joined High Flight, Col. Irwin's evangelical organization, and shared many wonderful times visiting with him, Dr. Bill, and Russ for several years after this. Through my association with Col. Irwin I also got to meet Al Worden, the Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot, and William Pogue, one of the Skylab astronauts.

As I said, I had decided that the only college for me was the Air Force Academy. So I began doing all the things that were supposed to get you into the academy. I tried sports, student organizations, and a little bit of everything. But I wasn't athletic, nor was I a group person at least for those groups. Most of my efforts were well a bit short of the mark I had set for myself. I am not bitter about that. A lot of childhood dreams fall by the wayside when we hit adulthood. But while I was still plugging away at it, one of the things I thought would give me a boost was Civil Air Patrol. I have an old 1960 edition of the World Book encyclopedia that is very well worn especially in those areas dealing with the military and space. One of those dog eared places is the entry on CAP. I wanted to join CAP but had no clue how to go about it or whether there was a "chapter" in our area. Once again, mom came through.....