Commission Impossible

Lon,
Thank you for serving. Along with a handful of other local veterans, I attended the ceremony yesterday at the Elks. Sadly, we as Americans and especially Californians do a terrible job of recognizing and taking care of veterans. I guess we vets just have to stick together. I once had an idea when I was deployed for OIF that it would have been great if my wife had a network of vets that she could have contacted for help if for instance a tree limb fell on the house or she had some sort of plumbing incident. Unfortunately, I'm way better at procrastinating than acting so even though it's been six months since I left drilling status I still have not acted on my idea. Today is probably not the ideal time to call, but some time this week I'm going to contact the local armory and see if there is any way that I can help a service member and his/her family.

P.S. That's one of my grommets in the digital version of the ER, guess I'll have to pick up the paper version.

Sean,

I wish I'd have gone to the Elks ceremony. My dad was up this weekend and he's a Korean War veteran. Instead we watched football and napped.

I usually shy away from veteran's stuff since in my mind recognition is deserved by the people who served during war time. But look at you, from #2 blog reader to activist is just 1 phone call away. Put me on that list, I can help a veteran who needs a hand.

Lon

Lon,
I hear ya. Up til now I've avoided the local military events because I didn't want to take attention away from the young guys that have served on the front lines. I nearly flaked yesterday, but my wife insisted we go, she thought it would be good for the kids (it was). I've flown nearly 150 sorties in combat zones around the globe, but it always felt really anti-septic compared to what I imagine the troops on the ground go through. So if any of you earthlings are reading this - Thank you!

CIC is the torch of liberty or torch of freedom.

Lon,
Apparently the seriousness of today's blog is depressing the regulars so I guess I'll kick of the CIC. Looks like a rendition of a torch that you plan to carry along with your pitchfork at the next finance committee meeting.

Sean and Anthony,

You're both wrong. Although that may be a torch, it is part of something else. And I'll be bringing a light-up sound enabled lightsaber to the next Finance Committee meeting.

I hope this post isn't seen as too serious. I really don't need a lot of new socks from Target. I think it's funny that Veterans Day is all about sales. It's also a little sad, but very American.

For clarification: I received an offline email asking about my service in Panama. I didn't serve in Panama. I served from August 9th, 1985 until August 8th, 1989. The invasion of Grenada was in October of 1983 and Panama was December 1989. So when I said my service was "gently nestled between actions in Grenada and Panama" I meant that I served between them, not served in them. A shuttle did blow up during my time of service, but I had nothing to do with that. That was all O-rings. I was on guard duty, in Germany, and it was soooo cold.

In my mind I've always separated veterans into two camps. There are those that have served, and those that have fought. Monuments, days off, etc, they belong to the ones that fought.

Lon

Hello all, and happy veterans day. Lon great to hear we were in at the same time. I was in the same boat as you, but as a combat arms 13 bravo...

Loved it while it lasted, and very glad to be done when the four years was up 1983 to 1987...

I always celebrate this day by working and complaining about NOT having the day off....

P.S. that looks like the torch I have seen on an infantry unit crest in the 1st battalion. I was in the 8th artillary battalion, in the 2nd and 28th field artillery...

Mark,

What kind of artillary? I was trained as 11 Hotel, which is the TOW missile system used by the infantry. Luckily, the missiles were pretty heavy, that meant we always had vehicles attached to our units. Unlike most infantry we never had to walk very far.

Lon

TOW Missile - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW

Sean,

What were you flying in?

Lon

CIC challenge is a military (Army) insignia, but not a unit insignia. It is, or at least used to be, related to Panama.

Lon

Pathfinder

Lon,
I flew the KC-130 for the Marines. Not a sexy plane, but it was tons o fun. Prior to 9/11, flying the 130 was like a traveling party. I was active from 1992-2000, joined a KC-130 reserve unit in Ft Worth (big mistake in hindsight) and was mobililized 2003-2005. I left drilling status last May and hopefully will retire in 2-3 years. I can't complain, I led a really charmed life up until 9/11.
I spent a few months as a Flight Engineer on the 727 at AA back in '01. Now I fly the 757/767 for UPS. That's why it's so hard for me to attend community events during the week.

Sean,

So that's why I like you. I ship and receive UPS packages, and you transfer them out/in to the community. We have a natural synergy going on.

I took a 2 week course on air cargo transport when I was in the army. I learned how to load the cargo aircraft and calculate the center of gravity based on various loads. I never actually had to do it, but it was a very interesting course.

I went to what we called "shit" school, which is off topic, but was also interesting. Where you poop is very important when you've got 500 people living in a temporary camp.

Lon

Anon,

That's right, it is a version of the Pathfinder badge. More on the specially trained Pathfinders below.

Lon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinders_(military)

Lon, I was the gunner and driver of a M109 A2 (pronounced "alpha-deuce") 155mm self-propelled howitzer (5" gun). We were actually in the 210th brigade. It all started coming back to me last night. The 2nd Bn. 28th FA was using M109A2(slack tracked) self propelled howitzers and M548(slack tracked)for our ammo carriers. The unit consisted of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie batteries (6 guns each); a Service Battery that used M88 track recovery vehicles, 5-ton and 2 1/2-ton trucks for ammo, and Headquarters Battery. We lived in 3-story old German Army barracks surrounding a parade field called Bliedorn Kaserne. We spent a lot of time in the field at "Graf". We used to rotate to Grafenwöhr for live fire at the ranges. We went to the borders of East Germany, West Germany and Checheslovakia for training maneuvers with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. We also will never forget training for and guarding a place called NATO Site 23. Nuclear warheads were kept there and the certification process was a very difficult interview type oral test taken concurrently by the whole unit and could have zero wrong answers in order to be certified. The reason, we had to use deadly force if we were invaded by activists etc..

Our battalion also participated in wintertime CAPSTONE exercises (it required that 18" inches of snow capped the ground to protect the environment)and many drills to simulate an invasion of West Germany by the Russians and communist countries.
Yee Ha!!! We loved it and hated it....

Mark B.

I spent a winter and summer (6 weeks each) at Graf. I remember driving my M901 (an M113 varient, now an obsolete vehicle) down a half mile of flat railroad cars in the dark so we could transport them to the training area. We had about 6" of clearance on each side of the railroad car.

I remember seeing M60's do the same, but with about a foot of each track hanging off the train cars. I'm guessing you had to do the same with the large M109.

One of my most distinct memories is parking our track in a corn field during a training mission (we sometimes trained in civilian areas). We woke up in the morning and boiled some corn ears picked while standing on the deck of our track. That morning we had fresh corn on the cob as we watched the sun rise over communist Germany.

Not something you can do every day.

Lon

Forgot to add this http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-20051111a-UnitedStatesMarineCorps-030904-M-7837W-001.jpg to my last post. My old squadron getting rid of some "surplus" flares just prior to coming home from the war in '03.

Sean,

That is very cool. But don't make me scan my old army photos, I've got a lot of them.

Lon

Yes! I remember that very well being the driver of the vehicle! My gun had about 12" hanging off each side of the rail car and 4" bearing on the inside edge on each side. The process of loading up a ramp, and then driving accross numerous cars (while being led by a signal guy with two cone cover red flashlights) until you reached your spot in line, tying-down the gun and securing all cargo, at night, during a constant snowfall is one of my most vivid memories. The time I am describing was a trip to CAPSTONE manuvers where we would also park in the farmers field. We traded a kid a case of C-rations for a case of 20, 20oz. bottles of local german beer! The best part was the long ride on the train that took up to 12 hours because we had the lowest priority... Sleep, and card games in a warm sleeper cabin! That was a perk the drivers got. The rest of the battalion had to ride in the back of a truck and meet us at the train station.... Loved that!!