OT: Comments on Shelter Commander Post

[Guest guest]

Hi Goody,

 

Catching up on emails I am .. was off line most of yesterday because my

PC stopped working .. couldn't get connected .. then I found that the

phone line had slipped out of it. ;-)

 

More posts coming to the list .. not trying to overwhelm y'all .. just

looking for some relief from the guilt of having not replied. ;-)

 

> Butch--

> I want to offer you many thanks for posting that article.

 

My pleasure it was.

 

> I was stationed at Keesler in the 70's, going thru tech school for Air

> Traffic Control.

 

Good show .. glad you were able to serve in uniform. :-)

 

> While the 'wait' for where & when Katrina was to hit was happening, I

> looked at the tv as we were watching national weather reports, and

> told my hubby--it's gona hit dead center on Biloxi--you wait and see.

>

> After the storm hit, and they were showing pictures of the area--there

> wasn't a single thing that I could identify--left of Biloxi--and there

> was NO mention of the base--which had me concerned.

 

News services only mention the military when they can find something

negative to report.

 

> I'll go to my grave remembering the panic I experienced being tied

> 4-to-a-group, holding on to a guide rope strung from the dorm we were

> confined to, to the chow-hall durring a hurricane that hit 90 miles

> east---winds so strong it still blew rain thru/under the calking

> around the windows.

 

I reckon that was a stressful time. Speaking of times .. the services

don't have chow or mess halls any more .. they have dining facilities.

Stockades and slammers are confinement facilities .. fatigues are now

Battle Dress Uniforms .. dependents are now family members .. and except

for basic training (at least in the Army) there is no KP .. its civilian

contracted now. But .. as best as I can recall .. latrines are still

latrines and cat holes are still cat holes. ;-) Truth is .. when it

comes to KP .. tax dollars can be better spent training soldiers than it

can having them learn how to pearl dive or do pots & pans .. the other

changes are just esthetic.

 

> I was pretty young when we had the tail-end of a typhoon come up the

> Columbia River and hit Portland, Oregon--the infamous

> " Columbus-Day-Storm " --watching my older brother (18 at the time) get

> blown down the street while trying to capture/prevent neighbor's

> garbage cans from doing damage to cars/property--and being scared to

> death.

 

Yep .. I can relate. Got caught in a " tornader " (as we say down home in

Kentucky) when I was 11 years old .. coming home from the movie and it

hit the town .. some feller grabbed me and threw me and himself into a

ditch and though the tornader was a fair distance away from us .. the

wind sounded like a dang freight train was moving past us. Did around

$100,000 of improvements to my small town. ;-)

 

> Then, going thru this at Keesler....oh--.where did the AF send me

> after Tech school?...LOL....McConnell AFB, Wichita, Kansas---right

> smack dab in the middle of tornado ally! (Yep..saw 1 when I was 7mo

> pregnant--and that's as close as I EVER want to be to one!)

 

Yep .. nobody ever accused Kansas of not having tornaders. ;-)

 

> ...sometimes it takes the 'worst' of things happening, to bring out

> the very 'best' in a few--thanks again, for that reminder.

 

Welcome fer'shur .. I've seen the worst peacetime soldiers turn out to

be the best warriors in combat .. and vice versa. Some folks need to be

pushed to a limit before they show their true colors.

 

> goody

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com