Congratulations are in order

To Hendricks Motor Sports drivers Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon for taking the top three spots in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. More so, a big "well done" to Jimmie Johnson and his team for winning the cup FOUR years in a row, an achievement never done before. 2009 was indeed a historical year for NASCAR. I enjoyed it very much, and will continue to be proud when wearing the hat you see here, one I've been wearing for almost a year.

When it's nice to be "retired military"

While at our family doctor today for my annual "preventative maintenance" session, I asked one of the nurses hooking up my EKG how she felt personally about the on-going health care debate in Congress and elsewhere. Her quick and emotional response was simply, "It needs to get fixed and fast!"

She told me the health care program she was under (Anthem) was costing her family over $1000 a month, and that "stinks" (her words). She knew I was retired military, and said, "We just want something like you have." She was referring to Medicare + Tricare for Life. She added, "People keep complaining about the government getting too involved in health care, what do they think Medicare is if not "government" already?"

I asked her about the other nurses in the office and she said they all pretty much agreed with her assessment. She said she felt my Doctor felt the same way, but admitted his partner did not. By the way, my Doctor NEVER discusses his personal opinions about anything, so I did not ask his views on the matter. When I came home afterwards I started thinking.

First, I suppose those of us "retired military" ought to be grateful for the military health care we've received in the past, and also happy with post-65 Medicare + Tricare for Life. These are benefits we earned and were entitled to by our service.

Second, the folks working in my doctor's office (and my family doctor himself) are "down home" people I have grown to know pretty well over the past seven years. They do their jobs well and professionally. As such, I respect their views very much. When they say "We ain't happy with the present health care system", then I have to take their views seriously.

Weekend Chores

This weekend I completed taking care of a chore I do not like—removing fallen leaves. I don't rake, I use my John Deere lawn tractor to "mow them in" the lawn. Some say leaves so mulched create problems, but not for me. Saves physical effort and that's my objective. Anyway, my JD has been serviced and placed in temporary storage for the Winter. Any leaves that enter my territory will have to be removed by prevailing winds or not at all.

After I completed my work, I grabbed my camera and wandered about the yard. Spotted this little patch of "color" and shot a close-up view. Nice way to finish work for the day.

You talking to me?

Recently I saw this rather blunt sign on the door of a now-closed bar in Martinsville. I wondered to myself, exactly what is 'neat' dress. Perhaps the owners wanted people about to enter to ask the same question, and then make a self assessment. Anyway, you don't see these kinds of signs around much anymore. "Neat" no longer means the same as it once did.

The Big Chair

Martinsville and Henry County, Virginia was once a major hub for the American furniture industry, including Bassett, Stanley, American,and Hooker. Elements of these furniture manufacturing giants remain today, but no where near what they once were. To quote a September, 2009 article in the Martinsville Bulletin:

"To commemorate this history, the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. moved a 20-foot tall big chair made by Bassett Furniture Industries into uptown Martinsville to honor the area’s furniture heritage. The chair is made of solid ash with a boat-like finish. Each of the back two legs has 56 pieces of wood, and the seat is made of fiberglass with a decal replicating the actual fabric on the Grove Park Mission chair. Grove Park was Bassett’s best-selling style at the time. It weighs 4900 pounds."

I took the photo above during a recent visit to Uptown Martinsville. It is indeed BIG when you stand next to it looking up. The detail in the chair is also impressive. Definitely worth a visit.

Combat ID Badge

In 2014, it will be mandatory for all in the Army to retire their green service uniform, and replace it with the new blue version. If you've regularly been reading my Blog then you may remember I have written about my total dislike about that decision. "Blue" is NOT Army! Green, brown or tan colors are Army in my view. Whatever, my view means nothing, except making me feel better by expressing same here.

Another characteristic of the blue service uniform that I don't like is the Combat Service Identification Badge (small, metal, pin on right pocket variety). This replaces the sew-on shoulder sleeve combat patch Soldiers have worn, well, just about forever as far as I'm concerned. This is "change" we can do without in my view. Given the fact that "blue will be it" no matter how we feel about it, is their anything that hard about sewing on a traditional shoulder sleeve combat patch, versus wearing a relatively expensive ($11-$16) pin-on metal insignia?

Mementoes from the past

Years ago my wife bought an old "printers tray" that once held individual pieces of lead type, used when they were "set" as separate characters in a layout before being printed (say) as a newspaper. She got the tray because at the time many people were using them to hold small mementoes that might be displayed on a wall. The above photo is the largest we have, and it's hanging in our kitchen. It holds many things from our past, that remind us daily of lots of our favorite things.

Our high school class rings are there, as are Girl Scout rings worn by our daughters. The Vietnam War MIA bracelet given to me by a POW that was held captive for six years is there. The cork from a $100 bottle of champagne my wife bought to celebrate my promotion to Colonel is there, as are many items we collected while assigned to West Germany.

The ones usually getting the most attention from visitors are the Nazi-cookie cutter she found in West Germany, and the USSR Army officer's belt buckle she got on a trip she took with several of her "lady friends" to the Soviet Union. There are teeth from a wolf and a moose I found half buried in Canada. And, some of my favorites, decorative lapel pins that designate the wearer as a graduate of an AFRC week-long ski school in West Germany. We still add things to the box when we find something appropriate, and you can see that by the line of stuff on top. The small plastic M16 rifle I found laying on the ground at a tourist site in North Carolina.

We never get tired of looking at the box, and I suppose that's the main reason why we started it in the first place. Our oldest (21) granddaughter has already announced she gets it when we're gone. So, our past will live on through her, and that's good.

Standards

Over the past several years, as more and more demands were being placed on the Army, I have grown increasingly concerned about maintaining "standards".

To put my view in perspective, note that for the last four years of my military service I was engaged totally in training engineer Soldiers during their initial entry training period at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Thus, "standards" were at the heart of what I was then doing (1988-1992). Since then, I've been no stranger to training developments in the Army, and in fact have written numerous first-hand, on site articles about what's going on.

So, today when I read the following comment online, my "concern meter" was raised again. “The Army is caught in a perfect storm,” says Larry Korb, the Pentagon's top manpower official during the Reagan administration. “It's had to lower standards to keep people coming in — and it's made changes to keep people from getting out.”

I agree with this assessment. HOWEVER, let me be clear that I am not implying the Army's initial entry and other training programs are not being executed at the highest level. They are, in my view. The problem is, the Army has had to adapt the best it could, given manpower force constraints, placed on top of constant and unrelenting demands to effectively fight two very difficult wars.

I suppose I am still very much a creature of my Vietnam War service, and thus do not want to see the Army again experience what it did in the late 1970's. On the other hand, I am also reminded that during the last half of my career, we transformed from our sad post-Vietnam days, to an Army that was perhaps the best trained and equipped ever. Looking at challenges today such as those cited by Korb, does not necessarily mean there are dark days are ahead.