Great City

St. Louis, that is. I took this photo out my hotel room window (Hilton at the Ballpark) a few years ago, just as the sun was coming up over the Mississippi River. The city's downtown area is a great place to walk about, and many interesting sights and activities are readily available. I first got "into" St. Louis while I was assigned at Fort Leonard Wood, about 120 miles south (not a fun drive I have to say, because it seems that the Missouri Department of Transportation is always doing something to I40). Plus, after having driven it so many times, it gets to be a boring and somewhat mind-numbing experience. Listening to KZNN out of Rolla helps me adjust, however.

Some Incredible Aircraft Images

Check this out to see some pretty spectacular photos of aircraft in flight all over the world. Scroll down to see the one taken in Afghanistan, with wounded Soldiers awaiting rescue after an IED went off.

What can you afford? What will you spend?

Here's a somewhat wordy Friday post.

I suppose there are hundreds of thousands of others like me in the U.S. who always are on the lookout for some new item of "gear" or a new technological marvel. Whenever something new is developed for retail, it does not take too long afterwards for other manufacturers to copy the original and offer it at less cost to the buyer. The issue then becomes, buy the original item for more, knowing it's well built and reliable, or get something identical as advertised but from a lesser known manufacturer you know little about, but at far less cost.

Yesterday I was faced with such a situation. Next month my wife and I are taking a trip to Northern Arizona for two weeks. My cameras will obviously go along, given all there is to see and photograph in that beautiful part of the Southwest. However, many of my photographs will probably be taken during sunrise and sunset, so as to offer better lighting possibilities. Shots like those require longer exposures and therefore a good camera tripod will be needed. The one I have is, well, not that good, and it's darn heavy to lug around. So, I decided it's time to get a new, lighter model. The better brands that meet my needs are somewhat costly, but "cost" sometime equates to what you can afford. Still, being sort of stingy with my money at times, I was drawn to bargain brands (made in China) that are exactly the same capability-wise as the more costly versions, but cost less than half of the original, better known brands.

At first, my fingers hovered over the "buy" button for a cheaper but supposedly equally capable tripod model on my online photo equipment retailer's website B&H Photo, but I chickened out at the last minute. Hours later, I went back and looked at tripod models I knew about and trusted and finally pushed the buy button for one of those, thereby paying twice as much, but having more confidence what I was going to get would meet my long term expectations.

I'm fortunate to be able to elect to spend more for something, given I'm able to afford to do so. Others are not so fortunate. Many times, both of us get satisfaction from our purchase and reliability is not a factor. But, I recall the time my wife went TDY to Korea on a business trip (she worked for the government) and she bought me a pair of the top-of-the-line New Balance running shoes from a street vendor at about one-quarter of the PX cost. They looked identical. Until my first AM run, when they got wet, and the poorly glued soles fell off, exposing cardboard beneath. Lesson learned.

Photo Thursday

At one time, this truck was used in the Army's "Alaska Command" per the painted crest on the door. I took the photo near Girdwood, AK. It was parked "on display" at the Crow Creek Mine.

Running Shoes

I wonder how many reading this recall those days in the Army when "boots" not running shoes were required during AM runs (better call them jogs because in formation that's what they were). "Shin splints" were like seasonal colds, everyone had them at some time. If you don't know what shin splints are, you obviously never ran a lot in Army boots.

Today, high tech running shoes rule during physical training. Nike, New Balance, Adidas, Saucony. I've owned them all from time to time. Toward the latter half of my Army career I started to run distances greater than four miles a day, with longer runs on weekends. As such I went through a new pair of shoes in short order, typically 3-4 months. At first my favorite shoe was the top of the line Nike. Later, I switched to Saucony which was extremely comfortable, albeit not as long lasting as the Nike shoes I had worn.

I continued to run for years after retirement, but eventually my knees telegraphed a desire for me to stop running, and to choose brisk walking instead. That's what I do now, almost every day, around two miles or so. My shoe of choice? New Balance. By far the best shoes I've owned. Not only do I wear them during my AM walks, I wear another pair during the day. I decided that the best way to buy New Balance shoes is to do so from one of their company owned stores, instead of getting a pair for less cost at retail shoe stores like Rack Room. My experience is that the Rack Room variety are not as well fitted, nor as comfortable. Perhaps they are "seconds", I don't know.

Anyway, as I sit here typing this post, I'm eating a bowl of cheerios with banana, wearing my New Balance shoes that just carried me along my AM walk. After my shower and shave, I'll switch to another pair of New Balance shoes for the rest of the day.

Thus endeth my running shoe commercial.

Hurricane Hype

For all the hype the media has afforded to now dying Hurricane Bill, I recall those days when media coverage given beforehand to major tropical storms that directly affected the east coast of the U.S. was far less (like with Floyd shown in a 1999 photo above off the coast of Florida).

When Floyd sat off Florida as a CAT 4 storm, headed directly to where we were living near Wilmington, NC, we were about as "puckered up" as one can get. When my wife evacuated the barrier island in North Carolina where we were living, we kissed each other before she drove away from our elevated house about 600 meters away from the ocean, and said,"Farewell house, we'll not see you again."

I had to remain since I was the Town Manager of Holden Beach, NC and my serious work was about to begin. I grabbed my duffle bag of clothing and supplies from our boarded-up house and went to help finish the total evacuation of the island. That evening as we were shutting down the town, I watched large 20-30 foot waves crash over the main fishing pier in the center of the island, and that confirmed our belief that were were doomed to severe destruction. I then went to our off-island Emergency Operations Center with other municipal officials to wait out land-fall and passing of the storm.

As fortune would have it, Floyd lessened quite a bit before it hit us dead on, but the massive storm surge wiped out large portions of the main highway through town and washed away parts or all of several homes. Incredibly heavy and long lasting rains caused terrible flooding all through Eastern North Carolina. The main US Highway 17 between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach was closed in several spots, creating gridlock. Other minor roads were also flooded out. There were 57 fatalities. In all, it was the worst tropical storm to hit the region in years. It was, however, just one of three major storm hits and evacuations we experienced on Holden Beach that year.

So, when I see the media get all hot and bothered recently about Hurricane Bill, I sit back and say to myself, "You guys ain't seen nothin!"

POOR Example of NCO leadership

Army Times reports: “Four soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas, who are serving in Iraq under Multi-National Division-South have been charged with cruelty and maltreatment of their subordinates, officials announced Aug. 21. The charges were preferred Aug. 19 against Staff Sgt. Enoch Chatman, Staff Sgt. Bob Clements, Sgt. Jarrett Taylor and Spc. Daniel Weber. All four soldiers belong to B Troop, 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Bliss. The men are accused of treating five soldiers in their platoon inappropriately, officials said. The alleged mistreatment consisted of verbal abuse, physical punishment and ridicule of the subordinate soldiers.”

I usually have only great things to say about the Army’s NCO Corps, but this incident made me want to comment otherwise. I wonder if this type behavior is a reflection of the type NCO being produced within the Army over the past several years, in relation to many not being able to attend professional development courses due to OPTEMPO and other reasons. Whatever, leaders of the unit involved caught it and have taken action. Maybe that’s a sign of better things to come.

If convicted, these four people (note I did not refer to them as Soldiers) ought to receive maximum punishment allowed.

Getting Around

There are few places left in the U.S. where there are no roads on which to drive from place to place. In Alaska there are more float planes and other single-engine planes flying than anywhere else in the country. I can tell you from experience that taking off on a river or lake in a single engine float plane, cruising low over the tops of wild forests, and then landing in a very remote location is an experience not to me missed. The neat thing about a float plane once landed, is that you can step out on one of the floats and do a bit of fishing. The plane shown here was photographed near Fairbanks earlier this summer, just as it was taking off.

Speaking of "dog days of summer"

There's no doubt that August in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. can be hot, and this month is typical. Up until the past few weeks, this summer has been cooler than normal and that's been nice. But now, Mother Nature is averaging it all out. So, when it gets hot like this, I look through my collection of photos I took under much cooler circumstances. Here's one such, taken near Portage Glacier in Alaska, south of Anchorage along the Seward Highway.

Uniforms again

Army Times reports: "The hunt for a new camo design follows a growing groundswell of rank-and-file criticism that the current pattern on the Army Combat Uniform is ineffective in the rugged Afghan terrain — and elsewhere."

The Army never learns from its mistakes as far as designing and then fielding uniforms. It's jerk one way and then another, depending on what the present day needs are. Seems to me that no single combat uniform will ever do the job in the field. Too dependent on terrain, etc. Why can't the Army have more than one? And don't tell me that it can't be afforded. How long has it been since the desert pattern BDU has been discontinued?

And don't get me started on the new Blue Class "A" uniform.

We hardly ever had a backyard vegetable garden in the Army

Not that I am any sort of backyard gardener or anything, I am definitely not. Since we retired from the Army I’ve done my part each year to demonstrate that point. I definitely do not have a green thumb when it comes to growing vegetables.

I decided last Spring I was going to expand my vegetable garden, given that those I planted the prior two years were not as productive as I wanted them to be. So, I borrowed my neighbor’s large walk-behind tiller, and spent an entire weekend digging and fertilizing my enlarged plot. I decided to focus on just tomatoes and cucumbers this year, so planting was not that difficult. I then sat back and waited for a bountiful harvest. Alas, that was not to be.

Wet weather in May and June caused the large tulip poplar trees in the backyard to grow larger resulting in less sun for my tomato plants, so they started slowly and looked rather sickly at first. Still, I figured they’d eventually recover. Meanwhile, the expanded garden area that was home for the cucumbers took off like wildfire.

As the summer progressed, so did the cucumber harvest and it was all we could do to eat what we picked. However, the spindly tomato plants looked even more sickly, so I decided to add some Miracle Grow liquid fertilizer; which in the past always gave a needed boost when my plants appeared near death. Not so this year because all I saw was an immediate increase in stem height, with little if any progress elsewhere. Finally, we had a “harvest”: three small tomatoes. At last, the light at the end of the tunnel. Then, enter the absolute worst backyard “pest” in our region of Virginia--a herd of worthless deer.

In one night my sworn enemy (deer) eat all the leaves and budding tomatoes that were struggling to make it. This, even with a wire fence around the plants which was unfortunately not high enough to keep those long-necked critters away. Does this sound like I don’t like deer? You got that right. Only thing they are good for is venison jerky.

So, in summary for this year's growing season, were it not for my neighbors on both sides of us we would not be having any fresh home-grown vegetables this year. Both George and Al (our adjacent neighbors on each side) have, unlike me, green thumbs and whatever they plant always seems to grow well. The photo you see here is one I took yesterday after picking my way through Al’s well manicured, high fenced garden. This is the sort of stuff I wanted to be able to grow!

There’s always next year, and I’ve started planning already. My “new” garden will be protected like Fort Know to keep the grazing deer away, plus I’m going to spend more time reading “how to be a better gardener”. I never had to worry about such things when I was in the Army; but had I done so, perhaps I’d be better at this business today.

Is it ODD or EVEN?

I can't remember which it is (ODD or EVEN) but during the years we lived near the shore in coastal North Carolina, there was a saying that depending on the number of brown pelicans flying overhead in formation, the weather would be nice if there were an odd number, and bad if even. Or was it the other way around?

Whatever, if you're at the beach this weekend, I hope the weather is good regardless of the number of pelicans in formation. By the way, my wife holds the record for having seen the most pelicans flying in formation at one time (51).

Right Place at the Right Time

I'm working now on the September-October 2009 issue of Army Engineer magazine, and yesterday finished writing my editorial. In it, I mention there were many times in my life when I was fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time when something good eventually resulted, even though I did not understand its significance at the time it happened.

In my editorial I was referencing an assignment I had early in my military career that allowed me an opportunity to learn many things that have stayed with me to this day. It had to do with being assigned to an engineer battalion in Vietnam, just as the unit was about to begin one of the largest construction projects then underway. I suppose fate could have sent me to another battalion, but it did not. As a result, I was able to be a part of something big which ultimately gave me confidence that I could do more than what I'd earlier expected.

Later in my career I had similar experiences. Sometimes I rebelled at doing something which I initially believed to be outside my level of expertise. Examples included not wanting to be assigned to jobs I had no interest in performing, even though I was counseled by superiors that going to that job would help me professionally. Given that we're talking about the Army and you do what you're told, I (we) went, sometimes with my family "kicking and screaming" behind. Then, after we got to the new job, we all loved it and great things resulted.

I know I'm not alone in believing that being in the right place at the right time is a good thing. You just have to be smart enough to recognize what it is.

Signs

This photo was taken in Cordova, AK, a small fishing community located on the shore of Prince William Sound. It's one of my favorite places for several reasons, the main one being its remoteness and friendly people. But, there are other thimgs I like about the town as well.

For example, check out the upside-down sign on the Alaskan Hotel. Got my attention right away and I had not even been drinking! I also noted later the "Palin" political sign on the left side of the hotel. I took this just before the "Gov" decided to resign her position. Some were saddened, but most I spoke with in Alaska were quite happy to see her go.

Anyway, If you're ever in Cordova, check out this hotel and order an Alaskan Amber beer.

You know when you're getting older...

When you can't easily sit on the ground and perform maintenance on your lawn tractor, or (truer still) bend over while riding said tractor as you mow your yard, and as you slowly ride past, bend over off the seat to pick up a small fallen limb so it would not get cut up by the mower blades on your next pass. When you do something like that, PING, muscle pull. I know this to be true, as I sit here typing this, leaning on the edge of my chair to keep my lower back pulled muscle happy.

First Apartment

Yesterday, with a full load of "stuff" I drove my granddaughter to Virginia Tech where she's starting her 4th year in a couple of weeks. This year she's moving into a shared apartment (four women), but for the first time away from home she'll have her own room. Spent the day unpacking and putting her stuff together like the bed frame, shelves, hanging curtains, etc. Plus, we made a trip to Wal Mart to stock up on things like cleaning supplies, kitchen ware and so forth. Busy day, and she was so excited to be living more on her own this year. Next week she turns 21 so it's time for that to happen.

Given that she will need five years (not four) to graduate (dang old Physical Chemistry course) she plans to remain an apartment dweller for another two years, staying in Blacksburg and working next summer before her final year (we hope!).

They do grow up, that's for sure.

What no Twitter?

Looks like the Marine Corps is shutting down access to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, using government computers on government networks. Use on personal computers will be OK. Is the Army far behind with such a move? I see the point from a Department of Defense standpoint, but then I look at some of the very senior officers in all services who have their own Twitter page, etc. Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch from the sidelines. As for me, I definitely do not Twitter, nor do I ever plan to be a Twitterer, whatever that is.

Way of Life Changing?

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not a big-time tree hugger. But, I am growing more and more concerned with changes in the ocean environment,as it affects native populations worldwide. My concerns involve things such as climate change and resulting impact on wildlife such as the Polar bear, or large commercial fishing "factories" taking massive amounts of fish such as Pollock (so we can eat fish-sticks and cakes at Long John Silvers). When things change like this, it's usually those way down the chain that suffer the most.

One example this summer involves the decline in Alaskan salmon runs up major rivers such as the Yukon. Native villages that rely on subsistence fishing this time of year, so as to get through the winter, are suffering. And, in 2007 I visited several native villages in Alaska and the Bering Sea region that reported a decline in the number of whales being taken during fishing season. They told us that a typical village needs 4-5 whales a year to get their tight-knit community through the winter. Sure, other foodstuffs are available, but at a significant cost, due to the remoteness of these villages, and expenses involved in transporting food.

The above photograph was taken at Savoonga, AK on St. Lawrence Island in the Western Bering Sea. These are hearty people with a wonderful traditional way of life. It's sad to see the possibility of such a life slowly going away because of things others are doing.

Travel Photos Again

Each time I go back and look at the photographs I took earlier this summer while in Alaska, I am reminded at just how wild, remote and special that beautiful State is.

This Blog is not intended (entirely) to be a “travel oriented” site, but I can’t help but wanting to share with others what I saw. This photograph was taken while cruising Prince William Sound, and to me at least conveys what I mean when I say “wild and remote”. Unless you come in via ship or boat like we did, or else fly in on a float plane and land on the water, there’s no way you could experience this view as I saw it. During the trip I kept asking myself what it would be like to be stranded in such areas. Not an easy experience and one’s chances of survival would most likely be limited. But any sound-minded person would not allow such to happen.

I’m ready to go back again. Like I’ve said many times to those who care to listen, were my wife and I much younger, we’d probably be living in Alaska full time.

Military Discounts

One thing I have to keep reminding myself is that many companies and establishments are offering quite a lot of discounts off their products and services; many more than there used to be. I was, for example, recently surprised to learn that Verizon (my new cell phone provider) offers a 15% discount off your monthly bill, plus a 25% discount off all accessories they sell.

As I was getting my new cell plan and phone purchase squared away, I was asked who my employer was, and when I said I was retired military, the sales clerk said, "Great, did you know you can get a discount?" Turns out she had just left the Army after her initial enlistment. All I had to do was to take a copy of my Certificate of Discharge plus my Military ID into the store, and they set it all up for me the next day.

I say "well done" to Verizon, but there are many other companies doing the same for us these days. I just have to learn to ask, "Do you offer any military discounts?' from time to time, or at least mention that you are, or have been, in the military.