Catching Up, Part 1

I now sit here in my 28X60' Castle listening to Local Noise, a Radio Show out of Athen's Georgia featuring the area's bands. Today has been a murky and at times rainy day. It's the first time I remember it raining on the 26th of June. Usually it is a hot, hazy and sticky day. I know...Happy Birthday to me...and to you.

What is to follow is a sries of Journal Entries I made while at Ft. Lewis Wa. It was written on Note Book Paper and is being transposed onto this blog. Internet Access was very limited for me. I eventualy made it to a Coffee shop where I could post quickly, if no one was in line.

Trip Out Tuesday, 7 June
Flying out here wasn't bad. Taxieing in Civiilian Aircraft feels like a Gooney Bird. The wings are below the fuselage and they bounce. In that case, I prefer USAF. I havn't flown in years and didn't know exactly what to expect as far as security is concerned. It wasn't much of a hassle.

During the one hour hop to Atlanta I saw alot of Garden Homes. Their building a new control tower in Atlanta. The Thing looks like a Battle Star. They should put Statue Of Liberty flames on top of it.

It was mostly cloudy from Atlanta to Sea Tac(Seatac?) Security at Sea Tac was a joke. It was practicaly non exsistant.* It didn't take me long to noitice it either. There sure are alot of pretty women in Airports. Now I know why one guy wanted to get an Airport Security Job.

Flying into Sea Tac , the thing I liked about the place is all of the tree's. It was cloudy of course and sure enough it rained before the day was out.

The building we're staying in isn't bad. I've stayed in far worse. WWII Barracks broken into two man rooms. They're not in bad shape for their age.

The Vegatation here is simular to Southern Appalachia. We don't have the amounts of Fir's, Hemloscks and Spruces. It looks simular to the High Lonsome's.

Excitement Friday 10 June
On Thursday after Duty Hours Several of us were piled up in a room watching a DVD on a computer. Then suddenly someone ran through the halls beating on doors yelling "smoke on the building!". We all promply exited and looked for the smoke(no, I managed not to go into Travlin' Ed's Arms Flailing Mode, though it would have been fun). Someone from another Unit(and building) had called 911. Within minutes two Fire Trucks came up. They checked...checked with a thermal imager...nothing. There had been a puff acording to several people and I did smell something. Any way, everything checked out.

Seattle Saturday 11 June
Well, it's a big city. Too big for me, but, entertaining. When in Seattle you have to go to the Space Needle so that you can say; "Yeah, I've been up in that thing". It was windy, sort of cold and cloudy of course. While there a sweet, cute Strawberry Blonde asked me to take her picture. I'm happy to do anyone a favor, so I did. Looking at this nice gal through her camera lense I thought, She's alone, and honestly trying to feel happy. I almost flirted with her. Well, there were eight other Joe's** with me, wich I am at the mercy of the group consensus and she needed the peace within herself. I left her be. God Bless Her. We wound up down by the sound at Pikes Place. Saw the Fish Market, ate through town some more. It rained of course. Only one that we have been here has it not rained in some form or the other. I've caught one half way decent sight of Mt Rainier. The top third of it was in the clouds. That was looking across the Airfeild(Gray Feild). This doesn't bother me. This may be the rainiest place in America, but, my portion of Southern Appalachia is the second rainiest part. Some parts of my county get 100 inches a year. We just get it more at a time.

Seattle sure has some beautiful women. An old Buddy back in 3/75 from here had told me so. He was right. I tried looking him up in the phone book today and there were eight of his name. I couldn't get a signal. I don't if he ever came back here. The last I had heard of him he was in Orlando Fl. Speacial Thanks to the guy at Harley Davidson of Tacoma for loaning me the phone book.(Thompson, you won't alway's hide from Germs)

Today was our first day off since we've been here. It's not been break neck.

Militarily, a boy from 2nd Infantry Division(2nd ID) let me look down the sights of his M4(An M-16 Varient) He has the holographic sights, wich I much prefer. It's a wide view with a red circle of varieing Minutes Of Angle***. A red dot centers it. I didn't ask, but it appeared it was two MOA(the dot mind you) The screen is about 1 1/2 inches wide and aloows for for shooting with both eye's open. Rare is it that an Army Infantryman today has Iron Sights. About all of the M4's have a Pistol Fore Grip anymore, wich, I don't realy like. I'm Old School in that sense. It is easier to control on bursts, but, for well placed shots not nearly o. It makes the weapon bulkier. A bulky Weapon can seriously undermine your Decision Cycle.

All of this is written in a Note Book to be added later. I'll probaly do this when I get to Iraq.

*more on Sea Tac's Security later, not realy negative though
**A nick Name for soldiers...it comes from the "Common Joe"
***Minutes Of Angle is kind of like a funnel. The further it goes the bigger it get's. For Example, 1 MOA at 100 yards is 1 inch. at 200 yards it's 2 inches. A gun consistantly capable of 1 MOA is rare. I would say your average Hunting Rifle is about a 4MOA Gun. Look it up to learn more.

More to come...
Appalachian Intellectual