This will not be news to most of my readership, maybe no one but it is a fact, when it comes to Parades and doing it flawless, you better have Marines....
And two weeks ago today Gunny Bill and I arrived in Wash. DC for a reunion of "Togetherweserved.com". We went a couple days early to spend time organizing a reunion for our old boot camp Platoon for next August 2010...And lucky for us as shown in the first pic at right was the last parade of the season at the Marine Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery...
I guess they normally stop them sooner in August but they had a rain date to make up or something like that...Some dignitary did not get their parade and wanted one...So they got it and we were lucky to have seen it...Of the two excellent Parades by the Men and Officers of 8th and I Marine Barracks DC, I must tell you this one was by far the most enjoyable...Probably because it is still very light as it is a "Sunset" Parade...Happens on Tuesday evening in early summer I guess...
But with the Iwo Memorial with its 35 foot tall statues of the 6 men, and Raising of the Flag on Mt. Sarabatche, Iwo Jima as a back drop, I mean what a great place for Marines to Parade, it can not be beat, we loved it and thanks to M/Sgt. Hunter and his men we found our way into the bleacher seats as the dignitaries did not need all of them. The Band was good, the music was great the Marines paraded flawlessly and the silent drill team was both silent of commands but their execution of there movements were bold and crisp....Those M-1 rifles with chrome bayonets attached being tossed end over end back and forth to each other are something to behold. The posting of colors and seeing the battle flag of the Marines entrusted to the 8th and I Marines was great...I must say again "no one does it better" than these guys and when given the command "order arms" and maybe a couple hundred rifle butts hitting the deck with one crisp pop in the time of a mila-second, it to one who appreciates the effort put forth, sends chills down the spine....
These officers and enlisted at 8th and I do parades very well but their jobs around DC area are many. They train much on riot control for the DC area and we hope that will never happen but sure they have a plan if it should. And they are charged with ceremonial duties around town including the white house detail and the Marine funerals at Arlington...All in all they are busy, very busy when you consider these many duties and these precision parades they do so well.
Again on Friday night we witnessed these same Marines maybe even more of them parading as they do most Friday nights all summer long through August at the 8th and I Marine Barracks. It is located close to the Capitol and is maybe the oldest Marine Base built in 1801...It also was a great parade but for it with our large group we ended up in the end zone area opposite the commandants house....Not as good a place to view that parade as the seats I had 6 years ago when I saw it for the first time with my wife and 3 grand daughters...But still very nice, pictures are not as good as it is dark before it starts..But again a great parade by greater paraders....
Now the last pic is a keepsake from my trip...and it is cool and not hot and I must explain. We were privileged to get to eat with the Marines in the chow hall before the parade. The meal was excellent by my standards of what I remember marine meals to be....some said it was so so, but I remember those days and believe me by those standards it was very excellent...Well anyway back to the subject the tray, the mess sargeant said he had a few scratched trays that no longer were fit for service and we could have one if we liked...Most of us jumped on that offer, why not.
Anyway the bus drivers offered to collect them and put them in the busses till the parade was over...Most allowed that to happen, me I chose to hang on to mine, I guess I was afraid it would just not get back to me later...Carried it into the parade grounds as did maybe a good 50 others.
Settled in for the parade on the top row of the endzone seats and a Master Sargeant gets our attention down front and holds up a tray he had taken from one of our members. He states loudly that these trays are Marine Corps property and "we want them back no questions asked"...So most of them were passed forward and collected and returned to the mess hall...except for one, it stayed between my legs out of sight. A Marine next to me said are you keeping that and I said, "well I am gonna try cause it was given to me and I think there is a mixup here for sure, will take my chances"....After the parade I walked out the gate with it under my arm in sight of some of the Marines...I made it out without a challenge, so I have my keepsake of the 8th and I visit..Not sure what the hell I will do with it, maybe when I make SOS why I will just get it out and put it on that tray and enjoy it...Maybe steak and eggs on Sunday or maybe I will just hang it on a wall somewhere....It is a nice tray.....
Semper Fi,
Jack
OH a PS is in order here...Today is the anniversary of my last birthday two years ago when I reached 69...So I guess you could say I'm 69 and 24 months or you could say I am just waiting on others to catch up...More importantly, one year from today our platoon 3002 San Diego/1956 will begin our reunion in DC doing about the same stuff I did last week..it will be fun....
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Our Visit to Bethesda Hospital (175)
Last week in DC, we were offered the opportunity to make the trip up to Bethesda Naval Hospital to share some time one on one with wounded troops from Iraq and Afganistan...It required getting up at 4 am to make the trip on the metro train on our second day there. And Gunny Bill and I did not give it a second thought, we jumped on that opportunity and are so glad we did......
We did not know who we would visit or what we would do or say. And a little bit apprehensive I guess about maybe the whole thing and it would have been easy to just sleep in and take in the DC sights that day. But we knew it was the right thing to do and turned out it was, and we enjoyed sharing time with these men and women being treated at the Hospital....Gunny does this kind of stuff in Omaha quite a bit, but I have not and I guess it was I not we that was concerned if I would be able to make anyone's day a little better....
We visited with about a dozen mostly men who had suffered servere concusions being blown up some more than once by explosions...Most of them suffered from memory problems as it kind of scrambles the grey matter I guess...I think the help they get is working and that some day they will be fine and out working and adding their contribution to society....The Marine I am seen with told me his father and granddad were both Marines and that he joined up and requested infantry against his dad wishes...But he is about to land a job as a police officer soon he told me and I think he will be a good one...Some were more willing to talk than others, I think probably different stages of progress in treatment was the case.
We each had a chance to give them a pep talk as a group before the one on one...My thoughts were that they had suffered for our cause and that we were grateful but for them always to remember the foundation that they had as a Marine...It will serve them well going forward...and many sucessful men and women share the same solid core values foundation as do they....
But then the one on one talks were good probably as much for us than them in a sense...I guess I came away grateful that our troops are being cared for and the time is being taken to make sure they are back to as near as normal as possible before sending them on their way....I guess our mission that day was with the "walking wounded" and that was OK...I had invisioned men lying
in beds with legs and arms amputated or in traction much like my friend Randy Kington who was paralized in Viet Nam...In his book, "What a Life", he wrote he credits the system with great marks on the care he was given and the meeting of his every need...he went on to be a very sucessful man....I hope and pray that all of these young people whom we met will also....
It was a long day, but a memorable one that I am glad we were able to do....
Semper fi.........................................
We did not know who we would visit or what we would do or say. And a little bit apprehensive I guess about maybe the whole thing and it would have been easy to just sleep in and take in the DC sights that day. But we knew it was the right thing to do and turned out it was, and we enjoyed sharing time with these men and women being treated at the Hospital....Gunny does this kind of stuff in Omaha quite a bit, but I have not and I guess it was I not we that was concerned if I would be able to make anyone's day a little better....
We visited with about a dozen mostly men who had suffered servere concusions being blown up some more than once by explosions...Most of them suffered from memory problems as it kind of scrambles the grey matter I guess...I think the help they get is working and that some day they will be fine and out working and adding their contribution to society....The Marine I am seen with told me his father and granddad were both Marines and that he joined up and requested infantry against his dad wishes...But he is about to land a job as a police officer soon he told me and I think he will be a good one...Some were more willing to talk than others, I think probably different stages of progress in treatment was the case.
We each had a chance to give them a pep talk as a group before the one on one...My thoughts were that they had suffered for our cause and that we were grateful but for them always to remember the foundation that they had as a Marine...It will serve them well going forward...and many sucessful men and women share the same solid core values foundation as do they....
But then the one on one talks were good probably as much for us than them in a sense...I guess I came away grateful that our troops are being cared for and the time is being taken to make sure they are back to as near as normal as possible before sending them on their way....I guess our mission that day was with the "walking wounded" and that was OK...I had invisioned men lying
in beds with legs and arms amputated or in traction much like my friend Randy Kington who was paralized in Viet Nam...In his book, "What a Life", he wrote he credits the system with great marks on the care he was given and the meeting of his every need...he went on to be a very sucessful man....I hope and pray that all of these young people whom we met will also....
It was a long day, but a memorable one that I am glad we were able to do....
Semper fi.........................................
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Home of the Marine Commandant (174)
Wow, where to start, I guess right here, having spent the past week in Wash. DC with a bunch of swell US Marines. I guess I will make my first blog on the most impressive thing we did while there in DC. We were allowed to tour the home of the Commandant, 4 star General James T. Conway. He is the 34th Commandant of the Marines and most of them have lived in this gorgeous three story home. It is located at the north end of the parade field at the "8th and I Streets" Marine Corps barracks in DC. The spot for the base was actually chosen by President Thomas Jefferson and the barracks to house the Marines and the Commandants home was built in 1801...That goes back a fir piece and this home in which the commandants have lived since is now the oldest continually inhabited home in DC. In the war of 1812 the Brits took over the town and burned just about everything including the White House but they used this as their headquarters while there and for some reason spared this beautiful home....
The commandants wife was ever so gracious, greeting us at the front door by first name, as we had name tags, and then along with help from maybe a half dozen Marines from the barracks showed us all three floors of the home. Even allowing a few including myself, to use the bath rooms while there...Also while there in the first picture, I seized the moment so to speak, there was the commandants personal office, and the chair was empty and I handed my camera to a fellow Marine and in I went, I just could not resist, sorry Sir, but I did not bother that container of nice cigars you had, nor did anyone else...You can trust Marines even older ones........
When nature called while there I went outside and told a Sargeant that I needed to find a head and could he direct me to one...he said, "sir there are several right there in the living quarters", at which I then said I could not use them it just would not be right, how close is another one?
But he took me back in and said it was quite OK....A Corporal from the mid 50's using not only an officers head, but the highest officer in the Corps just did not seem to me to be "OK", but it was and I did....And there you have the respect and discipline and graciousness that make up our "Espirit De Corps", that I guess only Marines understand....
The second picture down on this posting is Commandant David Shoup. He was born and raised in Battleground, Indiana. He no doubt grew up playing soldier in the battle field located just a few blocks from his home now a antique store in the middle of town. So from that he went on to join the Marines and won the medal of honor on the Island of Tarawa in the south pacific during world war two...From there he went on to become the highest Marine in the early 1960's.....So I guess he is one of my favorite commandants along with the most recent ones like Gen Krulak, Gen Jones, Gen Haggee, and now Gen Conway.......Gen Jones went on after his term as Commandant to be picked by President Bush to be the head of all the Nato troops in Europe. And he now has been picked to hang out in the white house as the chief military advisor to President Obama.....I feel good about this man hangin out there, and advising as best he can, to a President that I have serious doubts about...It is good to have him in that capacity...
And so here starts a few blogs on my great DC adventure. Lying ahead will be blogs forthcoming about such things as the Sunset Parade on Tuesdays, The Evening Parade on Friday, The officers and men who inhabit the 8th and I barracks, our visit to Bethesday Naval Hospital, our visit and banquet in the great hall of the Museum of the Marine Corps, the reunion that Gunny Bill Robinson and I have planned for next August in DC, and maybe a few other topics along the way...It was one hell of a week and good friends were met and great memories made....
Semper Fidelis
Corporal Jack the Happy Hoosier.......
The commandants wife was ever so gracious, greeting us at the front door by first name, as we had name tags, and then along with help from maybe a half dozen Marines from the barracks showed us all three floors of the home. Even allowing a few including myself, to use the bath rooms while there...Also while there in the first picture, I seized the moment so to speak, there was the commandants personal office, and the chair was empty and I handed my camera to a fellow Marine and in I went, I just could not resist, sorry Sir, but I did not bother that container of nice cigars you had, nor did anyone else...You can trust Marines even older ones........
When nature called while there I went outside and told a Sargeant that I needed to find a head and could he direct me to one...he said, "sir there are several right there in the living quarters", at which I then said I could not use them it just would not be right, how close is another one?
But he took me back in and said it was quite OK....A Corporal from the mid 50's using not only an officers head, but the highest officer in the Corps just did not seem to me to be "OK", but it was and I did....And there you have the respect and discipline and graciousness that make up our "Espirit De Corps", that I guess only Marines understand....
The second picture down on this posting is Commandant David Shoup. He was born and raised in Battleground, Indiana. He no doubt grew up playing soldier in the battle field located just a few blocks from his home now a antique store in the middle of town. So from that he went on to join the Marines and won the medal of honor on the Island of Tarawa in the south pacific during world war two...From there he went on to become the highest Marine in the early 1960's.....So I guess he is one of my favorite commandants along with the most recent ones like Gen Krulak, Gen Jones, Gen Haggee, and now Gen Conway.......Gen Jones went on after his term as Commandant to be picked by President Bush to be the head of all the Nato troops in Europe. And he now has been picked to hang out in the white house as the chief military advisor to President Obama.....I feel good about this man hangin out there, and advising as best he can, to a President that I have serious doubts about...It is good to have him in that capacity...
And so here starts a few blogs on my great DC adventure. Lying ahead will be blogs forthcoming about such things as the Sunset Parade on Tuesdays, The Evening Parade on Friday, The officers and men who inhabit the 8th and I barracks, our visit to Bethesday Naval Hospital, our visit and banquet in the great hall of the Museum of the Marine Corps, the reunion that Gunny Bill Robinson and I have planned for next August in DC, and maybe a few other topics along the way...It was one hell of a week and good friends were met and great memories made....
Semper Fidelis
Corporal Jack the Happy Hoosier.......
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Sunroom Done, Wedding and U.S. Marines (173)
Well for what its worth, I do like it even the red neck part..It turned out just about as good as I expected. Had planned to use plexaglass on that roof but that would have made it pretty classy, and may have made some of my red neck friends uncomfortable when they seen it. So I went for this stuff called foamcore and to be honest it was less than half the money of plexaglass...The experts tell me plexaglass would crack eventually and fade and discolor, did not take long to get me convinced I did not need to spend 800 on something that was going to not hold up. Instead 300 paid to Meyer Plastics in Lafayette for a super material similar to PVC pipe material...Should last for years and just rednecky enough and classy enough to impress both my classy and red neck buddies....Anyway slideshow pics to the right show it off along with some before pictures of the porch we closed in....glad it is done...............................................
But the main thing is the outside is 100% complete, the inside is still to go and I will get to it someday not sure though when...I work on it from time to time when nothing better to do...But this week lots of social stuff to take advantage of...Lilly my granddaughter is getting married Saturday to a great guy Ryan..She took her time and found a keeper for sure.....and Susan and I get to go to the rehearsal dinner friday night.Lilly and Ryan were guest writers on this blog once, if you write Lilly and Ryan in the search box it will bring up their story...maybe they will write again about the wedding.....so big week end a coming...then on Sunday her Uncle Jack Kaiser is to be inducted into the Loeb Stadium Hall of Fame...He being deceased she has been asked to be there and accept the award for the family. It will happen at the Colt World Series game that day...He was an outstanding coach in Illinois she tells me...should be a fun time.....
Had about and inch of rain a few days ago that the corn and beans sure liked, but more is needed soon and now they tell us a heat wave is coming next week but it should only last about a week and hopefully may produce some thundershowers like heat waves sometimes do.
Well next week I fly to Wash. DC and attend a Marine Corps fun week with 150 "still marines", touring the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, and the new Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico VA.....Being accompanied by a friend Bill Robinson and the two of us will be choosing a hotel and making an adjenda for our old Marine Boot Camp Platoon 3002 Fifty Four year reunion next August.
We will also be attending the Marine Sunset Parade on Tuesday at Arlington Cemetery...Never been to that and looking forward to it...It takes place around the Iwo Jima Monument on the north side of Arlington Cemetery....Then on Friday night we will also be in attendance at the Marine Barracks at 8th and I streets in DC for the 'evening parade' put on by the Marine Band and the 400 Marines stationed there...They do ceremonial duties around DC including the white house and they do the burials at Arlington and they practice riot control all week as they are located just a few blocks from the Nations Capital building....hope they never have to use them but I know they do practice for it a lot....then on Friday night they offer free to the public a really cool parade featuring the Marines Silent Drill Team...The Commandant of the Marines lives in an old Mansion at the north end of the drill field and usually attends these parades each week...I was there once about 6 years ago maybe with Linda and three granddaugters...It was a great parade of such precision that it sometimes sent chills down my spine...Like at one point when they give the order for "order arms" and both rifle companies A and B with a total of 400 young Marines bring their M-1 rifles to their sides....I guess you have to have been part of this to get that emotional over it but I know it takes an awful lot of practice for 400 rifle butts to hit concrete in the exact same mega second...and I do mean mega second, it is awesome.....
Then the silent drill team takes front and center with their completely silent no verbal commands and tosses rifles back and forth to each other spinning in mid air with bayonets attached.....that has to take who knows how much training...and always comes off without a hitch....Semper Fi...........oooh/rraaaahhh............it will be fun.....
But the main thing is the outside is 100% complete, the inside is still to go and I will get to it someday not sure though when...I work on it from time to time when nothing better to do...But this week lots of social stuff to take advantage of...Lilly my granddaughter is getting married Saturday to a great guy Ryan..She took her time and found a keeper for sure.....and Susan and I get to go to the rehearsal dinner friday night.Lilly and Ryan were guest writers on this blog once, if you write Lilly and Ryan in the search box it will bring up their story...maybe they will write again about the wedding.....so big week end a coming...then on Sunday her Uncle Jack Kaiser is to be inducted into the Loeb Stadium Hall of Fame...He being deceased she has been asked to be there and accept the award for the family. It will happen at the Colt World Series game that day...He was an outstanding coach in Illinois she tells me...should be a fun time.....
Had about and inch of rain a few days ago that the corn and beans sure liked, but more is needed soon and now they tell us a heat wave is coming next week but it should only last about a week and hopefully may produce some thundershowers like heat waves sometimes do.
Well next week I fly to Wash. DC and attend a Marine Corps fun week with 150 "still marines", touring the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, and the new Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico VA.....Being accompanied by a friend Bill Robinson and the two of us will be choosing a hotel and making an adjenda for our old Marine Boot Camp Platoon 3002 Fifty Four year reunion next August.
We will also be attending the Marine Sunset Parade on Tuesday at Arlington Cemetery...Never been to that and looking forward to it...It takes place around the Iwo Jima Monument on the north side of Arlington Cemetery....Then on Friday night we will also be in attendance at the Marine Barracks at 8th and I streets in DC for the 'evening parade' put on by the Marine Band and the 400 Marines stationed there...They do ceremonial duties around DC including the white house and they do the burials at Arlington and they practice riot control all week as they are located just a few blocks from the Nations Capital building....hope they never have to use them but I know they do practice for it a lot....then on Friday night they offer free to the public a really cool parade featuring the Marines Silent Drill Team...The Commandant of the Marines lives in an old Mansion at the north end of the drill field and usually attends these parades each week...I was there once about 6 years ago maybe with Linda and three granddaugters...It was a great parade of such precision that it sometimes sent chills down my spine...Like at one point when they give the order for "order arms" and both rifle companies A and B with a total of 400 young Marines bring their M-1 rifles to their sides....I guess you have to have been part of this to get that emotional over it but I know it takes an awful lot of practice for 400 rifle butts to hit concrete in the exact same mega second...and I do mean mega second, it is awesome.....
Then the silent drill team takes front and center with their completely silent no verbal commands and tosses rifles back and forth to each other spinning in mid air with bayonets attached.....that has to take who knows how much training...and always comes off without a hitch....Semper Fi...........oooh/rraaaahhh............it will be fun.....
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
"Corn Field Sex 2009", better late than never....
Maybe the longer you wait the better it is, let hope so here as we are talking the mating season here in much of the midwest being 3 to 4 weeks behind what has become normal the last few years. But the picture second one down shows the stage of a lot of corn here in Indiana. The silks have just emerged, the corn is healthy silks are plentiful and polen is falling from the male counterpart the tassel on top of the stalks. Yes it is happening "Sex in the Cornfield 2009", these plants are getting it on, as I sense that they sense time is of the essence here...It is August not early July and time is a wasting for corn developement......
I think that the corn market has awakened to that fact also, 'finally', yesterday we had a good move up actually the last 3 trading sessions have seen up tics but yesterday it got exciting...I think the market is doing its job of price discovery for this years crop and realizes the drop in price since the government declared a large acreage increase for this years crop a month ago, may have been overdone. And on top of it all is the possibility of this much cooler than normal summer producing a real market mover, especially with these late planted crops, an early 'frost'....We are probably headed back to near 4 dollar corn instead of flirting as we did with 3 dollar corn......
But also a villian has appeared as has been a problem in past years. In the first picture you see sex being inhibited somewhat as these Japenese beatle villians eat the silks of the corn as fast as they emerge from the ear. This can dampen the polination process but usually enough polen falls and at some point when this family of beatles takes a nap or a break, the silks can gather in the polen and the process can proceed anyway and the micro polen sperms can find there way to the tubular silks and once inside start their voyage to the point of origin on the corn cob and a new kernal of corn will happen.....
So my readership as you tour the fields of the midwest this week should you hear a few "aahhhs" now and then with your window rolled down you will know that things are good, that nature although behind a bit is having its way in these corn fields...all is good...Have a great week
I think that the corn market has awakened to that fact also, 'finally', yesterday we had a good move up actually the last 3 trading sessions have seen up tics but yesterday it got exciting...I think the market is doing its job of price discovery for this years crop and realizes the drop in price since the government declared a large acreage increase for this years crop a month ago, may have been overdone. And on top of it all is the possibility of this much cooler than normal summer producing a real market mover, especially with these late planted crops, an early 'frost'....We are probably headed back to near 4 dollar corn instead of flirting as we did with 3 dollar corn......
But also a villian has appeared as has been a problem in past years. In the first picture you see sex being inhibited somewhat as these Japenese beatle villians eat the silks of the corn as fast as they emerge from the ear. This can dampen the polination process but usually enough polen falls and at some point when this family of beatles takes a nap or a break, the silks can gather in the polen and the process can proceed anyway and the micro polen sperms can find there way to the tubular silks and once inside start their voyage to the point of origin on the corn cob and a new kernal of corn will happen.....
So my readership as you tour the fields of the midwest this week should you hear a few "aahhhs" now and then with your window rolled down you will know that things are good, that nature although behind a bit is having its way in these corn fields...all is good...Have a great week
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