Bluesman

Welp...I, for one, appreciate the hell out of it. I totally get that it's all overhead, purty close to zero return for that kind of investment of effort. A few others get that, too. And where it all pays off is that the passion you bring to this is clearly not bottom-line-driven, and it shows. Thanks for bringing that drive to your business.

Boo Radley is a son of a bitch. No, hang on. That's Bill Braski. Bill Braski is a son of a bitch.

Heh. You said 'poke'. Hehe.

I see that you're full-up. BUT...if somebody bails, or there is any additional commanders needed, please consider me for either side. I rate myself medium-high in experience and ability, and off the friggin' scale at ability to get turns out.

Killed an M-24 Chafee with a 120mm mortar near-miss; landed just behind; fragged the bastard out. Lucky hit; I wasn't shooting at the tank, and it was the first shot, the 'spotting' round.

HEY, ole buddy! Well, as much as I miss BoB, there is a condition that they'd have to meet before I go back, and I'm not so conceited nor missed that I'd ask or they'd grant. It has to do with a certain member that I can't seem to ignore or abide, so BoB and I will just have to without each other, I guess. How ya been?

Yeah, their retirement plan is a little light on the specifics. Maybe I'll just stay on the same side as the snake-eaters and keep goldbrickin' in sunny Tampa, until one of these days Rummy will get tired of screwin' around, send ME over, and I'll wrap up the whole unpleasant bidness in a couple o' weeks. :cool: And YEAH, we're making life tough for 'em (and impossible for many). Last week was GREAT, and if you're a known name in Iraq, it's a matter of time until you're martyred or Gitmo'd. (Did you see that we zapped Abu Azzam? That was as good a 'get' as we've gotten all year, and it barely gets mentioned in the media. ) ANYhoo, I dragged the thread WAY off topic, so I'll get it back on the rails with this: I may get to go to Jump Skool next year, if I'm still in Tampa, haven't retired, and Lt. Bluesman gives me permission. I qualified 'Expert' on my M-4, and I'm going out on the small arms range so much they're calling me 'Punch' (as in Primer Puncher). The three-star we work for has requested that I remain on the Joint Task Force roster as the NSA rep, so if all that comes together like I hope it will, I'll be going out on the road to REALLY do my thang. THEN I'll have combat experience to write about in here.

I'll go as far as reasonably healthy and reasonably smart. BDH </font>

Hey, Marcus! Dropped in to the BoB a few days back for ole times' sake, and saw lots of familiar handles. (Some that I'm not too fond of, but mostly good memories of a fine, kind and refined set of fellows. And speaking of one of the best: how's Gary doing? My phone number for him doesn't work anymore. Is he...okay?)

Healthy in body, mind and spirit, Doggie, but if I don't get some buy-in from my chain-of-command SOON on my request to quit ridin' the pine and go get my boots dusty, I'll switch sides and go to work for Team Zarqawi. :mad:

What doin', ole soul? Staying healthy, happy, smart and good-lookin'?

Hey, boys. I'll fill in the details later; hafta run a daughter to a b-day party.

In nine days, I will have been signed on with the USAF for twenty years. (I signed papers 17 October '85, but didn't report to Basic until 18 February '86.) In my time, I've been an airborne Vietnamese linguist (perhaps the worst one the Air Force ever made; ears of stone) on RC-135s; a triple nickel, aka Production Control Specialist - what UP, Columbus? ); a flight planner/dispatcher; an industrial engineer; and finally, I'm an intelligence analyst, currently serving as NCOIC of the Intelligence Watch here at Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida. Which is purty much my dream job. But I may go for the record number of specialty codes held, and apply for First Sergeant duty. Combat experience was 81 days in the AoR during Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, Prince Sultan Air Base, Al Kharj, aka, Al's Garage. Although I got hazardous duty pay, the only risk we were under was the ice cream machine being busted, or gittin' a wicked sunburn at the base pool. Family separations SUCK, but if you gotta be away from home, the AF sure knows how to do it right. However, if I can FINALLY get somebody to send me to war, I'll be in Baghdad in February. Two years' trying, and nothin' yet. My wife is an Air Force nurse, just promoted to 1Lt (prior enlisted as an Arabic linguist - with a sixteen year break-in-service before getting commissioned, which may be a record!). She'll prolly deploy before I get back, in which case she'll re-enlist me while we're both Over There. As a production control specialist at Wurtsmith AFB, in Michigan, I was a fireteam leader on the Prime BEEF (Base Engineering Emergency Force) airbase ground defense unit, and that has to be the most fun I've ever had in the Air Force. Hard, dirty, exhausting, and GREAT. I miss that grunt stuff, and although I get as much range time as I can request now, it was more fun shooting guns back then. SOCOM is cool and I'm having a blast ruining and ending terrorist's lives, but I want to get off the bench and into the game where it really COUNTS. If God loves me, I'll be in Big-daddy in a few months. Wish me luck.

HEY, Marcus, ole sailor! How the hell ya been, man? Tell them Brothers I said "Hey".

I used a Grille to fire up two Hellcats...with one round! All-armor QB in Italy, and this round was a real rainbow...WAY back on a hilltop, and I had bought this thang for just such a reason. All that Yank light and open-topped armor was going to be trying to out-flank me...and I got that golden opportunity that gave me a great war story.