Knock Yourselves Out
Here’s a little-known fact: This Ain’t Hell is put together by a live, online bunch of veterans, active duty peeps, and civilians.
It was one of those places everybody went to.
The people were familiar. You didn’t have to say a word. You could just sit there and take it in or go shoot pool, or hit on that silly WAVE sitting up there at the bar, trying to make notes on sea stories.
It was the “EM” club or the “O” club or whatever watering hole there was close by, on or off base, or on some street in Boston or North Chicago or San Diego or Pensacola or Rantoul or Rosie’s in Subic Bay or Tommy’s Bar on Tu Do Street in Saigon.
It’s still there. You’re still sitting there, taking it in. You can pipe up, or sit back and absorb the clatter of conversation around you. The pool table may be in the basement. The drinks may come out of your fridge or your coffeemaker. The chitchat may be by osmosis or online, but you still want to go there… because everybody knows your name… and someone will always listen to you.
The bar stays open until further notice.
Sea stories or war stories or just ‘No, shit, I was there’ stories all belong here. The bumpers on the pool table were just repadded and those cracked cue balls replaced, along with the cue sticks I broke when I dropped one – er, two of them.
You may notice a new screen here and there. Just a tad’s worth of remodeling. It’s probably why 2/17 Air Cav said the place doesn’t look quite the same as it did. Well, it’s still the same old place, but with small changes. Now, we did take out the padded booths and put in a few more tables, plus some new pictures, but it’s still the place where everybody knows your name.
You can sit at a table and shoot the bull with a couple of deck apes or sit at the bar and rag on about last week and those practice jumps and how your pack was overstuffed, or the shortage of staples and paper clips had everybody up in arms, never mind the lack of coffee grounds. And there is always someone who just has to be a horse’s butt.
The bar stays open. Someone is always listening.
Thanks for listening, SFC Jonn Lilyea.
The clip from “Cheers” is the opener from the 1982 episode with the late Tip O’Neill, in person. Paramount Studios production.
Category: Who knows
Bennie’s Bar in Rota. Not that I would ever frequent such a place. Especially after an all-night flight, sipping sangria at 0900 poolside.
I am waiting for someone to ask “How do you know about Tu Do Street?”
Wrong coast for me. LANTFLT and the Med were my usual stomping grounds, with some Red Sea ops in GW1.
Did you ever see Humpty Dumpty in Naples, Italy?
Nope, but I sure heard the stories. Same with the Campfire Girls. I was in Sigonella, and would only get to Naples when my crew had the weekly log flight.
yes i did….favorite watering hole ,the el diablo
mick,dont know how true this is ,but i heard her daughter took over her spot
Anyone remember a Gin Mill in St. Thomas, Vi that I think was called Margies and had pics of US Navy ships starting from the 1930’s through the 50’s on the walls and the first drink was on the house. I remember Marge saying that she was from Brooklyn NY. How about those Bars on Grandby street in downtown Norfolk Va. serving 3.2 beer to persons under 21 years of age and the ABC officers making their rounds checking for offenders. How about those ice filled chicken wire covered long urinals in the rest rooms.
The Blue Moon Bar on Tu Do. Saw a great fight there between two burly embassy guys and a RVN airborne ranger. The burlys never knew what happened.
I knew someone, somewhere had been there. Thank you!
Trader Jon’s in Pensacola.
(Sadly, it doesn’t exist anymore)
McGuire’s Irish Pub is still around.
Outstanding.
We held our “Overboost” at McGuire’s after we got our wings way back in days of yore.
The “Overboost” tradition back then was that you dropped your wings into a pitcher of beer, and then you had to chug the beer without stopping and then catch your wings in your teeth.
Unfortunately, at some point in time prior to our winging, a new Naval Aviator wasn’t successful in catching his wings in his teeth during his “Overboost”: in one of the passageways in the Naval Aviation Schools Command building there was a famous framed x-ray image hanging on the wall that showed a set of Naval Aviator wings lodged firmly in a guy’s esophagus.
One can only imagine what the flight surgeons had to say when that guy showed up at medical to have those wings yanked out of there.
I don’t know if new Naval Aviators/Naval Flight Officers/Naval Aircrewmen are even allowed to participate in an old-fashioned “Overboost” these days. (Probably not, with the “de-glamorization of alcohol” and all of the other morale-killing policies that have been implemented over the years.)
Thanks for the trip down the McGuire’s “Memory Lane”. Great times back then. I wish that I could do it all over again.
Back in the day, I had my Navy Aircrew wings “blood pinned” by everyone in the AW shop who already had theirs. We also had our crows “tacked on” in a similar fashion.
Lord, I still have a small dark spot where one of the pins of my wings was pinned. And I can still remember how sore my left arm was after each promotion.
Still and all, their was a quiet pride in having undergone the tradition, and in not complaining about it afterward. 🙂
I can’t believe they don’t do that anymore. Sure it hurt, but it was worth it bc you got promoted. Had one guy when he made AO3 wouldn’t let anyone do it because it would break the capillaries in his arm! Wasn’t most popular guy after that
OS3 was more painful than OS2.
Yeah, concur. AW1 was the easiest I had. 🙂
We also received “Blood Wings” when I got winged as a Naval Aviator.
However, all of that came to a screeching halt in the Marine Corps in 1997, when a video appeared in the national news media of Marines performing a “Blood Wings” ceremony with Navy and Marine Corps Parachutist Insignias at Camp Lejeune (if I remember correctly, those Marines were from Air Delivery Platoon/2nd Landing Support Battalion in what was then 2nd FSSG). As a result, the Commandant outlawed “Blood Wings”, and henceforth “Blood Wings” ceremonies are classified as “hazing”. The same goes for tacking on new rank insignia/stripes upon promotion and “Blood Striping” new NCOs when they’re promoted to Corporal.
I’m sure that Marines are still getting “Blood Wings” surreptitiously here and there, but they’d better not get caught doing it.
YES! Mrs. Radar and I went there often when we were dating. Remember when it closed up….a sad day.
The other two bars I went to quite a bit back in Pcola are long gone too, Brews Brothers and Kooter Brown’s.
Kooter Brown’s is closed now, too?
Damn.
I was there, Mick
Texas Pete’s Chili Parlor in Palma, Mallorca. Best steak and spaghetti ever.
Beeman’s in Pearl on Aloha Friday. Field day from 0800-1100, and if you weren’t in the duty section or dink, muster there for first round of pitchers at 1130 until you had to have someone pour you into the barracks up on the hill.
When not “home”, the Buffalo Bar in Yoko, Gas Panic in Roppongi, Island Girls in Bo. Baretto (after tacos and lumpia at Via’s), China Fleet Club in Hong Kong, and bar on Texas Street in Pusan, the Dallas Club (or the Viking) in Guam…the list goes on.
And don’t even get me started about the Horse and Cow.
Dance of the flaming assholes. I was never that young or foolish. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I saw a version of that dance once, but it was in the Neureut Club in Karlsruhe GE. British Royal Signals troops were involved, it got out of hand and we were all lucky to have survived.
I saw two drunk SF SGM’s perform the infamous “Dance of the Flaming Assholes” at a pub outside Sculthorpe RAF in 1972. None of us drinking in the bar expected there was going to be a floor show.
Did to split-site deployments to Rota/Lajes.
Spent a lot of time Rota Rooting, or drinking wine and eating bread & cheese at George the Crooks.
Great, great memories.
I did many split Rota/Lajes deployments. Bennie’s in Rota, George the Crooks in Lajes, even Tina the Cat Woman in Catania. Oops, she wasn’t a bar, but she served cold beer while You waited…….😁
Back in Germany (at a place called “the Rock”) we used to go to a place called the “Welcome Inn” across the road in front of the Kaserne.
In Korea we would go the Navy Club on Camp Coiner…never saw any Navy types there, but they played country music and the beer was cold.
At Huachuca we used to go to a place called Texas Annies. Never met Annie (LOL)…
Back in old days at Fort Hood we would go a place called Scandals in Harker Heights…long gone now, but a good time back then.
Then I found golf…LOL
Went to a place in Frankfort am Main called the Driftwood to see Motorhead several times.
Had to taxi from the Rock to Kirchgoens to catch a train, then taxi to the club followed by taxi back to the train, etc.
But to see Motorhead, Beach Boys, Def Leppard, and Robert Plant in a club that seated less than 100 was priceless.
Texas Annie’s closed a few years back after the owner ran afoul of local zoning ordinances and also snorted most of the bar’s profits. Building was sold a couple of times and is now occupied by… wait for it… the DEA.
Great post Ex-PH2.
Thank you!
Here’s a little-known fact:
I lived in the D.C. area growing up and my folks worked on The hill.
Tip O’Neil and my Mom and Step Dad were friends. As a matter of fact, he lived behind us in the croup of condo “Village” neighborhood not too fat from where Psul of teh Ballsack used to reside.
I used to deliver all the Washington Star (Dating myself much?) newspapers for said condo association. Tip O’Neil was one of my customers.
I can say he was one of the nicest guys on my route. Tipped me $20 once.
I’ve also seen him answer the door in his light blue bathrobe.
So I got THAT going for me, which is nice.
I’m jealous. I have not seen Tip O’Neil in a light blue bathrobe.
However, I’ve seen Dave Hardin in a pink one.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1264938053558987&set=t.100001284134771&type=3&theater
I cannot get that image out of my mind.
A man should not be allowed to look that good.
Queue up a certain tune by Uncle Cracker in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
(smile)
I’ve been drunk before, I’ve been really, REALLY drunk before, I’ve been so drunk, so, SO drunk, I was practically knocked out by an Okinawan Tree Frog, but I’ve never, NEVER, been Dave Hardin-in-a-pink-bathrobe-with-spiky-hair-almost-unable-to-sit-up-straight, drunk.
And I pray I will never be.
Dunno. My own view is that Dave is one of the few guys who can wear a pink bathrobe and get away with it. It’s also apparent that The Soviet, despite her looks, is one of the few guys able to control Dave.
You have no idea the things she makes me do. She finally learned to ride a bicycle, now she makes me dress up like Lance.
There is an unwritten, mutually agreed upon and well understood rule that people should not wear Lycra after they turn 50.
Exception: When you combine it with a Doo-Rag. That seems to counter-balance and neutralize the look.
Ya but, if I don’t do what she wants I have to sleep in the bath tub…do you have any idea what thats like?
She doesn’t even let you wear shoes? Harsh.
And only one sock??
I don’t see a bell on the handlebar either.
Safety first!
And no orange flag
Where’s your helmet. And PT belt.
No basket on the handlebar?
And no sparkly streamers coming out of the ends of the handlebar grips?
And where is the playing card held in place by a clothespin that sticks into the rear spokes in order to make a “motor” noise as the wheel turns?
the handlebar streamers, cards on the spokes and a siren mounted on the front wheel that is pulled up with a cord. Great for the heavy Schwinn’s with the front shock absorbers.
And a Pink Pinwheel on the handle bars and playing cards in the spokes.
Sheesh, Do we have to do everything around here for you Dave?!?!
Baseball cards in the spokes…
Dave, those riding togs remind me of a question I heard once.
What does a small motel and a pair of tight pants have in common?
……No ballroom.
Do you ever take that bike off of any sweet jumps?
(Tip o’ the flight helmet to Napoleon Dynamite)
That is so …
And thanks for posting, Ex.
You’re welcome, Ed and thanks for all your help – right back at you!
Ex, with this crowd, perhaps instead of the padded booths you should install padded cells.
but you raise a good point; this place will exist and thrive precisely because of why it started: the types of people who congregate here to begin with. this is a pretty exclusive, tight knit group. one I am proud to associate with.
Nice post.
And everyone does know my name!
Dan Bernath!!!!
*runs*
😀 😀 😀
It’s been too many years since I was at Fort Dix, all I remember is the beer was cold and the girls didn’t sweat too much? Ah, the good old days! I have really come to love this place, my day would not be complete without stopping in for a visit. I have never met such a caring bunch of dickweeds in my life. Even though we have never met, I feel I have made some very good friends on here! May God Bless each and every one of you and I am sure Jonn is having a good pain free time up there! I can’t wait to see my folks again and all the other friends that I lost way too soon!
Take care all,
I have to go drive 100 miles in the pouring rain to get home to Casa Willy!
Be careful on the road, Willy.
Thanks Ex, I made it home and surprise, it didn’t rain a drop the whole way home! Now it’s time to go pour a nice rum and coke!
See you all tomorrow!!
Ft. Dix, went back there six times to the Warfare Center. I hate those roads! I got lost every time from the Philly airport to there every damn time.
BZ on your post Ex.
Thank you, Jeff.
Nice.
Real nice.
Thanks, 26Limabeans. The more the merrier!
Well done, Ex-PH2.
Good stuff.
Semper Fidelis.
Thanks! Right back at you!
Hey Ex-PH2
I don’t know who to send news links to
Anymore so I sent two of them your way
Okay, but you can also send them to Dave Hardin at dave@militaryphony.com, Skippy.
Done
I leave her email address in rest stops on the interstate.
I scribble his on the bathroom walls at McDonalds.
I want to say something but I should keep my mouth shut 😂😂😂
It was a problem solider we has in Iraq
When I was a young Sonarman on a destroyer out of Long Beach in the early 60s we of course hit all the WestPac ports, Japan, PI, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and my favorite in those days was the China Fleet Club in Hong Kong. Sailors from New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, as well as the US would fill the club, and the harbor was clogged with warships. Always a rowdy good time. We used to swap covers with sailors of the other Navies, and might return from liberty with an HMNZS or other cover. One time, the French showed up aboard the Training ship Jean d’Arc with its escort the destroyer Victor Schoelscher (sp). Anyway, two of us from the USS A.J. Isbell and two French sailors from the VS were boozing it up in the club, and we asked to swap covers. They were adamant with there refusal. They had white berets with a cute red pompom on top. Anyhow, they invited us out to their ship and we took the short water taxi out. They were quite proud of their ship, and pointed out the 4″ “automateek gonnns”. I asked to see CIC, Sonar and UB Plot, and they said “Streekly Forbeeden!!” and after a short pause, said “…but for you, oui.” After touring those spaces we went to the galley where they had one of those dispensers you see in a gas station for bulk oil or kerosene. This one was nice stainless steel filled with vino rosso. We were serve in big stainless cups like the Hamilton Beach milkshake machine uses. We were drunker than lords when we left. When we got back to the Isbell, my running mate showed me the French beret he had stolen. This set off a mini International incident. The French must treat those covers as Title B property, because word came out from the British Commodore who was Captain of the Port that no ships would be cleared to depart until that cover was returned. My shipmate sheepishly turned the cover over to the XO, and the French sent… Read more »
Great story, thank you for sharing.
CDR_D; We were tied up for a Liberty call in La Pallice France right after Op Steel Pike in 1964 off of Seville Spain and while in France, we had a French Sailor as a Rep whom we let sleep in one of our racks in our Engineering berthing compartment. I wanted to swap hats with him but it was a no go. Same thing while tied up behind the Ark Royal in The Plymouth England Navy base. Couldn’t get the Brit Sailor to swap his Donald Duck cap for my white hat. Great Lakes Boot Camp ran out of the Donald Duck hat stock just before I got in.
Well, this, um, “exotic” club in Fort Walton Beach we found once comes to mind, as does a little trattoria in Sicily . . . .
But it wasn’t the club or the trattoria itself that made the visit memorable. Rather, it was the people who visited the place with me that made it special.
Kinda like here, actually. (smile)
Carmichaels Academy of Cultured Anatomy at the fot of the Cinco Bayou Bridge.
Proud to be one of the “civilians” here. Keep on keepin’ on…
Glad to have you here!
Ex – Great Post.
Thank you!
I would say here that I remember many nights at Paddy Mac’s, the incongruous Irish pub in Okinawa…..but I can’t say I remember all that much of them, really.
Radar: Do you recall a restaurant on Okinawa called the Green Door? Don’t recall what town, maybe Naha. Stationed there 70-71. Also, outside front gate of Camp Hansen was the Kobe Steak Restaurant. Now, I know they didn’t serve real Kobe Steak, but what they had was pretty good for a redneck who idea of a good meal was a couple greasy burgers with fries and RC Cola.
Nice work, Ex-PH2!
Thanks, API.
When I ran across that brief clip from an early episode of “Cheers”, it was the first thing that came u;: how much this place is like that, and the same with the on-base clubs and certain bars and eateries off base, too. There were also a few places like that in downtown Chicago when I was working there. There are still a few left now.
For all of you Army Armor types:
The Rocker Inn @ Fort Knox (also affectionately know as “Hog Heaven).
Great place to look for the not so elusive “Buffarilla”…..big as a buffalo and ugly as a gorilla…..so I have been told. (grin)
The Kozy Kitten, down the road from Ft. Rucker. In 1981, Tuesday nights was the Amateur Sausage Sucking Contest.
(that didn’t sound right)
No, that doesn’t sound right at all.
The EM Tradewinds club on Norfolk NOB where one can get a Rebel burger which was a Micky D knock off and an RC cola or Fallstaff beer and the Geedunk stand on pier 4 where you could put 50 cents into the juke box that had a screen on top of it and watch Little Eva singing Do The locomotion, which was before MTV in the 80’s.
Outstanding post Ex-PH2. Again, you captured the crowds feelings. Any place where two or more of us gathered, from a steel pot filled with PBR or Schiltz, cooled by a liberated co2 extinguisher, to the Top of The Mark on R&R/I&I. Here’s to us and those like us: There’s damn few of us left.
Hear, hear!
*Hoists an ice cold Yuengling*
There may be damn few of us left, but we’ll all meet again some day.
Blue Moon in Sanjuri Korea, Fish Market in Alexandria VA, Gasthof Schmitt in Edelsfeld FRG, and a hotel bar on Victory Drive in Columbus that for some reason I can’t remember the name of that the RI’s hung out in. Plus the informal O-Club bar at Ft Myer. Plus, well the list goes on.
Good post Ex-PH2.
Thank you, Zulu! Please keep coming back. There’s more ahead of us.
Was the Parasite (*OOPS!*, Paradise) Club still there in Sonju-ri when you were there? I remember that and the Blue Angel, but it’s been too many years and too many beers to remember some of the others!
Did they play a game called “smiles” at the Parasite club you speak of? Asking for a friend…
Tom Tom Club
Olongapo ,Philippines
Bubbleheads only
Which bar was it that had the alligator? Or was that at Subic Bay?
With all the San Magoo I drank I wouldn’t remember if there was one. Besides there was more fun entertainment to be had.
Subic Bay was the Naval Station and the surrounding city was Olongapo. There was Subic City a little ways down the road, one helluva taxi ride if you paid the driver extra to beat a time.
That bar with the alligators was about half way down Magsaysay drive, it burnt down around 75 + – a year, not much memory left.
When I read Flight of The Intruder and then watched the movie with the feeding of the baby ducks to the alligators. I got to say “I was there and saw the alligators and the feeding”.
When you hear a sea story about Olongapo or Subic City, they are true. You just cannot make up stories that outdo what really happened there.
The Runway and Solid Gold – Subic Bay
The Runway always had a banner up of the squadrons and their pilots/NFO’s that came in when a battle group made a visit. Someone pulled their leg once and sent them a list of a VT squadron that was doing carrier quals off USS Lexington in ’85 – they had a banner hanging up for them for 2 weeks!
And Island Girls, Gilligan’s Island, and a couple others that old retired SKCS owned.
Never did find out what happened to him after Pinatubo blew up.
For Dave Hardin, IDC SARC, and Forest Green:
The Driftwood
The Brown Bagger
Tobie’s
Never heard of them. Were they on the way to the USO? The Chaplain would take us once a week to help families in need.
Being a bandsman during my first enlistmet, the band would a bit of traveling. On trip from Quantico up to Erie county in either western NY or Northern PA along Lake Erie. We stayed at a Holiday Inn and the group sponsoring us wasn’t covering our bar tab, BUT there was a Mummers band from Philly that was sponsored by Schmidt beer. Once they figured out there was Marines in the bar we could not spend any money. Their sponsor was covering their whole tab, room, board and BAR. Fast forward to the next spring, we went to another parade just across the river from Quantico. After leading the parade we were lubricating our throats at the VFW’s beer tent when we a Mummers band and their theme song. It was same band from the Erie county fair the previous fall. Naturally, we wouldn’t let them spend money on beer.
Now, that is a great story!
Thank you Ex-PH2…You are the best! 🙂
Thank you, TC. I hope you’re doing OK.
I spent the first part of my misguided youth at these fine establishments. Bonus points if you know these places without using Google.
Barney’s Beach House, Tahiti-Rama’s, Jeff’s Pirates Cove.
Jeff’s Pirate Cove? Is that on Guam?
Yep. Jeff’s is still around. But Barneys and Tahiti-Rama were right on the beach and got bought out by hotels.
There is a H&C on Marine Drive (never been there) but I hear it’s a pale imitation to its predecessors, especially the one in Vallejo.
The Sansi-Bar in downtown Bitburg, FRG.
End of Cold War update: What used to be the base chapel on the airbase is now a Sansi-Bar Annex named “Happy Landings”.
I guess “Happy Endings” was just too overt./smile
Ending the Cold War has changed more things than we realize.
The Wild Geese, South Camp Egypt.
Bettys Battalion Lounge, Ft Sam Houston
The Raiders Den, Ft Carson
Just a few of the places I used to frequent.
Don’t you kind of miss that stuff, Doc?
Sometimes….but I think I miss the people the most; that’s what keeps me coming back here.
Sipping O’Douls at KAF….damn that General Order 1A!
Amen, Brother!
Near Beer is like a hooker that only wants to cuddle and SCREW GO 1A!
Thank you, Ex-PH2! This means a lot.
You’re welcome, Eden. Drop back in any time.
To anyone who wanders in late, you’re welcome here. Find a spot and sit a spell. There’s no time limit that I know of.
I did ring the bell. Next round’s on me.
Ft Wainwright and the Chena Bar on Second Avenue in beautiful downtown Fairbanks Alaska.
Many a tale from that place. It was a mixture of Native Alaskans and GI’s because it was a cheap place to get trashed, and I mean TRASHED !!!
In the summer, come out of the bar at 2AM and the Sun is still up, time to PARTY !!!!!
Yep, been there. What I remember most of Fairbanks besides the bears was how much chlorine there was in the base pool. It literally burned my eyes.
I consider this as an invite to belly up to the bar and share my military career. I spent 36 years total; 10 active, 10 full-time Air Guard, and 16 full-time Reserves. My jobs were initially fixed station satellite terminals at Offutt and Shemya (a 2×4 island and the end of the Aleutians close to Russia since we were spying on them), then to Combat Comm, and finally TALCE. Between the last two I was in 27 countries, war zones seven times (Gulf War twice, Colombia trice, Bosnia, and finally Afghanistan) and had probably over 200 deployments collectively. When you join the military they tell you not to volunteer but I do get 10% from the VA for my hearing. I volunteered for most everything. My final fit in the TALCE was the best job I ever had. We were a first-responder contingency unit with the primary mission to go into barebones airfields and set up air ops. I already had 20 years service when I joined so I thought I knew how to speak military to them. I was wrong. I had to learn an entirely new language. My last big hurrah with them was during Hurricane Sandy where six of us once again worked a 40 hour day in order to move the mission. I was coined by a 4-Star General somewhere into the second or third day. That’s one of three Generals that have coined me; the other two being mere 1-Stars (though Stayce Harris has since been promoted to a 3-Star). I have an impressive salad in my retirement plaque awarded me as well as probably 130 challenge coins; however, I’m paying the price today. I have degenerative joint disease in my feet, degenerative disk disease in my back, poor hearing, arthritis in my hands, constant hip and knee pain, the condition one is proscribed Trazedone and other meds for, TBI, etc. I’m still fighting the VA to get of few of those items recognized but time is thus far on my side. I wouldn’t exchange my health issues for a different choice in my life!… Read more »
I should add that I’m still working at the base I retired at. I’m a GS-11 supposedly conducting the duties of Quality Assurance for an organization that has no deployable equipment. It leaves me little to do. I think they hired me out of sympathy but I do only have 17 more months to go for a civilian retirement. I tend to arrive about an hour late so to make up for it I leave an hour early.
I hate my job. There is literally nothing meaningful for me to do.
I should add that I’m still working at the base I retired at. I’m a GS-11 supposedly conducting the duties of Quality Assurance for an organization that has no deployable equipment. It leaves me little to do. I think they hired me out of sympathy but I do only have 17 more months to go for a civilian retirement. I tend to arrive about an hour late so to make up for it I leave an hour early.
I hate my job. There is literally nothing for me to do.
I blame the second post on the delay of post of the first one. Or have I had two too many after ringing the bell? Maybe it is the latter. Good night, sweet princess.
It happens. No worries.
Speaking of retirement, I had so many things I wanted to do but had no time for that I made a list, kept it simple, and now I’m doing what’s on that list.
Strangely enough, I found that short list in a book I decided to reread, used as a bookmark.
Once I was out the “workaday world” door, I never looked back.
I understand. I thought I’d miss it more than I do. I’ve vowed never to cut my hair again. As to that list, I’m adding to it all the time. I doubt I have enough time left on this planet to get it all done but I’m gonna give it my best despite my health issues.
I do also teach college courses online. I plan on doing that until I go blind. It is the easiest money I’ve ever made and I enjoy teaching.
I should have also mentioned one of those agenda items is to reassemble my recording studio and begin recording much of the music I’ve written in my life. I’ve not picked up an instrument since 9/11 as I’d dedicated my life to assisting in the retiring of Wahhabists. There’s one song I have recorded I think you might appreciate with its link and lyrics below with the collage of pictures taken while in Bosnia;
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=1053427
World’s On Fire
______________________
Theirs was a love eternal
a treasure they’d dearly hold
then came the ‘call to arms’
…he knew that he’d go…
…he’d always been told…
…the time would come…
She said “Love,…why must you go
you’re the one that I’ve choose”
He said “Darling, I know…
…but the world’s on fire…”
So he took up his weapons
and journeyed ‘cross the sea
she’d always write him letters
…begging him “please…
…return to me…
…and hurry, dear”…
He wrote “Love,…I think you know
you’re the one that I’ve choose
I’ll be true ever more…
…but the world’s on fire
…yeah, the world’s on fire…”
Cruel is the world we live in
and lovers in war should know
she sat on the floor just weeping
…her fingers let go…
…of the letter they wrote…
…their sympathies…
He’d laid on the battle field
in patches of crimson snow
his last breath, her name he whispered
…and as he let go…
…his eyes were aglow…
…reflections of…
…of a world on fire
…’cause the world’s on fire…*
Screwed up again, my post is 9624. Hell, if I don’t screw up at least once a day I simply don’t feel complete.
I closed Wolski’s – 1981
did i ever tell you about the time i peed on the electric fence that was apparently put up to keep Marines from peeing on the fence around sr-71’s at kadena air base in Okinawa? 2 dollar pitchers of beer at the Italian resturant way down the middle of nowhere parallel to the runway and i was e-3 payday rich and the beer was cold. good times…
Did I tell you about the time one of my horses decided to bite the hot wire running around the pasture to keep him from leaning on the hog wire fencing?
He didn’t do that again. Also got a nasty surprise when his fly swatter tail hit that hot wire.
I’m sure your experience with hot wire was equally jolting. 🙂
Ex-PH2 i am almost as smart as your horse, Almost….I was a Marine at that time in my life so 😉
I vaguely remember being part of a trio that won 2nd prize in the Halloween costume contest at a strip joint on Victory Drive about 34 years ago. Sportsman’s Club? None of us had boobs, hence ineligible for 1st.
Wonderful post, Ex. Yet another reason why I like you as much as I do.
Thanks, and keep coming back.
Thanks Ex. I needed that. I don’t hang out at the Legion, or DAV, etc as I once did. This place has been my hang out for years.
Logging in here is kinda like walking across The S**t River Bridge on liberty.
Throw some coins to the kids when you cross that bridge, Zero.
Little Brown Jug, Anniston, AL. Right down the road from Fort McClellan. Also the Audie Murphy club, Fort Leonard Wood.
Thanks for the write up Ex-PH2!
Here’s to ya Jonn…Cheers!
Hi everyone…
Norm!!!
Favorite line:
“How’s the world treating you, Normy?”
“How does a baby treat a diaper?”
My favorite line:
“What do you think of the rectum as a whole?”
“It’s a nasty gash and needs to be wiped out”
Foggy’s Notion on Sports Arena Blvd. Ballast Pub off Rosecrans.
Both long gone now.
But a lot of the places in SD are still around.
Do you remember the In Spot on Sports Arena Blvd in the early 70s? Liquid lunches for many of the ASW school staff when no classes were running.
I always remember Sly McFly’s in Monterrey, CA outside of Ft Ord where you had to walk through the side of an old Chevy to enter the bathroom, the Studio in Friedburg, Germany where Elvis used to hang and my favorite the old Cowboy’s in Colorado Springs on Academy Blvd. Been in too many bars to count in my days but those were some of the memorable ones!
Well, I don’t have much to add.
Other than Bud Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon are awesomeness!!!111
So you’ve got nothing to add.
I am reminded of a quote: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” -Mark Twain
I will reply with Albert Einstein’s quote of “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former” versus his quote of “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better” and I will take the latter.
YEF! There’s a big-ass puddle by the taps, put the buffer down and grab your mop! No Bud Light until that floor shines like new money! Execute!
While stationed at Ft. Belvoir, in the latter half of the 70s, was Hillbilly Heaven. Just a short drive South on RT 1. Spent many a weekend night there.
This is just too sweet not to share;
https://www.bing.com/search?q=black+hole+sun+nouela&qs=AS&pq=black+hole+sun+nouela&sc=3-21&cvid=5D74B6181A554312BE24D47460706FA9&FORM=QBRE&sp=1
I suppose I’m like so many prior; military members finally coming home after being gone for so long and having to face reality.
This year I’ll be having my 39th year anniversary. By my calculations I’ve spent a good 12 years of those deployed or at least separated due to TDY orders, PCS’s, etc.
I never figured anything wrong but in the last year I’ve found out that not to be the case. It appears I have serious anger issues my family was aware of but I was not. I was recently at the verge of my wife leaving me but am having to suck it up at our VA Clinic counseling where she gets to beat up on me as well as my requested Christian counselor.
Jeez, I had to face literally 20 gang members once where they beat the crap out of me, kicking the shit out of my head and the only pain I could inflict was with that initial contact for which I was told he screamed in pain; something I hope is true. I feel even beat up worse once this counselor is done with me. He truly holds me to task!
There are times I feel I’m falling apart. I look to places like this as my support just as I do my VFW post.
One helluva day! That’s what I say to myself all the time just to get through it.
Hang in there, Garold. As they say in the Teams, “The only easy day was yesterday.”
Garold:
“It is in the quiet crucible of your personal sufferings that your noblest dreams are born…and God’s greatest gifts are given in compensation for all you have been through.”
Hang in there.
Any vets out there that want contact my email is garoldcole2004@hotmail.com.