The message forum is an ongoing dialogue between classmates. There are no items, topics, subtopics, etc.

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum.

David Mitchell

Way back in Basic Training, we had four Black guys who used to break into song when we were on a break. I can still picture the whole company (about 160 guys) sitting around during lunch break while we were at the rifle range. They sang stuff by the Temptations, The Four Tops, etc. This group seemed to be their favorite.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Janie, please check in with us to let us know that you are safe in Puerto Vallarta! I wrote you personally but know that everyone will want to know.

Cuidate, Juanita!

David Mitchell

Yes Donna, 

Thanks for the reminder.

Janie, hope you are safe.

Monica Haban (Brown)

Janie will surely advise, and elaborate. She said it's all around them, but they are safe.  Security in her building won't allow them to leave, understandably.  Targeting buses and taxis.  Prayers for all of Mexico, and especially Janie.  

Janie Albright (Blank)

I'm sorry I haven't checked in. I am safe. All is quiet here in Puerto Vallarta now. Sunday was a new experience for all of us. Fortunately it appears the Jalisco cartel (CJNG) was only making a statement in many MexIcan cities they consider their "territory". Just bc our leader El Mencho is dead we still plan to carry on and so no rival cartels better try to step in. CJNG was a new cartel and very secondary to the Sinaloa cartel that El Chapo controlled before he came to justice in the US. Once a leader is gone a power vacuum arises and other smaller players might see this as their opportunity. 

Puerto Vallarta is a very prosperous area where the cartels own businesses and nightclubs etc used to launder their money. They don't want trouble here. They even bring their families here to vacation. So we pray this is an anomaly meant to send rivals a message. Hopefully not to be repeated. 

They mainly set buses, taxis, and Ubers on fire as well as a lot of tiendas called Oxxo (much like a 7-11). Fortunately they made sure all of their targets were emptied of people and no one was injured. Not that I'm trying to make them out to be good guys. They are not, but again this was just a message. One cartel leader's death or capture changes nothing in Mexico. Like mushrooms more just pop up. It's a terrible situation but as much as it's good he's gone nothing will fundamentally change. I have no idea what the answer is. 

There definitely have been changes where we see a good-sized middle class emerging. Lots more people being educated. When we first started coming here over 20 years ago most children didn’t go past middle school. I belonged to a group that raised money for books and uniforms so children could continue on past grade school. Now there are many community colleges and more people go on to university. That being said there is still a huge underclass and cartels exploit these people. Even police are barely paid a living wage, and so there is much corruption. The cartels especially flourish in the rural communities where there is little opportunity and kids fall prey to the lure of easy money. I know we have this in our inner cities too with drug runners and so on but their safety net here is much weaker. And the cartels ruthlessly protect their turf and kill anyone in their way even the parish priest if he refuses to go along. I know you've seen these stories.

Mexico is a beautiful and diverse country full of the friendliest people you can imagine. No one walks by you on the street without a buenos días or greeting. Pray that positive change is coming and there will be no need to come across the border, with only good things in their future. ​🙏🙏🙏

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

So glad to hear from you to know that you are safe, Janie!

Thanks for your report on the situation. 

David Mitchell

Janie,

Thanks for the info. So glad to hear you are safe.

-------------

Meanwhile, I am curious to know about the snow storm in New Jersey 

John, (or anybody in that path)

how bad did you get hit? And I hope you don't have to shovel it all yourself. 

Joseph Gentilini

So glad to hear that you are okay, Janie.  I was just about to send you an email to find out.  Now I feel better knowing your safe news.  joe

John Jackson

Also happy to hear Janie is OK.

Dave, we got off fairly easy from our latest nor'easter - about 15" and it was wet but not too heavy.  But a couple of weeks ago we got about 12"  and  the last 3-4 hours was sleet so the top 2-3 imches was almost as heavy as ice.  We still had some of that left when the latest 15" came.  Add in the cold in most of January and early February (at one point we went two weeks and never got above freezing) and it's been our wildest winter in a long time. 

But I'm guessing others have similar stories to tell.

Deborah Alexander (Rogers)

Janie,

I join our classmates in feeling relief that you are safe.  I'm sure everyone was thinking of you after seeing the chaos on the news. Thanks for letting us know you are safe and well!

Debbie

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie,

Definitely happy to hear you are safe and hope that you will continue to be so. Just keep your guard up as conditions could change.

Jim

Janie Albright (Blank)

Thanks to all who were thinking about and praying for me. Things totally back to normal. But, yes, must always be vigilant. Even in US. 
 

View from my balcony

Another beautiful sunset:

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie,

Great shots of that beautiful area where you spend the winters!

Thanks for warming our minds and hearts!

Jim

Joseph Gentilini

Jim H - love the pictures of the deer. In some areas of the city here they are a nuisance. I still like to see them.  joe

David Mitchell

A Non-Combat Melodrama

Hooch Mates – Not Like It Sounds

All of our pilots - Officers and Warrant Officers - lived together in small plywood cottages we called "Hooches". That was a slang word for the small thatched-roof Vietnamese

homes all over the rural countryside. Our hooches were about twenty feet by forty feet with

corrugated aluminum roofs and a screen door at either end of the building. They were our full-

time home. We slept in sperate 8-foot by 8-foot cubicles - about eight guys to a hooch, on bunks with real mattresses and pillows. (This, in contrast to the two-story "Enlisted" barracks with large

open floor dormitory style bedding - and cots with those crummy thin mattresses).

Our cubicles had divided walls but no doors. It was sort of semi-private. We also had one larger space where they left out one of the dividing walls. We called it our "Club Room", and we could all gather in there. Each of the three platoons (Slicks, Guns, or Loaches) slept in their own separate hooches, but the Guns and Slicks also shared one more hooch as they were mostly12-man platoons compared to our 8-man "Scout" platoon. (Recall, they all flew double pilots, we only flew one pilot per ship - thus a smaller group). And finally, our CO and XO shared a separate and more spacious private hooch. This arrangement allowed our single "Scout" platoon to be a much more tight-knit separate group during non-flying hours.

The airfield allowed groups of local Vietnamese to come on the post during the day to

perform certain menial tasks. One of the largest of those groups were dozens of "Hooch mates" -

the nickname for our housekeepers. These women lived in the (next door) city of Vinh Long and

came in through the main security gate each day to help us keep house. They did basic chores like sweeping out the floors, polishing our boots, and dumping out some light trash. I seem to recall they also took our uniforms to the post laundry. The large bulk of them were older women,

dressed in rags with ugly (or missing) teeth. But our Scout platoon "hooch mate" was quite a bit

younger and very cute. She was also very sweet. If I recall correctly, her name was Tranh Ti

Cum Hoa. ("traun tee coom whaa") We all liked her and treated her very well. We also sort of

watched over her because we were conscious of her cute looks and the number of guys who

would be around during the day who were not flying. Since we usually had several of us not

flying each day, it was sort of an unwritten rule that we "baby sat" Tranh while she was in our hooch. I think she knew this and appreciated it.

TBC

Michael McLeod

Dave:

You shoulda been a writer. You've got a great gift for detail.

Seriously, though: that aspect of the Vietnam affair - that personal, day to day, and often perversely charming aspect of our invasion/inhabitance of that country - there's always been a poignancy about that. I can relate. I feel lucky that I wound up going to a nato hq in Germany as a clerk typist rather than being sent to vietnam like you when I was drafted, but I envy you for what was, in its way, a richer and more, I guess, dramatic tour of duty. I've talked to quite a few guys over the years who cherish their memories, good and bad, of their time in the service. In the end you and I were both lucky. We served and survived. Plus for me the gi bill paid for my osu journalism MA degree that paved the way to a great career when I got back from Mannheim/Heidelberg, which was where I was stationed. I didn't even have to live on base. My wife and I lived in a basement apartment underneath the home of a german family -- and came home with our dual-citizenship infant daughter! Plus my family on my mother's side is German, and I picked up enough of the language working shoulder to shoulder with german office mates (most of whom spoke english) to impress my aunts and uncles when I got back home.

Here's my favorite German word:

gemutlichkeit

It means conviviality, friendliness.

auf weidersehen!

David Mitchell

Hoochmates  -  conclusion

But one afternoon, we were shocked to find her missing!

We were able to determine that she had been arrested by our MPs (Military Police) and taken to the local civilian police station in downtown Vinh Long. If I recall correctly, we learned this from the guy who had her arrested. He was a (non-pilot) Captain who worked a desk job in our Admin. department at Squadron Headquarters - down at the other end of the airfield. He

volunteered that it was his doing because she had stolen his Rolex watch out of his cubicle in the

hooch just behind ours. He claimed one of the older hooch mates (her name was Bong - and we

were not fond of her) had caught Tranh in the act and he got the MPs to take her into custody.

We   were   furious!

Three of us were able to get one of our two Company jeeps and drove straight into downtown Vinh Long (right next to the base). After some heated "discussion" at the police station, we were able to bail her out and bring her back to the base. Then we went back after the guy who had her arrested and made sure he realized we would not be such friendly neighbors. After that day we used every opportunity to bring him grief. And I still think Bong took the watch herself.  

                    Tranh and I visiting by our back door. She is polishing someone’s boots.

It so happened that this guy was a regular at poker. Pay-day poker games (especially with officers pay), were quite serious, and some large sums changed hands in those games that lasted into the night. I tried to sit in twice and had to get out quickly after losing sums that embarrassed me. I learned that this same Captain who had accused Tranh was accused of cheating one night and a confrontation occurred. As he was clearing the pot from the table with his hands, a nasty argument erupted. As they were yelling at one another, one of them slipped out of the cubicle and went into to his own nearby cubicle to grab his 38-caliber revolver. As the yelling continued, he walked back in and reached across the table holding the pistol right up in the guy's face. The Captain let go of the pile of chips. I believe that was the last time anyone would allow him to sit in on their poker games.

                                                            *

Note: Forty-five years later, at a reunion I organized here at a hotel on Hilton Head, I heard another story about that same Captain from one of my reunion buddies. That Captain was an "Admin" guy, with a desk job that included typing the narrative write-ups for our awards and decorations. He was not a pilot and never flew a single combat mission, yet he apparently went home as one of the single most decorated officer in our squadron.

Hmmmm ?

Michael McLeod

great yarn, dave. thanks.

and yes let me join in on the celebration of your adventure and most importantly its happy ending, janie.

Michael McLeod

ok time for a CONSUMER ALERT!!!!

I love blueberries and used to get them at the supermarket regularly. but then I started noticing that they had no taste. I though maybe my taste buds were getting senile. But then I poked around and discovered this story. (It's the "breeding" part that pisses me off! tinkering with mother nature, turning the poor wittle blueberries into soulless zombies!)

• Premature Harvesting: Blueberries are picked early to ensure they are firm enough for transport, preventing them from developing full sugars.
• Breeding for Transport: Commercial varieties are selected for size, uniformity, and resistance to disease, often sacrificing taste.
• Long Storage Time: By the time they reach the store (sometimes from other continents), they have lost flavor and can be weeks old.
• Lack of Ripening: Unlike some fruits, blueberries do not ripen significantly after being picked.
• Imported/Out of Season: Buying imported blueberries during winter often means purchasing fruit that was picked too early to endure the long trip. 
  
  Inline Image Not Displayed
  Reddit +4

Joseph Gentilini

Thanks, Michael McL - and I just bought a big bag of blueberries this morning!

Darn.

David Mitchell

Thanks Neil. He wrote a lot of fun songs.

Michael McLeod

MWA! to Janie!!!!!!

and in other news.......

Six planets will parade across the sky this weekend in a rare celestial spectacle, experts have said.

For the next few days, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will all be visible at the same time in the night sky – although binoculars or a telescope will be needed to spot the latter two planets.

In celebration of the event, Nasa has released new sonifications – astronomical data from its Chandra X-ray Observatory translated into sound – for Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.

Dr Megan Argo, reader in astrophysics at the University of Lancashire, said seeing so many planets in the sky at the same time was a rare phenomenon.

“We’re seeing this alignment now because the planets’ orbits have brought them into roughly the same area of the sky from our perspective on Earth. Since each planet circles the sun at a different speed, they constantly shift position against the backdrop of stars. Only occasionally do their paths line up in a way that places several of them together in our night sky,” she said.

“While it’s fairly common to spot four or five planets at the same time, seeing six is much rarer. All seven were visible together last year, but the next full line up won’t occur again until 2040.”

Argo said that on 28 February, and for a few days either side, all six planets would be visible, but that Mercury would be harder to spot by midweek, although Jupiter and Venus would be easily visible for months.

The planets will appear in a curved line across the sky. In the northern hemisphere, Jupiter will be visible high in the south-east, with Mercury, Saturn, Neptune and Venus appearing in a cluster close to the horizon in the western sky.

Venus will be the brightest of the bunch with Mercury much fainter, to its right, and Saturn and Neptune a little above.

Argo said Uranus will be faint, sitting below the group of stars known as the Seven Sisters, adding that a stargazing app on your phone can help find the planet. While a pair of binoculars would also help, Argo said it was important never to look at the sun through binoculars or a telescope as it could cause permanent damage to the eyes.

Inline Image Not Displayed

Six planets line up for rare parade throughout February

Read more

John Maxwell

James Hamilton, M. D.

Apoptosis

Computers and their peripherals can be extremely frustrating, but we all know that. 

What really ticks me off is when a perfectly good piece of equipment will not do its intended function for no good reason. My flatbed scanner is refusing to scan except that it has apparently reached some unknown point as to how many scans it has already done. I'm not asking it to print (it was not designed to do that anyway), just send the scan to my computer monitor. 🖥️ 

Is this an example of scanner "programmed  cell death" like what happens to certain biologic cells after so many divisions, known as apoptosis??!!

Jim

Janie Albright (Blank)

Jack, oh my! Please be careful! We expect you to be all in one piece for our reunion!