Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

You guys are all my friends so lets talk about something not inflammatory. Like politics.

 

[Mortie31]

I'm taking it literally because you said it as such. Not sure how else I should take it. Sure, you guys lost a lot of lives and infrastructure back to the stone ages but we still lost more life in the end on the military side (not counting civilians). It isn't something that we walked freshly into during the last quarter as you put it and saved the day. Furthest thing from the truth which is probably why I'm offended.

Be that as it may - I was just stopping by reading the thread to catch up. Apologies for posting.

Hey no worries, both of out countries lost hundreds of thousands and were all patriotic and proud...

 

[Mortie31]

You guys are all my friends so lets talk about something not inflammatory. Like politics.

Come on Bernie!!! Lol sorry I couldn’t resist

 

[Paul B]

I am so patriotic that I only keep red white and blue fish, which is why I have no yellow tangs, purple basselets or goldfish.

 

[ingchr1]

...It's the Intrepid and has been docked here as long as I remember. I have gone on her a few times. Fascinating and on the deck they have a space shuttle....

Came down to watch it being flown in, was an awesome sight.

 

[atoll]

Hey no worries, both of out countries lost hundreds of thousands and were all patriotic and proud...

Not just troops of course but many thousands of UK civilians. My mums house was bombed but she survived, they had to dig her out of the rubble with my nan in the cellar. Mum then joined the woman's land army, shes 95. The row of houses next door were all flattened by a German bomb and a number of people lost their lives. Let's not forget civilians were also fighting in a different way in the likes of munitions factory's which was dangerous work and were often bombed. My dad fought in Egypt, Indian, other places I forget and survived the war. I had uncles in the navy and army. Fortunately they all survived. My brother was in the Irish Guards and later joined the French Foreign Legion. I was in the boy scouts.

 

[atoll]

The bomb that did it RIP those who lost their lives.

Venmore Street

A bomb hits Venmore Street, a road opposite Anfield Football Ground, killing at least 29 people with many of the victims being members of the same families. CHARLES CAHILL died 06/05/1941, aged 15....

liverpoolremembrance.weebly.com

 

[Paul B]

I was in the boy scouts.

You must have been very cute.
I was never been in the Boy Scouts, but I am not really a joiner, Although I have many friends, some from grammar school, I am generally not a joiner. I prefer to do things on my own, hence my Steam Punk things.

I also did not go to college. I probably could have but I was drafted as soon as I turned 19.
That was the best event in my life because if I had not gotten drafted and gone to college, instead of becoming an electrician, I may have been an electrical engineer making half my salary, working twice the hours and still being working because like most office jobs, they don't get a pension or have a retirement plan

Even in the Army, I did my own thing. I was a Sargent in Nam attached to a field artillery battery but I was the only one who was "not" artillery. I was the Commo Chief so when we moved the LZ (which we did 14 times) I set up the communications which were radios that needed antenna's installed and we needed a wire connected to each of the 6 artillery guns so they could aim and fire them.


When we would take incoming (the enemy bombing us) Which happened constantly, I would crawl out there and splice the wires together in the mud so we could fire.

When we took a ground probe (the enemy running out of the jungle in mass to over run us) I would either help on a gun (howitzer) because our guys were getting wounded or killed or I would run to the perimeter to "help" there so the enemy didn't get into our firebase which they did once. It didn't fare to well for them.

But after I got everything running and it didn't seem like we would get attacked I had a friend with a helicopter and We would grab some "Wild Turkey" which I think is bourbon, and fly to different firebases to trade things or meet old friends.

This was all in the jungle as I never came out of it until came home.
I loved flying even though I was in 2 crashes. Not when I was steering ;Bucktooth
My friend taught me how to fly the thing, which is very easy and I did my thing.

Of course I was not supposed to fly it and he was always with me. I also did not know how to start it, take off or land so it was like if you are in a 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and someone asks you to steer for a while.

I also couldn't "auto rotate" which you need to know in a war and because he knew how to do that, I am here today.
I once crashed in this little LOH. (Light observation Helicopter) and when the engine stops, for whatever reason, the pilot can make the thing fall very fast, then engage the rotors to allow for a "slower"
landing (crash) Because of PTSD I don't remember the exact cause or result but it must have been fine, because I am here.



PTSD which I didn't realize I had, is a weird thing. In my case it caused a few odd things but one thing it did was cause me to forget traumatic events of the war, which is a good thing.
The VA psychiatrist told me thats where my creativity may have come from as it makes your mind work differently. (Think reverse UG filter) ;Meh

I barely remember that crash or another one involving a much larger Chinook Helicopter, and also Thank God I hardly remember what I did in that battle I was in which was supposed to be the 6th bloodiest battle of either the war or that year. I forget.
I was awarded two Bronze Stars for Valor so at least I hope I wasn't hiding under a sand bag. But I am sure for some of the time, I was.

That 6 hour battle totally eludes me and that memory is just not there except for the very beginning and very end.

I don't know where I was going with this but you must have made a great Boy Scout.

I did manage to see some red tailed sharks in a bomb crater there, for some stupid reason, I remember that. But those little fish were not to ferocious. Maybe they were but my PTSD removed that too.

I do remember one thing from after the battle. This guy Ed was one of the first injured and his injuries were very severe. So severe that when the medivac helicopter came to take out wounded, we didn't put him on the chopper as we didn't think he would make it and the thing was over loaded.

The pilot said, lets try one more, so we put Ed on. The helicopter, which was a Huey, couldn't take off as it was overweighted.

The pilot yelled for us to lift the skids and run which a bunch of us did. It worked and they flew, barely, over the trees.

He took off and I never heard from him again.
Until about 10 or 15 years ago.
I got a call. It was from Ed. He was in a hospital dying of Agent Orange cancer caused cancer.
He managed to live, get married and have two Daughters.

He wanted to know who saved him and dug him out from under many or our dead GIs.

I knew it was our First Sargent. He was a very tough, black guy almost 7' tall. Actually the toughest guy I have ever met.
Ed told me all he could remember after the blast (which was about 40 tons of artillery shells exploding from a rocket) that all he remembered was being buried and he saw the biggest black guy he had ever seen throwing bodies off him and carrying him to safety.

Here is that story about Ed Collins if you are interested. I posted something after this story on there about Ed

ED COLLINS

April 9, 2011, Ed Collins finished his last battle here on earth and passed on to be with our God. Ed Collins was one of my heroes in this life. Ed was the man I told about loading on a chopper th…

we-were-soldiers.com

 

[atoll]

You must have been very cute.
I was never been in the Boy Scouts, but I am not really a joiner, Although I have many friends, some from grammar school, I am generally not a joiner. I prefer to do things on my own, hence my Steam Punk things.

I also did not go to college. I probably could have but I was drafted as soon as I turned 19.
That was the best event in my life because if I had not gotten drafted and gone to college, instead of becoming an electrician, I may have been an electrical engineer making half my salary, working twice the hours and still being working because like most office jobs, they don't get a pension or have a retirement plan

Even in the Army, I did my own thing. I was a Sargent in Nam attached to a field artillery battery but I was the only one who was "not" artillery. I was the Commo Chief so when we moved the LZ (which we did 14 times) I set up the communications which were radios that needed antenna's installed and we needed a wire connected to each of the 6 artillery guns so they could aim and fire them.


When we would take incoming (the enemy bombing us) Which happened constantly, I would crawl out there and splice the wires together in the mud so we could fire.

When we took a ground probe (the enemy running out of the jungle in mass to over run us) I would either help on a gun (howitzer) because our guys were getting wounded or killed or I would run to the perimeter to "help" there so the enemy didn't get into our firebase which they did once. It didn't fare to well for them.

But after I got everything running and it didn't seem like we would get attacked I had a friend with a helicopter and We would grab some "Wild Turkey" which I think is bourbon, and fly to different firebases to trade things or meet old friends.

This was all in the jungle as I never came out of it until came home.
I loved flying even though I was in 2 crashes. Not when I was steering ;Bucktooth
My friend taught me how to fly the thing, which is very easy and I did my thing.

Of course I was not supposed to fly it and he was always with me. I also did not know how to start it, take off or land so it was like if you are in a 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and someone asks you to steer for a while.

I also couldn't "auto rotate" which you need to know in a war and because he knew how to do that, I am here today.
I once crashed in this little LOH. (Light observation Helicopter) and when the engine stops, for whatever reason, the pilot can make the thing fall very fast, then engage the rotors to allow for a "slower"
landing (crash) Because of PTSD I don't remember the exact cause or result but it must have been fine, because I am here.



PTSD which I didn't realize I had, is a weird thing. In my case it caused a few odd things but one thing it did was cause me to forget traumatic events of the war, which is a good thing.
The VA psychiatrist told me thats where my creativity may have come from as it makes your mind work differently. (Think reverse UG filter) ;Meh

I barely remember that crash or another one involving a much larger Chinook Helicopter, and also Thank God I hardly remember what I did in that battle I was in which was supposed to be the 6th bloodiest battle of either the war or that year. I forget.
I was awarded two Bronze Stars for Valor so at least I hope I wasn't hiding under a sand bag. But I am sure for some of the time, I was.

That 6 hour battle totally eludes me and that memory is just not there except for the very beginning and very end.

I don't know where I was going with this but you must have made a great Boy Scout.

I did manage to see some red tailed sharks in a bomb crater there, for some stupid reason, I remember that. But those little fish were not to ferocious. Maybe they were but my PTSD removed that too.

I do remember one thing from after the battle. This guy Ed was one of the first injured and his injuries were very severe. So severe that when the medivac helicopter came to take out wounded, we didn't put him on the chopper as we didn't think he would make it and the thing was over loaded.

The pilot said, lets try one more, so we put Ed on. The helicopter, which was a Huey, couldn't take off as it was overweighted.

The pilot yelled for us to lift the skids and run which a bunch of us did. It worked and they flew, barely, over the trees.

He took off and I never heard from him again.
Until about 10 or 15 years ago.
I got a call. It was from Ed. He was in a hospital dying of Agent Orange cancer caused cancer.
He managed to live, get married and have two Daughters.

He wanted to know who saved him and dug him out from under many or our dead GIs.

I knew it was our First Sargent. He was a very tough, black guy almost 7' tall. Actually the toughest guy I have ever met.
Ed told me all he could remember after the blast (which was about 40 tons of artillery shells exploding from a rocket) that all he remembered was being buried and he saw the biggest black guy he had ever seen throwing bodies off him and carrying him to safety.

Here is that story about Ed Collins if you are interested. I posted something after this story on there about Ed

ED COLLINS

April 9, 2011, Ed Collins finished his last battle here on earth and passed on to be with our God. Ed Collins was one of my heroes in this life. Ed was the man I told about loading on a chopper th…

we-were-soldiers.com

WOW! Some stories and remembrances there Paul and maybe more forgets. Are you sure your not related to a cat with 9 lives?

 

[Paul B]

No, I only have 7
I have another much lighter story. I never told these stories to my close friends and they just came to me but I am sure in this years long thread I put them on here someplace. But again, not about fish,
Royalty, politics, The Beatles or Reverse ug filters.


I can tell you another story that is not bloody.
My Captain who is now a retired Brigadier General became good friends and still keep in touch. He tells me stories about those days because he remembers everything and I don't remember what I fed my white worms last night.
He was not in that battle but replaced my Captain right after the battle. That Captain, Captain Laidig was relieved the next day due to Battle Fatigue which is called something else now. (He recently died from Agent Orange related cancer, his wife called me to ask what he did during the battle and how the guys felt about him)

Anyway. My Capt tells me that we were supposed to go on a raid to a village. I don't know why but it was a dirt road, (like all roads there) and we were going in some trucks.
I was supposed to ride shotgun on top of one of the trucks and I had an (I think) M 79 rifle which was an M-16 with a grenade launcher barrel under it and I had it filled with large buckshot.

The Captain told the Duster driver (like a small tank, with two anti aircraft guns mounted on top) To lead the way through the jungle.
The Duster driver told him, " I am a Duster driver, not a mine detector". So my Captain says, OK, then me and Sgt Baldassano will lead. Great.

I also didn't think of myself as a mine detector so instead of this big, steel tracked mini tank leading, I am leading in a tin Ford Jeep.

I wasn't sure if the 100,000 mile warranty covered mines.

So we head out and being it was monsoon season it was pouring. When I say pouring, if you have never experienced monsoons it is kind of like looking through sheet metal. Not cheap Chinese sheet metal, I mean the stuff they make Mack Truck hoods out of.

We had to wear goggles because the Jeep was kicking up so much mud we were covered.
He told them to follow us and call us on the radio if they made contact with the enemy.

WE were driving for a while and I turned around and noticed, there was no one behind us. We called on the radio but the rain was so loud we could hardly hear.

It seems they took some fire and stopped to return fire but didn't think to tell us.
We turned around to re trace our steps but the road was flooded and we couldn't tell how we came.
We told them to shoot some Alume. (flares) up in the sky with the duster.

After a lot of alume we found them and eventually made it to our destination.
We were there a while and we heard some shots from the entrance gate. (This was a village of sorts)

I told the Capt I would (stupidly) check it out.

Capt Bilo told me he didn't know what happened to me but I came back carrying a duck.

This became my best friend DukDuk.



He stayed with me until I left and would not leave my side. If I walked away, he ran after me and sat down in front of me.
If I flew, He jumped on my lap and tried to flap his winds which I had to hold down. DukDuk couldn't fly 6"

When I slept, he slept with his head on my shoulder and all night he would say, very quietly "quack, quack'
When it started to get light he would put his bill in my ear and scream Quack Quack until I got up to feed him.

I realy miss DukDuk.

My friends never heard these stories, I don't think as it was so long ago.

 

[atoll]

No, I only have 7
I have another much lighter story. I never told these stories to my close friends and they just came to me but I am sure in this years long thread I put them on here someplace. But again, not about fish,
Royalty, politics, The Beatles or Reverse ug filters.


I can tell you another story that is not bloody.
My Captain who is now a retired Brigadier General became good friends and still keep in touch. He tells me stories about those days because he remembers everything and I don't remember what I fed my white worms last night.
He was not in that battle but replaced my Captain right after the battle. That Captain, Captain Laidig was relieved the next day due to Battle Fatigue which is called something else now. (He recently died from Agent Orange related cancer, his wife called me to ask what he did during the battle and how the guys felt about him)

Anyway. My Capt tells me that we were supposed to go on a raid to a village. I don't know why but it was a dirt road, (like all roads there) and we were going in some trucks.
I was supposed to ride shotgun on top of one of the trucks and I had an (I think) M 79 rifle which was an M-16 with a grenade launcher barrel under it and I had it filled with large buckshot.

The Captain told the Duster driver (like a small tank, with two anti aircraft guns mounted on top) To lead the way through the jungle.
The Duster driver told him, " I am a Duster driver, not a mine detector". So my Captain says, OK, then me and Sgt Baldassano will lead. Great.

I also didn't think of myself as a mine detector so instead of this big, steel tracked mini tank leading, I am leading in a tin Ford Jeep.

I wasn't sure if the 100,000 mile warranty covered mines.

So we head out and being it was monsoon season it was pouring. When I say pouring, if you have never experienced monsoons it is kind of like looking through sheet metal. Not cheap Chinese sheet metal, I mean the stuff they make Mack Truck hoods out of.

We had to wear goggles because the Jeep was kicking up so much mud we were covered.
He told them to follow us and call us on the radio if they made contact with the enemy.

WE were driving for a while and I turned around and noticed, there was no one behind us. We called on the radio but the rain was so loud we could hardly hear.

It seems they took some fire and stopped to return fire but didn't think to tell us.
We turned around to re trace our steps but the road was flooded and we couldn't tell how we came.
We told them to shoot some Alume. (flares) up in the sky with the duster.

After a lot of alume we found them and eventually made it to our destination.
We were there a while and we heard some shots from the entrance gate. (This was a village of sorts)

I told the Capt I would (stupidly) check it out.

Capt Bilo told me he didn't know what happened to me but I came back carrying a duck.

This became my best friend DukDuk.



He stayed with me until I left and would not leave my side. If I walked away, he ran after me and sat down in front of me.
If I flew, He jumped on my lap and tried to flap his winds which I had to hold down. DukDuk couldn't fly 6"

When I slept, he slept with his head on my shoulder and all night he would say, very quietly "quack, quack'
When it started to get light he would put his bill in my ear and scream Quack Quack until I got up to feed him.

I realy miss DukDuk.

My friends never heard these stories, I don't think as it was so long ago.

Great stories Paul and sounds like you were lucky to survive relatively intact. That duck of yours certainly appreciated your efforts, what happened to it when you left it behind?

 

[Paul B]

I left him to my Helicopter pilot, Capt Viron, T Kirsh. I never heard of him since the war but my Capt tells me he is still alive someplace.

 

[LRT]

Awesome!

 

[Paul B]

Last week I put in another Sunburst Anthius and I haven't seen hyde nor hair of him. I searched every day behind and under the rocks even at night with a flashlight and still couldn't find him.
I looked at the screens on the powerheads and all over under the tank on the floor. Still couldn't find him.

That is until now. I fed a bunch of live white worms and he came out to say hello. I don't know where he was hiding but I have a lot of fish that do that. Probably half my fish I rarely see.
But this one is happy and healthy and I will get another one this Sunday I hope. Really nice fish.

 

[atoll]

Last week I put in another Sunburst Anthius and I haven't seen hyde nor hair of him. I searched every day behind and under the rocks even at night with a flashlight and still couldn't find him.
I looked at the screens on the powerheads and all over under the tank on the floor. Still couldn't find him.

That is until now. I fed a bunch of live white worms and he came out to say hello. I don't know where he was hiding but I have a lot of fish that do that. Probably half my fish I rarely see.
But this one is happy and healthy and I will get another one this Sunday I hope. Really nice fish.

Sunbursts are indeed Paul, if a little boring you understand

 

[Paul B]

Sunbursts are indeed Paul, if a little boring you understand

Not as boring as tangs. Lets see, how many people have a tang? Like Duh, everybody.

How many people have a sunburst anthius. It's pretty quiet in here.

 

[atoll]

Not as boring as tangs. Lets see, how many people have a tang? Like Duh, everybody.

How many people have a sunburst anthius. It's pretty quiet in here.

Harrr but common does not equal boring. Damsels are common, I have 2 of them far from boring.

 

[Paul B]

Oh you mean Bait.

 

[Paul B]

Tonight I got the first good look at one of my Gecko Gobies. They have been in my tank over a year and I have never seen the entire fish as they are always hiding in a cave where they live.
I have an enormous supply of white worms now and I shoot a bunch in the back of the tank. I looked through the algae overgrown back glass and saw one of them sucking up worms.

They are one of the best looking fish I have ever seen, I just wish they would come out at least every 6 months or so.

 

[atoll]

Oh you mean Bait.

An, that's tangs your thinking of, expensive bait though.