Tank birthday, 55+ years

[Minifoot77]

It was actually created in 1971, but I moved it 3 times. :grimacing-face:

There are pictures of it all over this very long thread. :)

There were no forums, or computers when I started the tank

Awwe life before the interwebs...

 

[dieselkeeper]

I don't fish, so I can't relate. But I think your grandson has an awesome stool.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Thank you Imrakilwjz. Is that a Polish, Irish or French Polynesia name?

It is a name from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Imrahil, combined with my initials. Weston J Zach.
Most folks call me Wes, except the people I went to grade school with, who use Weston.

 

[Xenomystinae]

@Paul B in your book, you talk about finding fish in explosion craters in vietnam, do you have any advice on replicating this kind of thing in an aquarium (obviously i am not going to shoot my fish tank with an artillery shell but what was distinct about the craters structure? it really intriuged me

 

[Paul B]

Yamato, Those bomb craters were probably from 5,000 pound bombs and they cover Viet Nam. It's a consequence of war and I hope it stops some day. I have been closer to them explosions than I care to remember.

Anyway, Vietnam is a very wet country, especially during monsoons and the rivers and rice paddies overflow all over the place including bomb craters.

The fish I saw there were Red Tail Sharks. But in the wild they are not black and red, they are just gray.

Of course bomb craters are very muddy and if we wanted to jump in one to get away from the heat, we would throw a couple of grenades in to kill the snakes and possibly ***** traps.

The bottom of a bomb crater wouldn't make a nice looking tank.

This is their structure.

 

[Xenomystinae]

thank you

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Working on putting together a diatom filter as you demonstrated. Using a whole house filter that I already had and a pump I bought used (with a complete tank setup). I'm waiting for the pleated 5 micron filter and I'll need to find pool grade diatomaceous earth and I'll be set to try it out.

 

[Nano_Man]

Keep talking @Paul B the things you have seen in your life time. My Grandfather was in the army their name was desert Rats he told me story’s about the war . A man of few words but had experienced lots of things during his service. He was in the army for a long time but then got a a few pieces of metal in his leg due to a big explosion. When he recovered he was signed out . But he was like you a survivor of war and a hardy man

 

[Paul B]

Nano_Man. Your Grandfather was a Patriot and I love and respect Patriots. I know about the Desert Rats and there have been some movies made about them. Brave guys.

The VA tells me I have PTSD and how they came about that is because I was in quite a bit of combat but the worst one was the first week I got there. We fought about 5 hours and were outnumbered about 3 to 1. 90% of that night is a total blank to me and I only remember tiny bits of it, but even those tiny bits I wished I'd forget.

Much of what happens in a firefight most Vets don't talk about because very few people would believe it as those parts are not shown in movies and they shouldn't be.

I was invited to go on the "Honor Flight" this Saturday in DC. I have been there and I know I will lose it when I get to the wall. We lost about 45 of our guys that night and 6 of my 7 men.



They wrote a book about that battle. I was the COMMO Chief for the 1st Bn 77th arty div.
This is it if you care to read it.

https://www.vfw.org/media-and-event...e-illingworth-illuminated-in-a-titanic-horror

 

[get-salty]

im here to read all 9k comments. hold my beer....

 

[Doctorgori]

When I joined the service Paul all/ most of the supervisors at that time served in Nam, the stories they told during down times were amazing; the people, land, wildlife et

Did you ever see any “one steppers” or “two steppers”, monkeys, tigers et et

I think that place has changed a lot: Tigers in Vietnam

 

[Paul B]

I don't think I even read all 9k comments and I think 8,673 of those comments have nothing to do with fish. :anguished-face:

I am not even sure what this thread is about. o_O

 

[Nano_Man]

Nano_Man. Your Grandfather was a Patriot and I love and respect Patriots. I know about the Desert Rats and there have been some movies made about them. Brave guys.

The VA tells me I have PTSD and how they came about that is because I was in quite a bit of combat but the worst one was the first week I got there. We fought about 5 hours and were outnumbered about 3 or 4 to 1. 90% of that night is a total blank to me and I only remember tiny bits of it, but even those tiny bits I wished I'd forget.

Much of what happens in a firefight most Vets don't talk about because very few people would believe it as those parts are not shown in movies and they shouldn't be.

I was invited to go on the "Honor Flight" this Saturday in DC. I have been there and I know I will lose it when I get to the wall. We lost about 45 of our guys that night and 6 of my 7 men.



They wrote a book about that battle. I was the COMMO Chief for the 1st Bn 77th arty div.
This is it if you care to read it.

https://www.vfw.org/media-and-event...e-illingworth-illuminated-in-a-titanic-horror

Total respect to you Sir
I can only imagine
I try too think of me been in your shoes on the first day over there VM I would be absolutely @@@@@@@@ my self thats how the respect goes too you and your fellow men that were in that position

 

[Paul B]

I don't know ( or don't remember) what a one or two stepper is. Monkeys were all over the place. I even had one, She wasn't really mine but he was a real pain. She would jump on you, take anything out of your pocket like cigarettes or crackers, snarl at you and run away. She would also get drunk on the very few times we got hot beer.
This was Judy.



I also had this big lizard for a while. He just walked out of the jungle.



But my favorite was my Duck...Duk Duk was his name. I took it off a kid who was going to have him for lunch. I think I gave him some C Rations.



Duk Duk stayed with me for a few months until I came home. He would follow me everywhere even on to helicopters.



I had to hold his wings down because he thought he was flying. He would sleep with his head on my shoulder and very quietly Quack all night, more like a Quack snore. I loved that duck.

But I did see (I think) an elephant, and someone accidently killed a tiger. Much of what I remember I am not sure if it happened to me or I dreamt it because for years I had nightmares which kind of muddled some facts and it is sometimes hard to separate real events from nightmares.

I haven't gotten a nightmare in decades unless I am dreaming that someone quarantined my fish. :anguished-face:

There were also big snakes all over the place. I shot a cobra and python both of which wanted to sleep with me but I wanted my own little mud hole to myself.

Every time we had a fire mission which happened many times during the day, parrots would fly out of the trees.

 

[Doctorgori]

they called the snakes those names because that was the number of steps you could take before dying if they bit you :astonished-face:

pardon If this was asked already, were you drafted Paul? And I do realize you don’t always have time for another “interview” in this thread, but if you got time…

 

[Paul B]

Yes, now I remember those one step snakes. They were I think Pith Vipers and would hide in your boots which was why you had to shake out your boots when you put them on. Many guys never took off their boots and they got jungle rot where you can lose some, or all your toes.

I was drafted at 18 right out of high school and made Sargent E-5 after 16 weeks in the Army.

When I got out of Basic I skipped E-2, PFC and Spec-4 and was promoted to Corporal. (I still have those orders) After AIT I was the only one in my unit who made Sargent. I am not quite sure why as no one there had a reef tank. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Paul B]

My Daughter passed the Bar so now she can sue me and I have to call her Counselor or esquire.

 

[Crabs McJones]

My Daughter passed the Bar so now she can sue me and I have to call her Counselor or esquire.

Congrats! That's awesome.

 

[Paul B]

I am going to Washington DC tomorrow. Hopefully, the cherry blossoms will still be in bloom. The "Honor Flight" people are taking me and about 100 other Veterans there for an Honor ceremony.

Some of my friends are staying with my wife to help her as I won't leave her alone for a day.

https://www.honorflightlongisland.org/

 

[Paul B]

These Korean Generals must have gotten these medals for dancing because they haven't had a war there in 60 years.