1315 replies to this topic

[Grayeagle]

Taken at a Cafe on Route 66 in New Mexico last year ..wife an I did a 4400+ mile cross country cruise to visit friends we had not seen in decades.



Tuff to beat a road trip in a damn fine auto-mobile

-Gray Eagle

[juxstapo]

Grendel408, on 28 May 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

I had to cut my hair a couple years back during that messed up recession in '09 (yeah, lost my job... and sideburns, trimmed)... had my hair long for half my life... funny thing, the moment I cut it... I got a job again... weird.

Yea, See that all over the place, honestly its one of the reasons I've kept mine long for so long (15 years now). My ***holio side is amused by how much it discomfits some people. (But mostly because my wife likes it )

Of course I'd cut it if I had to to support my family and all.

Edit: You guys keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Edited by juxstapo, 29 May 2012 - 07:26 AM.

[JazzySteel]

Me at Junior Olympics a year or two back.



And here when I was stuck working in alaska for six months. Bleh... I prefer it down here in Louisiana

[Rayah]

Romeox, on 28 May 2012 - 10:47 PM, said:

Yeah, kinda : D

Lol, I've been told that before, believe me though, I don't do that.

[Wolf Hreda]

EmyLightsaber, on 07 May 2012 - 03:10 AM, said:

Don't make me break out my Merit Badge Sash too!

Fellow Eagle Scout here as well.

March 16, 2002.

Wow, same here. Don't think I had quite that many badges, but being in a small town it wasn't always easy to find ways to accomplish some of them.
February 13, 2006

[Wolf Hreda]

Me and my favorite gun ever
[img]http://sphotos.xx.fb...35_701674_n.jpg[img]
Fine, whatever. Click the link if you like. It's a Ruger GP-100 .357 Mag. I love it.

And this one's me with my Stepmom's gun. It's a Walther P22, in pink. Yup, Bad-A$$
http://sphotos.xx.fb...30_662473_n.jpg

Edited by Wolf Hreda, 29 May 2012 - 09:34 AM.

[Hardcover]

Back in the day pic, from me (in the Army greens) attending my brother's graduation from Navy Basic at Great Lakes:



And me in a much-more-recent picture of my (Rebel Legion formal) Jedi Knight costume.

[Stovebolt]

Me in my Mighty Gaming Fez™

[Kaemon]

I'm the one on the right.

[FroBanger]

[Damocles]

Guess I will continue it on today/Respect to all those who have shared.

A few years back in Boston for St. Patties:


I seen a few musicians, heres my habit (Out of frame ARE PEOPLE in a pool having a good ole time haha)
This is in East LA

And myself and the lady (who will be playing MWO also)


yarrrr

[DocBach]

Grendel408, on 28 May 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

Garlic Festival 2011, Gilroy, CA... any Bay Area folks here?

I'm up in San Jose.



latest picture I have, from Fort Irwin NTC last week.

Edited by DocBach, 30 May 2012 - 07:55 AM.

[Threat Doc]

Oh, I hated Fort Irwin. Got my hand broken there by an overzealous forklift driver while we were trying to load up a pallet of razor wire. Aviation... we always have to do things the hard way, hehe. Anyway, I will tell you that Morphine is very nice, and staying in their little TMC, which is nearly a hospital, wasn't half-bad.

Y'know, I think I still have sand in places, 15 years later, that I didn't know were places, hehe.

[DocBach]

All of our injured had to go to the battalion aid station at a fake FOB. We had four guys go down for heat injuries the first day, one was an actual case of heat stroke. His vitals nose dived right away and I was telling the OCT that we had a real world emergency but he wouldn't let me load him up in his humvee. It wasn't until I had to breath for the guy that he let me load him up. The injured had to stay at the battallion aid station for almost a week and when they brought him back to us he was on light duty the rest of the training.


My fireteam leaving "The Dustbowl" to go to "The Box" - The Dustbowl is like a fake Kuwait where you stage before going to "Atropia", a fake country they have set up with the warring Lezians and Donovians fighting for control of it. We thought it sounded like something from Game of Thrones which we were all bummed to have missed three episodes of.


it took us 15 hours to go 20 kilometers because the LT convoy commander kept getting us lost. It was terrible, and I attribute the amount of heat casualities we sustained on training day 1 to us being baked alive in the back of a truck for an entire day.


you know you are exhausted when a pile of rocks feels comfortable.


after a couple of days our clothes felt like paper mache and were able to stand up on their own. We were told we'd have the ability to get to our duffle bags (we did not) so most of us packed very light in our rucks taking out non mission essential gear like extra uniforms.


Obligatory cool guy shot.

All in all, it was some pretty awesome training, been a long time since I went two and half weeks without changing my clothes or showering. Our Company's sector after the first couple days of lanes was a large city so we got to do a lot of soft knock patrols during the day and interact with the roleplayers they flew over from Iraq/Kurdistan. A lot were really excited I remembered some Kurdish to talk to. At night we fought the 11th ACR and kicked their *** (they were very impressed how well our ARNG INF BN did).

Edited by DocBach, 30 May 2012 - 08:09 AM.

[Hardcover]

See, I'm seeing all these pictures of guys in full combat gear and doing all this real high-speed low-drag training, and reflecting that I was actually closer to ongoing combat when my unit (a Patriot AMD battalion) redeployed from Kuwait to our home station of Fort Bliss than we ever were during our whole 15 month deployment.

Hell, the "coolest" picture I have of me doing anything vaguely related to "training" is when I decided to do a monthly airsoft skirmish in a replica uniform from Stargate Atlantis. Because I'm a geek and that's how I roll.

Edited by Hardcover, 30 May 2012 - 09:14 AM.

[Threat Doc]

DocBach... now I get it, Combat Medic. I was Foxtrot 232nd in Fort Sham under Drill Sergeant Famous Amos; then I decided to go play with helicopters when I went active duty, instead, mainly because there were no slots available for Medics at the time. I loved being a Medic, but I don't think I would have given up Blackhawk's for anything.

DocBach, on 30 May 2012 - 08:08 AM, said:

All of our injured had to go to the battalion aid station at a fake FOB. We had four guys go down for heat injuries the first day, one was an actual case of heat stroke. His vitals nose dived right away and I was telling the OCT that we had a real world emergency but he wouldn't let me load him up in his humvee. It wasn't until I had to breath for the guy that he let me load him up. The injured had to stay at the battallion aid station for almost a week and when they brought him back to us he was on light duty the rest of the training.

No, I was evac'd to the Battalion station, myself -they flew me for training sake, hehe-, but when they found out I had seriously broken my hand, and it had a chance at infection if I wasn't looked over by 'real' doctors, they sent me to main post.

I'm glad that guy was okay, the one with the heat stroke; but he should have been kept in the rear on light duty.

Quote

It was terrible, and I attribute the amount of heat casualities we sustained on training day 1 to us being baked alive in the back of a truck for an entire day.

Is there EVER a day in either the Dust Bowl or the Box that's not horrible?

Quote

We were told we'd have the ability to get to our duffle bags (we did not) so most of us packed very light in our rucks taking out non mission essential gear like extra uniforms.

It's funny you should mention roughing it, but the few deployments I ever went on were never really that uncomfortable; I understand why they train that way, but think it's pretty excessive sometimes, as well.

Okay, now I have to share the one and only NTC pic I have left... see if you can guess which one I was, hehe... Oh, and no snide comments, I know it's old, hehe...


Unfortunately, I don't even remember a lot of these guys names, which is a pity, because all of them were awesome people, some of the finest people I've ever known.

[DocBach]

Hardcover, on 30 May 2012 - 09:12 AM, said:

See, I'm seeing all these pictures of guys in full combat gear and doing all this real high-speed low-drag training, and reflecting that I was actually closer to ongoing combat when my unit (a Patriot AMD battalion) redeployed from Kuwait to our home station of Fort Bliss than we ever were during our whole 15 month deployment.

People might not realize that on the other side of the border of Ft Bliss is Ciduad Juarez -- which has an annual murder rate that exceeds the amount of casualties we sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the last ten years of war.

...but, the middle east still sucks.

Kay Wolf, on 30 May 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

DocBach... now I get it, Combat Medic. I was Foxtrot 232nd in Fort Sham under Drill Sergeant Famous Amos; then I decided to go play with helicopters when I went active duty, instead, mainly because there were no slots available for Medics at the time. I loved being a Medic, but I don't think I would have given up Blackhawk's for anything.

I was a 91W medic when I was AD from 2002-2006, then I reclassed to 11B in the Guard partially for the lack of slots, partially because I had to carry and do everything the 11Bs had to do while carrying a gigantic aid bag... by going 11B I saved my knees and back! Also was a Foxtrot Falcon - "WE SET LOOOOOOOOOOOW STAAAAANDAAAAAAARDS". Some of the people that have been around long enough know I was a medic, those that don't just see me doing awesome stuff all the time that looks great on bullet points for ARCOMs and AAMs.

Edited by DocBach, 30 May 2012 - 09:46 AM.

[Arnie1808]

Kaemon, on 29 May 2012 - 08:30 PM, said:

I'm the one on the right.

Nice Pike mate

[McScwizzy]

DocBach I remember Fort Irwin when I was in. God I hated NTC. It was good training, but hot, and PITA.

[renegade mitchell]

My hats off to all that served. I have a nephew currently serving in Afghanistan.