Sisco

I had to do a screenshot of an old picture from another forum but you get the idea.

Have to find the pictures or wait until I am near the rigs, but a few years ago I took a Molle equipment belt, added a large Molle gear holster for my FNX 45, and four Condor M14 magazine pouches, a first aid kit, along with a scabbard for my Cold Steel Outdoorsman. I sewed on four heavy D rings on to the belt, and attached a set of padded shoulder straps to help distribute the weight more evenly. All in FDE. It works for me. Also made one for my son once we proved it works. Adding chest rig pouches to it would be pretty easy, as the shoulder harness already has Molle attachments. Haven’t done it yet, so I don’t know how weight distribution would be. I will try to post some pics next week.

98, you need to write a book on this.

Naw I kinda like him. From a distance.

Another Neighbors restless today.

Staying out of this one unless Shepp makes me dinner.

why I don't swim off our pier.

Should be considered the prime example of Badass.

Happy Birthday Cap’n. Worshipped the original Star Trek when it came out.

It was only in the high 50’s today, so he was pretty sluggish. Still wouldn’t get within 100 feet of him. He was probably 9’ long.

Neighbor was in a chill mood today, thank goodness.

A Day late.. An Irish aviator was getting worried being overdue, and not being able to find the air base in rapidly deteriorating weather. "Lord,"he prayed,"I can't stand this.If you direct me to the nearest air base,I swear I'll give up drinking me whiskey, and I promise to go to church every Sunday." Suddenly, the clouds broke, and the sun shone brightly on a large air base below. Without hesitation, the aviator said,"Never mind, I found one." Happy St Patricks Day!!

Must have been a rough flight.

I heard that one-a classic. Actually got a chance to look around an A-12 Ox Cart, the CIA predecessor to the SR 71. The Minneapolis Air National Guard base was trying to put a military Air Museum together in the 90’s. It wasn’t well known but was open to the public. I took my son there on a winter afternoon. They had one volunteer manning a table out front. I happened to notice that they had a big black jet that was unmistakably a Blackbird or an Ox Cart outside in the back. I asked the guy if I could look at it. As we were the only ones there, he said go ahead. It was minus the engines, but intact otherwise. Pictures weren’t allowed, but we spent twenty minutes walking around and looking in it. A very interesting texture to the skin. Reminded me of shark skin but smoother. They also had a Mig-15, which was amazingly small, and a few other military aircraft. About six months later it got preempted by a more important museum and shipped out. Pretty cool to see one in person. Also have seen the SR-71 at the military park in Mobile, Alabama.

A little different story… Why are there bugs on the Blackbird windshield ? Another weird thing was that after a A-12 flight the windshields often were pitted with tiny black dots, like burn specks. We couldn’t figure out what in hell it was. We had the specks lab tested, and they turned out to be organic material—insects that had been injected into the stratosphere and were circling in orbit around the earth with dust and debris at seventy-five thousand feet in the jet stream. How in hell did they get lifted up there? We finally figured it out: they were hoisted aloft from the atomic test explosions in Russia and China.” ― Ben R. Rich, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed Photo Peter van Stigt ~ Linda Sheffield Miller

A good read. https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/lessons-from-worlds-greatest-sniper-competition-team/

Anything on grandfathering in current owners? I assume they will. It just sucks though. A typical legislature grabbing low hanging fruit and then claiming this will solve the problem. It won’t.

No propane, no wood, no charcoal. No natural gas lines on the property either. Hurricane Michael changed a lot of things around here.

Nice job Sketch! I am going through barbecue withdrawal as the Condo insurance prohibits any gas, charcoal or wood appliances. Did find a good rib place, but nothing is as good as home made “Q”. Will be looking forward to grilling when I get back north.

What it's really like to be in an actual gunfight... "The cacophony of sounds is debilitating," he said. "And then you can turn to the smells. You begin to stink, and your mouth turns cotton. You're always feeling for your ammo pouches. You can hear when a bullet hits a man. The smells are horrible, and everybody's afraid.” - John Reitzell John Reitzell went to Vietnam in the spring of 1970 as a 23-year-old second lieutenant in the Army infantry. The year-long experience was as challenging as one would expect. "It was not very pleasant. There's nothing worse on Earth than a nasty gunfight, and I was in multiple combat close-quarter battles," the now-retired colonel said. He was a rifle platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, in the central highlands, the mountain jungles. He spent the last eight months of his tour as an operations officer for N Company, a long-range reconnaissance patrol company, with the 75th Rangers, 173rd Airborne Brigade. "I was actually wounded four times, but three of them were minor," Reitzell, who received a Purple Heart, said. He was wounded twice in the same fight about an hour apart in the jungle northeast of An Khe, Aug. 26, 1970. "This was just a meeting engagement. Two forces just ran into each other," he said. Reitzell can give a vivid description of what it's like to experience a firefight. "The cacophony of sounds is debilitating," he said. "And then you can turn to the smells. You begin to stink, and your mouth turns cotton. You're always feeling for your ammo pouches. You can hear when a bullet hits a man. The smells are horrible, and everybody's afraid.” But as a young platoon leader, he learned that "it's up to you to ensure that your men know that somebody’s in charge and you’re equipped to fight." "Everything went into slow motion," he said. "And I made a valiant effort to touch everyone and let them know 'Hang in there, Smitty.' You learn how to lead by learning how your people respond to you in a gunfight." One of his men with N Company, Patrick "Tad" Tadina, became a jungle fighting legend. Tadina, the Vietnam War's longest continuously serving Ranger, died May 29, 2020, at age 77. "He had 109 kills. I can vouch for that many," Reitzell said. Besides the Purple Heart, Reitzell has three Legions of Merit, five Bronze Stars (two with “V” for valor), the Joint Meritorious Service Medal, five Army Service Medals, five Air Medals and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. During his tour, he spent three weeks in the hospital recuperating from his wounds before returning to the field. He came home in the summer of 1971. He said he was treated "shabbily" when he returned to the United States. He didn't get spat on, but he did get called "baby killer" by a female protester at the Seattle airport. Reitzell received a welcome reception when he got home to Monroe, Louisiana. The son of a World War II veteran, Reitzell graduated from Northeast Louisiana State College, now called Louisiana-Monroe, in 1969 with a bachelor's in pre-med with a specialty in chemistry. He was commissioned through the Army ROTC. He became a master parachutist in 1972. "I wanted to serve my country because my dad had. That was in my DNA. I was going to serve my country at the point of the spear," he said. His 28 years in the infantry included serving in Special Operations. He served in Vietnam, Korea, Germany and the Iraqi desert. Story by Skip Vaughn