Travel The World

A year after retiring, I decided to take a summer course at my alma mater, Notre Dame.  The university has a great program for alumni who wish to return to campus and relive their school days.  It's called "The Dome Sweet Dome" program and it allows you to take a class (or two), live on campus, and even eat in the dining facility.  It's a great way to experience the nostalgia of days gone by.   A silly photo, but I wanted to show off my ND parking sticker. I visited the bookstore to pick up required materials for class. Next, I located my building and classroom. Finally, I walked over to the library, a place at which I'd spent many long hours in the past.

Ever since I bought my WV property back in November '21, I've been wanting to explore the less accessible tracts of it.  Five acres of the property is where the house is located and with the majority being relatively flat.  The other five acres is more 'remote' and a challenge to walk through, especially during the summer months when all the foliage has grown out.  Well, today I finally decided to explore it all and followed what I believe to be the approximate property line.  The pictures below were only the beginning of my journey.  More coming tomorrow.   

I visited the small town of Sutton, West Virginia back in December but was so traumatized by the visit that I'm just now posting the photos.  Sutton is the county seat of Braxton County and is at the exact geographical center of WV.  It has two museums, one being the Flatwoods Monster Museum (the reason for my trauma) and the other being the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum.  Unfortunately, the latter was closed on the day I was there, but I'll be sure to return to see it.  Anyway, enjoy the pictures!   

Here are various pictures from last Saturday evening's Marshall-U. of Albany game.  The first few were taken during warmups and the rest during the game.  I had good seats, but it was still uncomfortable what with the 90-degree temperature and hard benches.  Honestly, I've always preferred watching the games on TV.

Of all the activities in basic training, I believe the obstacle course was the most challenging for me.  I especially disliked the high obstacles where there was a real chance of falling and suffering serious injury.  For example, 'the Slide for your Life' in the lower left picture was a particularly scary one.  Anyway, this is the last photo from my basic training yearbook I'll post.  Although joining the military was a rash decision at the time, it was the right one and I'm so thankful I did it.  Doing so really set me up for a different path in life than the one which I was on.  Thanks for viewing!  

I happened to see these three wild turkeys through the window this afternoon.  I was lucky to snap their pictures because they heard me, even though I was inside the house, and began to run.  I'm still waiting to see a bear, but they're sort of rare around here.

One of the more challenging trainings in BT is learning how to properly employ your gas mask.  How to use it isn't the challenge so much as the events associated with its use.  To this day, putting on a gas mask feels automatic for me: Step 1-don the mask Step 2- cover the filters and clear the mask Step 3-seal the mask Step 4-while waving your arms, shout 'gas' three times in order to alert others You're supposed to be able to complete all of these steps in nine seconds or less and you better hope you can do this.  While on a night patrol, I expected to see an aerial flare since we'd just had a class about this and how such a flare indicated an imminent gas attack.  As DIs were running through the forest to get ahead of and ambush us, I popped one button on my mask carrier so I could get it out as soon as possible.  Then, boom!  The entire sky lit up and I smelled gas immediately!  I had my mask out, on, cleared, and sealed in what couldn't have been ...

' Bivouac' is an event near the end of basic training when you deploy to the field for several days.  My unit deployed on a Sunday evening in late January when the temperature was unseasonably warm.  By the end of the week, we were operating under blizzard conditions and with subzero temps.  As a matter of fact, the ground was so frozen at that point,  we couldn't even dig out our tent pegs during teardown.  In between deployment and recovery, we participated in various trainings both day and night.  One of my 'fondest' memories, besides the elements, was being hit with gas every night.  The usual procedure involved a DI putting a CS Riot cannister on the end of a pole, popping it, and then inserting the pole into one of the two-men pup tents.  The challenge for those inside the tent was to wake up quickly enough to don your mask and avoid the worst effects of the gas.  We were getting hit so often that I actually started sleeping with my mas...

Here are some photos of my actual company/platoon during M-16 Rifle disassembly/assembly instruction and firing of the M203 Attached Grenade Launcher. What I notice most about that first picture is how everyone looks so similar what with wearing the same uniform and having shaved heads. I also remember a lot of sniffing and coughing due to the effects of training outside during an Ozark winter. During grenade launcher training, we were trying to hit an old tank (moving on a rail left to right) as we fired at it. We each got only one round to fire since we didn't have to qualify with this weapon. What I remember most about this was maximizing the one round I had. Like everyone else, I missed terribly but my round flew ahead of the main body of the tank and hit the barrel itself! We knew this because we saw a flash where the round had struck. The training DI told me it was the first time he'd ever seen anything like that. One more observation. In the very last section of...

On my first day in the Army, I flew out of Beckley, WV (my first time ever on a plane), with a destination of St. Louis, Mo. In St. Louis, I boarded a bus for Fort Leonard Wood, about a two-hour ride which gives you more than enough time to contemplate your fate. Now, what many of you who've never been in the Army don't know is that you don't immediately go to your basic training unit upon arrival. Instead, you spend three-five days in a reception center where they issue your uniforms, gear, etc. One of my 'fondest' memories of that time was receiving my vaccinations. We walked down a line between technicians with 'guns' who shot us several times in each arm. I think I received more than 20 vaccines that day! Anyway, several reception center tasks are shown in the scans below. Have no doubt, though, the pictures don't convey the fear we all had nor the exhaustion from being on a non-stop schedule.

Some more from my ND trip. The first picture is of the ND War Memorial (apparently the name has changed but I don't care). In the background, you can see the Hesburgh Library. As I've mentioned in past posts, there are numerous additions to the library since I was a student. There is an Au Bon Pain on the ground floor along with a "Scholar's Lounge." On the second floor, there are reading areas with comfortable chairs and other conveniences. I'm not sure how much of this is necessary, especially considering the high cost of tuition these days.

I joined the Army in December '81 and immediately shipped off to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  At the end of basic training, every graduate receives a sort of yearbook that displays trainee photos as well as photos of events that occurred during the training cycle.  You also receive a 45-rpm record that includes the "sounds of basic training."  Below is a picture of these items.  I will post scans from the yearbook in the following posts.  

  Just a few miscellaneous photos of areas near the Grotto and central part of the campus.