Article #76
Unknown
August 2010
Classmates,
As we approach the last month of Summer (unless you are in Las Vegas -
then it is October), we find out that August is really an “unknown”
month. But little or unknown August Holidays can heat up your Summer.
August is not typically a month known for big holidays. So, If you're
looking for a reason to celebrate during the month of August, just check
out below. Also Included this month are articles about: baby grease, a
Pew IQ, a general letter, and a look behind the stars. After that it’s
animal time, followed by cruising at thirty-eight thousand; then, a trip
back to the fifties and some squares. Finally, did we make a difference
and was the fight for freedom forgotten?
So let’s get started with that eighth month. You can use any of these
little or “unknown” August holidays as an excuse to take the day off from
work and enjoy the last month of summer.
August
Holiday 1st: Girlfriends Day
Plan a gathering with all of your best girlfriends to celebrate
Girlfriend's Day. Celebrate your close friendships, or make some new
friends. Get together and plan a day of your favorite activities, or just
meet up together for a girl's lunch or a special spa day. No guys allowed!
August
Holiday 2nd: National Mustard Day
Mustard is one of the best condiments available. It is tasty, versatile,
and typically contains little fat. Make a warm potato mustard salad or a
warmed spinach salad with your favorite mustard vinaigrette. Or broil up
some honey mustard chicken for dinner. You can also enjoy mustard on a
favorite summertime food.
August
Holiday 4th through August 8th: Psychic Week
This August holiday is so big it takes four days, but you knew that
already. Take your friends and head to the local psychic, for
entertainment purposes, only, of course. Kids can also celebrate this
August holiday when they make their own crystal ball or practice reading
tea leaves.
August
Holiday 6th: National Fresh Breath Day
Give all of your family members and favorite work peers a little box of
mints on National Fresh Breath Day. Everyone will thank you. Also
consider, for the smoker who may be trying to quit, some cinnamon
toothpicks.
August
Holiday 9th: National Garage Sale Day
Which side
of the table will you find yourself on today? Host your own garage sale.
Or, you can organize a community garage sale for your neighborhood,
church, or local community center.
If you'd rather be on the shopping side, prepare in advance for a full day
of garage sale hopping. Pack yourself or you and a friend a picnic lunch
and some bottle water. Sharpen those negotiating skills, clear out the
trunk and get going!
August
Holiday 17th: National Thrift shop Day
If you didn't get enough bargain hunting done on National Garage Sale Day,
there is always the other thrifty August holiday: National Thrift shop
Day. If shopping is not your bag, use this August holiday as an excuse to
finally clean out closets and drawers. Donate the gently used items to the
local thrift shop.
August
Holiday 21st: Poet's Day
There are so
many creative ways to celebrate Poet's Day. Parents can help their child
write a summer poem or a poem about their favorite ice cream flavor.
Couples can read romantic poetry to each other over a tray of
chocolate-covered strawberries, or they can write poems to each other.
Aspiring poets can find a local Poetry Reading and read some of their own
poems. If there isn't a poetry reading in your area, consider hosting one
at a local coffee shop or cafe.
August
Holiday 25th: National Kiss and Make Up Day (my favorite)
Did you have an argument or disagreement with someone and did you leave
the fences unmended? This August holiday is your perfect excuse to kiss
and make up with a friend or family member.
Not only will you see
other days with meaning on the newsletter calendar, but the special days
listed above should give you lots of things to do throughout the month of
August. Have fun and stay cool. I will talk to you all again in
September...back to school.
Hooah & Hugs,
Bob
“Baby Grease”
Contributed by Stevie (Graham) Kim
Baby Grease
“Pew... News Quiz”
Contributed by Gary Rocklage
Pew... News Quiz
“A
General Letter”
Contributed by Linda (Wanke) Rapp
A General Letter
(Scroll down to see letter after the article - all troops,
in the Afghan Theater got this,
SOP - Standing Operating Procedures).
“Goodbye, After Thirty-four Years...About the Man Behind the Stars”
Contributed by Bruce Ahlvin
Ladies and gentlemen, General Stanley A. McChrystal.:
This is frustrating. I spent a career waiting to give a retirement speech
and lie about what a great soldier I was. Then people show up who were
actually there. It proves what Doug Brown taught me long ago; nothing
ruins a good war story like an eyewitness.
To show you how bad it is, I can't even tell you I was the best player in
my little league because the kid who was the best player is here tonight.
In case you're looking around, he's not a kid anymore.
But to those here tonight who feel the need to contradict my memories with
the truth, remember I was there too. I have stories on all of you, photos
on many, and I know a Rolling Stone reporter.
Look, this has the potential to be an awkward or even a sad occasion.
With my resignation, I left a mission I feel strongly about. I ended a
career I loved that began over 38 years ago. And I left unfulfilled
commitments I made to many comrades in the fight, commitments I hold
sacred.
My service did not end as I would have wished, and there are
misperceptions about the loyalty and service of some dedicated
professionals that will likely take some time but I believe will be
corrected.
Still, Annie and I aren't approaching the future with sadness but with
hope and iPhones. And my feelings for more than 34 years I spent as an
Army officer are a combination of surprise that any experience could have
been as rich and fulfilling as mine was and gratitude for the comrades and
friends we were blessed with.
That's what I feel. And if I fail to communicate that effectively
tonight, I'll simply remind you that Secretary Gates once told me I was a
modern Patton of strategic communications. Fair point.
So if we laugh tonight, it doesn't mean all these years have not been
important to me. It means the opposite; that every day and every friend
were gifts I treasure and I need to celebrate.
But first, I need to address two questions that we've been asked often
lately. The first is: What are you going to do? Actually, Annie is the
one who's asking me that. I'm thinking I'd be a good fashion consultant
and spokesman for Gucci - but they haven't called. The other question is
always asked a bit tentatively. How are you and Annie doing? We did
spend some years apart, but we're doing well. And I am carrying some of
what I learned into retirement.
First, Annie and I are reconnecting. And now, we're up on Skype with each
other. Of course, we never did that all the years I was 10,000 miles
away, but now we can connect by video link when we're 15 feet apart. And
I think she really likes that. I was so enthused I tried using Skype for
a daily family VTC - where I could get updates and pass out guidance, but
there's some resistance to flatter and faster in the McChrystal household.
The same is true for the tactical directive I issued soon after my
return. It's reasonable guidance: One meal a day, early-morning PT, the
basics of a good family life. But I've gotten a few night letters, and
Annie's stocking up on ammonium nitrate fertilizer - -which is strange
since our new yard is smaller than this podium.
Although the insurgency is relatively small - one woman she's
uninterested in reintegration. I assess the situation as serious and, in
many ways, deteriorating. Mr. Secretary, look at her. I'm thinking at
least 40,000 troops.
Let me thank everyone for being here. This turnout is truly humbling.
Here tonight are my wife and son, my four brothers, two nephews, mentors,
comrades from countless phases of my career, and some special guests whose
service and sacrifice are impossible to describe with words. But because
this crowd is pretty big, for good order and discipline, I've divided you
all into four groups. Please remember your group number.
Group 1 are all the people who accepted responsibility for making
this ceremony work from the planners to the soldiers on the field. My
apologies for all the time you spend in the heat. You're special people.
And in my mind, you also represent soldiers all over the world. You have
my sincere appreciation.
The second group is distinguished servants of all nations who have
taken time from your often-crushing schedules to be here. And thanks for
your years of support and friendship. I got you out of the office early
on Friday. Group 3 are warriors of all ranks, and that includes
many who don't wear a uniform but defend our nation with whom I have
shared aircraft, VTCs, remote outposts, frustrations, triumphs, laughs and
a common cause for many years. You are not all here. Some of you are
deployed and in the fight. Others rest across the river in Arlington .
Most of the credit I've received actually belongs to you. It has been
your comradeship that I have considered the greatest honor of my career.
Finally, Group 4 is all those who've heard we're having two kegs of
beer in the backyard after my ceremony. This group includes a number of
my classmates from West Point, old friends, most of the warriors from
Group 3, and some others who defy accurate description. Anyone already
carrying a plastic cup might be considered the vanguard of Group 4.
Everyone here today is invited to join.
To Secretary Gates, I want to express my personal thanks, certainly, for
your generous remarks but more for your wisdom and leadership which I
experienced firsthand in each of my last three jobs. Your contribution to
the nation and to the force is nothing short of historic. Similarly, I
want to thank the many leaders, civilian and military, of our nation
beginning with President Obama for whom and with whom I was honored to
serve. Whether elected, appointed or commissioned, the common denominator
of selfless service has been inspiring.
As COM ISAF, I was provided a unique opportunity to serve alongside the
professionals of 46 nations under the leadership of NATO. We were
stronger for the diversity of our force, and I'm better for the
experience. My thanks, also, to the leadership and people of Afghanistan
for their partnership, hospitality and friendship. For those who are
tempted to simplify their view of Afghanistan and focus on the challenges
ahead, I counter with my belief that Afghans have courage, strength and
resiliency that will prove equal to the task.
My career included some amazing moments and memories, but it is the people
I'll remember. It was always about the people. It was about the soldiers
who are well-trained but, at the end of the day, act out of faith in their
leaders and each other; about the young sergeants who emerge from the
ranks with strength, discipline, commitment and courage. As I grew older,
the soldiers and sergeants of my youth grew older as well. They became
the old sergeants, long-service professionals whose wisdom and incredible
sense of responsibility for the mission and for our soldiers is
extraordinary. And the sergeants major - they were a national treasure.
They mold and maintain the force and leaders like me. They have been my
comrade, confidante, constructive critic, mentor and best friend. A
little more than a year ago on a single e-mail, Command Sergeant Major
Mike Hall came out of retirement, leaving a job, his son and his amazing
wife Brenda to join me in Afghanistan . To Mike, I could never express my
thanks. To Brenda, I know after all these years, I owe you. I also love
you. To true professionals like Sergeants Major Rudy Valentine, Jody Nacy,
Steve Cuffie, CW Thompson, Chris Craven, Jeff Mellinger and Chris Farris,
your presence here today is proof that, when something is truly important,
like this ceremony, you're on hand to make sure I don't screw it up.
I've been blessed with the presence of old friends throughout my career,
friendships that began long ago at West Point, Forts Benning, Bragg, Lewis
or countless other locations and shared years of Army life, moving vans,
kids, laughs, disappointments, and each other's successes which grew into
bonds that became critical on the battlefield. I treasure a note I
received during a particularly tough time in Afghanistan in 2007 from
fellow commander, Dave Rodriguez, that quoted Sherman's confidence that,
if he ever needed support, he knew his friend Grant would come to his aid
if alive. Serving with people who say and mean such words is
extraordinary.
I served with many. Many of you are here tonight. And not all the heroes
are comrades are in uniform. In the back of a darkened helicopter over
Kunar , Afghanistan , in 2004, a comrade in blue jeans whose friendship I
cherish to this day passed me a note. Scribbled on a page torn from a
pocket notebook, the note said, "I don't know the Ranger Creed, but you
can count on me to always be there." He lived up to his promise many
times over.
To have shared so much with and been so dependent on people of such
courage, physical and moral, integrity and selflessness taught me to
believe.
Annie's here tonight. No doubt she walked the 50 feet from our front door
in cute little Italian shoes of which we have an extensive collection. In
Afghanistan , I once considered using Annie's shoe purchases as an
argument to get Italy to send additional forces. But truth be known, I
have no control over that part of the McChrystal economy. But she's here
like she's always been there when it mattered. Always gorgeous. For
three and a half years, she was my girlfriend then fiancée and, for over
33 years, she's been my wife. For many years, I've joked, sometimes
publicly, about her lousy cooking, terrifying closets, demolition derby
driving and addiction to M&M candy, which is all true. But as we conclude
a career together, it's important for you to know she was there. She was
there when my father commissioned me a second lieutenant of infantry and
was waiting some months later when I emerged from Ranger School.
Together, we moved all we owned in my used Chevrolet Vega to our first
apartment at Fort Bragg . The move, with our first days in our
$180-a-month apartment, was the only honeymoon I was able to give her, a
fact she has mentioned a few times since. Annie always knew what to do.
She was gracious when she answered the door at midnight in her nightgown
to fight Sergeant Emo Holtz, a huge mortarman, carrying a grocery bag of
cheap liquor for a platoon party I'd hastily coordinated that evening and
not told Annie about following a Friday night jump. I got home not long
after to find Annie making food for assembling paratroopers. Intuitively,
Annie knew what was right and quietly did it. With 9/11, she saw us off
to war and patiently supported the families of our fallen with stoic
grace. As the years passed and the fight grew ever more difficult and
deadly, Annie's quiet courage gave me strength I would never otherwise
have found. It's an axiom in the Army that soldiers write the checks but
families pay the bills. And war increases both the accuracy of that
statement and the cost families pay.
In a novel based on history, Steven Pressfield captured poignantly just
how important families were and, I believe, are today. Facing an invading
Persian army under King Xerxes, a coalition of Greek states sent a small
force to buy time by defending the pass at Thermopylae and were led by 300
special, selected Spartans. The mission was desperate and death for the
300 certain. Before he left to lead them, the Spartan king, Leonidas,
explained to one of the Spartan wives how he had selected the 300 from an
entire army famed for its professionalism, courage and dedication to
duty. "I chose them not for their valor, lady, but for that of their
women. Greece stands now upon her most perilous hour. If she saves
herself, it will not be at the gates. Death alone awaits us and our
allies there but later in battles yet to come by land and sea. "Then
Greece , if the gods will it, will preserve herself. Do you understand
this, lady? Well, now, listen, when the battle is over, when the 300 have
gone to death, then all Greece will look to the Spartans to see how they
bear it. But who, lady, will the Spartans look to? To you. To you and
the other wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the fallen. "If
they behold your hearts riven and broken with grief, they too will break
and Greece will break with them. But if you bear up, dry eyed, not alone
enduring your loss but seizing it with contempt for its agony and
embracing it as the honor that it is in truth, then Sparta will stand and
all Greece will stand behind her. "Why have I nominated you, lady, to
bear up beneath this most terrible of trials, you and your sisters of the
300? Because you can."
To all who wear no uniform but give so much, sacrifice so willingly and
serve as such an example to our nation and each other, my thanks. As I
leave the Army, to those with responsibility to carry on, I'd say, service
in this business is tough and often dangerous. It extracts a price for
participation, and that price can be high. It is tempting to protect
yourself from the personal or professional costs of loss by limiting how
much you commit, how much of belief and trust in people, and how deeply
you care. Caution and cynicism are safe, but soldiers don't want to
follow cautious cynics. They follow leaders who believe enough to risk
failure or disappointment for a worthy cause.
If I had it to do over again, I'd do some things in my career differently
but not many. I believed in people, and I still believe in them. I
trusted and I still trust. I cared and I still care. I wouldn't have had
it any other way. Winston Churchill said we make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give. To the young leaders of today and
tomorrow, it's a great life. Thank you.
“Buck and the Deer”
Contributed by Bruce Ahlvin
Buck and the Deer
“Pole Dancing...Montana Griz Style”
Contributed by Bob Graham
Pole Dancing... Montana Griz Style
“Westjet Flight Announcements”
(MarySue, are
you out there yet?)
Contributed by Bruce Ahlvin
• On a
West Jet flight (There is no assigned seating, you just sit where you
want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a
flight attendant announced, 'People, people we're not picking out
furniture here, find a seat and get in it!'
• On another West Jet Flight with a very 'senior' flight attendant crew,
the pilot said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude
and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to
enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.'
• On landing, the stewardess said, 'Please be sure to take all of your
belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's
something we'd like to have.'
• As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at the Vancouver Airport,
a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: 'Whoa, big fella. WHOA!'
• Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an
emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our
compliments.'
“From a DC Airport”
Contributed by Bill Stevens
(This is
priceless funny stuff!)
A DC airport ticket agent offers some examples of 'why' we
have some “problems” at airports, with Congress (on both sides of the
aisle).
1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her
hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
2. I got a call from a Kansas Congressman's staffer, who wanted to go to
Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport
information, and then he interrupted me with, ''I'm not trying to make you
look stupid, but Cape town is in Massachusetts...'' Without trying to
make him look stupid, I calmly explained, ''Cape Cod is in Massachusetts ,
Cape town is in Africa '' his response - click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package
trip we did for him. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in
Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain
that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He
replied, 'don't lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin
state!'' (OMG)
4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, ''Is it possible to see
England from Canada ?'' I said, ''No.'' She said, ''But they look so
close on the map.'' (OMG, again!)
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a
car in Dallas. I pulled up the reservation and noticed he had only a
1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car,
he said, ''I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to
drive between gates to save time.'' (Aghhhh)
6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it
was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 a.m., and got to
Chicago at 8:33 a.m. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of
Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.
Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker, called and asked, ''Do airlines put your
physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to
whom?'' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' He replied, ''Well, when I checked
in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm
overweight. I think that's very rude!'' After putting him on hold for a
minute, while I looked into it. I came back and explained the city code
for Fresno, CA. is (FAT - Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just
putting a destination tag on his luggage.
8. A Senator’s aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.
After going over all the cost info, she asked, ''Would it be cheaper to
fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?''
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman, from AL. who
asked, ''How do I know which plane to get on?'' I asked him what exactly
he meant, to which he replied, ''I was told my flight number is 823, but
none of these planes have numbers on them.''
10. A Senator called and said, ''I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida.
Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?'' I asked if she
meant fly to Pensacola, FL. on a commuter plane. She said, ''Yeah,
whatever, smarty!''
11. A LA. Senator called and had a question about the documents she
needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about
passports, I reminded her that she needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've
been to China many times and never had to have one of those.'' I double
checked and sure enough, her stay required a visa. When I told her this
she said, ''Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have
accepted my American Express!''
12. A New Jersey Congressman called to make reservations, ''I want to go
from Chicago to Rhino, New York.'' I was at a loss for words. Finally, I
said, ''Are you sure that's the name of the town?'' 'Yes, what flights
do you have?'' replied the man. After some searching, I came back with,
''I'm sorry, sir, I've looked up every airport code in the country and
can't find a rhino anywhere." ''The man retorted, ''Oh, don't be silly!
Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!'' So I scoured a map of the
state of New York and finally offered, ''You don't mean Buffalo, do
you?'' The reply? ''Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.''
“Sopwith Camel & Spitfire...A-10 Warthog”
Contributed by Bruce Ahlvin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6PnKUEFX8g
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPwaApe4Rk
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJSk2Xc3Eq4&feature=related
*NFB (note from Bob):
Being any Armor guy I always got a little nervous when the Warthogs were
around...glad they always knew the good guys from the bad guys!
*These are for you Bruce...bring the pain!
“Back to the Fifties”
Contributed by Maggie (Tubia) Horwitz
Back to the Fifties
“Hollywood Squares, Do You Remember?”
Contributed by Pege Graham
These
great questions and answers are from the days when the Hollywood Squares
game show responses were spontaneous, and not scripted, as they are now.
Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions, of course.
Q. Paul, what is a good reason for pounding meat?
A. Paul Lynde: Loneliness! (The audience laughed so long and
so hard it took up almost 15 minutes of the show!)
Q. Do female frogs croak?
A. Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.
Q. If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you
be?
A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady drinking should do it.
Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years.
A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.
Q. You've been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a
woman?
A. Don Knotts: That's what's been keeping me awake.
Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you
think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's
married?
A. Rose Marie: No wait until morning.
Q. Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
A. Charley Weaver: My sense of decency.
Q. In Hawaiian, does it take more than three words to say 'I Love You'?
A. Vincent Price: No, you can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.
Q. What are 'Do It,' 'I Can Help,' and 'I Can't Get Enough'?
A. George Gobel: I don't know, but it's coming from the next apartment.
Q. As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands
while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll
give you a gesture you'll never forget.
Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A. Paul Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.
Q. Charley, you've just decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get
any during the first year?
A.. Charley Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.
Q. In bowling, what's a perfect score?
A. Rose Marie: Ralph, the pin boy.
Q. It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps.
One is politics, what is the other?
A. Paul Lynde: Tape measures.
Q. During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
A. Rose Marie: Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.
Q. Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls?
A. Marty Allen: Only after lights out.
Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose
do?
A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?
Q. If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark.
Q. According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the
habit of kissing a lot of people?
A. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the Army.
Q. It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it?
A. Paul Lynde: Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn't neglected.
Q. Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head,
what was he trying to do?
A. George Gobel: Get it in his mouth.
Q. Who stays pregnant for a longer period of time, your wife or your
elephant?
A. Paul Lynde: Who told you about my elephant?
Q. When a couple have a baby, who is responsible for its sex?
A. Charley Weaver: I'll lend him the car, the rest is up to him.
Q. Jackie Gleason recently revealed that he firmly believes in them and
has actually seen them on at least two occasions. What are they?
A. Charley Weaver: His feet.
Q. According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in
bed?
A. Paul Lynde: Point and laugh
WE DON'T STOP LAUGHING BECAUSE WE GROW OLD,
WE GROW OLD BECAUSE WE STOP LAUGHING!
Did
we make a Difference?
Contributed by Gary Rocklage
(Author unknown
to me...but good read)
Just
before retiring, some young puppy was busting my shoes about how law
enforcement has changed, and the system is improving for the best. I just
smiled and gave him a little laugh.
He asked what was so funny. I told him that I felt sorry for him. When
asked why, I told him, "Because in about 15 years, THIS is going to be
your good old days".
We all saw the change in our jobs. I came on in 1970. I used to tell the
rookies that our academy lasted 3 months. They gave us a stick, a gun, a
dime, and kicked us out into the street. They told us: If you need help,
use the dime. If you can't get to a phone, use the stick. If using the
stick pis*** him off, use the gun.
And the first order we received when we were assigned to a pct. was from
our road sergeant. His order was "Don't you EVER bother me, kid."
Law enforcement then, was much different than the current mission. We
delivered babies, got rough in the alley when we needed to, made "Solomon
like" decisions at least once a tour, and often wound up being big brother
to the kid we roughed up in that alley a year or so ago. And, for some
reason, none of that managed to get on a report. And the department didn't
really want to know. All they wanted was numbers, and no ripples in the
pond.
Because of the changing times, and the evolution of Law Enforcement, the
modern young officers will never see that form of Policing, and of course
this is best. The current way is the right way... now. But it was
different then (ergo, the Dinosaur Syndrome).
When it's time to go, we wonder if we're going to miss the job, after all,
other than our kids and a few marriages, it was the most important thing
in our lives. Actually, it was the other way around. The job was first,
but only another cop could understand how I mean that.
But have faith brother! After a short time of feeling completely impudent,
(After all, you're just John Q. now), reality hits like a lead weight.
It's not the job we miss after all. It's what we as individuals, had
accomplished while in this profession, that we miss. The challenge of life
and death, good and bad, right and wrong, or even simply easing the pain
of some poor bastard for a while, someone we will never see again.
We know the reality of what's happening out there. We are the ones who
have spent our entire adult life picking up the pieces of peoples broken
lives. And the bitch of it all is that no one except us knows what we did
out there.
(I was once told that being a good street cop is like coming to work in a
wet suit and peeing in your pants. It's a nice warm feeling, but you're
the only one who knows anything has happened.)
What I missed mostly though, were the people I worked with. Most of us
came on the job together at the age of 21 or 22. We grew up together. We
were family. We went to each other's weddings, shared the joy of our
children's births, and we mourned the deaths of family members and
marriages. We celebrated the good times, and huddled close in the bad.
We went from rookies who couldn't take our eyes off of the tin number of
the old timer we worked with, to Dinosaurs.
After all, what they gave us was just a job. What we made of it was a
profession. We fulfilled our mission, and did the impossible each and
every day, despite the department and it's regulations.
I think the thing that nags you the most when you first retire is: After
you leave the job and remove your armor, the part of you that you tucked
away on that shelf for all those years, comes out. It looks at all the
things you've hidden away. All the terrible, and all the wonderful things
that happened out there. And it asks you the questions that no one will
ever answer.
"Do you think I did OK? Did I make a difference? Was I a good cop?
You know what Yeah, you were a good cop! And you know it!
In closing;
The best advice I got, by far, was from an old friend who left the job a
few years before me. He told me to stay healthy, work out and watch my
diet. He said "Cause that way, the first day of every month you can look
in the mirror, smile and say... Screwed them out of another month's
pension!!"
Be well, my brothers & sisters!!
“I
Fought For You... Too Young to Know”
(Don’t let a
Generation Forget)
Contributed by Bob Graham
I Fought For You... Too Young to Know
Don’t Forget:
Happy Birthday and Anniversary
to all August Classmates
August Dates to Remember:
1 - Respect for
Parents Day
2 - First Lincoln penny issued, 1909
3 - National Night Out, Against Crime (7-10 PM)
4 - Coast Guard Day, established, 1790
5 - Marilyn Monroe, died 1962
6 - Peace Day
7 - Purple Heart Medal established, 1782
8 - Dollar Day
9 - Sam Elliott born 1944
10 - First steam
Locomotive
11 - Sons and Daughters Day
12 - IBM Personal Computer announced, 1981
13 - Left-Handers Day
14 - Japan surrendered, ending World War II, 1945
15 - Woodstock opened, 1969
16 - Elvis Memorial Day, Elvis Presley died in 1977, he was 42
17 - The Carpenter’s Song “Close to You” hit #1, 1970
18 - Homeless Animal Day
19 - Soft Ice Cream Day & Potato Day
20 - Radio Day
21 - The movie “Dirty Dancing” opened, 1987
22 - Norman Schwarzkopf was born, 1934
23 - Sally debuts (as an infant) in the Peanuts strip, 1959
by Charles Schulz.
24 - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross died in 2004, at the age of 78
25 - Wizard of Oz premiered, 1939
26 - Women’s Equality Day, 1920 (the 19th Amendment became Law, giving
women the right to vote)
27 - The first successful oil well was drilled in Titusville, PA, 1859
28 - Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in
Washington DC, 1963
29 - Goodyear Tire Company founded, 1898
30 - National Toasted Marshmallow Day
31 - Ramona Trinidad Iglesias-Jordan was born August 31, 1889. Until her
death
on May 29, 2004, she had been the world’s oldest person, 114 years old.
Keep Your
Fork...’64,
Bob Graham
PS: Thank You Classmates, I hope you all find something in your “unknown”
month? Stay healthy and safe, and stay connected. The keyboard will once
again have your interesting and informative messages in the September
Newsletter.
PSS: Movie review: reference the 26th of August, see you in the balcony.
