Category Archives: Military

Looking back 20 years

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29 April 2018 – Looking back 20 years

Today I am on a ship, sailing to Halifax. Civilian ship, lovely surroundings, great food, good friends.

Contrast that to 20 years ago. My location was Blue Factory, MND-N, Bosnia. This mailing list had been functioning for about three weeks. My purpose, not well articulated, was to keep in touch with those outside of the theater. As it turned out, it also served to provide a glimpse into deployed military life to family and friends. Most of whom had had little to no contact with the military. The list also served as my chronicle of ongoing life in the middle of an armed camp in the remains of a severely damaged country. No, it wasn’t quite bombed back to the stone age, but not for lack of trying. The absolute devastation weighed heavily on me. The visible proof that neighbors could turn on those living next door, often for decades.

The closest anyone had to social media in 1998 was various ListServes which mostly ran on various university computers. A response to the list was distributed back out to the entire list. About the only control the user had over the list was to set parameters for individual or daily delivery of the list. There were also the USENET discussion groups. Access to any of the above depended on at least a modicum of computer literacy, access at work or home plus a [rather noisy] dial up modem. Obviously, having a personal computer in 1998 was much more likely that it was in the early 1980s, but still not ubiquitous.

My notes were basically a record of daily life, the operation of my task force, and asides about anything thing else that caught my fancy. 20 years ago – it was about cows. I would include the whole note, but that idea leaves me shuddering. Email for me at the time was an in-line ASCII text editor. Cut and paste was marginal. As a result, spelling, grammar, and frankly more often than not, coherency took a bit of effort on the readers part.

Living in a deployed environment, my life was constrained by Task Force Eagle requirements and the practicalities of military procedures. To travel off Blue Factory all rules and forms had to be observed. The nicest, of course, was to hitch a ride with one of my MEDEVAC crews. Flying was always a pleasure, quicker and more comfortable that the other options. To travel by ground with US forces, whether my own or other’s required a convoy of 2-4 vehicles, full battle rattle (flak vest, load bearing equipment, helmets, weapons loaded) vehicles and constant reporting of location. There were also buses which traveled between the bases on quasi regular routes ( 2 ½ hours to Eagle base, 45 minute return) which enabled more efficient use of personnel. The final travel option was to hitch rides with various allies in which case their travel rules applied. The best option for me/my personnel was traveling with NordPol Brigade who went everywhere in single vehicles.

Leaving aside a recitation of meetings, email and exercise, which involved the daily operations of a medical task force (hospital, dental, public health, vet, ground and air evac, med support company, mental health) related to patient treatment, transfer and flow through and out of theater we were still in the process of settling in. The previous hospital and commander had been well respected, the task force? Not so much.

“ We put some pax on a Norwegian vehicle going north. I had lab and pharmacy soldiers who needed/wanted to get to Slav Brod. This was both an assistance visit and a “check out the new facilities trip.” The Nords were meeting some vehicles returning from Hungary . My soldier who just returned had a great time on the trip. He said the country is beautiful in spite of the destruction. Riding in one of the Norwegian small trucks was also a good deal from his point of view.

Meanwhile, I rode in a convoy over to Tuzla Main in response to a personal invitation to fa remembrance service. With what turned out to be a non-infrequent occurrence, the information provided wasn’t completely accurate. The date on the poster didn’t match that of the email which also didn’t match the phone verification call or reality. Arriving – oops, tomorrow. I am not going to be going back tomorrow. I have a meeting at the Ministry of Health to attend.

Heading back before dark (two vehicles rather than four) – there were cows. One set of three adults and three yearlings that certainly looked like Holsteins. A bit further on, another three adults calmly walking single file down the side of the road like they knew where they were going. This small herd looked to be a cross between a Guernsey and a Holstein in brown; no visible black but weird white and brown splotches. The cows were alone; I hoped they were headed home.”

Yugoslavia had been the producer of land mines for the Soviet Union. Their production had been extensive which lead to the obvious use of everything from anti-personnel “toe poppers” to huge anti-tank mines during the time frame following the breakup of the country. I guess it is use the tools on hand. The result for both peacekeeping and peacemaking forces was the necessity of staying on roads. Often, cows inadvertently wound up serving as landmine detectors. If a field was strewn with cows, the chances were good that there were [no longer] landmines in that field. Cows walking along the roads? Stay on the path if you please.

Today, I am looking out the front of the observation lounge into more white mists. There is blue sky visible above. I am not wearing body armor, a helmet or carrying a loaded weapon. I might miss the responsibility and feelings of contribution to larger purpose. But I don’t miss the weight of the gear or unreasonable rules which at times served to impede mission and block progress. I am comfortable in a multi-cultural, multi-language environment in a way that many other passengers are not. Ship rules don’t bother me. I understand the need. Stupid people irritate me, but that is nothing new. Those who relocate themselves from cabin to lounge and proceed to snore, or seem to think that the entire ship is their personal underwear/bathrobe space. The seas aren’t all that rough and we actually were able to finally see the waves this evening.

Now, if the food had been this good on my deployments ……

Vancouver VFW Memorial

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As you walk down Columbus toward the river there is a bright mural on the overpassing railroad bridge.  Just to the right is the VFW Memorial. Comprised of three sections, it makes a quiet but clear statement. In picture form, is the history of the US military war experience starting with WWI.

extending along the embankment

There is a section with the names of the dead, the missing and those that served which is expanding by both those adding their names or emailing the info to the project maintainers.

just names, dates, service, in sharpie

There is the symbolic graveyard.

listening to chaos theory on a cold afternoon while wielding paint brushes

Expanding and updating part of the wall were a couple of diligent artists

and after touch up

Over all, it is such a simple thing – to serve so that all may have their freedom. Even those who don’t have the understanding or respect that our country deserves.

 

In other comments; on any day but Sunday it seems to be relatively easy to travel between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. When I had verified transportation options yesterday I was horrrified that it would be almost as fast to hike the 10miles between the cities as to attempt the public option. Cabs were predicted to be double the cost of Lyft.

But we made it, went walking toward the river, around the local square and enjoyed Thai food for an early supper while seeing the last of the fall trees lit up with the sunset.

Bob Hope USO

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The early morning sail in was beautiful – no rain, not cold and lights all about us. The moon was full and glowing. The LA Harbor is actually in San Pedro. Primarily an industrial harbor it also has both a cruise terminal and the USS Iowa Battleship Museum.

sailing in through the commercial harbor

we turned into the cruise terminal just before the bridge

 

After breakfast with Jill & Graeme, I hung out for a while. Since I had pre-paid a transfer to LAX, why not wait? And wait. And wait…

The morning turned into a challenge for everyone. First there were local police who decided that until they were done with whatever they were doing, no one was getting on or off the ship. Means the ICE folks can’t review the crew manifest. Then “someone” (meaning ICE) didn’t realize how many non-US citizens were on the ship. The two (2) departure/clearance lines bogged down completely when everyone has to go through the passport/visa check/finger print check etc.

Then a bus or two broke down.

Shall we skip all the upset people who were worried about their flights? Or the nice couple several of us pushed to the front of the line? The pair who missed the “walk off” announcement and were waiting to be able to leave the ship. With less than 90 minutes till their flight?

I made it to LAX by noon (original projected time was 1045) and confirmed that SouthWest strictly adheres to the four hour luggage drop off rule.  Terminal 1 was a zoo. No place to hang out. Terminal 2 is the same. But between the two, and across the road (finally found the stoplight and cross walk) sits the Bob Hope USO. They let us old-timers in on a Space-A basis.

There was space. And outlets, and coffee.

I spent time talking with some young Navy guys. An Air Force Tech Sargent on his way to Hawaii fully agreed that he was in the “comfortable service” and there was nothing wrong at all in avoiding both long deployments and tented living conditions…

In not too many minutes, I will be able to drop off luggage and get through security. My flight is just after 2200 and my DH will even pick me up at the Oakland Airport!

I am actually looking forward to being home. Is there a pill I can take for that?

 

Blue Angels

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6 Oct 2017 – Blue Angels

Since today was a sea day, I could bore you with a stitch by stitch discussion of a newly started cross-stitch fractal. Or on how Jill decided that the design that looked perfectly lovely on 28 count fabric looked really sucky and clumsy when stitched on 14 count. Me? I like 14 count, but will be deviating into 22 count (these, by the way are threads per inch) for a project that I have planned in order to keep it to a size doable in my life time.

Blue Angels, right.

We were significantly late leaving San Francisco yesterday due to practice activities of Fleet Week. This apparently includes an aerial show presented by the Blue Angels (the fighter exhibition flying team for those not steeped in US Navy military lore). Well, today was practice , the day.  The Bay, apparently was closed to large vessel traffic. Or at least large cruise ships. We saw several container ships move out and through. I had heard nothing about small craft warnings so you really have to wonder.

Right after boarding we were treated to about an hour of flyovers featuring 2-4 jets in various close formations circling around, barrel rolling, climbing, diving and coming way to close to each other for my comfort. But then I most assuredly remember Flugtag 88.  The three of us detoured to lunch, found our cabins and wandered around a bit.

There was a muster drill, naturally. One of the longest and most exquisitely detailed in my opinion. Glad that it was only English and German or we would have been there a lot longer than 35 minutes.  Following that, I headed back up to the Observation Deck and grabbed a lounge chair. It was almost 1600, our scheduled departure. No movement, nothing, but a lot of noise overhead. The jets were back, six of them this time. I am sure there is a reason why the planes were numbered 1,3,4,5,7,7  I am sure there is a reason never mind that it would make more sense to have consecutive numbers? And yes they went by low enough to be able to read the tails. Even double checked the images I took with the camera.

Obviously, this crew was the source of the haze spoiling what would otherwise have been a clear day. They popped over Mt Talapis often enough that I think the air quality in Salsallito must have really sucked.

The Grand Princess was at Pier 27. She sailed out first, then we pulled out, much closer to 1800 than just 90 minutes late. But there were supplies that were loaded, all the late arriving buses from SFO managed to make it through the traffic and I had luggage by the time I got back to my cabin. I would not have wanted to be any civilian aircraft coming into OAK or SFO today. There were too many military aircraft moving at high speed, climbing, diving and otherwise taking up significant airspace over the Bay.

Oh, and one wonders exactly what modifications were made to the biplane……

Memorial Day

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Memorial Day when I was growing up was the 30th of May. In fact, it didn’t become a floating to Monday holiday until 1972 which explains my memories of parades and cemetery services being on various days of the week.

I had no family who served in the US military in WWI – either too young an immigrant or too old when the war started. In WWII, my father served but wasn’t let out of CONUS due to age and perhaps attitude. He served as a combat photographer for the 10th Mountain Division. Something that I verified when I was stationed at Ft Drum as his scribble was tucked into the corner of a few of the training photos from the Colorado Mountains prior to the division beings shipped to the Italian front.

I spent Viet Nam in University and Med School, the first Gulf War first in Eckenbach for Golden Python and then later at Ft Drum. After that I managed to get through 6 months plus multiple trips to the Balkans, 15 months in Kuwait & Iraq and 7 months in Afghanistan without getting myself killed. In fact, I don’t think I have any US family members who have died in military service. For that matter, I don’t think I have had any family members other than my father who have ever served. Military service was traditionally for men – lots of small families with daughters only, and it made for a really, really good reason to leave Czarist Russia. 25 years conscription was not a good thing for anyone and did only rarely return anyone to home.

For me it is a good day to stay home. I can recognize the sacrifice of others without going somewhere, doing something. It is not like living in Europe where visiting the WWI and WWII cemeteries made sense. I can recognize the sacrifice of self, family and country.

And I don’t have to be bombarded by all those commercial enterprises which disgracefully dishonor the sacrifice of so many in countries service by turning the holiday which was traditionally one of respect into just another sales opportunity.

Last flight out

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All of us who fly to Europe are used to the “leave in the evening and arrive the next morning” method of travel. For years when traveling from the East Coast, this meant a flight leaving somewhere after 2000 and sometimes as late as 2230. After moving to the West Coast things changed a lot. If you are stuck (schedule or expense) changing planes in the US it normally means a morning departure. You have to account for 4-5 hours of flight plus three hours of time change. And, if you are smart, at least 2 hours at the change airport just to have 1/2 a chance of making your flight.

Even the direct flights from SFO seem to leave early afternoon. But then, my most recent flights have involved Frankfurt, a plane change in Frankfurt or Copenhagen. Imagine my surprise when informed that the flight to Munich (why wouldn’t I fly direct?) didn’t leave till 2055! Of course, it doesn’t exactly arrive in the morning, now does it? This is not a flight for someone who needs to be able to work the same day they arrive. But it is totally and completely perfect for someone who needs to get there, have a light supper and crash for the night.

Oh, I didn’t say? It doesn’t arrive till 1715 in the late afternoon. For me, this is perfect. I need to be at the SanAK the next day for registration and my conference is Tue-Thurs. Makes complete sense; within the week travel for everyone in Europe and in country.

My studio is almost clean. There are several hundred books and a dozen or so audio books ready to go to the used bookstore. I passed along a couple dozen weaving books to a new weaver and 500 gm of beads to a friend of the Eldest. Between College Guy and myself, there are three bags of clothing to go to the Charity Shop and three baskets of craft supplies are going to be rehoused on my just emptied shelves in the garage.

I’ll have phone and wifi while gone. I will miss the family (no, not you dogs) but not the construction noise. The Eldest is documenting the whole process for me.  Meanwhile, there has to be something interesting to snack on here in the United Lounge (no, I’m on Lufthansa).

Ah!, cookies….

HOA & Djibouti

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Watching the map this morning as we w\sailed through the narrowest part of the straights (which I am sure was planned for daylight) I was reminded of how little I miss the Arab Middle East. Or HOA (Horn of Africa) or that nasty place in 2003-4 referred to Djibouti and should be only visited if you never left the airfield.

According to the [ex]Marine I met up with on deck this morning, we were due to pass through the narrowest portion of the straits at 0900. At least that is what the front desk told him when we called. Neither of us being all that stupid about geography and willing to look at the progress screen on the telly, we were on the deck right before 0600. Since sunrise was around 0515, this explains why we slowed down so much overnight. This area is definitely one to pass during the day.

Looking off to Port, the African coast is receding in the distance. And is plain, we are not exactly the only ship making this passage.

 

On the Arabian Peninsula side…

 

With neither side looking all that welcoming.

 

Cross Stitch update –

17 March 2017

 

 

Sideswiped

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The effects of immunotherapy are both similar and different from traditional chemo. The differences are blatantly obvious: no violent nausea, no hair loss, no aching bones or obvious signs of illness.  If it works, the signs and symptoms are subtle. This translates frankly to more worry and concern. In someways, if you have physical manifestations of poisons at work in your body, you know that something is happening. The contrast is when you feel a little bit lousy you don’t know who or what to blame. So whatever gets between you and what you thought you wanted to do gets the flak. Most of the time completely undeserving. But then, I have never been really good at recognizing limits, physical pain or the proper time to sit down and shut up.

If you don’t believe that last sentence – just ask my family and they will confirm that when I lose it the antecedent is normally unrecognized physical discomfort (ok, pain) or hunger or both.

So there I am, poking at completely tender ribs and trying to decide if I should be worried, take some tylenol or just drink some more coffee. Oatmeal and the coffee won out along with a dose of tylenol which pretty much settled things for a while. Then I thought about things seriously and realized that one of my friendly pre-medications is cortisone. In IV form (which is how it is administered) it is pretty much cleared in 12 hours or so. Bounce up – bounce down. Maybe = crabby the next day?

In any case, it was time to get over myself, run errands with Shana and get back to my cross-stitch.

5 Jan 2017. Technically another three rows finished

where you can see the red pin from where I left off yesterday. Means 18 rows to go, several of which should be quick. The rest unfortunately are going to be single stitches again.

The set

George and I went to the Berkeley Rep this evening to see 946; The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips. The play is based on a story set off the coast of England in WWII. The performing company is Kneehigh out of Cornwall in the UK. It was excellent.  Had I known the subject matter, I would not have gone. I don’t do war movies, plays, combat simulations and other takes on bloody reality. Done my turn in the various combat zones and feel absolutely no need to return, relive or examine. Your mileage may vary.

The year – 2016 – in Review

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The Eighth Night

 

In which I will say that a year that started out fine became a lot more challenging. And, to misquote Connie Willis – “To say nothing of the dog[politic]”

January saw a vain attempt on my part to pretend that Berkeley was now home. Other than move all the clutter from storage into the garage, much of my month was spent in that wonderful state of denial. The one where I was still living the good life in Europe and traveling. To confirm that day dream, I managed to get my India Visa on the first go-round.

February

The early part of the month had to do with fractals, Ducky getting friends and continuing to try recipes in the tangine. The second half of the month was all about India. The massive numbers of people, the incredibly poor quality of the air balanced by the history, amazing buildings and the lovely people in my tour group. I did wind up getting a real feel for how the cast system worked (if you aren’t male and upper cast you have issues) and an appreciation of being from a country where what you accomplish is more important than the identity of your parents. I took a lot of photos…

March

I started in Kathmandu at a Regional Travel Medicine meeting with side bars into Altitude Medicine. The meeting was great, I was able to see some of the city and meet my tour guide for my upcoming tour. But first I had a detour back to New Dehli to join with the rest of the group and visit Bhutan prior to my return to Nepal. I appreciated both countries a lot more than India, the scenery was incredible in both locations (but the air in Bhutan was clean).  Again, there were great people in my tour group which over all was a bit younger than some of the other tours I have taken.

April –

Ethiad to Australia where I was able to spend time in Adelaide with friends before traveling on to New Zealand to meet up with George. We spent time on both North and South Island. I discovered that the NZ answer to vegetarian was “something in a pastry shell.” Afterwards, while George headed back home I went on to the Gold Coast and visited friends before heading to Sydney. Taking the Explorer of the Seas back to the US pretty much used up the rest of the month

May

and a fair amount of time into May. By the time I got home I was tired. Not too tired to attend some Oakland A’s games, mind you. Just enjoying a respite from travel. For a few days anyway.

June –

was a month in which I appreciated home and baseball games more than an alumni sponsored trip called “In the Wake of the Vikings.”  It turns out that I have an allergy to French run cruise ships (they don’t label the food and the idea of vegetarian meals seemed beyond them most of the time.  I love Scotland and was able to have lunch with a delightful colleague from my UK days, but didn’t appreciate the tour aspects. I think if I can talk to people on my own and can read the signs, I probably would be happier staying away from the tours…

July –

Westercon in Portland over the 4th of July weekend. Hadn’t been in Portland except for a few hours in over five years.  I rediscovered my love of white water rafting and my dislike for long car rides. I was able to spend time in Colorado with a good friend (who is about to permanently return to Germany) and also see friends who I have known since my first (1981-84) tour in Germany. Once home- I attended a lot of baseball games.

August –

Being a puzzle addict, and mind you only the expensive wooden ones, it was a delight to visit Liberty Puzzles in Boulder. World Con was in Kansas City this year with the Iron Throne once more in attendance. Paul & Storm were in concert as were PDX Broadsides.  I managed a quick return to a ship (The Grandeur) with Carmen when we sailed out of Baltimore to Bermuda and back.  Oh, yes and more than a couple of baseball games.

Sept –

Baseball, house guests and an escape to Venice and the Rhapsody of the Seas. Oh, and we celebrated our 38th anniversary, moved Daughter #2 and SIL to Berkeley from Chicago and otherwise had a memorable month. I needed a vacation… from parenthood? retirement? the US?

Oct –

spent on trips around the Eastern Med, the Middle Med and finally the Western Med.

Nov –

Attended the IMED meeting in Vienna where the key topic was now Zika (as apposed to Ebola) and the discussions were around sourcing for surveillance and better integration of the marine, plant, wildlife, livestock and human health people. It was also about then when I admitted to myself that something was not right with my health and it was time to go home. Skipped the Navigator, flew back to SFO. Rest of the month was spent doing tests, appointments and not liking any of the answers.

Dec –

which is where we are now. Like Fenton – my long ago and mostly forgotten NHL decided to come back and make my life a bit more challenging. Both family and friends have been extra-ordinarily supportive and understanding of me, my attitude and the occasional meltdown (sounds better than saying temper tantrum now doesn’t it). I have been lucky enough to have all four adult children in town for the past week. I’ve three (Noah, Dani & Alex) who I see on essentially a daily basis and Shana almost as much. The Maus has been terrific about checking in. George has been a rock.

I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed my overnights in the hospital (in fact, I can’t remember the previous time I stayed overnight in a hospital, might have been about 1981) but have managed to get through the first three rounds of immunotherapy without major difficulty. One more round and follow up testing to decided where we go next.

Meanwhile, I am sewing, cross-stitching, reading a lot of books and promising myself to catch up on all the things on my “when I get around to it list.”

This past year was interesting, exciting and followed by challenging. This coming year I can do with a bit less challenging and more family and friends. Travel is still in my plans, tho I may have to limit myself to less than 28 day jaunts.

This past year – ~ 23 countries, 53k air miles, 7 cruises, 3 ground based tours and endless enjoyment of family and friends. Next year – it will be even better.

 

Two candles

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are alight in the Menorah.

All four of my kids are home. The Eldest picked up Maus from Oakland this afternoon. They came straight to the house. College Guy worked all day. Since he is the only one of the management staff at his particular CVS to whom none of the following apply (married, small children, Christian) he volunteered to work the whole day. I’ve no question that he is a good guy and would have been willing to help out regardless. But the extra hours and the holiday pay never hurt.

Table cloth and napkins

are special for the holidays. Hey, the fabric was on sale at JoAnn’s and I was having fun with my new serger.. We had latkes, both traditional and sweet potato. Our stove has a griddle surface, so we completely avoided the deep fry oil, but with a few left over for tomorrow’s breakfast. Finished up the soup.

Otherwise, I took it really easy today. Christian reported in that everything went smoothly in Augsburg. I got the impression that they were all very thankful that their hardest job was deciding what kind of pizza to order in. The courage of the three EOD guys still amazes me. I did enough standby for EOD for years, but never had a desire to really learn whether I should be cutting the yellow, red, blue or green wire first… That bomb, one of the original “Blockbusters” will be on its way out of the area to complete its demilitarization.

I’ve started the Klimt Cross-stitch. It is one the with (44×132 = 5808 stitches) and 80+ colors. Many of which have only one or two stitches in a section.

the first three rows complete

Since it is so narrow, I am going to consider progress by rows completed rather than by 10×10 squares done. A row (44 stitches) to count must be complete. Three rows down, 129 to go = 5676 stitches till completion. With all the floss I have around, two of the colors I need seem to have taken a walk. Of
course, they both have a presence in the first few rows.

Tomorrow I’m predicting continuing cool (not cold) and mostly sunny to the weekend. Hope that everyone had a wonderful day with family, friends and whatever they were celebrating.

And the ongoing Augsburger Saga

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For almost everyone of us who were ever stationed in Germany, Augsburg is at least a bit familiar. Located along the A8 Autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich it was an easy stop on the way to the mountains, Oktoberfest or Austria if you had a car full of bored children. Obviously, there was also an American military presence, so many of us called it home for three years.

That bomb, now lying in isolated splendor on the grounds of a future underground parking garage is covered by a white tent. Both to protect it from the elements and, I seriously think, stupid people who might just think tossing things or attempting drone fly-byes would be interesting. Not.

It is thin skinned, and is mostly the 1.5 ton of explosive with a more than adequate central well to make the maximum distribution of force. I’m following the story both from emails and The Augsburger Allgemeine on line. The information being provided is amazingly complete. Some of the questions being posed by the public are not so…. I can’t help but wonder about some of the people.

Why would they want to put this off for a week so that it doesn’t disturb your visiting relatives? It was one thing the bomb was buried and not disturbed, another when it is sitting on the surface. Yes, there are people in the 1.5 km radius who don’t have Internet. So what? Do you really think the Police and Fire Departments don’t have the location of everyone legally in the area? This is Germany; everyone has to be registered. Do you really think “we” never had to plan evacuations in the era before the Internet? How about Storms and Floods? Locating everyone is part of standard emergency planning; it is part of what the Emergency Response people do for a living. It is why Sunday’s are better than weekdays for such operations: fewer people, less economic impact.

Never mind this is the single largest evacuation in the country since WWII. Can 2500 emergency response professionals handle 65000? Probably. Unlike a certain segment of the US population, Germans have lived through wars/bombings in their home cities (or their parents/grandparents have). They are not going to claim a right to die in place defending “their stuff.” The city officials are also making it clear that not leaving risks life, limb, and 1000€. I would doubt that riots and looters are going to be a significant issue.

Part of my update comes from our intrepid on-scene reporter (and responder), the rest from on-line news.

Compared to all of that, my life is calm. Some of the day was spent in the car. Dental care for one of mine. Ransoming sewing machines that were in for service. The first involved driving to Walnut Creek, the second to Dublin (not Ireland).

Otherwise – in a surprise move – you are getting a 2 for 1 picture. I finished another Exeter Hat and have just the last few rows to go the cross stitch

the tag line was innocent

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One of the group of what I sometimes refer to as “the rest of my children” sent me an email which I received as I was sitting in the infusion chair at Martinez. I have gathered a few of these over the years; the extra young people, not the chair. Some from a chance meeting on a plane or in a lobby, others from work. shared interests or because they are off-spring of friends. These are those rare & lovely relationships where I get to be the older sister/favorite non-aunt/friend without the sturm und dram that comes with biological family ties.

Christian is one of these. I was stationed at the SanAk in Munich when we met. As I was the liaison officer, he had come seeking advice on how to take the US Army’s Expert Field Medical Badge Test. There is always a long and complicated way of doing such a thing. I took the shorter method – called one of my former company commanders and asked if he could add a young German Army person to his quota. Since he had mostly providers (who don’t have either the time or the interest) the answer was a resounding yes. Intro’s made, I left them to do their thing. He did the course, passed (3% pass rate) and has stayed part of my life since.

When I received his email this morning, I had just finished talking to one of the nurses about having done contingency medical support planing for a significant portion of my military career (in, with and about assignments); inspecting various weapons storage sites; and working with allies.

I start to read the email.
“I think you’ve been to Augsburg before….”
yes. Several times. One of the clinics that fell under WMEDDAC (Wurzburg Army Medical) until closures.

Benign line story line that sucked me in. But what he goes on to say is that construction workers downtown found what they thought was UXO (unexploded ordnance). They call Fire/Rescue who comes out and looks at it. No way – must be a water tank or something. EOD (Bomb Squad) – let’s see your tin cup, no way – too big.  10 minutes later – ummm we know what it is. Never seen one before.

Cookie is a 3.8 ton present dropped by the RAF in WWII. Pure explosives

At this point I am laughing, I can’t help it. The fit was too perfect. Past career, weapons, bombs and Augsburg has such a lovely Christmas Market. It is one of those – release the stress laughs while wondering if the effects of WWII will ever be complete.

She will not be a good Christmas gift  for the 54,000 who are going to have to evacuate the center of the city on the morning of the 25th. This includes not just residents, but a hospital, a number of care facilities. With the number of people involved it is obvious why everyone is taking the time and effort to do carefully and without any more drama than necessary. There is a nice picture of where they were digging out an underground parking garage.

The best and clearest story is here for those who read German. Also mentions the fact that in 2015 over 64 tons of left over munitions were found in Bavaria alone. In typical fashion the explanation for why the 25th: prep time needed for planning. Holiday so all the businesses are closed,.minimum window of 5 hours needed and safest to do that in daylight with a holiday following just in case they need a second day.

I’ve done EOD support and standby over the years. I am comforted by knowing the EOD  have experienced and extremely well qualified and disciplined support staff standing.

Meanwhile, I was able to put my personal whines into better perspective. I’m warm, fed, dry. I am getting care in an outstanding medical system that is not choosing my medication based on cost. I’ve family that cares about me. I don’t have to leave my home this weekend. I didn’t have any particular adverse reaction to the infusion and I am comfortably home.


Hopefully the Augsburg EOD mission will be complete by the time we are lighting the Menorah on Sunday evening. Christian and all the other members of emergency response services will be safe with their families.

Peace, not to much to ask for?

 

Pink? Really?

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As most of us might imagine, the overwhelming majority of of US veterans are male. It wasn’t until after the end of the draft that women entered not just the officers corps (nurses & admin) but the rank and file as well. It wasn’t that women didn’t serve, it was rather that their roles were much more limited and likely auxiliary rather than acknowledging that gender wasn’t relevant except as it played out in strength and ability. The WAC (Women’s Army Corp 1943-1978) was the repository of all Army Women except for those in the medical fields and I’m not sure about Chaplains or JAG (but I doubt that it came up often). It was still in existence when I joined the Reserves and I owe a lot to the advice of a crusty SFC WAC.

One of my early predecessor’s in the liaison position with the British Army Medical Corps was one of the first six women actually assigned to the US Army Medical Corps. It did create a fuss. Since this was all organized at the Army Surgeon General’s level, there was little the nay sayers could do.  It wasn’t like they were taking jobs away from men…. I don’t think placing physicians in the WAC would have been acceptable (to either the docs or that corps).

The integration of the nursing profession I found much more interesting in the UK. Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps came into being in 1881, confirmed by Royal Warrant in 1902 and wasn’t actually integrated into the British Army until after WWII. Go figure. Up until 1992, male nurses wer part of RAMC.

Why am I providing you all of this? Back to the beginning. Women in actual service (read eligible for VA services) were not all that common until after 1978. Under 40 years. Since most of those who served prior to our frolics and stupidities since 2001, few had service connected disabilities (we will not go into the politics of what was and wasn’t service connected). That means that there aren’t that many “older” women eligible for services. The vast majority of those potentially eligible are under 65, likely still employed. The VA delivers an excellent standard of care in my opinion but it can be slow and ungainly. A female patient on the ward is not common, as I mentioned a couple of days ago. I am sure that is going to change in the coming decade – meanwhile –

my name tag is pink…

P.S

I was sprung this afternoon and am now spending a quiet evening with Shana and her two boys (Ghost & Onyx)

then there is Malta

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I would like to tell you about Valletta, but in fact we docked in Florrianna. Admittedly, it is just the next municipality inland but in terms of walking it added a few thousand steps. The steps are because, of course, I headed off away from the port to see what I could see rather than straight to the new elevator that goes up the cliff side and to the old town.

I’ve walked through Valletta before, but never gone through the fortifications. Add in the sparkle of water and sailing ships in the harbor for a regatta and I was all set standing along where the line of restored cannons saluted the sailors, tourists and TV broadcasters.  The race officials, smartly enough, had brought ear plugs.

 

For those not familiar, Malta has a long history of countries squabbling over it because of it’s prime location for sea control. As a result, it unsurprisingly has a lot of fortifications and has been used in the not so distant past by NATO as fleet headquarters.

There is the “underground” tunnel system used for defence –

 

 

 

(to be continued…..

Dubrovnik

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

There weren’t any ships in the harbor, the first time I arrived in Dubrovnik. In fact I wouldn’t have an an opportunity to see the city of stones gleaming on a sunny day at all if it hadn’t been for one of the  Norwegian soldiers being a a bit stupid on R&R. His was admitted to a Croatian Hospital with some superficial wounds and a broken bone or two. So I saw Dubrovnik from the air taking pictures from my seat in the MEDEVAC helicopter before we crested a hill to land on a soccer field where the ambulance was waiting for us. That was in 1998.

The city had been hard hit in 1991-2 with the break up of Yugoslavia.

the dots all represent war damage

the dots all represent war damage

in the old city. The next opportunity I had to spend time on the ground was in 2010 when George and I cruised from Athens to Venice on the Wind Spirit. That time we dropped anchor in the inner harbor as pictured below.

The old city today

The old city today

 

 

Since then, I have been back a couple of times on Royal which is normally docked to the west of the old city.

not just ancient traditions

not just ancient traditions

 

a stop part way - the west harbor being at the far left upper corner

a stop part way – the west harbor being at that small bit of blue in the far left upper corner

 

The Wiki article is pretty good, with one exception. There is only a minor mention of popular culture: Dubrovnik features prominently as King’s Landing and Qarth in Game of Thrones and also provides one of the locations for Star Wars – Episode VIII. As you can guess, there is a plethora of memorabilia to be purchased and Game of Thrones walking tours to be taken.

Me? I just walked into town, around a bit and back to the ship totally ~ 15k steps for the day.

 

 

If I didn’t already have grey hair

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

this morning could have easily finished off the job.

To review – Monday I had an appointment at the VA. I ran out of time to wait for my scripts as I needed to get Dani somewhere else by 1545. I said I would be back in the morning to pick everything up. Yesterday I came over and spent several hours finding out that 1) my scripts had been mailed.

(Hello? I am leaving on Saturday. I am out of meds. Do you seriously expect the mail is going to arrive in time? I do a lot of stupid things in my life, but skipping life required meds isn’t in the plan. I enjoy being alive to be a PITA to everyone in my life.)

So I get here as early as reasonably possible having decided that exercise class would be good to decrease my general level of hostility. I even paid for parking at North Berkeley scoring the third to the last parking place in the overflow lot.

The game starts at 1235…

I stop at the pharmacy. They hand my script. It isn’t my med. (Foreshadowing – if I had known the insanity the next couple of hours were going to involve, I would have kept my mouth shut and left). This is “D2” – I’m on “D3.” Oh – I will check with the doc. I thought I had a previous script in the system. The notes just say Vit D replacement. Different half-lives for the two. After 90 minutes, I prove what I am on by Dani taking photos of my script bottle at home and emailing. Yep – D3, but from LRMC. Why don’t I just ask them to refill the script?

You are kidding, aren’t you? Landstuhl Hospital is in Germany, they are 9 hours ahead of us. I can’t exactly stop by and the mail would take a long time. Repeat – flying on Saturday.

She contacts the doc. The staff goes for a meeting. They come back. I make a couple more trips to the window – they don’t usually page and the electric pharmacy “scripts ready” sign is still out of order.

I finally get handed a bottle about five minutes before I am going to lose it completely. The bottle contains barely enough capsules to see me through the trip. At this point, I really don’t care any more.

The A’s lose again. Instead of three of us in the Flag&Drum RF149, there are eight so the sunshine feels good and there is plenty of time to socialize. Jane was returning from Singapore today to SFO. The third of our early 1980’s female officer triumvirate who also lives here in the Bay Area picked her up at MacArthur Station for the afternoon. We met up at Gaumenkitzel early evening for supper and a reminisce of life as it was then. Balancing jobs, families and superiors who did not appreciate female subordinates and used their discriminatory powers with glee.

Somethings have changed for the better in the last 35 years. Not completely fixed mind you – but definitely better. It was fun being able to reminisce with those who had been there, done that, survived. Not living in the past, but pulling the memories out of storage, brushing them off and looking back with eyes significantly older. One would hope wiser as well. Not needed on a daily basis, but it was an interesting and defining time in our lives.

it has really been that long

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

It used to be that I never, ever went to bed without finishing up my post for the day. Of course, when you are deployed to Bosnia (1998) it isn’t like there is a whole lot of competing evening entertainment. Admittedly, I could go down to movie night and watch “Groundhog’s Day” or get on the server and play quake as alternatives to jotting down the day. But I found that analyzing the day was one way of making sense of both the important and trivial.

Fast forward 18 years (yes, 18 years….) The Internet has exploded in depth and breath. What we were doing before with ASCII characters and hand coded graphics can frankly now be done by an 8 year old, a trained monkey or someone over 60 (with a bit of effort). Cell phones are common place as is email so that most of you who are reading this usually have an account in addition to AOL. I don’t bounce the mailing list off a military server (worked till 2001).

My daily challenges are different. I certainly don’t mind that they no longer include people shooting at me/my troops. But there is a certain potential for sameness in days at sea that the Army on the ground never quite shared with the Navy at sea. I’m not in charge; I have to remember to not act like I am (grin).

A morning in Bermuda where there is sunshine, humidity and a chance to take a ferry over to Hamilton didn’t appeal to me as much as reading another Anne Perry Mystery. I am reading her Thomas& Charlotte Pitt series concurrently with the William Monk series as books become available through the on-line public libraries. So that is where my state of mind was yesterday when I went through the fort – thinking about societies, structure, roles and poverty. Unlike many of the other islands, Bermuda seems to have recovered well from the Colonial Era, but I found myself just not in the mood.

So no pretty pictures of tropical plants, lovely water, or sweaty people.  Carmen and I ate dinner in MyTime Dining. It was lobster night which explains why I sweetly looked at our waiter and asked him to find me vegetarian curry…..

Sunrise

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

as seen from Ft Carson billeting…

019A1707

and then there were –

bunch of baby bunnies

bunch of baby bunnies

where is a dog when you need one?

It was a quiet day mostly one of backing up photos and clearing out my hard drive.

Changing of the Guard

Holly Doyne Posted on by 4

Without anything specific planned today, it seemed important to make sure that I got to the fitness center, boring as that might be. Of course, there was the idea that a stroll along the shore might also be a good idea.

I have my choice of currency

I have my choice of currency

So I did both: checked the block about burning off some calories first thing in the morning and then taking off. There had been a lot of warnings about staying out of the unsafe areas which seem to comprise a goodly portion of both Suva and the island. As it was a Saturday, there were people everywhere. Couples, vendors, little kids having a great time. Shops were still open and I decided that Maus was going to have to survive without a postcard from here as I just couldn’t brave the crush in the area around the port.

019A9527

Heading along the seawall to the right, there weren’t as many people and I was enjoying my nice brisk walk past hotels, stores, open spaces and the occasional home. Then I heard a brass band playing. Holiday? Parade? Concert? And started to follow my ears leading me from the ocean side toward what appeared to be a main street.  There weren’t any crowds, but the music seemed to be moving in space and martial in content.

Reaching the main street – there was what was obviously a military marching band coming toward me. Ok – and I fell in with a few young boys, locals, and several tourists tagging along to see where they were going. The end point, as it turned out was the Governor’s/Counsel General’s/President’s/Whomever’s front gate where two guards dressed in the same blue and white as the band were standing guard.  The platoon following the band was outfitted in Red and White.

Being retired military, I am still a sucker for a well run military ceremony and this was. Over the next several minutes first the band played followed by a version of pass in review, and the ceremonial handing over of the duties complete with all the standard changes of rifle positioning.

Did I mention the loudly barked orders? The Sergeant conducting a visual inspection of each of the guards?  How about the stomping of feet into position? Or the fact that all are wearing sandals?

[click on anything you want to see in larger size]

ANZAC Day

Holly Doyne Posted on by 4

IMG_3152

 

is the 25th of April. In WWI that is the date that Churchill – not beloved of anyone on this side of the equator made a totally stupid military move involving primarily colonial forces landing on a beach overlooked by rested, well armed and willing to fight forces from the Ottoman Empire. Unlike D-Day of WWII where some special ops types went in ahead, others parachuted and there were key German locations unmanned – this invasion was a total disaster, became bogged down for ~ 9 month before the Brits decided to cut their losses (again – note mostly Australian, NZ and other colonies). The retreat wasn’t a slaughter simply because the Turks elected to let them withdraw without a massacre.

Most of the survivors still fit to fight were transferred to the Somme…..

Anyway – this particular day became ANZAC Day – for the Australian, New Zealand Army Corps and holds the same place in the hearts of their peoples as Memorial Day in US (without all the commercialism). The fallen of the wars are remembered.

Unlike some of the other ships I have been on – this was a well organized, well thought out and executed dawn service. There was a printed program, poppies for everyone who hadn’t remembered their own, and coffee. Other years, there has been a small group self-organized on deck at dawn. This year there were hundreds attending.

 

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.