I'll start.

Only thing you can't see is the can of SPAM I'm attacking with an MRE spoon....yummy...





Send Lawyers Guns and Money boys

^^^^ First thing I thought of with the first pic was muzzle!

I was going to say that you and I must have different ideas of what "best life" means.

But I remembered back when we were in the shipyard, muster was at 7 AM, an hour and a half for lunch, then off at 3 PM unless you had duty that day. Myself, along with a couple of people used to be late daily going up the stairs one deck above where we mustered as we've always hit the town every day. As punishment, muster was moved earlier to 6:30 AM and the same people who were late continued to be late.

Decades later, I'd wake up at 4 AM to get out of the house by 5 AM to beat the commute because otherwise, the 35 minute drive will turn into an hour and a half drive. I'd eat my lunch at my desk most days. Work until 10 PM because there's work to do and I didn't want a 2 hour commute home. I'd work from home every other weekend. During that time, I would think back to when I was in the Navy and concluded I had it so fucking easy.

When I was a feminist for Halloween circa 2019 colorized before the world went to absolute shit

I have tones of memories of me having great experiences.. friends, doing interesting things etc. Unfortunately my generation didn't have a quality camera at their disposal. Vis a vis a modern smart phone so I've only got recent images of things and I won't bore with most of that.

You're not a pretty woman, stickman.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
You're not a pretty woman, stickman.

Lol, didn't want to say anything....

I had your back there, sir. I figure I can pick at him a little.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
You're not a pretty woman, stickman.

I'm sure he's not offended by that. I wouldn't be.

Jim

That was the last fun Halloween in a few years now

Ok, I’ll be more serious. Me my best friend and my daughter at the outer banks of North Carolina…one of my favorite places on earth

[drift] what’s the rectangle portions on the front of the tanks turret?
[/drift]

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Ok, I’ll be more serious. Me my best friend and my daughter at the outer banks of North Carolina…one of my favorite places on earth

I was born and raised summering on Cape Cod and I love the Outer Banks. In 2001 or so I was stationed at Lejeune and made the drive to Kitty Hawk and down the 12 to Cape Hatteras. As much as I love the Cape my most peaceful place is the Outer Banks. Heaven.

As far as the square panels, they are basically IFF panels. They can be slid off and turned around so they can be seen on IR. Army used the hell out of them, in the Corps we started to but pretty much gave up on it. Too much hassle. Just used the bright orange panels on top.

On another thread sliding note, these are Army tanks. They have the LAGS armor around the loaders coax. While they did beef it up the originals we took to AFG were garbage. There was so much weight on the coax mount that when you hit an IED it would snap off at the pintle, causing the 240 to either end up in the loaders lap or on the ground. Neither of which was the preferred option. We ended up removing it from our tanks and either using the original skate mount or ordering "Bravo" kits and using sand bags. The Bravo parts converted the loader 240 with the butterfly to a standard ground mount with a pistol grip. We put sand bags around the loaders hatch and the loader just John Wayne'd the machine gun if he needed it.

Speaking of pics, I miss your old avatar.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Speaking of pics, I miss your old avatar.

Richard Allen Fitts.

Hometown hero. My mom went to school with him.

Lost 30 November 1968.

When his remains were found I buried the MIA bracelet I had worn throughout high school. His mom asked for everyone who had a bracelet to bury it with him.

His sacrifice sparked me to serve.



Story goes, when he saw the Green Berets carrying President Kennedy's casket (Kennedy authorized the wearing of the Green Beret) he turned to his dad and said "I want to be one of them".

And he was.

We'll never forget you Ritchie.

https://www.army.mil/article/2...acies_forever_united

When I was a kid the US Gov still wouldn't tell his mom what happened to him. His mission remained classified for decades. His mom had dreams that he was being held as a POW. The whole community thought that he may come home someday. Then they found the crash site. There had been so many announcements that his remains had been found that no one actually believed them anymore. Then his mom had the family doctor inspect the remains. It was Ritchie.

It was a rainy day when he was buried in Abington, Massachusetts. My sister and I put our MIA bracelets in a bag his mom had.

Ritchie was finally laid to rest. Back home.

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=272508

"Staff Sergeant Fitts was a member of the 5th Special Forces Group. On November 30, 1968, he was a passenger in a Sikorsky Choctaw Cargo Helicopter (CH34) over Laos at 4,000 feet when it was struck by a 37mm anti-aircraft fire, crashed and exploded. His remains were recovered on March 26, 1989 and identified on December 20, 1989."

He was a soldier that was in a helicopter that was over the wrong line on a map. That's what took so long for the US Gov to admit to his mom what he was doing when he was lost.

Semper Fi Ritchie.

Back to the happy life pics.

It was hot and humid, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

My buddies always ask me when Ill stop, and I always tell them when I can't climb on a tank anymore.

Until then, pics like this make me smile.

My best life.

At home in the backyard.......

^^^^^^^^
Thanks for that story.

Me and one of my adventure buddies coming back from a day of scuba diving in the sea of cortez. Good times!!!

I've got one. This picture was taken around 1986-87. We were hunting about 60 miles up the North Fork of the Salmon River out of Lewiston, Idaho.

That's me on the left. I've always kind of liked this pic because I could still fit into one of my old army shirts. I would have been getting close to 40 then. I still have that Weatherby 7mm Rem magnum I'm holding.

Best part is , I retire August 1st !!!!!
But I think I’ve got a good head start.