 |  |
 
October 2012
August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003
     |
 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! January 10, 2006 PonderingBy GreyhawkFt Stewart? Ft Lewis? Ft Carson? Ft Drum? Ft Rucker? Posted by Greyhawk / January 10, 2006 5:35 PM | Permalink 32 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
Comments (0) |
|
The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
DEROS in your future?
Ft. Lewis - like rain?
Ft. Stewart... no idea.
Ft. Carson? Well, if you like oxygen deprivation it's fine, but one specialist we got in Germany from there knocked something like 2 minutes off her run time because she could finally breathe... (and her oxygen deprived time was pretty good as was...)
Ft. Drum - do you really want to live in New York?
Ft. Rucker - Same thing as Stewart, but because it _isn't_ home to an infantry division and is home to Army Aviation it's likely more relaxed. But you'll probably have to deal with the constant drone of aircraft.
Ticonderoga, Bragg, Woody...in that order.
When i arrived at Ft Lewis my CO asked me "Where you from Sgt?"
I Told him Georgia.
He replied" You remember the sun?" I said yes.
He grinned oddly and said "That Memory will fade."
He wasn't kdding. The next day we started 189 days straight of rain.
Ft Carson? It's beautiful but a tad expensive to live.
Ft Drum ain't much better and its colder than anythiing. Icecubes buy electric blankets at Ft Drum.
Ft Stewart is awesome but be ready for the South Georgia Summer heat and humidity. If you own a dog, it will sweat in June. Its a Rapid Deployment Base and they stay on alert a lot there. Hunter airfield is not far either. A lot to do there however and living cost isn't as bad.
Rucker I know nothing about.
I'd KILL to get to Carson.
Oh, wait, we're talking about YOU? I'd kill for YOU to get to Carson.
Lewis IS rainy and overcast. BUT it's the Pacific Northwest and therefore that trumps the rain and gloom.
Haven't been to Drum or Stewart though I wouldn't turn my nose up at either - we have good friends at both locations (not to mention there are Chinooks there so they are possibilities).
And Rucker...? Well, it's Rucker. They don't call it "Mother Rucker" for nothing. Granted, we made some lifelong friends there but I can't say I'm eager to LIVE there again...cockroaches the size of cats, lovebugs that ruin your paint job, TRADOC, horrible heat and humidity, spiders the size of cockroaches...blech.
Good luck with your decision!!!
- hfs
Fort Lewis sucks.
f
Leaving Mother Rucker in Febraury and heading to Carson. Have heard nothing bad about Carson. Stay away from Rucker at all costs, especially if you will be in a TRADOC unit. There is nothing good about Ft. Rucker. nothing. Lewis and Stewart are nice because of the locations. Lots of travel and good times. If you like to hunt go to Drum.
My wife and I fell in love with Sacketts Harbor on Lake Ontario, about 15 minutes from Drum. There is a condo association renovating 19th century stone barracks at Madison Barracks, with a marina just next door. Rents very low, buy-in prices still reasonable. Absolutely beautiful.
We intend to retire there, and treasure our many visits.
Winters are cold and snow Northeast, with permanent Lake effect thrown in. You have to like winter, skiing, snowmobiling, etc. Great expanses of widerness in Adirondacks just a short step away. Great hunting and fishing opportunities. Toronto and Casinos a short hop away. The St. Lawrence Seaway, Alexandria Bay, etc. Great boating location.
Drum, if you can put up with the winter.
Fort Lewis and Seattle in General, is home of the 2 hour drive. Want to go to a real beach, 2 hour drive, want to go skiing, 2 hour drive. Want to bake in the 100+ degree heat in the desert that is referred to as "Eastern Washington"...2 hour drive. Want to drive from Ft Lewis to downtown Seattle at 9 AM on a monday morning...2 hour drive.
Real estate prices are also skyrocketing, even in the Ft Lewis area. If you are a smoker...forget it..smoking is against the law within 25 feet of a building.
It is currently day 23 of rain...no exaggerating...nothing at all exciting...drizzly and dreary. The local media has got itself worked up in a tizzy proclaiming "Potential mudslides threaten to detroy this that or the other thing".
Things like "scrapping ice off your windshield", "shoveling snow", "needing AC" are somewhat rare occurrances.
Having been to various military installations, I would not describe FT Lewis itself, or the immediate area around it as "nice". There are some reasonably affordable(For the Pacific Northwest) communities east and south if one is willing to commute 30 minutes or so.
Two comments about Rucker:
Alabama people do appreciate the military.
It's about an hour north of Panama Beach Florida.
OK, add an anti-Rucker - it's only about two or three levels (as in 5 to 2 or 4 to 2) inland from the Gulf of Mexico. (Hurricanes.)
My brother (CWO, Ret) lives in Dothan and has a condo in Fla.
What? No Ft. Huachuca?
Ft. Drum! I'll stop by for a visit!
Hands down - Ft. Stewart. Trust me on this . . .
If you pick Ft. Lewis, you'll be close enough for me to buy you a beer without hopping on a plane for the meet-up. Speaking of beer, the Pacific Northwest is is the best place in the U.S. for those who appreciate good beer. My little town is down right poverty stricken because we only have ONE brewery. Most bars in the Northwest feature 20 or more types of beer on tap. Of course, to make up for it, we have four coffee roaster companys in town. My good friend Bill retired from the Army at Ft. Lewis and has stayed in the area, despite growing up in California (or perhaps because of it). All that rain in the winter and spring means a really green summer and fall. Besides, it keeps the riff-raff out. :-)
Rucker? TRADOC land for aviators? If you fly, then Stewart is really Hunter and that's a different kettle of fish. On post housing is bad at Stewart and worse at Hunter, but off-post housing is much better in the south Savannah area. Hinesville is OK but tiny. Savannah is a much nicer place to hang out (and shop).
"... I'd rather be a dog faced soldier"
Rock of the Marne
what soldier's dad said, altho' i left lewis in '82. great trout fishing. (tacoma is like wheeling, WV with a water view.) oh, and you get to play on the dry side of the cascades at yakima firing center.
carson was nice but that was 10 years earlier ... prolly a *lot* more people there, and i can remember a guard mount at 16 below. i now live in key west; you know what i think about winter.
Ft. Lewis -- Well, the political climate *and* the weather in the PNW are both dreary sometimes - but it is a beautiful state! After all, it takes a LOT of rain to make the 60-80 foot douglas fir and ceder trees in my backyard happy, and to keep the glaciers on Mount Rainier gleaming.
*grin*
Since I'm not military, I can't speak for the base itself, though.
I second the comments by homefrontSix and Stephen Swanson. If you come to Carson I'll buy you a beer or a dozen myself, and there is definately some great beer here.
As I am retired now and was never stationed at Carson I can't speak much about the post except for the PX, Hospital and such, but it seems to be pretty decent. Great view of Cheyenne Mountain from anywhere on post, and great scenery all over the place. Weather is sometimes cold, but I grew up in Florida, so if I can take it........
Live in Colorado Springs now and work at the Air Force Academy Hospital. Those zoomies sure do appreciate a hard working, retired Army NCO.
It's worth the visit even if you decide on another post.
Of all of the options that you name, I can only speak for one. Ft. Carson is great. Like HFS, I'd kill to help you get there.
You'll choke to death gasping for air in the run up to your first Physical Fitness test, but after you get acclimated you'll be okay.
What??? No Germany?
Fort Carson rocks! I still own a home there. Home of 10th SFG(A), best skiing in the world, and awesome microbrew. The housing market has evened out now. You can find a decent 3-4 bedroom home for around 200K...but when you leave you will make it all back. The Springs is growing, but not so fast as to make it insane...it has a bigger city feel but is still comfortable. Since Colorado Springs sits on the Rocky Mountain "front range", it gets snow in the winter, but the temperatures are very bearable...I could walk to my mailbox on a snowy day with just a T-shirt on and not freeze to death. The summers are warm. They have good food, shopping, and entertainment too...clubs, symphony, sports (Air Force Academy football with Coach Deberry...woohoo, Denver sports an hour up the road, etc.)
Agree on Fort Rucker being a no-go. If you go there, you will be able to afford a big house with land, but the cockroaches, spiders, and snakes can be a detractor if you're not accustomed to the South. I lived there for a little while...not much in the way of "culture" except for the Andalusia-Opp "Rattlesnack Roundup", although you can drive to Florida and go to the beach on the weekend.
Fort Stewart would be my second choice, only because I'm partial to the South. Savannah pours green food coloring in the river on Saint Patty's day...that's cool enough to check it out. Savannah is gentrifying their downtown...trying to get some culture...don't know much else about it.
Good luck...my vote is on Carson.
Ft Carson was my first duty station. Seeing Cheyenne Mountain for the first time was awesome (I grew up in Louisiana), and even better, it serves as Ft Carson's weather channel.
I did PLDC at Ft Stewart under TDY orders, and my opinion is probably poisoned by that experience.
I have no first hand experience with the others.
Good luck!
Hey, forget all these obviously biased commentaries on these places and just pick the one closest to your dear old mom (and sister). We miss you, and what can scenery offer you that is better than family? Much love!
Was just going to suggest you stay here in Germany where the beer's the best anyway, but will not attempt to compete with Mom and Sis ;-)
Carson rocks. Out of the list you posted, I'd say Carson or Lewis with Carson slightly ahead...
mike mariani,
Tacoma has gotten "expensive". $200K will get you a 700 sq ft house built in 1910 and last updated in 1950 in need of a roof and a furnace.
It's wall-wall postage stamp lots all the way to Redmond(Microsoft) now.
I thought you were USAF, not Army, Greyhawk?
Are you cross-training, or do you have a "Joint" assignment coming up?
Soldier's Dad - Close, although not quite true, about the postage-stamp sized map from Tacoma to Redmond. I live in Issaquah, just south of Redmond (okay, a little east), and it's pretty open here south of I-90. We bought a 3/4 acre lot 4 years ago to build our house - no development, no monthly homeowners dues and associated control-freak silliness. But you're right, the 200K home is not a new one - unless you head 15 miles east of me (30 miles east of Seattle).
But your sister has a compelling argument!
Er, I meant *your* sister, Grayhawk ... not Soldier's Dad's!
Stewart: hot and sticky
Drum: Like snow? Lots of snow? Feet of snow?
Winter wouldn't be winter without lots of snow, yes, even feet of snow.
Dear Bigsis and GH, FYI I am NOT old. Just wrinkled! Love you all. PS, It would be nice to have you & family close. Got anything in Key West or Southern Cal? Might be a nice place to visit you in cold weather.