Vickie used to holler out at Doug, “Get a life!” when he was having such a hard time finding a job. By the time Doug arrived in Panama, civilian jobs were at a 5/1 ratio, with the Panamanians having the 5. That’s a story all its own, but not a great one. Doug eventually got a good job there, working for Rodman Naval Base. He worked for the Seabee projects a lot, but not until after I went to the Colonel and the I.G. or Inspector General. (Expect a knowledge question on this one for the upcoming test) and one really bad job before the job at Rodman.
Sgt. D. is also the one who responded to the Sergeant Major, “Well, I don’t know, Sgt. Maj., I can’t s- - t parts!” one time when he was hollering about his radio being repaired.
The letter I’ve posted (and blacking out her colorful language after copying it—the ‘F’ word was her favorite!) is something I came across today, looking for something else. It’s quite comical, and I can’t remember where she was TDY (temporary duty) at, but since it was David (pronounced duhveed) that she mentions in her letter, she was in Panama and working near a prison.
Vickie worked in commo (communications) and strung wire on the Bridge of Americas as the invasion kicked off; she was also in a bar downtown not too long after the war, and helped haul people in ambulances to the hospital. Someone threw a bomb in the bar while she was in there. She wasn’t hurt, but did get blood all over her nice white shirt, and I’d have to say she looked pretty shaken. She came to my room after it was over. I was lying in my twin bunk reading All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten when she banged on my door. It was all very exciting!
She had 10 years in when she arrived in Panama (re-upping for a Caribbean tour ;) surprise, surprise!). She arrived in Panama only a month before me, struggled terribly with Delta De-Tox, literally blew at PT, and as I 've said, we had so very little in common, but we made each other laugh, and sometimes, that’s what it’s all about. I’m sure she’s retired now, and I’ve tried to search for her on Military.com, to let her know about Aaron. That’s been a couple of years ago, and no hits yet. I always check the fatalities last names—knowing many had children the same age as mine, children who may have grown up to emulate a parent, gone off to war. I’m glad to say, that to the best of my knowledge, their last names, though many times the same as some of my soldier friends, just doesn’t work out to be on the list I’m looking at.
Anyway, I know you’ll enjoy her letter; she is such a colorful hoot. Just click on the image to enlarge it to a readable state.
And to Mom: please note the cartoon strip as well as the date. And you say I throw everything away.
Later!
6 comments:
Dang! I'm gone a couple of days and look what all I missed! SFM tromped me on the spelling bee definition and there are some awesome posts, including this one. Relay went great, but we got blown out at about 10:30 pm. We had a 15 minute warning to break down our camps because of a storm coming from Lubbock with 70 mile an hour winds and no visibility. It hit about half way through getting our camp taken apart and loaded in the vehicles. We were all just sick, the relay was such a success and everyone was having so much fun up until then, but with the storms around us, it just wasn't safe for everyone to stay. It was still worth everyone's participation and thank you to all of my family that donated. The last I heard, Terry County had raised over 18,000.00! I had Douglas' son in my prayers all night.
That's a fantastic amount! Go Karen and go Terry County! Sorry about sending our storm your way. Glad you are all safe. It scared my girls to pieces and tore some limbs off our trees, but we're ok. I think I'm hearing some rumbling right now though. Here we go again...
I LOVE the cartoon! I feel the same way. Haven't read the letter yet. I think I'm going to have to get out my glasses. :)
Karen: I remembered you being in it but didn't want to say anything until you were through, so what is the name of your Walk so that we can sign up and get one of those cancer sucks things.
But yes, we've been going over a few things for our test. I'll get it all together, but did you see the donation will go to Semper Fi Mom's support group and their cookbook (which has Aaron's favorite recipe in there, I might add) will be the prize.
Great going on the fundraiser and sorry about the storm.
SFM: The letter is funny, but it could be just b/c I knew her, so don't hurt your eyes. I know how you feel. That small scratchy writing is hard to read no matter what.
I see I missed a word.
De'on,
I haven't heard of the cancer sucks thing, you'll have to fill me in. Our event is called the "Terry County Relay for Life". The American Cancer Society gets people to plan and host these relays all over the country this time of year. The Relay Committee (also volunteers from your county) then go around and try to get everyone to get relay teams together, businesses and individuals, to raise money to go to the American Cancer Society. This money not only goes towards research, it also goes to patients and their families to help with getting them back and forth for treatments and any kind of support that they may need. The idea of the Relay is that we take one night out of our lives, 12 hours, to support cancer patients and survivors, because they and their families don't get a night or day off from their battle of this disease. Our team was called the Terry County Courthouse team. There were also about 10 other teams this year that participated, First Bank of Brownfield, Sundown State Bank, Church of Christ, Best Western Motel, plus some teams made up of just individuals. We also have alot of Corporate Sponsers, businesses that donate money and services for the Relay. United Supermarket donated free water stations set up all over the track for our walkers, and at midnight, Pizza Hut comes out and donates free pizza for all of the walkers. Your team is not walking for just one individual, we walk for everyone going through cancer, patients, families and survivors. Your team is given a baton, and the idea is to keep someone from your team out on the track at all times, keeping your baton going all night. It helps to have a big team, so that you can switch out. We also plan events to go on all night to keep people there. This year the theme of our Relay was "Around the World in 12 Hours". Each of the teams picked a country to represent. Our team was Jamaica (USA was already taken,it was the first one picked, of course) so we decorated our camp site to reflect our country. We decorated our canopy to look like a grass tiki hut, we had 6 ft blow up palm trees and beach chairs, we had a poster board made of the Jamiacan flag and we had bannanas and coconuts everywhere! This is also a competition between teams because they judge your campsite and they also judge your baton. You are supposed to decorate your baton to reflect your country. Ours was made into a palm tree with colorful birds and bannanas and coconuts, but team USA (First Bank of Brownfield) beat us, which is understandable, you can't hardly beat the USA! Due to the storm, the camp site judging didn't happen. Then, events are scheduled to go on all night to keep people there, like kareoke, line dancing, water balloon fights, tug of war between teams, noodle races and we have a luminary service where suvivors and people who died of cancer are honored. Of course, this year, we didn't get to do all of these things that we had planned because of the weather. We did get to have a passport game, where your team posts a cancer fact question at your camp site. Your team is given a passport and someone from your team goes to all of the other camps and if you answer the question correctly, you got a stamp on your passport for that country. The team with the most stamps on their passport gets to be first in line for Pizza Madness at midnight when the free pizza comes. Martin and Julie's daughter Emmy and her friend Lexy were our teams passport players. They had a blast and got every one of the cancer fact questions right and had a stamp from all of the countries on their passport. I am so dissapointed that we had to stop the relay so early, because of the dangerous weather, so there was no Pizza Madness. The 18,000.00 dollars that I spoke of was the total that all of the teams and corporate sponsers collected this year, so even though we didn't get to go all night, it was still worth it.
SFM, I'm glad to hear that ya'll are okay after the storm. Lot's of little kids at the relay were scared too, when that wind came through.
What a great opportunity. I will check, b/c I really don't know that much about it, but it's a button or flag that says Cancer Sucks, and I think you fill out a thing, naming the event or sponsor to who you will help support. I'll find out more. I just wanted to talk to you first, but SFM and Political Pistachio have one up on their blog.
I just got back from your father-in-law's. He's good. Cute.
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