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Theory

I was discussing some of the places I’ve been, especially when I was in the military, with a friend over the weekend.  His son is considering joining the military, and the recruiters are doing their kabuki dance about the wonderful places he could be stationed.  He wanted the straight skinny, and I gave him my (somewhat dated) experiences and opinions.

Then something occurred to me.

I’ve always had an idea about how the services decide where to put bases:  The Army and Marine Corps seem to put their posts in the worst places they can find, while the Navy and Air Force pick places that are nice, fun, and close to something worth going to.

Here’s a short list of the military posts I was deployed, stationed, or TDY to:

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri – Army
Presidio of Monterey, California – Army, but really joint
Goodfellow Air Force Base – Air Force, but really joint
Augsburg, Germany – Army
Fort Huachuca, Arizona – Army
Fort Hood, Texas – Army
Fort Bragg, North Carolina – Army
Fort Irwin, California – Army
Fort Lewis, Washington – Army
Fort Drum, New York – Army
Macdill Air Force Base, Florida – Air Force
Norfolk, Virginia – Navy
Fort Meade, Maryland – Army, sort of
Cherry Point, North Carolina – Marines
Naples, Italy – Navy
Stuttgart, Germany – Joint
Berlin, Germany – Army
Frankfurt, Germany – Army
Camp Red Cloud, Korea – Army
Munich, Germany – Joint
RAF Mildenhall, UK – Air Force
Washington DC – Joint
Tuzla, Bosnia – Army
Taszar, Hungary – Army
Misawa, Japan – Air Force

There are a lot more, but those are the big ones.

I see a bit of a pattern.  The Air Force and Navy bases are where they need to be, but tend to be in relatively nice places.  The joint postings are usually almost as nice.  Also, overseas posts tend to be OK, with the exception of Tuzla and CRC.  Then we get to the domestic Marine and Army posts.  To be charitable, they tend to be crapholes.  It’s like in the 1930’s and 1940’s the leadership took a look at a map of the continental United States and sprinkled Army posts and Marine bases in the most economically depressed and isolated areas.  Other than Goodfellow AFB, the Air Force bases all seemed to be good places to take a vacation or raise kids.  Even Norfolk, with all its warts, is better than Bragg or Cherry Point.

Do you veterans concur?  Did the Army and Marine generals put their posts in places that would make their troops hard, or at least pissed off,  and the Air Force and Navy put bases in places where their people would be happy?

by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in military

Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/09/theory/

30 Days of Reagan – Day 7

A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.

by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Reagan

Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/09/30-days-of-reagan-day-7/

Get it out of my brain!

Sorry to do this to you guys, but this has been going over and over in my mind for the past few hours, ever since I watched Fozzie Bear do the original.

Hi diddly dee
A blogger’s life for me!
With Kalashnikov and Browning’s guns
Tamara’s snark and Peter’s puns
LabRat’s smart and Weerd is too
Mossad Ayoob talks about follow through
Auntie J and her little Fry
Pissed tells jokes that will make you cry
Robb has pants that he doesn’t wear
Jennifer cut off all her hair
Oleg has magic that ditches clothes
Uncle’s links and Brigid’s prose
Jay counts goblins and Alan sighs
Linoge keeps pointing out all the lies
NFO has all the wonderful toys
Joe Huffman knows how to make some noise
Barron writes about all the bad cops
Borepatch has smarts that never stop
A bloggers life for me!

It goes on and on, but I think you get the idea.

by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in blogs, Earworm, silliness

Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/09/get-it-out-of-my-brain/

News Roundup

  • From the “Classy” Department – A young lady in Colorado is complaining  because her high school yearbook committee rejected her rather racy senior picture.  I’ve seen the picture, and I agree with the yearbook staff.  A few less stitches and the 18 year old could send her picture to Larry Flint.  On the other hand, when she starts dancing professionally, she’ll already have a glamour shot to give to club managers.
  • From the “Better Christian Than Me” Department – The lady who was critically injured just prior to Halloween when two miscreants dropped a shopping cart on her has expressed concern and forgiveness for the two delinquents who injured her.  Just goes to show that there are good people in the world, even if the people she is worried about richly deserve her wrath.
  • From the “Qel Surpris” Department – Communist authorities in China apparently like their cars big, expensive, and fast.  Reports of Bentleys, Porsches, and Masseratis cruising around the Asian powerhouse are becoming common.  I also understand that an entire Trabant factory is being brought in to provide affordable transportation for the proletariat.  
  • From the “Baby Blues” Department – Parents at a hospital in New York City are upset because celebrity parents Jay Z. and Beyonce were allowed to take over an entire floor of the maternity ward when they recently had their baby.  Private security kept people out of waiting rooms and hallways while the happy couple were enjoying their new bundle of joy.  This included parents of other children who were born recently, including premature infants in the NICU.  Two things here:  Money doesn’t buy class, and it’s never too early to start teaching your child how to act like a spoiled thug.  If you’re that worried about your wife and child, why not have it done at a more private facility?  Hell, for the amount of money they spent on ‘redecorating’ the hospital, they could have had an entire NICU installed in their home so little “Blue” could have been born away from the hoi-poloi.
  • From the “Darwin Cheated” Department – A young lady from Australia survived a plunge into the Zambezi River, home of the semi-annual “Hunt for the Crocodile Victim” competition, after the bungie cord she was using to jump from the bridge over Victoria Falls broke.  The young lady is doing well, but had to spend a week in the hospital after her plunge and swim.  She wasn’t seriously injured, but after her body evacuated all available orifices, she needed nutritional support for a few days to get caught back up.
  • From the “Aw Hell” Department – Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division in Washington state are on lockdown as authorities try to find several pieces of ‘sensitive’ equipment that have gone missing.  Every soldier I have ever met cringes at the term “missing sensitive gear”.  When they find the people who are responsible for the loss, they’d probably be well-advised to fess up and get shipped to Leavenworth quickly rather than be let loose among the thousands of troops who spent time locked down on base and away from their families.
  • From the “Goofy on a Unicycle” Department – North Korea’s new God-King was recently shown on television driving a tank.  Two words come to mind when I think about this:  Michael Dukakis.  
by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/09/news-roundup-39/

A Light in the Dark

Today is the one year anniversary of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and several others in Tucson by a madman.  Said madman chose to make his entrance onto the world stage by shooting up a group of innocent people, and the anti-rights blood dance began shortly thereafter.  The latest spasm from the other side of the gun rights debate has been a movement to hold a candlelight vigil against violence today.

Now, if someone wants to light a candle to remember someone, then I will be the first to make room for you at the kneeling rail.  When you use something that’s usually as personal and beautiful as that to make a political point while standing in the blood of children, well, I’m not so quick to support you.

Weer’d Beard had a good idea.   Madmen, criminals, and tyrants don’t go away because of good thoughts.  They are held at bay by men and women who arm themselves and protect us all.  He suggested that those of us who take our self defense in our own hands light our own candles and show the tools we carry to make ourselves better able to defend ourselves.

Here’s mine:

This little light of mine
CZ-82, 9x18mm, Hornady Defense
Taurus Model 85, .38, Federal NyClad Hollowpoints

Because good thoughts and a weapon make you safer than good thoughts alone.

by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns

Posted by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/08/a-light-in-the-dark/

30 Days of Reagan – Day 6

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Reagan

Posted by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/08/30-days-of-reagan-day-6/

Today’s Earworm

Battle of New Orleans – January 8, 1815

by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on January 8, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/08/todays-earworm-69/

Brainiac

A man in Florida decided to make a fashion statement by wearing a special shirt to court.  The shirt in question had a cartoon with the directions for making crack cocaine on it.  Ladies and gentlemen, I am awed by the genius it takes to go to court on drug trafficking charges wearing such apparel.  It takes some kind of stupid to think that this was a good look.

Other bad fashion ideas:

  • Eric Holder wearing an “I heart Tijuana!” tee shirt to testify before Congress
  • Bill Clinton wearing a suit made out of Playboy centerfolds to a NOW convention
  • Lady GaGa wearing a meat suit worn to the vegan love-in
  • Barack Obama wearing a Malcolm X hat to golf at Augusta
by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/07/brainiac/

30 Days of Reagan – Day 5

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Barack Obama Jimmy Carter loses his.

Sorry, the devil made me do it!

by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Reagan

Posted by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/07/30-days-of-reagan-day-5/

Quote of the Day

I choose to see evil for what it is.  A real thing that must be resisted with every ounce of force available.  Every tool at my disposal.  I’ll not blame the tools that evil men use.  I won’t jump at shadows.

I do not live in fear because I know that I can fight it.  I may not always win, but I will not succumb. Luck has nothing to do with it.

— Jennifer, Lucky? 

by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Quote of the Day

Posted by daddybear71 on January 7, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/07/quote-of-the-day-25/

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