Been quite a week...
The equipment trucks returned from Augusta on Tuesday and Wednesday and we had our hands full offloading and repatriating the hardware for repacking and shipping to the next events...
I overdid it, of course- trying to keep up with the kids and interns in the Events department carrying cases and pushing our hardware racks...
Nothing a handful of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pills couldn't solve...
Thursday rolled around and with it a much-looked-for meeting-
Old NFO was in town- and had a free evening in his schedule.
We met up out in Orange Park, at Whitey's Fish Camp, tucked into some tasty seafood and the conversation flowed like good wine...
Old NFO is a kindred spirit- we have similar but different experiences- especially when it comes to travel... We had a 1,001 stories about airlines, airports and the myriad of morons that try to thwart our wishes as we pursue our diverse jobs...
OldNFO: "....so we finished up, the Swedes parachuted in and built us a runway on the ice and we took off back to Iceland!"
TBG: "Iceland- wow. Never got there, but I did freeze my ass off in Finland once... We were drinking heavily and..."
As our conversation wandered I bored him with the stories from my youth and my days flying milk runs and Part35 charters out of The Flight Department in Marathon, and later how I traded bumps bruises and 2 years living in the mud blood and rum at Ft. Davis in Panama for my sheepskin at UF, to the unfortunate incident in Cienfuego.
I got to enjoy his stories about REAL flying... Everything from old DC3s to my favorite rotary craft- the Hughes 500D "The Loach", and some pretty esoteric Russian aircraft encounters.
Time flew by-
Eventually we called it a night- I offered to arm-wrestle him for the check, instead we scared the crap out of the waitress as we both made a mad grab for the bill.
Youth (such as it is) and ambition won out, I got it, but it was a close race.
(Hey- my town, my check. Next time I'm in DC, you can get it.)
In reminiscing about my days down in Panama, after I got home I had to go hunt up some uncomfortable hunks of metal I received as remembrances from my days down south...
It took some doing, but I finally found them...
(Left: From my CO from MCDEC (now MCCDC), the center one was from a Navy REMF on our team and the coin on the right was from the guys in EF21 for their pet nerd.)
I assume the work we did and the hardware we used 30 years ago is probably still classified... even though the Samsung S5 in my pocket is smaller and does a better job at the same tasks... but 30 years ago, eh?
A lot of work went into the equipment we used, and a lot of people had some pretty high stakes in the results.
But I digress...
We stood outside talking - I had a 40 mile trip in a light drizzle so I wasn't in a hurry got start, and we stood outside talking for a bit-
OldNFO will be back in town off and on in the next few months- More work at NAS Jax.
We need to nail down a date, maybe have a BlogShoot for folks in the general area...
Maybe something in North/Central Fl- like
the range in the Osceola National Forest-
We'll bring everything that goes boom, and maybe even the Caja China and roast a pig for lunch... A good time will be had by all.
So... Who's in? McThag? Borepatch? Famous Robb Allen?
TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
