Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[Bird]

I can certainly understand your feelings and attitude, Jim, and I'm glad for you. And yes, there are certainly things I enjoy about Christmas, being with the family, and especially watching the kids.

But . . . I worked 5 years in the Post Office before the days of FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. We were the only package delivery service unless it was big enough it had to go to trucking companies. So December meant 12 hour days, and since I had no children, I usually volunteered to work on Christmas so those with children could have that day off.

And then . . . I went to the Police Department. December brought some cold weather, house fires, burglars doing their Christmas shopping, usually stealing from those who could least afford it, accidental and non-accidental deaths and killings. It could be a bit depressing. And again I volunteered to work so those who had children could have that day off.

And I'll never forget the first time I was scheduled to be off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - 1969. We had one daughter who was almost 3 and one that was 10 months old, and I was a sergeant working burglaries and thefts. Ah, yes, going to have 2 days off for Christmas with the wife and kids. And then the lieutenant called about 10 a.m. Christmas Eve - Yep, I had to go to work and put in a little more than 11 hours.:laughing: It was after midnight Christmas Eve when I got home, but at least I did have Christmas Day off.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Bird, when my oldest was a toddler and my youngest a newborn, I went on a deployment aboard my ship to go to the Caribbean for our annual missile training and firing exercise. Everything seemed normal the first night, but we awoke to find the ship steaming at full speed. We and another guided missile frigate were escorting the carrier, USS Kennedy, on a high speed run to the Med. Of course, the weather in the Caribbean had been balmy, but the Med was cold. Most of us had not even brought our winter uniforms with us. We sailed into the Med and east near ****** where we patrolled for the next 57 days straight. After that, we went to Athens, Greece for a few days and then back to sea. After a brief couple of weeks, we came back to the Athens area to Piraeus, Greece where they have a deep water port. We Med-moored to the quay wall and went into a holiday stand-down period. All our uniforms arrived, being sent from home by military freight to our ship. We spent that Christmas tied up the pier there after expecting to be home with family for the holidays. There was no Christmas Eve off nor Christmas Day. We didn't even get to call home. International calls in those days were extremely expensive and there were no satellite communications or internet as there is today. We only had 10-day old letters and wives/families who seemed to blame us for being gone. Being in the military in those days was very depressing sometimes. We just had our shipmates, and we all shared each other's highs and lows. We were close because we had to be to survive.

 

[pacerron]

Bird, when my oldest was a toddler and my youngest a newborn, I went on a deployment aboard my ship to go to the Caribbean for our annual missile training and firing exercise. Everything seemed normal the first night, but we awoke to find the ship steaming at full speed. We and another guided missile frigate were escorting the carrier, USS Kennedy, on a high speed run to the Med. Of course, the weather in the Caribbean had been balmy, but the Med was cold. Most of us had not even brought our winter uniforms with us. We sailed into the Med and east near ****** where we patrolled for the next 57 days straight. After that, we went to Athens, Greece for a few days and then back to sea. After a brief couple of weeks, we came back to the Athens area to Piraeus, Greece where they have a deep water port. We Med-moored to the quay wall and went into a holiday stand-down period. All our uniforms arrived, being sent from home by military freight to our ship. We spent that Christmas tied up the pier there after expecting to be home with family for the holidays. There was no Christmas Eve off nor Christmas Day. We didn't even get to call home. International calls in those days were extremely expensive and there were no satellite communications or internet as there is today. We only had 10-day old letters and wives/families who seemed to blame us for being gone. Being in the military in those days was very depressing sometimes. We just had our shipmates, and we all shared each other's highs and lows. We were close because we had to be to survive.

Jim,
I feel that....
My youngest son was 7 months old before I got back to the U.S. to hold him.
We all sure used to wait for those 10 day old letters and sometimes our answers back, 20 days or more elapsed time,
didn't make much sense as things on both fronts had changed so much by then. Pictures in the mail were really a blessing.
Thousands of folks went through it and are today. The ones that didn't or skipped to Canada have no idea.

God bless our troops and keep them safe wherever they are serving this Christmas season and beyond.

 

[jinman]

Thanks, Ron. As you know, those deployed abroad or aboard ships at sea may not be fighting a shooting war, but they are away from home and family during the holidays. Their days are long and often thankless. I don't ever want to forget the sacrifices we made and are being constantly made today by our armed forces who give so much that so we can be blessed. May God touch their souls and grant them peace and perseverance while knowing how a grateful nation thanks them for their sacrifices.

 

[Bird]

Thanks, Ron. As you know, those deployed abroad or aboard ships at sea may not be fighting a shooting war, but they are away from home and family during the holidays. Their days are long and often thankless. I don't ever want to forget the sacrifices we made and are being constantly made today by our armed forces who give so much that so we can be blessed. May God touch their souls and grant them peace and perseverance while knowing how a grateful nation thanks them for their sacrifices.

Yes, that's always been true for our military personnel, in the old days as well as right now. So I certainly agree with you here.

And I can only imagine what International calls cost in the days when you were abroad. We couldn't afford very many long distance calls within the USA. The first few years we were married, her family was in West Virginia, my parents were in Alaska, and both of my brothers were in the Air Force. We were able to afford to call my parents one Saturday and hers the next Saturday; couldn't afford any more long distance calls than one a week, and probably never talked more than 10 minutes at the most.

 

[pacerron]

Remember the 3 minute calls when they would ask if you wanted a reminder in 3 minutes or just be cut off?
We always said, just cut us off.

 

[Bird]

Remember the 3 minute calls when they would ask if you wanted a reminder in 3 minutes or just be cut off?
We always said, just cut us off.

Oh yeah, been a long time since those days.

 

[jinman]

I remember going into the phone booth with a sack full of quarters and coming out with just a sack. You not only had to pay a bunch of money, you had to get those dollars converted to quarters (at a bank if you could find one) and sit there feeding that machine while hoping the coin box didn't fill up in the middle of dropping your life savings in quarters down the slot.:confused2:

 

[two_bit_score]

Jim,
I feel that....
My youngest son was 7 months old before I got back to the U.S. to hold him.
We all sure used to wait for those 10 day old letters and sometimes our answers back, 20 days or more elapsed time,
didn't make much sense as things on both fronts had changed so much by then. Pictures in the mail were really a blessing.
Thousands of folks went through it and are today. The ones that didn't or skipped to Canada have no idea.

God bless our troops and keep them safe wherever they are serving this Christmas season and beyond.

:thumbsup:

 

[pacerron]

Oh yeah, been a long time since those days.

My dad used to say: "if you can't say everything you need to say in 3 minutes, your saying too much."