Typical Texas Army Scene

 

This has something to do with spacecraft, apparently, which is a very fine thing, and so good for the young 'uns to get out in the field and practice their skills. Well done, good job, but here at Dallas Light Cavalry Command we take a broader, more inclusive approach.

Yes, send everyone, Signals included, out into the field to do their job. Go on boys, set up that FOB/Command Post complete with off-planet comms. Do it at night even. And while you're at it we'll send in a few teams of the Red Hand Gang (dates me) to light up the night.

Point being, even if you're not combat arms be ready to be so, and training should reflect that. Imagine, there you are, setting up a satlink and all of sudden some Spetznaz guy comes storming through. Current doctrine, apparently, says destroy your tech with an incendiary grenade and Gaia be with you.

Well, it's all very easy to be an armchair general and perhaps that's all we'll ever be because all of our wars are fought by proxy, forever. If you believe that you'll believe anything, but your call.

Ad Multos Annos,

LSP

Well Done Boy

We love it when our children do well and, of course, it grieves us when they don't. So well done boy on passing your promotion board this morning, by unanimous consent. This means he's off to Sergeant School in July.

front row, second from left

It's been a bit of a journey, both before and after he marched off the field at Benning, but he's risen to the challenge. Good work, keep it coming, and thanks again to LL for solid mentorship.

Happily,

LSP

Back in the Hood

Today's mission was elegant in its simplicity. Get haircuts, for myself and the signalman, eat lunch and then drive in triumph to Fort Hood via I35 to drop the kid back at his post. You're probably thinking, "Great plan, so-called LSP, what went wrong?" 

Here's the thing, nothing. The mission executed flawlessly, the traffic even flowed through Waco at a steady 65/70. Miraculous, and we arrived at the objective in record time, an hour and half door to door. But as with so much in life this fast-paced forward movement came at great cost, $80 in gas.

Some Evil Subversive Sticker

Eighty bucks to drive from the Compound to Killeen and back. What? That's outrageous and before you can whistle most popular President in the history of history we'll be looking at $5 a gallon, in Texas. Wow. Thanks, Joe.

So it's a good thing our beloved ruler's invoked special war power emergency authority to relieve pain at the pump by building... what? More oil wells, pipelines from Canada, new refineries? No, of course not, solar panels. Let them eat sunshine and be glad of it. What a risible, corrupt, mendacious, lying, arrogant, out of touch clownshow. 

Speaking of which, here's a question for all the economic savants who read this inconsequential mind blog: How did prewar Germany end stagflation and is there a lesson to be learned. Discuss.

Regardless, the kid got off safe and sound at Thunderbird HQ and was happy to be back. After taking his ruck (ridic heavy) to his billet he returned to the rig for a final smoke and goodbye, "Dad, my roommate has a frog." I pondered this, "A frog?" Mind like a steel trap, you see. "Yes," the soldier replied, "It's a sweet frog, I like it. He has three tarantulas too, but they're young."

Farewells over, it was back on the highway for a bizarrely easy if expensive ride home, and I felt blessed in having a son who's made great strides in the last three years. Well done, young man.

And there it is,

LSP

Vincimus Spatium

 

Picked the Specialist up from DFW's Terminal D today and all was was well. His flight out of Helsinki was miraculously on time and before you could say "Patton wasn't whacked" there he was, striding into international arrivals with his Lt.

What a relief! To be honest, I'd been afraid he might've been delayed by the present furor in Eastern Europe but no, back home on schedule. Maybe this bodes well, let the reader understand, and I liked his Lt., what a pleasant young man. 

But that's just it, young, and very different from the British Officer Corps standard I remember, more Israeli perhaps. Not a bad thing, just different. Regardless, the deployment went well and the kid's happy and fit. I like all of that.

God Bless,

LSP

Return to the Hood

 

After Mass and a beautiful moment on the porch watching sky water, you might call it "rain," fall from the heavens, it was time to brave I35 and take the Specialist back to Fort Hood.  It's not a bad drive, despite nightmarish roadworks in Waco, and before you know it there you are at the home of III Corps, Phantom Warriors.

As we drove down Tank Destroyer Boulevard, I growled "Phantom!" and he told me they'd had to practice exactly that cadence(?) to welcome a visiting general. Call it out soldiers, "PHANTOM, PHANTOM, PHANTOM!" Which they did when the inspiring pencil neck war leader arrived.

"How," asked the once and maybe future Cadet, "does an armored corps count as 'phantom'?" I held my tongue and didn't say "magicke, son." And then we were at 11 Signal Brigade HQ and the boy's incredibly pleasant looking barracks. Of course he feels most hard done by because he has to share a room, with a kitchen, no less.

I resisted the heady urge to say "height of luxury, m'boy!" and instead took a few photos of Brigade HQ. There it was, the Thunderbird Headquarters, and I was impressed. Quite a set up. His unit, 57th Expeditionary Signals Battalion (ESB) is fairly new, conceived of in the 1920s and activated in WWII, where it fought in seven campaigns, not least Anzio and D-Day.

57th ESB didn't see action again until Gulf War I, II and Afghanistan, where it served well, being awarded two Meritorious Unit Commendations as of 2019 with B Company, my son's, having an additional award. He wants to stay in B Company. He's also finished the paperwork to start a degree in Computer Science in October, which is most important.

Well done young man, keep it up.

Phantom,

LSP

News From Korea

 

For those interested, the PFC's doing well in Korea keeping the ravening Bolshevik hordes in check and went snow boarding the other day, courtesy of his battalion. He described the adventure thus:

"Dad, the Battalion sent us snow boarding last week."

"Well that's awesome."

"It was, and we were pretty high up, on a 400 foot slope. I went down at the same time as the Sergeant and looked over at him. What happens is that you go where you look, so I beelined across the mountain like a missile."

"And hit the Sergeant?"

"Yes, right on target! But all cool. He laughed. They filmed it."

Who knows, maybe we'll get to see that video, stay tuned. In other news, we talked about Solar Winds, rioting, insurrection, civil war and all of that. His response? "Put a Bradley on the street and watch those fkrs go down."

He has a point, and LL commented on the soldier's words in a reply to a post I took down because it didn't seem fair to leave you, the reader, with House of Pain on a Sunday. And I quote: "Nobody can doubt John's eloquence or his positive mental attitude." Well said.

And well done, kid. Sorry you can't come home for Christmas because of the scamdemic.

God bless,

LSP

This And That

A cool breeze is blowing in from the north, and gentle rain turned gold by the evening sun falls on parched grass, hot concrete and spent brass. The smell of rain in a Texan August. Beautiful and rare.

Poetry aside, my eldest boy called this morning to say he'd been promoted to Specialist ahead of schedule. Well done, kid, keep it up. He's currently attached to the 2nd Armored Division and "on mission," which means he has to sit in a comms truck on weekends instead of enjoying Korean nightlife. His Platoon Sergeant's clearly wise.

In other news, Blue Eschaton's slowing down a bit and takes life philosophically, unless steaks or fried pies are on the table. Then everything's different.

Mind how you go,

LSP

Cadet Update

Far-sighted readers of this inconsequential mind-blog might recall that my eldest boy walked away from a life of Canadian basements and Scandanavian Death Metal to a life in the US Army and, presumably, yet more Death Metal. Good call, kid, and he's in Basic right now at Fort Benning. How's it going?

Well, it seems. The kid's in White Phase, which is all about weapons and fitness, and he shot "expert." The Cadet wrote, "I can shoot an M4, apparently." 

And so you should. No excuses, only results, not that there's any, ahem, parental pressure. He can also run, he tells me, which is important in the Infantry and a miracle given sheer laziness leading up to his ordeal in Georgia. But hey, 19 years old and ready to go, well done.

Some kids, he writes, are so unfit they have to be recycled through BCT again, how did they get past the recruiters? Quotas, I'd imagine. Regardless, the boy's doing well and respect, he's made a good turn 'round. I do not say that lightly.

Signals

Next step? Blue Phase and Graduation, I'll be driving over to the Army in Georgia for the occasion. Of course he's fixing to go jump school... easy tiger.

God bless,

LSP