TGW-795
Chapter: 26 Alien Encounter
Characters: ambassador Palas, Capt Chardis, capt hrrn'tn, chief gabriall, chief hrrkn'sss, deputy shawn, dragonflys, gorilla, kaitana, nita, sheriff ace, skee'tr, t'chaka, venus
Location: Catia's pride, jackson
The Gentle Wolf
A modern adventure webcomic
“Introducing us to this food”
(sigh…..) For some reason that put me in mind of my tour in Saudi. I arrived the day after the Khobar Tower bombing (July 96) (good God! 35 years ago!), so we were all on lockdown in our compounds. Go to work, eat at the mess hall (goooood food), then back to our quarters. Couldn’t visit downtown to eat out, shop at the souks (sp?), couldn’t be a little bit of a tourist. The only way we could leave our compound was if we had business at another compound. But that’s a minor story for another day.
Thx, PeterCat, for helping keep memories alive.
My son spent some.time in Saudi. Little set-to called “Desert Shield/Storm”. Perhaps you can confirm a story he told me. Bottom lime is that a Ma Deuce is hell on a camel. Can you offer any words of wisdom in that regard? 😉
I’ve heard that story too. Something about not recognizing the heat signature of a camel herd on an IR scope during a night-time combat mission. I don’t remember from whom I heard it now. Stupid old brain.
Jochi, I suspect that what my son, good GI that he was, told me about had less to do with mistaken IR identification than with GIs being GIs. Does the phrase “Boys will be boys.” ring al bell? When he told me that a Ma Deuce can do nasty things to a camel he kinda grinned and chuckled. He also intimated that the process of finding out about what a burst of .50BMG projectiles will do to a camel did not amuse the (towel-something or other) owner too terribly much. 😉
(Grin.) Maybe I just heard the version they told the press. Although the owner’s unhappiness was part of it — and understandable.
version 2.0. : the “Camel incident” was not a lone incident,, as we were told by S-2 intell. “we find this happening,, Alot, So check an recheck your target!” just about any field unit had a camel story.! so what I think was happening (as Bill sed.), that boys being boys,. had to find out ‘themselves’.
even our unit had one.. though ours was a LAW.. o.0 … our DS/DS year book (8 months) has the aftermath photos.. (cookout, not gory pics..)
I was not there during DS/DS. But having been to a few tank training tables, I can well imagine the havoc on a critter, ANY critter, no matter how large or small, when shot by a 50BMG round. And I can understand if a few camels were shot in the dead of night by nervous guards at the OPs. Had to drive back & forth a couple of times (not alone) from Riyadh (HQ) to Dhahran and a few places on the Saudi east coast (drove by the Mecca/Medina highway exit, wasn’t able/allowed to enter. darn!) , driving through the Empty Quarter (nothing but desert). In the dead of night, no background lights, it’s quite startling to “see” a camel cross the road in front of you, blacker-on-black. Long legs, huge body. Think of a moose, without antlers, in the desert. Only darker. Yeah, I can well imagine the tales your son would tell from his time in The Sandbox (grin) (and grimace). I hope he’s well.
.. math .. 25 years ago… i was in Desert Storm.. in 90-91,, which was 31 years ago…
Where were you? You were there when my son was. He was an 88M serving with the 24th (25th) out of Ft Stupid. He unloaded the first ship for the operation. He was also in one of the 1st vehicles not a tank through the berm when the SHTF. There’re parts of that he told me but won’t tell his mother or sister. He has a good case of PTSD. Can barely stand to visit in a big city. He’s only been to my house in S.A. twice since we built the thing in late 96 – early 97.
where,? in the rear with the gear. heavy lift helo. (HMH-463 Heavy Marine Helo) (CH-53D) we flew troops an gear ( his 88’s ) to where they were needed..
(ever see the movie “Battleship”.. i worked on those helo’s)
Bill,
My sympathies and condolences to your son. I hope he’s getting proper treatment and friendship from other vets. Sometimes it’s enough to have someone “there”, even though no one is doing or saying anything. But it has to be someone who has BTDT, with mutual respect.
Something going on with TopWeb? I tried to go there to vote for TGW this morning but keep getting a “site cannot be reached” error message as follows:
This site can’t be reached
Check if there is a typo in http://www.topwebcomics.com.
If spelling is correct, try running Windows Network Diagnostics.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
Here’s hoping everything goes okay with PC’s new internet service.
It seems that the site was down, nobody could vote. The vote totals didn’t change during the outage.
Nice to know the dragonflies have good taste. Of course, good pineapple pizza also has ham, bacon, chicken or mushroom, or a combination of them. And maybe onion.
And yes, I know I am now an outcast to some of you.
Nope. Bring your pizza and some good strong IPAs.
im one of those that loath pineapple.. (4.5 years in Hawaii) BUT.! more power to you.
also a heavy meat eater, so the bromelain burns my mouth, an meat taste nasty..
I love pizza Nd I love pineapple but I cannot abide pineapple on pizza. Onions, tomato and mushrooms are great on pizza. Pineapple on YOUR pizza is fine pineapple on my pizza … not so much. But I am totally a live and let live kind of guy. I don’t understand the impetus to put pineapple on pizza but what the hey. Different strokes, right? 😉
I have a bad memory of pineapple,
my wife read that oysters and pineapple
help with men’s fertility…
so that’s what she made me,
oyster stew with pineapple chunks…
I swear I puked up my socks…
My son was an 11B with A//2/4 Inf Neu Ulm, Germany – then with stop loss to the 32d Trans Bn out in Log Base Echo as a resident grunt fixing firing places in the berm.
I got to visit him there for an afternoon when doing recon looking for the APO.
After they got back from the SHTF, they made him an 88M, driving M915 flatbeds delivering 5000 gal blivits of water, et al, to my Evac Hospital (410th) near Al Qaisumah.
I can still see our tent sides ditching in the billeting and hospital set areas in the sand on Google Earth !
Spent most of my time as Hosp Chaplain ending to staff and patients. The Cross on my collar smooth irked the Republican Guard EPW’s in our ward –
but they knew better than to mess with me because of one awesome female MP SGT. One of the RG’s made the mistake of crossing her . . . He learned a hard lesson.
(My nickname for her was “The Dragon Lady” – and no, I did not tell her.)
(Yeah she gave me a blow-by-blow report (sorta like Bro “Rilla” is doing there) 😀 )
They would have had a real conniption had they known their ward MD was Jewish. A Pediatrician by trade – wonderful with the kids – with GIs, not so much.
I think I may have been a bit protective of him even if he was a lousy tent mate.
Bill – I am sorry about your son. (BTDT from Vietnam – best therapy I experienced was the grief therapy at Topeka VAMC.
(And yeah – we hit the floor at the sounds grom the theater popcorn popper . . . . )
I hate it that they have gone back to using drugs on them/ Worst Idea Ever. So impedes the healing work.
He needs someone with home he can unpack the sqiz he has experienced, grieve the losses – even that of his innocence – the having to see what no one should., among other things.
And then it becomes a task of learning to trust again. No simple answers, but so much in common.
I even went thru some sessions for abreaction – guided in a safe environment.
Pastor Ned,
I do not know what all is going on with my son. I do know that he came back from the Storm changed. But he is my only son and I love him so I have learned to accept who he is now. His children are all grown and married now. He even has 3 grandchildren of his own. It pains me that I did not get to see my grandchildren grow up. We are not wealthy and a 1,600 mile round trip plus 1 week’s stay in a motel is not something we could afford often. Nowadays we cannot afford it except for very special occasions. We went out there last year to see our newest great-grandchild. I am fond of my grandson and granddaughter-in-law and very much wanted to hold their baby. Alas, I don’t know when I will next see them. With gas prices being what they are today The round trip would cost over $300 just in gas. We cannot afford that along with the motel stay which can easily hit $1,000.
I had one grandpa I was close to but he died when I was 7. The other was a distant man and my dad was not his favorite so we were never close. I never doubted his love for me but we were never close. I wanted to be a better grandpa than he was but events conspired against me. It is one of my major regrets that I was not able to be close to my son’s children. But that is but one of many. I really hope that the Jehova’s Wittnesses are right about the after life. Since I am not of their flock their version of hell – no resurrection for the unsaved – sounds good to me. From where I sit, eternal life does not sound like such a boon. One ride on the merry-go-round and then oblivion sounds great to me. I suspect that the motivation for suicide is an attempt to seek surcease from the – for them – overwhelming pain of living. Were I not such a coward and not so afraid that the preachers are right I would be tempted to end my life now. I once read that a man should do 3 things in his life: build a house, raise a child and plant a tree. The house that I had built is almost 25 years old, My (adopted at age 9) son is 52. The tiny scraggly, one gallon “charley brown” oak I planted over 20 years ago stands taller than my house. I have published prose and poetry and some of my songs have been used in worship services on 6 of the 7 continents. I have even seen 3D models I built used on the internet here at TGW. I have made a scratch upon the surface of reality to mark my passing. I see nothing more I need to do or accomplish.
Brother Bill –
Seems to me you have earned your credentials.
I find myself grateful that your “cowardice” (which I really highly doubt) and some preachers’ admonitions have stayed your hand.
Perhaps it is simply time to remember your accomplishments – the great and the small, the good with the bad, the easy and the not-so – and commend yourself into doing that which you like;
within the bounds you have set for yourself.
May the Lord provide you with insight and ways/means to do that which you highly desire for yourself, family, et al.
May the Lord provide the pathways between you and your son and his progeny meeting the significant needs to the fulfillment of all.
I can relate to your life’s plan.
Mine had: fly real airplanes, Serve the Lord in a few paths; retire from the Army; do nursing (which bug bit me in the 9th grade) and do really good working; to include building fine furniture.
I am still working on the last one – was a plan for retirement – and I soon decided after my three tries at retiring (Army, Church, Nursing) that furniture making was not my calling.
I would rather do wood turning – remembering my first love in 9th grade woodshop classes.
I still remember flying the 747 on the way home from Desert Storm and the running around my area in the AH-1G on Easter Morning.
An Artillery Major dubbed my L-19D as an FBG-19.
It was in a way – with 2.75″ rockets, fuse-modified 81mm mortars and my sometimes trust C.A.R.-15 working with USAF fighters and UH-B gunships in their daisy chains.
That airplane – 57-2839 – was like a faithful and favorite horse. I really miss that Bird.
I did serve in 3 churches, 2 USAR units and then as Nurse and Chaplain in 3 Home Care and Hospice agencies. Hospital nursing as a student turned out to utilize both skill sets.
Mentor RNs would ask me to see a few of their patients while they covered for me in my student assignments.
I got to serve many WWII, Korean and RVN vets as both.
I just bought me a mini wood lathe and am gonna learn to turn pens and handles for stuff . . . .
Be good to yourself, fella – you are so worth it.
Petercat – I really really want to see ‘Rilla kick some lard-butt ass, even if I am too old to try to date Venus . . . 😀
I have a metal lathe and a milling machine.
I mostly make parts for things, like an oil cooler and lights for my Sportster.
My Smithy SuperShop is minimally metal lathe capable, but I have not had the urgent need, nor the necessity to try it out.
The company has bailed out of parts and care for the Smithy, so I have not ventured even to find instruction.
I have watched with awe (and not a little envy) the work done by guys with metal lathes and milling machines, but not ventured that way.
Saw a video of a guy doing spray welding. I was dumbfounded.
To paraphrase an unknown photographer:
This webcomic is my way of reminding the world that I’m still here.
Catman, how are things with the internet connection? All better I hope. Did you get the models for the Locust II and associated cargo module? I also sent you the new multi-purpose module. I trust they are useable.
I have a couple of specific requests pursuant to something I am currently doing in my 3D modeller. I will be emailing you later about them.
Fastest I’ve ever had, although it’s the slowest (and cheapest) plan they offer.
The big pain was that every website that I have a presence on sees it as an unfamiliar hookup,
so I had to go through them and re-authenticate each one, like my Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20043190&fan_landing=true
my Deviant Art, https://www.deviantart.com/cat-man-dancing
and everywhere else. But that’s mostly done.
I’m going to have to be careful not to spend too much time online, though. I got a lot of pages done for
this comic while I didn’t have a good connection. I’d rather create than read about others destroying,
although watching a coming train wreck is so seductive, even if I’m on the train.
Let me check my email for your creations.
“watching a coming train wreck is so seductive, even if I’m on the train.”
Likewise. If I had my druthers I’d watch the train wreck from a.nearby hillside. Unfortunately nobody asked for my input.
Hey! No dissing pineapple pizza! My wife cooks a real good one!
But it was funny!
You’re just lucky she’s not reading this …
(Sometimes we order out – her order usually is something like
“Pizza Volcano, big, plus onions, plus pineapple, please”)
as Bill Mullins said,, “you do you.” I personally hate pineapple.
no really, it burns my mouth. (bromelain reaction)
The only thing that tastes worse than pineapple pizza
is pineapple and oysters in sauce, we were trying to
have a baby and the wife heard it helped with fertility…
About puked up my socks!