Out my window

Okay. Today is gonna be a bit off topic. This is the view out my front window at dusk. I love it. Every once in a while I take a step back and take it all in... We are here in NC. How did this all happen? I really enjoy it. The journey, that is. Seems like once a month, Heather and I are always having one form of this conversation or another. Stick with me on this.

Today, I emailed a guy that I used to work with in the Marines at 7th Motors. His name... Paul Rodgers. You old timers out there are thinking (the guy from Bad Company?) No. Not the guy from Bad Company. Paul and I used to work together in Pendleton. We were 2 of the 4-5 Hazmat guys at the Batallion. Paul and I ended up becoming friends. He got promoted to Sgt and I was still a Cpl. Yet, he wasn't even old enought to buy beer. Pretty funny. We used to work in the "shack" literally, at the end of the Motor Pool. Best part about he shack... It had A/C and Heat. No other building on MAINSIDE had A/C except the General. Apparently, as the story goes, a guy that I worked for when I first got there (Eckels) had fixed this A/C unit that had been broken for YEARS and never told anyone. Deal was, you put it on heat to have the A/C work. That way, no one was privy to our secret. IF someone wanted to test it out.. it didn't work. See, we weren't suppposed to have A/C. I'm not sure why, all I know is that we used to get threatened that if it ever worked they'd take it out and put it in the Col's office. So, we didn't want it to "work." It used to get so cold in there, that in the summer, we'd have to go outside to warm up. TOO FUNNY!!! I used to love that. What a scam!!

Anyway, I was flooded with a lot of GREAT memories about the Marines. Pendleton had to be the best duty station I ever went to. Hell, it's how I met Heather. In fact, Paul and I were the instigators on how I ever became interested in Heather. Long story, but a good one. Some day, that one will be told. All I can tell you is there was questions about how many tatoos there were, Capt. Bars, Taco Bell in a Mustang, and damn near a kegger on my deck of the barracks. Needless to say, I had been infatuated with Heather for MONTHS prior to that, and all the guys at work knew it. And as the story goes, so was she about me. Neither one of us knew it about the other. SO, with a little help from the boys, all became the history as we know it, now. Told Heather I wrote Paul, she thought that was pretty cool.

I really like hearing what the guys are up to. I miss them all. Hell, even Pecor, and Cannon. They weren't bad guys, any of them. We were all in the same hole together. That's the one thing that people who have never worn the uniform will never understand. I haven't talked to Paul in 7 years, but writing him felt like I had just talked to him yesterday. These are lasting friendships. SO, Paul, Pecor, Cannon, Radaker, Nick, Perlman, Neylon(s), Lund, Devine, and a ton more... From Heather and I, we miss you guys. Write when you can. We will do the same. By the way Paul, we still talk to Liz and Pat. They're in Arizona, now.

Later, Skaters...