A Warm Fuzzy From A Friend

Tonight I received a very touching email from an old Army buddy. He is a member of my email group of old Kagnew Station friends. I recently admonished the group for being too political and for their one line obscene comments (that are made all in jest and friendship). It’s not that I mind obscene language; I hate one line emails. I feel that email should be the same as writing a letter and sending it to a friend (would you waste the cost of a postage stamp on what you have just written?).

I knew my re-found friend Paul (Loopy) for only a very short time at Kagnew. I was a new guy and he was a short timer. I have one black and white picture of us sitting together in the enlisted man’s club (Oasis) with several other guys and two local young ladies. He was more of a friend of a friend than a personal friend. But he was a character that one could never forget. He had a quick wit with very good verbal acumen. I, as well as others in our group, had searched the Internet for years seeking him. Surprisingly he found us.

I would like to share this email which he sent to me tonight:

Every so often I sit back and think about members of my family who I knew so well but never "really knew." I grew up with my 2 brothers and my sister who were all a bit older than myself. As each reached the ripe old age of eighteen, they one by one moved away from home to begin their own lives. The people I thought I had known became strangers as they formed new friendships, new experiences, and new ideas and ideals.

At eighteen, the age when all young men believe that they know everything, I was learning about myself and my world. My eighteenth birthday was celebrated as part of a basic training company at Fort Ord, CA. I made friends there. I served in other units from Fort Lewis, WA to Fort Huachuca, AZ and then got out of the Army. There were more new friends at each new duty station. I re-enlisted in 1965 and found myself at Fort Devens, MA, the place of my birth. My Father was a career Army man stationed there in 1942 with the 18th Inf. Rgt.

My return to Fort Devens was as part of the Army Security Agency, which was totally misnamed as we were training in Intelligence, not Security. I served in different duty stations during the last 4 years of my hitch. It was at Kagnew Station, a strategic listening post located atop the Hamassian Plateau in the then Province of Eritrea, Country of Ethiopia, where I met more young men who I called "friends."

Many years have passed since I last saw or spoke to any of them and some I knew of but really didn't know since we all wore the facade of the people we wanted so desperately to be seen as being. About eighteen months ago, I happened upon a web site dedicated to that long ago duty station and while scanning the visitors log, happened upon several names of old room-mates. Only one had a current phone number and I became reacquainted with a group of these grizzled old Vets.

This group of old Vets remind me of the family I used to have when I was a kid. The vulgar jokes, ribald stories, exaggerations that become greater every time an old story is retold, petty spats, hurt feelings and making up again all remain just like they were in those old days of my childhood. These men have become my family because of all the shared experiences, good and bad. I have come to depend upon the morning ritual of turning on the computer and checking for incoming mail. This group of men have been together as a support group with an annual reunion for a number of years before I stumbled upon them and I know that they looked for me as they did each other.

Due to my responsibilities as a full time caregiver for my bride of almost 40 years, I am unable to attend their reunions, but I hope that they know that I am with them in spirit. My bride asked me recently how long I had known these men. There was only one answer I could possibly give her that would tell her, them, and the world just how much they have meant to me. That answer was, "Not long enough!"

Loopy

Thank you, Paul, it made my day!

The Beach Bum

Trickling Up II - Addendum

Both yesterday and today I received many comments on my recent Blogs about the Economic Recovery. Unfortunately they were delivered by email or on the telephone.

One point that was made was that I hadn’t included any benefits for the Old Pharts who own their homes outright. It’s a good point because there are many retirees, on a limited retirement income, that still must pay property tax and land or condo fees.

So the first Amendment (this is sounding like a bill in Congress) to my proposal is:
People that own homes (outright) valued at $750,000 or less would get a one time cash payment of $10,000.

Another point made was that I excluded people whose homes did not decrease much in value, but have lost their jobs (or have been laid off) and their unemployment compensation barely covers their mortgage and utilities. Somehow I forgot about these people.

Therefore we must add Amendment #2. Individuals on unemployment compensation would get up to $1200 per month to pay their housing costs until they were reemployed. But this would only apply to people that made less than $150,000 per year before becoming unemployed.

The third point that was made was the most interesting of them all. “What are you going to do for the people that have already lost their homes to foreclosure?” I will assume that they are currently renting and would qualify for the rental segment of my proposition in my last Blog.

But just for fun, let’s add a third Amendment. People in this category would get what they lost in mortgage payments. But, this money is only to be applied to the purchase of another home of lesser or equal value. The FHA would grant the loan regardless of credit history. This will give them a second chance to either do well or screw up again.
Finally, one friend, who worked in the Banking Industry for years, postulated the following plan in his email to me:

"Good ideas - another package idea - people to people-no government hand outs.

There has to be at least 1 million parents capable of giving the tax free gift of $12,500 to their children. Assume they have 2 kids- $25,000 total.

Multiply 1 million x $25k - $25,000,000,000 into the economy instantly.

How about parents buying their kids something valued at $1500? I am sure there are 10 million parents that can afford to spend $4500 or even $3000.

10 million x 3k = $30,000,000,000

Multiply the numbers- they are staggering."

The Beach Bum

A Gas Problem

I have four groups of people from which I regularly receive email. None of these groups are in contact with any people in my other three groups.

The largest of these groups are my old Army buddies from the 1960’s. The second largest group is my Chicago Family & Friends group. Both of these two groups mainly consist of Old Farts like me. The third group is my friends from Maryland (I lived near Annapolis for 29 years). The final group consists of people that I know here in Florida.

It is not unusual for me to get the same “Forwarded Email” from two out of the four groups. But I cannot recall when, if ever, I received the same forwarded email from 3 out of four of these groups.

The email in question concerns the cost of Gasoline. It compares the cost of Gas per gallon to other liquids that we normally consume. Most of the products mentioned were not necessity items. They also used the smallest size of the comparison product to exaggerate the cost per gallon. In addition some of the products listed would not exceed a gallon of usage per year.

It was a well done layout full of visual effects (graphics interchange format). This leads me to believe that it was done by a professional. We all know that professionals don’t work for free. Who would benefit from this seemingly harmless email joke? Gosh, the first thing that came to my mind was “Oil Companies”.

Big Oil is making a lot of profits. That is why their CEO’s make millions of dollars per year. According to Forbes, Ray Irani (Occidental Petroleum) tops the list of Petroleum Company CEO’s at over $80,000,000 in annual compensation.

In the late 1970’s when the price of gasoline was nearing $1 per gallon, the oil companies told us we were lucky to get it that cheap, Noting what people in other Countries were paying for a gallon of gas. And their profits soared, but we accepted it because the Brits were paying twice that much per gallon.

I don’t drive; I don’t even own a car. But the cost of gasoline affects other aspects of my live. The cost of my bad habits (eating, drinking and smoking) is seemingly increasing on a monthly basis because of the cost gasoline.

The Beach Bum