JClark

Woke up at 5 freakin' AM, for some ungodly reason...probably because I'm damn near hard-wired to wake up at 0415 every morning... Yes, last race of the season, on a pretty fast track with at least two grooves, and I won't be surprised to see a lot of 3 wide racing. I also expect to see more than a few wrecks. Jimmy isn't sitting all that well, having qualified 15th, unless he can get to the front quickly. There's a few drivers ahead of him that might get him snared up in a wreck, especially Boyer, Sorrenson, and Gilliland. Here's hoping that Dale Jr. doesn't get mixed up in it No football today, Jags play tomorrow night (which will screw up traffic on my way home tomorrow) Donnie, since you always look like crap, feeling like it isn't much of a stretch Get up, you lazy sods! Boats

Gents, I'm extremly pleased to announce, that my son-in-law, AD1 Doug Vanderberg is coming home today. Home is the sailor, home from sea: Her far-borne canvas furled The ship pours shining on the quay The plunder of the world. Home is the hunter from the hill: Fast in the boundless snare All flesh lies taken at his will And every fowl of air. 'Tis evening on the moorland free, The starlit wave is still: Home is the sailor from the sea, The hunter from the hill. I'll be giving the big ugly squid a big hug in just a few hours...` Boats

I know this is a little late, but here is an outstanding salute to the Corps on it's 231st birthday: http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/holiday/usmc...asp?isc=gdh1111 Boats

I suggest John Ringo...good hard sci-fi, with terrific characters, and more importantly, high body counts and a CO who knows Kipling Boats

Chilly day, getting colder...thinking about moving to Florida, where the winters are always warm 49, wind blowing about 20, damn fine day to spend inside. I'll be spending the day with watching the Jaguars vs. Texans (hope like hell they don't screw the pooch like last time) and of course, NASCAR BTW, another thing I like about NASCAR: I got 37 weeks of races, only a couple of months of downtime Even better, to hold me over, I got the Baby Gators to watch make their way to March Madness, and the Final Four http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/team?categoryId=71690 Boats, living life large in sunny (and chilly!) Florida

Taranto was a landmark operation, that had far-reaching implications in the Pacific. It was the first time that carrier based air achieved stunning success against an enemy fleet. The Imperial Japanese Navy was forced to recognize this, when Admiral Yamamoto used Taranto as the example for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Even the US Navy saw the importance of Taranto, and began to build up it's own carrier forces. Unfortunately for the US Navy, they decided that this could not happen to Pearl Harbor, the bastion of the Pacific. Boats

I have a weekend off! I can't believe it! Usually, I'm standing in the foremans office doing the kick the tires and light the fires thing. Wouldn't you know it though, I woke up at 5 AM, looked at the alarm clock, said, "Sh!t you dumbass, you forgot to set the alarm!" I had a mini-freak moment, enough that I couldnt' get back to sleep. But that's ok, I still got to leisurely wake up, sit on the front porch, drink coffee and read. Red, I still got two days off. And one of them, there's a lottery drawing. So you can kiss my old bony arse with your "Monday ain't far away" stuff Boats

Nah, Bun Bun would have kicked this little Kraut toys butt, no sweat. But yes, it does look like the sort of bastard bad-ass weapon you come to love from Ringo and crew Boats

Why do we have so many more things to vote on? Well, I guess you say it's because we're still the same bloody-minded, rabble rousing, riot-starting colonists that insisted on doing things our own way that we were 230 years ago, and we simply INSIST on tossing our oar in the water on every little issue. Or... It could be ingrained into the American psyche, that the freedom to vote is a precious one, so we try to do it as often as possible. Sadly, too many of us are forgetting this, and voting less, and less. I'm not one of those, and vote as often as there are races...got a few rabbles to rouse, dontcha know Boats

Donnie, if Hitlary tries to stop prayer at a NASCAR race, you'll see the second American Revolution. Guarantee it, podna. Us NASCAR fans take this stuff as serious as we believe in the lucky dog and restrictor plate racing. It was bad enough when they changed the name from Winston Cup to Nextel Cup, and I STILL call that little million dollar event at Charlotte the Winston Boats

Bat crap....try this instead, and zoom in the satellite map of Kings Bay NS...you can see two Ohios tied to the pier. Can't believe I brain farted like that...was piddling with the satellite view of Mapquest today, and started at my house (which you can't see in the satellite view, trees, dontcha know<G>), then went to Mayport NS (these views are more recent than Google Earth, BTW), then north up the coast to K-Bay. Doh...next time, just smack me around a bit with a trout, will ya? Boats

Don't see anything new, myself... Boats

This is the reason why I love NASCAR: It's the most American of any sport, including the "national pastime". Before every race, you'll hear a pastor give a prayer...and the TV covers it. The armed services are all prominently in sight, and vocally honored. And the National Anthem is either sung, or played, and again, is heard on TV. NASCAR is proudly American, the kind of America I love, that's proud of who it is, and thankful to Him for giving it to us. Boats

that is available on the web... http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formt...fl&zipcode= ( I doubt it will come up as a link, do a copy/paste, and you should see it.) Now, the question is, who is going to identify what's visible, and where is it located? I'll give you doggies and gyrenes a hint: It's within 50 miles of my home Boats

There was an interview with one of the pilots, who hinted at the fact that they took great pleasure in putting newsies "to sleep", and advised the newsies that they would do exactly that Boats

Yawn...took 45 seconds, 18 out of 20...forgot it was Yorktown, put down Lexington instead, and got the name of the island Mac landed on (Leyte) Boats, who didn't have a lot of problems spanking you doggies and Marines

You've got to play this! DON'T click unless you are firmly seated and have no fluids in your mouth! http://blogs.chron.com/nickanderson/archiv...rys_baggag.html Boats

The guy passed out behind the park bench? Boats

The Harpoon folks (including the HULL section of the Combatsim forum ) has reported this for the past few days. It's time for the bird to retire...these airframes have seen a lot of use, ever since Panama during Reagans term. The Raptor is as able as the Nighthawk to perform the tacair mission, and unlike the Nighthawk, can defend itself against enemy CAP. Boats

Crap, there goes the neighborhood again.... Boats

Paddles, you're joking, aren't you? A bunch of fancy boys, driving fancy cars, passing once in a while in a corner at the breathtaking speed of maybe 50 mph? Or NASCAR, where at even the short tracks, you're 3 wide, six inches or less between you, and minimum speed of 90? Or, heaven forfend, Talladega, where you can get FIVE wide, at 180? I watch the races where the drivers carry theirs around in a wheelbarrow Boats

Was wondering when you lazy gits would get out of the rack. Cloudy, mid-70s, football, nap, NASCAR, nap, munchies, nap, beer, pass out Just your average Sunday... Boats

Stolen shamelessly from the Harpoon Hq forum: The following are all replies that British women have put on Child Support Agency forms in the section for listing father's details. These are genuine excerpts from the forms. Be sure to check number 11, it takes the prize. ____________________ 1. Regarding the identity of the father of my twins, child A was fathered by Jim Munson. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of child B, but I believe that he was conceived on the same night. 2. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my child as I was being sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can provide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the party if this helps. 3. I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She was conceived at a party at 36 Grand Avenue where I had unprotected sex with a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so good that I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father, can you send me his phone number? Thanks. 4. I don't know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole made by my stiletto in one of the door panels. Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in this area and see if he's had it replaced. 5. I have never had sex with a man. I am awaiting a letter from the Pope confirming that my son's conception was immaculate and that he is Christ risen again. 6. I cannot tell you the name of child A's dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the British economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by the country. Please advise. 7. I do not know who the father of my child was as all squaddies look the same to me. I can confirm that he was a Royal Green Jacket. 8. Peter Smith is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him, can you ask him what he did with my AC/DC CDs? 9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was conceived at Euro Disney; maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom. 10. So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I'd have stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at 46 Miller Drive, mine might have remained unfertilized. 11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my baby, after all when you eat a can of beans you can't be sure which one made you fart. ROTFLMAOPIMP! Boats

Must be a b!tch to smoke a cigarette with one of those things on...even worse if you dip Boats

I thought I'd bring you one of Lex's best: Learning to Fight In primary flight training you learn how to fly. In basic jets, you learn to fly jets, and carrier qual for the first time - day only. In advanced jets you learn how to fly a high performance jet, drop bombs (a little), fight (a little), and CQ again. When you go to the fleet replacement squadron, you learn to fly the airplane that you’ll fly in the fleet. You’ll learn how to land her at night. But when you get to the fleet? That’s when you really learn to fight. I remember coming off target after a training mission in Fallon, Nevada, back in my junior officer days. We’d fought our way in successfully, hit the target with precision, and bugged out of Dodge, putting the spurs to it, hauling the mail. Running away. It was always off-target that strikers got bagged. Bagged by SAMs they’d disregarded on the way in, or bandits that had snuck in after they’d come off target. Going in they’d have had the advantage of a well-briefed plan, a good radar picture, and excellent situational awareness provided by the airborne E-2. In the final attack run, they’d be focused with laser-like intensity upon getting fuzed ordnance on target, on time (with acceptable losses). Coming off target was always a swirl of getting good bomb hit video, checking six, re-forming in ranks, re-building the picture, getting the hell out. Those were crowded, unforgiving moments, and they were often where we’d suffer our losses, in training as in combat. So that summer’s day in 1988, I was off target, flowing north, building my SA, building the knots, trying to climb back out of reach of the (virtual) anti-aircraft artillery that was reaching up with glowing tendrils to drag me back down to earth. Ten miles north of the target, making good time, starting to feel comfortable again, I turned around in harness once more to check six and ensure that I was clear of the fray. Coming back to flight path, I caught a glimpse of an F-14 in planform, breaking right. Looking harder, I saw the much smaller visual signature of an A-4 Skyhawk, about to live in his shorts. Another F-14 broke into the vertical, trying to extend up away from fight center for a shot. In trail of him was yet another A-4. This was all about five or six miles away. I grimaced, shook my head, continued on - not my problem. There was nothing worse than getting anchored off-target in a defensive swirl. The bandits would be excited, restless, ruthless. If you turned to engage one group, another would be on you in moments, almost always unobserved. Killing you. You didn’t engage off target, if ever you could avoid it. You ran. You ran to live and fight another day. These guys had chosen to engage, they’d either win or lose, there was nothing to be gained by putting my snout in a mature engagement, I thought. I was wrong. In the debrief, I’d mentioned that I’d seen the fight in which both the lead Tomcat and his wingman had been “shot down.” I mentioned that I had decided to decline the fight, not feeling good about it. It’s always tough to enter a mature engagement - no one in the fight sees you, and you can’t be sure you see everyone else who’s there. It’s dangerous. A man could get killed. After the debrief ended, I sensed a certain chill in the air. We got back to our squadron spaces, and the CO - a man who I respected and admired, pulled me aside: You never leave a guy behind, he said. You never give up on a shipmate. You see a man in trouble, and you go and help him, you go and bring him back. Or else you go down in flames beside him, you pull the handle, make a stand on the ground and you keep pulling the trigger on your .45 until you’re out of ammo, or out of blood. Never come back without your honor, he said. And I learned about flying from that. Boats, who is not, nor has he ever been in the Navy...but has lived in close proximity most of his adult life, and loves the Navy just the same