12 B

 

 

Trading remarks with LL (Virtual Mirage  https://www.virtualmirage.org) stirred a 50+ year old memory.

“Son, you’ve done this before”, said the kindly SFC teaching us newby Combat Engineers starting our week of barbed wire training. “I’m making you my assistant instructor”.

“So, when someone tightens the wire tell it breaks, it will wrap around my legs instead of yours?” smartass WSF replied.

“I knew you were experienced”, he replied with a grin.

Old family joke, a favorite of my mother, was the two most glamour’s cowboy jobs was fixing fence and bucking bales. Of course, the Army decided to make me a Combat Engineer so I could build barbed wire barriers and stack sandbags.

So began a very long week. The one bright spot was the SFC remarking, as an NCO, he couldn’t knock sense into a trainee. On the other hand, as a Private, I could so long as he didn’t see it (hint, hint, hint).

Interesting time in that training cycle. We were mid cycle when President Kennedy was murdered. Prior to that, I was well on my way to not earning a Good Conduct Medal (drowning a civilian in edible garbage https://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=KP)

 among other misdeeds that weren’t in accord with good discipline, etc. insured that.

I think the real reason I graduated was to ship me off to be someone else’s problem (hello, 814^th Engineer Company).

Enroute, the unauthorized absence at Ft Dix waiting to board a troop ship wasn’t well received.

My partner in crime, Tom O’Connor, understood shipping schedules and thought three days in Boston seeing his girlfriend beat three to four days of shit details at Ft Dix. Can’t have your buddy facing danger alone, can you? Plus, his girlfriend had a cute sister. We managed to bluff our way out of that. Easier to throw us on the bus to the Brooklyn dock then do all that messy paperwork.

In a way, being in the engineers was a stroke of luck.  The engineers were a rowdy bunch, from the lowest private to the First Sergeant. If you were a worker, did your job and could be counted on, many things were overlooked. If you were a slacker, life got real hard real quick.

Just to be clear, choices were to volunteer for the First Sergeants extra hour’s projects, or see the Company Commander for an Article 15. There were no free rides.

The irony was both O”Connor and I made E-5, he a Sergeant and me a SP 5.

LL mentions landmines. Most had been cleared by the time I was there. One place, not so much, the Hurtgen Forest. Horrible WWII battle, 30,000+ Allied casualties. In 1965 there were still areas fenced off. We spent ten days there. We would take a section a meter wide and work our way through in a straight line stringing det cord behind. Move over, do the same, etc. After ten or so corridors, the det cord would be set off and the Munson effect would (in theory) set off anything explosive.  Nasty work. Hell of a way to make an extra $55 a month. Our equipment was all WWII vintage plus ice picks for probes. The place was littered with moldering military detritus. We left it alone and worked around it. That old helmet just might be booby trapped. I was glad I only went there once.

Old AF Sarge is writing stories about  WWII and one place nearby he uses as a scene is Kreuzau. We bivouacked nearby.

https://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-assault.html

Worth reading his series, IMO.

Outrage

 

President Trump took action to bring the cost of insulin way, way down. Xiden Immediately reversed that.

A neighbor was paying around $25 for her basic supply. She has learned her basic supply will now cost $700!

She 78, is on social security, and has a small pension.

I asked her what she is going to do.  “Die”, she said.

Maybe this is part of the (P)regressive’s master plan. Milk all of us old people who no longer “contribute” for what little we have left then make us die off.

Life Goes On

 

Sometimes being aware and concerned about all that is happening in our country, we, or at least me, lose sight of day to day living.

The ladies on the South end 4^th floor of our building seem to have a decorating war going on. On my floor, not so much

.

My meager contribution.

That is to remind me to focus on the here and now.

Vietnam War Legacy

 

Have you noticed how many Leftist were college age during the Vietnam War? Wasn’t that when the Communist changed tactics and focused on colleges/universities and not labor unions?

Related subject. How many of you know “woke” women who are happy?

Sisty will say I’m over thinking, as usual.

Way Back - A Car Sales Rant

 

A younger man I mentor from time to time was talking to me about managing salespeople. A mutual friend from back in the day likes to say, “Tank was bad at walking customers”.

The rule on every lot is, nobody walks (customer) until at least two people have talked to them. If you are not getting anywhere, you “turn them through the desk (manager)”.  Was I a frequent violator of this rule? Yes I was!

As I explained to the young man, few people in the car business know who the customer is. Very few sales are cash deals. The customer is the lender and the lender will only “buy” the deal if the structure of the deal meets their requirements.

I was fairly good at qualifying and wouldn’t waste my time, or anyone else’s, on someone who couldn’t finance steam off a hot dog. Was I always right? Of course not, but had a high batting average.

A professional will track their performance as follows.

How many “ups”? How many “ups” went on a test drive? How many test drives resulted in a write up? How many write ups resulted in a sale? You should frequently be looking at these numbers and percentages to see where you may be weak and need to improve.

Historically, I made one sale per 4.2 “ups”. I’ve read the nation average is around one in eight.

The best salesman I ever knew was Dirty Al Imhoff who averaged one sale per three “ups”. He would spend hours with a customer. If the female was attractive…………..  At the end of any given month I would sell more cars than Al, and my “wash out” check would be bigger. So who was the better salesman?

As a manager I encouraged the “pro’s” not to waste time on losers. Of course, if you were on my crew you were a pro.

The lesson I offer to the young man? Work smarter and know where the money comes from.

As always, some who read this will be, “Yeah, but” brothers and sisters. That is ok, just keep doing what you are doing. Or, pull your head out of………… and start making money.

Send Bail Money

 

I’ve been reported to the local police for being a porch pirate! Seems a local resident has cameras everywhere on his nearby property and “caught me in the act”. Am I guilty? Yes, I am.

Overstock.com accepted my order for a folding hand cart (under $40).  In the ensuing emails, I noticed I had entered my address wrong, 1515 instead of 1512!

Have you ever tried to wade through the UPS website to report a problem? Maybe you succeeded, I didn’t.

Late in the evening Overstock sent me an email saying my order was delivered. Bundled up (-2°) and went to the “wrong” address. The house is vacant but my order was on the porch. Retrieved my package and returned to my apartment building. I was caught on camera.

Same neighbor took my picture this morning while I was out walking Banner and sent it to the building manager. I printed a copy of the Overstock email with the incorrect address and gave it to him. End of story as far as he is concerned.

Am I angry about the neighborhood snoop?  Not really, he is a concerned citizen. It does bring to mind we are becoming more and more a surveillance state, public and private.

Do you think I will need a lawyer?

Stirring S**t

 

Ms. Jessica Brown

President

Colorado Bar Association

1290 Broadway, Ste 1700

Denver, CO 80203

2/16/2021

 

SUBJECT: Professional Misconduct

 

Dear Ms. Brown

 

As a concerned citizen, I am drawing your attention to the actions of two of your members, Diana DeGette and Joseph Neguse.

 

They were part of the second impeachment of former President Trump and presented inaccurate, false, and incomplete information to the United States Senate. The following was taken from your association’s public information on the internet.

 

Colorado Court Rules
Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct

Maintaining the Integrity of the Profession

As amended through Rule Change 2018(6), effective April 12, 2018

(a)  A lawyer who knows that another lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, shall inform the appropriate professional authority.

 

Clearly, even to a layman, their conduct did not meet your association’s stated values.

When, or if, your association disbar or at least sanction their misconduct?

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Frank B. White

I will share any response I receive.