But I think I am going to head to Fort Knox this weekend for a military reunion with my old friends. It’s been twenty years, and I really want to see them all before any more die off.
Kind of curious to check out Ft. Knox, too, because I was just dazed and confused and out of it the last time I was there for OSUT.
JWL
Before they “die off”?
Shit, Cole, you make it sound like you’re pushing 80.
Cheer the fuck up while there’s still time.
mouse tolliver
Convenient cover story. But I know what this is really about. Operation Grand Slam.
pat
Will you be off the grid then? Just wondering…
(I love your posts. They keep this place going.)
Gin & Tonic
Are you going to go off the grid when you go there? Cause that would be high-lair-ee-us.
Doug Milhous J
What if Nick Cage bursts in and tries to steal all the gold?
I just hope everyone is armed.
Gin & Tonic
Damn, looks like I owe Pat a beverage.
Gin & Tonic
@Doug Milhous J: Does he still have that IRS “problem”?
David Koch
be on the look out for Puzzy Galore
Doug Milhous J
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, he was singled out by the IRS because of his Paultard activities. Chicago style politics.
Crusty Dem
@mouse tolliver:
I’m not clicking, because I assume its a Denny’s commercial.
Comrade Jake
WTF Cole? How many have died so far?
Yatsuno
@Doug Milhous J: Trust me, the sucky acting was reason enough.
pat
@Gin & Tonic:
Any good red wine will do, thanks.
Omnes Omnibus
@Crusty Dem: Goldfinger.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s one Bond movie I have seen.
pattonbt
I was probably there at the same time as you and in the same training (tanks – 19K), yet I have no desire to ever go back. The Army did me a whole hell of a lot of good (and I was safely ensconced at Ft Carson in Colorado Springs for Desert Storm), but I like it as it is for me now; a semi-fond-ish memory of yore. No need to re-visit and remember the actual sucky bits. I like my slightly revisionist happy memories as they are.
And, seriously, “before any more die off’? WTF?
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: It is a classic.
raven
Went to the 45th reunion of my outfit a couple of weeks back. It was good.
raven
@pattonbt: I was in the Disney barracks in 1967.
Citizen_X
@mouse tolliver: First he posts a picture of himself looking suspiciously like Auric Goldfinger, now he announces a “reunion” (of trained combat vets) at Fort Knox. Connect the dots, sheeple!
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I did Basic at Knox before I went to OCS. I was in lovely WWII “temporary” barracks.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep, I volunteered to be a “fireman”. Little did I know that it meant I had to be on a detail that kept the coal furnaces burning in them during the insane blizzard of 67. That was an object lesson in not volunteering for shit.
raven
Here’s what a bunch of dogfaces look like 45 years after.
mouse tolliver
@Citizen_X: And we hardly ever see his face. But a picture of that big white cat is posted right at the top of the page. OK, so Blofeld has the cat, not Goldfinger. But still fits the Bond villain profile.
John Cole
@Omnes Omnibus: Those barracks were where Stripes was filmed. The big hall where ll the Stripes cast went and we had the iconic “How’s it going Eisenhower” from John Candy to John Larroquette was in the same building where all the new recruits went for orientation before waiting a week or two to be put in basic training units at Disney Barracks. I remember laughing when I went there.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: I was there Dec 87 – Feb 88. They had upgraded the furnaces by then. We only had coal stoves in the warming tents out at the range.
John Cole
@Omnes Omnibus: I was there in 1990.
raven
@John Cole: Disney was two or three story block right?
yep, here it is
https://worldoftanks.com/dcont/fb/imagesforarticles/chieftains_hatch/knoxghosts/old46in.jpg
Anne Laurie
Ask your formerly married comrades for contact info on their exes. You’re in the age range where “stable job, owns his own home, has pets he dotes on, willing to deal with teenagers” starts to look better than “hot bod, bad attitude, and it will tee people off”. Take advantage while you can!
Of course some of the exes will turn out to be genuinely crazy/destructive, but the way you’ve been whinging lately, a little upheaval in your routine might be useful.
Chris
@mouse tolliver:
I have never been to Fort Knox, but I’ve made a resolution that if I ever do, I’ll buy the Goldfinger soundtrack first and blast it as I drive through.
John Cole
@raven: That made me cringe.
burnspbesq
@Omnes Omnibus:
My grandfather lived in those barracks during WW2. He was already in his 30s with four kids when the war started, and he was a cop in real life, so they made him an MP and assigned him to Fort Knox instead of putting him in-theater.
Omnes Omnibus
@John Cole: Yeah, every time I see that movie, it brings back memories. I spent a few days in the lovely reception center barracks as well. IIRC it was where we were issued uniforms and taught how to line up in formation, etc.
Tokyokie
So let us know whether Odd Job’s derby is still stuck in the bars of the vault door.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Not those diesel things we had in Korea huh?
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: We had something like that in Germany, but my NCOs had enough sense to keep me away from them. They just made the interior of the tent warm enough that the ground turned to mud but did nothing to warm people.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: And they didn’t last all night so someone had to get up and restart the damn thing.You put a little piece of burning paper on the plate inside and pumped the thing on the side of the jerry can. Diesel smell will haunt me forever.
cyntax
Really? Social gatherings? People? That’s so surprising.
Lolis
@Anne Laurie:
That is incredibly rude.
Crusty Dem
@Omnes Omnibus:
Playing it straight? I am disappointed…
Narcissus
So after 007 converted Pussy Galore back to the baloney-pony, what happened to her elite cadre of lesbian pilots?
mclaren
Were you at Fort Knox when that guy with the funny name tried to blow it up with an atomic bomb?
Just curious.
Redshirt
I was at Fort Knox like 10 years or ago – the vault itself does not seem impressive from the outside. The base itself is very nice.
Don’t take pictures! I saw the MP’s busing some Japanese tourists.
M. Bouffant
@mouse tolliver: Just saw Goldfinger last night, or Saturday night, whatever. First thing I thought of when I saw “Ft.Knox.”
M. Bouffant
@raven:
Why do those guys grow the Aryan Brotherhood/Fu Manchu ‘staches? Seriously, I only see those on cons, ex-cons, ‘Nam vets & David Crosby.
Tern
You will find that Ft Knox has really changed. Since the Armor School eas moved to Ft Benning and HRC moved in, the whole mentality has changed. Many upgrades made on post, lots of old buildings tore down and new buildings put in place, all in the last 5 years or so. The post will be largely unrecognizeable to you.
Redleg
John,
I was at Ft. Knox back in 1985 for Basic Training. I’m sure I wouldn’t recognize the place because I pretty much kept my head down for the 8 weeks I was there.
pseudonymous in nc
I passed by Ft Knox ages back when driving out of Louisville by the “scenic” route: yeah, because of Goldfinger. I remember a lot of strip malls on 31W, check-cashing and payday loans, and it gave me an insight into the parasitical shit that hangs out beside military bases.