CalExpeditions

Tag: Military

  • Colonel Inspects West Point

    Colonel Inspects West Point

    I made a surprise inspection trip to the US Military Academy, aka West Point. Coincidentally, it is in a town of the same name, West Point, NY! Did you know that it is the longest serving post in the US military? It is! It has been continually occupied since the war of independence, when the Americans ran the super-mean Brits out of the continent.

    West Point, as I suppose you know, is the world’s premier military officer training institution. It has produced many of the Nation’s most gifted and brave officers. Regrettably, it has also produced a host of traitors, like Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and a slew of other rebels.

    It has also produced a few genocidal jackasses, like George Custer. In all fairness, we can’t pin the genocidal part on Custer, as it was Government policy at the time. On the other hand, he earned the jackass part on his own. How? By getting his unit wiped out in an ill-advised attack on the native Americans like…well…a jackass.

    The site itself is beautiful, perched on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River. The grounds are immaculate, green and thriving.

    West Point has a quite large and ornate chapel. Did you know the chapel’s organ is the 3rd largest (by number of pipes) in the world? It is, with over 23,000 pipes.
    West Pointers are fond of the words Duty, Honor, Country and plaster them all over campus.
    I was surprised that there were so many cadets buried in the cemetery…as cadets, before they graduated! Don’t know why, exactly. Maybe the lack of medicine in the old days? Maybe a primitive view of safety in training?
    Examples of Government housing.
    The Army has delicate tanks that cannot withstand people climbing on them.
    Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” –Douglas MacArthur
    The view of the Hudson from West Point is inspiring.
    Maybe you can see Xena, lounging with her arm draped over like a boss.
    This is the view from my campsite at the West Point FamCamp.
    The way there.
  • Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat

    Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat

    Wright-Patterson AFB…wow what a beautiful and enormous base! They have every amenity imaginable: golf course, flying club, tennis club (indoor courts!), a USO club, etc, etc. If I were the type of person to use facilities like these, I’d be tempted to pack up and move!

    We stayed at the FamCamp, which is what the military calls on-base RV parks. The Wright-Pat FamCamp is on the shore of the lake. That’s right, the base has its own lake.

    Morning mist rises from the lake.
    Xena lounges in the Forbidden Zone, heedless of the rules.

    In addition to the huge variety of units on the base (Air Force Materiel Command, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the Air Force Institute of Technology, etc), the base hosts the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

    The museum is world-class, although with a very heavy emphasis on airplanes. However, they *do* have some very interesting space exhibits, including KH-7 and KH-9 surveillance satellites. When I was in the space business in the 1980s, these were some of the most highly classified items in existence. Ha, now they’re in a museum.

    These are the satellites that took still photos from 80-100 miles up and ejected the film canisters so they would parachute down over the Pacific. Specially equipped C-130s would catch them mid-air and return them to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, where the film canisters were flown immediately to Kodak for processing. During periods of conflict or heightened tension, the Government would sometimes pay for one-hour processing.

    And, of course, airplanes! Many of the most iconic and famous planes in aviation history are in the Museum’s 4 gigantic hangars.

    This is from the interior of the C-141, nicknamed the Hanoi Taxi, that brought many of the POWs back from Hanoi. The returning service members autographed the interior of the plane.

    Outside, the Museum has a Memorial Garden, with many unique and imaginative displays.

    And this is the part of the journey leading to Dayton.

  • Catching Up in New Mexico

    Catching Up in New Mexico

    I had to get a new military ID card, and White Sands Missile Range is the closest installation, so off I went. It’s a dry, dusty and very flat place with widely spaced buildings, most of which are surrounded by tall fences and razor wire. Apparently, the Army has difficulty keeping its soldiers where they belong. I wanted to take pictures of these brutalist buildings, but they threatened to shoot me if I did. The post bills itself as the “Birthplace of America’s Space Program.” I suppose it is, courtesy of Nazi Werner von Braun.
    This is an example of an early American modification of the Nazi V-2 missile. They used them, unsuccessfully, to frighten Londoners into becoming Germans. Although the museum is covid closed, the missile park is open. They have dozens of missiles on display, some as small as your arm.
    I’m spending a few days at Aguirre Springs Campground on the eastern slope of the Organ Mountains. The mountain peaks form a backdrop to the west and, to the east, the Tularosa Basin houses the missile range, White Sands National Monument and Holloman AFB. I avoid campgrounds when I can, but I admit that this one is pretty nice. The campsites are spread far enough away I can almost imagine that I’m alone. Xena loves climbing the trees and exploring the rock piles. I think the designers of this campground and its environs were amateurs. The sculpting of the mountain peaks seem a little overwrought to me, with the slick rock faces and pointy peaks. Just doesn’t mimic nature very well. Moreover, the landscaping has no coherent design schema that I could discern. Just plants stuck in the ground willy-nilly Finally, the nature soundscape is far too loud (not to mention repetitive); they need to turn the bird sounds down.
    The Organ Mountains, standing tall to keep Las Crucians out of the Tularosa Basin.
    The plain containing White Sands Missile Range and White Sands (gypsum) National Monument.
    Xena, the Warrior Princess, is an excellent tree climber. She was right on the heels of a Texas squirrel in San Antonio. Until she ran out of string. A programming note: I’ll be back in Oakland the first week of April.

  • Eastern New Mexico

    Departed Las Cruces (adios, amigos!). Up and over the Organ Mountains, through White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument. I learned that the name “White Sands” is an early example of government misinformation…the dunes are actually gypsum.

    In this part of the country, the government has established a series of checkpoints called White Checks. The whiter you are, the easier it is to pass through.

    At the risk of inciting unending envy in all, I will report that I visited Pistashioland, near Alamogordo, NM. One under-appreciated aspect of nuclear weapons testing is the enormous size of agricultural products that are now realized. This particular pistachio is about 3 times the size of my van-house and can supply the average American family with 2.7 years of pistachio nut meats. Imagine what would be possible with additional thermonuclear explosions!

    Beautiful mountains lay to the east of Alamogordo. The mountains are the ancestral homelands of the Mescalero Apache. What a fine place to live in harmony with the land! Lincoln National Forest participates in dispersed camping, so I settled into a secluded site nestled in a valley. Patchy snow remained from a recent storm. Outside temp was 17 degrees in the morning, 60 in the van.

     

    Xena, the Warrior Princess, got to experience her first snow! She loved it. (I don’t know how to embed a video, so you have to click on the link to see her cavorting)

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    Evenings in my tiny van-house are comfy. I’ve been watching The Expanse.

    And enjoying clear blue skies in the day.

    Many of you have left comments, which I appreciate enormously. However, because of some technical weirdness, most comments come from Anonymous. There is a way for me to fix it by re-subscribing you in a different way. Email me if you want me to do that.