I was promoted to 2 LT in the Civil Air Patrol this weekend. This is what I did this weekend. I woke up at 0500 am on Saturday morning to an overcast and foggy morning. Lately we haven't had too much rain and infact the local jurisdictions were all imposing water rations. I left my house at 0600 am on a mission to be conducted under the auspices of homeland defense. I knew in advance that this mission was only a drill. I had to travel to the Winchester airport, a distance of 75 miles away. My mission was to provide support to a team of searchers who were dispatched to find a paraglider who lost the lift that kept him aloft.When the lift on something like that is lost, it is called a stall. The terrain that the paraglider was on is known as Buzzard's Knob. It is a high and steep mountain on the northern end of the Massanutten Mountain range in Strasburg Virginia. We had to locate the glider with help of air support and our communications equipment. Our probability of detection was low. The weather was quickly stacking the odds against us in finding this paraglider because what happens is that our radio transmissions get dispersed in heavy weather. The mountain was rich in iron ore and that causes the radio signals to reflect and bounce making it nearly impossible to vector into the target (please keep in mind this was a drill scenario, it was not a real situation) Anyway the Bravo team was the unit to carry the stokes litter of which the victim was to be transported out of the dangerous terrain on. My job as Delta team, was to get the evac supplies to Bravo team by finding them with map coordinates and GPS device. I also had the assistance of a laptop/palm pilot in which was used to track the coordinates on and locate myself exactly on the map. With the weather getting worse by the minute, every team was to check in every 1/2 hour. Bravo team lost his communications due tot he position that he was in. The receiver would receive , but couldn't transmit. Bravo team turned the scenario into a real situation as we had to nearly move from just the training exercise into the real thing. Having spoke to Bravo team earlier in the day, my partner and I were only able to take a guess as to where Bravo team ended up. We didn't know for sure until they were able to be heard by our high flying aircraft called the high bird. They managed to fit a 15 passenger van into a foxhole on the top of a mountain at 1300 feet up Buzzard's Knob at Elizabeth's Furnace.. Being the new guy at a Search and Rescue Exercise, I even knew what was going on when the Senior people to me didn't. I knew Buzzard's Knob as I had spent time there previously on a Royal Ranger Campout. After I explained where Bravo team was, as I knew where they were, I then explained that the Bravo team leader was my senior officer from my unit and that he was likely to be right where I said he would. Things I had learned about that place from a previous Royal Ranger campout made it so that we were able to find Bravo team because I had a familiarity of the place and they didn't.We made contact with Bravo team, got his van off the top of the mountain and did it before the weather hit without communications. In essence, it wasn't the Civil Air Patrol that saved the day for the Captain and Bravo team, it was the Royal Rangers. I knew what was going on because As a Ranger outpost, my outpost had been there before just a few years earlier. I relied on that which I had already knew about the place.The mountain plays tricks on you and if you are not READY for anything, you won't know what to expect when that which was not expected, expects to pop up and throw a curve ball into your day. The target had to be retrieved by the mission coordinator because we had to ground our air support due to the advancing inclement weather. Just wanted to share, Be Blessed! Iron Mike
----- Original Message ----- From: "Doc Wheeler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 5:38 PM Subject: [RR] Danger explodeing toilet! > > *What did you'all do this past weekend? > > Had me a little problem develop this weekend in the yard. > > Cdr.Jen no doubt don't want me to share this, but we replaced > the bathroom "throne" recently at Rancho Deluxe, and it's been > on my "project list" to get rid of the old one from the yard. > > I suggested.. "accecenting it as a garden art object" but was > told in terse words that the neighbors would object.. > > *I thought that objection was hallow since those "neibors" seem > to attract the attention of the County Sherrif and the SWAT TEAM<G> > > But.. prudence won, and i hauled it out to the front yard, awaiting > more garbage to take to the dump on my Ranger trailer.. > > *It (The old Potty) didn't want to go.. > -------------------------------------- > > The top tank fell off and Jen went to steady it and a shard of > a ceramic chip cut her finger! *Scratch one partner.. > > Jen's a treasure, but with stuff like this she keeps me posted > on what pain she's in minute to minute, and how it's my fault<G> > > *I got it down to the trailer, and that was 2 weeks ago.. > > This last weekend was cold, and Josh gave me the bright idea > to build a fire with yard debri.. so I lit off a little fire in > the handy ceramic "campfire bowl"... > > Josh (GMA #3911) and I enjoyed the warmth as the cheery blaze rose > in the dark grey NW sky, and chuckled at the sight.. > > (fcf Opening phrase came to mind<G>) > > The yard debri was a bit damp, so I had used a bit of Ranger > Go-juice to get it started.. apparently some fumes sank into > the "bowals" of the old throne and shortly we had us a FIRE! > > *I learned something.. > > Ceramic fixtures may "seem" fireproof but are not. > > The HEAT built and suddenly we were "under fire" from explodeing > Potty fragments! *ZING.. one flew by- *POP! > > "DAD GET THE HOSE!" > > I looked and it was under the tire of my Chevy truck! > *Risking it all.. I ran to the truck and jumped in to back > it up.. however I ran over the hose end with the tire. > > Josh turned on the water full force just as i got out.. > and the crimped hose end started to dance like a snake! > > *Sploooosh! It raised it's head and soaked me! > (Oh that's cold water!) > > I overcame it and got on the hose to spray the fire.. > and as the COLD WATER hit the hot pooper... > > *Ka-PLOW! > > It blew! > > *So, what did you guys do this weekend? > Doc > > ===== > *High MORALE is the Index of effective Leadership. > --------------********+********-------------------- > Morale raises belief of the Leader in the follower, > of the follower in the Leader, of each in themself, > and both in the .....cause! > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email! > http://mail.yahoo.com/ > _______ > Let the Golden Rule be your daily rule. > > Please pray for your list sponsor: http://eBible.org/mpj/ > > To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm > http://rangernet.org > > _______ Let the Golden Rule be your daily rule. Please pray for your list sponsor: http://eBible.org/mpj/ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm http://rangernet.org
