Buzzing Uncle Jeff

Dad, Mom, me, Shawn, the pool, the fence and the Kennedy

I hope I can remember all the Dad and Uncle Jeff stories, but here is one especially for summer.

When Dad was in the CPD, at one time they offered a program for officers who wanted to fly the police helicopter.  Dad applied and had some flying lessons before they canceled the program, probably because of budget constraints.

At the time we had the pool in the backyard on Kostner and the six foot red wooden fence.  The pool was within about two feet of the fence on the south side, facing the Kennedy.  It was fairly common practice for young men to climb out of the pool and onto the fence.  They would then jump into the pool.  I had seen it done many times, but I think that by the time I was old enough to try it, we had replaced that fence with a chain-link (cyclone) fence.

Apparently Uncle Jeff liked to startle Dad when they were younger.  I say startle because, of course Dad wasn't "scared" of anything, but if you jumped out of a hiding place and yelled boo you could catch him off guard and make him jump.

Actually, now that I think about it, the only things Dad was afraid of were Mom and his children.

Ryan on the fence: one of the scary things

Anyway, Uncle Jeff liked to hide and jump out to see Dad jump.

One day while Dad was getting flying lessons in the police helicopter Uncle Jeff was visiting the house and swimming in the pool.  The instructor let Dad fly up the Kennedy and they were going to practice auto-rotating.

Auto-rotating is when the power goes out in a helicopter (the engine dies or some kind of power train failure).  The blades and the system are designed to keep rotating.  As long as you were going a certain speed forward you can ride the free spinning rotor blades safely down to the ground.

They weren't going to land, the instructor was just going to give Dad a taste of how auto-rotating feels.

As it turns out they were very near our house when the instructor turned off the engine.  So, there was Dad, coming in out of the south west and the low afternoon sun in a silent helicopter.  And there was Uncle Jeff climbing out of the pool and standing up on the fence getting ready to jump in.

Dad turned on the loud speaker and said, "HEY YOU, GET OFF MY FENCE!"

Dad said that after that day it never bothered him if Uncle Jeff tried to startle him, because Dad knew that he would never be able to top that.

Happy Fathers' Day

When I joined the National Guard I was looking to fly helicopters.  I enlisted and became a helicopter mechanic (MOS 67N Huey Crew Chief), but after I enlisted and before I started ROTC the Army tightened the requirements for helicopter pilots so that they needed 20/20 vision to start flight school.  I needed glasses.

I quickly looked around for another military career path and decided on Signal.  I won't get into that decision now.  Dad was Signal Officer qualified, but he was also Infantry qualified, Chemical qualified, Medical Services qualified and MP qualified.  At the time of my decision I think he was with the MP Battalion.

I decided on Signal and started drilling with the Signal Battalion as a Cadet.  A few months after that I went to one AT (annual training, or summer camp) with them and was stuck in an officer position with almost no training whatsoever.  Needless to say, it was very stressful.

At the time my Dad had just come back to the Signal Battalion as the Executive Officer (XO).  One day when I was almost at my wit's end Dad happened to stop by.  He told me a funny story about the Battalion Commander.  It cheered me to think that the Old Man had troubles too, and it cheered me just to know that here was a guy I could disappoint and fail, but he would still love me.  That was enough.  He didn't actually cheer me up with a pep talk or anything like that.  He told me the story, told me he loved me and left.

Two years later I was a commissioned Second Lieutenant and a Platoon Leader in the Signal Battalion.  Dad was the commander and I was attending Signal Officer Basic Course in Fort Gordon, GA.  We were having a class on Officer Evaluation Reports (OERs) and discussing conflicts of interest.

For OERs you have a Rater, an Intermediate Rater and a Senior Rater.  The Rater is self-evident.  The Intermediate Rater just makes sure the paperwork is filled out correctly.  The Senior Rater is your commander's commander and is very important to your rating.

I asked the instructor, "What if your Senior Rater is your father?"

He never answered me.  He just slowly turned and said, "You're in the Guard, aren't you?"

Dad had it covered already.  He had the XO be my Senior Rater.  I know that could have been questionable, but she was a real hard@ss and those were some of my toughest evaluations.

Happy Fathers' Day.

New Scoutmaster

I'm on a Boy Scout bend lately.  It is probably because I've been very heavily involved myself and it makes me think.

I was working with one of the ADC's last night and we were talking about helping a troop move on to a new Scoutmaster.  It made me think of how my Dad ended up becoming the Scoutmaster of Troop 881.

I told you in this post how Dad ended up at Pack 3881 and eventually Troop 881 as a scout.

Dad went away to join the USMC after High School.  He was not really available for a couple of years.  When he did come back he stopped in to the basement of the Irving Park Baptist Church to say hello to his old troop.

He found a group of boys doing scouting stuff, being led by their boy leaders.  What he didn't find was any adults.  There was not one adult there on that Friday.  I'm guessing this happened sometime after the Autumn of '64 since that would have been when he was already married and home to stay (when did he leave the Active Marines?).

Tony Baneshki (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, would someone please write in and help me with that?) was the SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) at the time and he told Dad that their Scoutmaster had just quit.

Dad volunteered on the spot. 

He would have been only 22 at the time, a mere boy himself.  Back then they didn't have Youth Protection or Two Deep Leadership like they do today (and have since the late 80s).  A single adult could lead a troop, and so he did.

I have heard Dad say he was sure he learned more from Tony than he taught him.  In a few short years Tony would do everything for his Eagle and leave for the USMC himself.  Tony's paperwork got lost in the shuffle and he ended up not actually being presented his Eagle Scout award until 1983 when he, Jac Charlier and I were all presented it together.

Just Who Do You Think You Are?

Pre-Leave No Trace I guess

Something today reminded me of this story.  I think my Dad told this to me once, and I'm not sure if I got it right, but I don't think there is anyone around who was actually there so I don't think anyone can call me on this.

When I was young we used to make up our own skits for Boy Scouts.  We had an electric campfire that we brought out at the end of each Friday night scout meeting and we gathered around to sing songs and do a skit.

I remember one that we did that had something to do with the Space Shuttle.

Anyway, I guess we weren't the first scouts of troop 881 to do this.  Back in the day when Dad was a youth they did it too.

Once, when Dad was the Senior Patrol Leader (SPL, or for those unfamiliar with the Boy Scouts, the person who actually runs the meetings and leads the troop, the Scoutmaster is supposed to only be there as a guide) the boys in the troop wrote a special skit.

The skit started out with some young boys being roughed up by some older boys.  A rather large boy ran in and fought the older boys until they ran off.  Then the whole scene repeated with the heroic boy jumping in to save the young boys. 

Finally on the third rescue one of the boys asked the gallant champion, "Who do you think you are, Superman?"

The stalwart lad replied, arms akimbo, "No, I'm Bill La Fleur!"

I understand Harcus got a real kick out of that.



I guess he should have had one of these.



Another Anniversary. What Do You Mean Down?

As I sit here with my bad knee up, and thinking about Dad's anniversary I am reminded of our 1981 trip to the Great Smokey Mountains portion of the Appalachian Trail.


In 1981 Dad was 39, seven years younger than I am now, but he too suffered from a bad knee that year. That combined with a bad experience he had on the 1971 attempt at the same trip made him take up a particular strategy for the '81 trip.

In '81 Dad and Rich Zeremba were the two adults and there were seven scouts, Jac Charlier, Dave McCormick, Don Cotar, Shawn, Ken Klusendorf, Myles and me. I was the Senior Patrol Leader, but we were all very seasoned, experienced, expert campers.

Dad's strategy was to hang back with Z, be the last ones to leave camp each day, and to be the last into camp each evening. We had no problem with this as we had a crack crew and a great youth leader (me) with a plan (duty roster).

We young bucks loved to stop for a rest and as soon as the adults reached us on the trial, we would hop up and rush off. I rarely saw Dad on the trail.

One day as they we were hiking along we passed a Ranger who was doing some sort of ranger-y things in the National Park. I remember I didn't pay him much mind, but when Dad reached him they had been having a rather rough day. It was one of our longer days and it seemed like we were hitting several peaks.

Leaning wearily on his hiking staff, and breating heavily, Dad asked the Ranger how far it was to the campsite. The Ranger said that it was only another couple of miles and not to worry because it was all, "basically down" to the camp.

It was five miles I think and when Dad and Z finally made it up the mountain to the top where our camp was he collapsed in the Adirondack shelter mumbling something about how, "Up" was the same as, "Basic Smokey Mountain Ranger, 'Down.'" From that day forward Dad used that phrase whenever he could.

We woke on our last day on the trail with only seven members in our shelter. Dad and Z were gone, and so were their packs and gear. This was very disturbing because we woke with the dawn. They must have left in the dark of night.

We quickly got ready and got on the road ("hit the bricks" as Dad would say) as soon as we possibly could.

I was hesitant and wanted to search around before we left, just in case, but the rest of the boys were determined to catch Dad and Z up before the end of the trail.

I was the last to leave that day.

Somewhere about halfway through the day's hiking Jac and Don caught up to the adults. They wouldn't let them pass. It seemed that my Dad was, despite being last every other day, and clearly the slowest member of our group (with his bum knee and all) determined to be the first to finish with whole length of the park.

Sure enough he was. I found him laying on the grass beside the road with his feet up and his shoes off. We had reached our pick up point about four hours ahead of schedule and with no way of alerting our Ground Support (Aunty Mae).

So, in the end the Ole Man put one over on us. He pulled a Kobiashi Maru and changed the rules of the game so he could win.

As the song says, Dad, "...cut a hole and pull me through." If anyone can, you can.

Ernie and the Fence

Here is a quick story about my Dad and Ernie (his partner) when Dad was a young police officer.

Dad and Ernie were trying to catch a bad guy.  The young man was really fast, but Dad was young and quick. 

The bad guy ran down an alley and then he started jumping over fences between the back yards.  The first fence was a good solid 6 foot tall wooden one.

He jumped over that first fence quick as a fox.   Dad followed going right over the fence too.

Suddenly from behind them came in explosion.  It was so loud that the bad guy stopped in his tracks and turned to look.  Dad turned too, and as splinters of wood flew past his head he saw Ernie running through the wreckage of what had been the fence.

The shocking sight left the young bad guy unable to continue to run.

After they had him in custody Dad asked Ernie why he didn't just jump the fence.

Ernie said,"Well, I just got to running so fast I couldn't stop."

Happy Veterans' Day

After Dad enlisted in the USMC he was deployed to Japan in '63 - '64.  From his base in Japan he was sent off to a few different places including a training mission to Taiwan.

I've been through Dad's letters home and that training mission is in there, but there were a couple more stories that he told that I can't find more details or evidence of.  I'm not disputing that he did these things, but I don't know how much he confused because he was just a teenage Private and how much he lost to the years.

He told the story of being deployed to a small island off China.  I do know that there was a long running "Warm" fight over the Straights of Formosa.  The hotter fight predated '63, but they were still under dispute when Dad would have been there.  Artillery was lobbed from the mainland to the islands and vice versa.

According to the story, they sent Dad's Battalion to the island, but not all of them could land because a big storm blew in.  The portion of the Battalion that did land had to secure what they had and just wait.

They didn't have all their supplies and the only things they had to eat and drink were ice tea and rice.  Dad never wanted to consume these things ever again after that.

On the first day they were there, their platoon held attack drills.  On a command everyone had to make their way to the bunkers and hunker down until they got the all clear.

They all moved very slowly and slugishly, so when they were all in the bunker their Platoon Sergeant reamed them out.

"When I say move, you move.  You never know when the Chinese could start shelling, by God I wish they would shell right now just to teach you maggots a lesson!"

Lo and behold shelling  did start.

Dad said that he thought, "Oh my God, the Gunny can even call in fire from the Chinese!"

That certainly lit a fire under their butts, and they were never sluggish again.

While they were on the island they had equipment to either build or repair an airfield.  They didn't have all the pieces and didn't have all the people to put the pieces in place, but they had huge crates.

After a while they noticed that each day the crates were a little bit closer to the jungle around them.  The Marines eventually figured out that the natives on the island were trying to steal them by coming in the night and moving the crates a few inches at a time.  They put an end to that.

The funniest part of this story is that eventually they were releived when the other ships finally made it to the island.  They passed out loaves of bread and set up showers.  The Marines on the island had spend several weeks without showering.

There was a camera there (I think it was Dad's) and someone captured the revelry as the Marines delightfully ate their bread and stripped naked to take their open air showers.

The film of that shower day was actually on the back half of a film my Dad had started of him and his friends in and around the base in Japan.

Somehow he didn't know the back half of the film was there and he sent it home for his family to see how their Billy G was doing away in the Marines.  They gathered the whole family together to watch the movie.  Little did they know that it had a shocking surprise ending.

Happy Veterans' Day and Thank you!