Five Hundred and Seventy-Three, Point Seven Miles

Home of the Famous Pork Chop Sandwich

And three nights.

(Spent the weekend in Mount Airy, NC.)

Stayed with Mom so she wouldn't have to be in the house by herself.  Four and a half hours going up and the same coming back.  Saw Jack on Sunday and John's old friends at Ocie's on Saturday and Monday mornings.  Mom wanted to stay in the house for a few days before driving to a couple of doctor's appointments later in the week.

Police showed up shortly after we got the house.  Said neighbors had reported seeing a strange car in the driveway (point taken that I have not visited often enough) and lights on in the house.  All the attention made Mom very happy.

Sat outside Saturday afternoon on Mom's deck doing my homework. Background music was provided by Mom's chimes (couple of times I thought it was the doorbell, but it was just the chimes), the mooing cows down the hill, some far away dogs barking, and the occasional throat clearing screech of a buzzard.  I got a lot of work done.  And a serious allergy attack afterwards.

Sampled some of the local cuisine.  Ocie's for breakfast twice.  A ground steak sandwich at Aunt Bea's.  A banana sundae at the Bluebird Diner (with Mom; she just had a bowl of chocolate ice cream).  Barbecue at Little Richards.  And a Texas Rib Eye at the Lone Star.  I can report that eating out has not gone out of style in Mount Airy.

Mom and I saw sixteen wild turkeys prancing through the front yard Sunday afternoon, but by then I wasn't all that hungry.

Got a haircut Saturday after breakfast.  Went to the Palace barbershop where I used to go ... thirty years ago.  Same guy's still cutting hair.  Apparently, he's still good at it because the shop was full.  Too full for me to wait.  (I couldn't wait to get back and listen to those cows.)  So I went to Floyd's (two chairs, no waiting) and was in and out in fifteen minutes.

Drove Mom's car all over the town trying to hear the "noise" she swore she still heard after spending big bucks down here in Augusta at the Toyota dealer's.  I took it up hill, down hill, curves to the left and curves to the right, started, stopped, parked, braked hard and braked soft, donuts left and right, and still ... no noise.  But Mom wouldn't believe me, so she took me for a spin.  Now, I admit I was a bit scared, at first, to get in the car with her behind the wheel.  On Friday night we had rendezvoused at the Citgo station on U.S. 601 so she could follow me to the house.  Not even halfway home she started following someone else and I had to drive like Batman to catch up and maneuver back in front of her.  (Sunday afternoon, as I was telling all this to Jack, Mom said she knew where I was the whole time).  But on the test drive, with me riding shotgun, she drove like a pro.  I was impressed.

But there was no noise.

And I told Jack, she's OK for daytime driving (she's driven to Augusta and to Durham by herself), but don't let her get near a car after sundown.  And Lord help us if Obamacare forces doctors to start scheduling nighttime appointments.

What a Picture is Worth (Thank You Mrs. Hawks!)

Jessie Simmons Allred 79th birthday in [somebody's] backyard on Allred Mill Rd. in 1998. [From L to R] Yvonne, John, Ruth, Jessie, Zola and Larry...Charlie's feet.

Just came across this picture while surfing Facebook.  I Saw where Ellen had commented on it (John's cousin, Jane Hawks had posted it).  Of course, when you look at an old picture you remember all sorts of things.  Here are some of the first things that come to mind

The Next Army Chief of Staff

General Dempsey is currently the commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monrow, Virginia.  Here is his official biography.  Source:  TRADOC website.

General Dempsey assumed the duties of Commander, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command on December 8, 2008 after serving as Acting Commander U.S. Central Command.

General Dempsey graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned as an Armor officer in June 1974. His first duty assignment was in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he served as a Scout and Support Platoon Leader and Squadron Adjutant. In January 1979, after completing the Armor Officer Advanced Course, General Dempsey became the Motor Officer for 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, at Fort Carson, Colo. Later, he commanded Alpha and Headquarters Troops, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, as well as serving as the Squadron Operations Officer.

In August 1982, General Dempsey began studies at Duke University, earning a Master’s Degree in English, and upon completion in 1984 was assigned to the English Department at West Point. He performed duties as an instructor, and later assistant professor, in the department until summer 1987, when he was assigned to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he earned a Master’s Degree in Military Art and Science. In July 1988, General Dempsey reported to the 3rd Armored Division in Friedburg, Germany, where he served as the Executive Officer of 4th Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, and then became Operations Officer and later Executive Officer for 3rd Brigade, 3rd Armored Division, deploying in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In July 1991, General Dempsey assumed command of the 4th Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division.

In summer 1993, after five years in Germany, General Dempsey was assigned as Chief of the Armor Branch at U.S. Total Army Personnel Command. He then continued his studies at the National War College in 1995, earning a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. In July 1996, General Dempsey returned to Fort Carson, taking command of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Following this assignment, he served as the Assistant Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs Europe and Africa J5 and Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C., from July 1998 through September 2001. From September 2001 to June 2003, General Dempsey served as Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program, Saudi Arabia. General Dempsey left Saudi Arabia in June 2003 to take command of the 1st Armored Division and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After completing 14 months in Iraq, General Dempsey redeployed the division to Germany and completed his command tour in July 2005. In August 2005, General Dempsey returned to Iraq and assumed command of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq until summer 2007, when he departed for his next assignment as Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command. In August 2007, General Dempsey assumed the position of Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command, and served as Acting Commander, U.S. Central Command, from March 28, 2008 to Oct. 30, 2008.

General Dempsey’s awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and “V” Device, the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.

What I Am Learning About Grief, Part III

Mom left this morning to go back to Durham.

Two weeks she spent with us.  It went by like  few hours.  A lot has happened over the past two months.  A time or two I thought Mom would break under the burden of it  all.  For that matter, I thought I might.  But the violence of the storm is now past.  The dark clouds and rain have given way to springtime.

You could see it in Mom's face.  So tired she seemed on her last trip here, a short month ago.  Her pace was painfully slow, her movements strained.  But even the memory of that is now fading.  She laughed a lot while she was here.  I haven't heard her laugh like that in ages.  One night at the supper table she laughed so hard at something Connie said that it made me look at her--is that really my mother?  Then I joined her in the merriment.

A Flat Head, a Phillips, or a ???

Sarah

So I'm helping Sarah put a new bookcase together and we need a hammer and a screwdriver. She brings the hammer and two different sized flat head screwdrivers. So I tell her that we need a Phillips. She looks at the handle of one and says, "This one's a Stanley."

What is History?

My Textbook's Cover

In my history class we had to select a couple of definitions from a list, one that best represented our view of what history is all about and another that is the antithesis of that view.  Here is what I turned in ...

The quotation from the list that most closely corresponds with my own idea of what history is is the one from E. H. Carr (#12), who said that "The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present."  This very neatly expresses my own point of view and, at the same time, describes my chief reason for taking this course—and the whole string of courses that lead to a military history degree.

To become a military concepts and doctrine writer [what I do for a living], it was essential that I have an extensive military background.  When I started I felt sure that twenty-three years, four months and three days was more than sufficient; but, the more I experience the present, whether in meetings, or in conversation, in research, in reading concept papers or emerging doctrinal publications, or in studying current events, the more insufficient I find my experience to be.  So, in the words of our text, I have become a “relentless questioner,”(1) and a voracious reader.

Besides that particular motivation, which really only serves the ends of my day job, I am interested in history, as a man, a father, and as a citizen, for the very same reason.  Reading history illuminates much of the present, it makes things make sense.  It satisfies my curiosity about the present and, at the same time, creates a thirst to know more.  Perhaps that is the sentiment that suggested to someone that the only thing men learn from history is that men never learn from history.  Quite the contrary, I think that men do learn from history.  It is just that they don’t learn enough.

As to the alternative, the definition that captures the opposite of what I believe, I saw agreement between the William L. Burton quote (#13) "If you do not like the past, change it,” and the one by Fredrick Jackson Turner (#24) "Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time." These two represent something reprehensible.  They proclaim dishonesty as if it were a virtue.  This is where it starts in some, the propensity to alter history, to revise it, to re-write it, to re-craft it in such a way that it subtly changes and tells a story about something that did not happen.

History is the record of what happened.  A study of that record can reveal why what happened happened.  The record of history sheds light on the true characters of men and women.  It is a gold mine of wisdom showing the ways to peace and to war, to success and to failure, to victory and defeat, to liberty and destruction.  Changing that record reveals much more than present dishonesty.  It shows a contempt for truth and a motivation to justify continued dishonesty.

(1) Richard Marius and Melvin E. Page, A Short Guide to Writing About History (Pearson Education, Inc., New York, NY) 2.

My Introduction to my History Class

The following is my introduction to the class of an online history course I am taking. The course is Research Methods in History. Supposedly, we will learn all about what historians do for a living. The school is American Public University.

Greetings, 

My name is Tony Howard and I am a civilian employee at the US Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon, GA. I am originally from North Carolina, but after 23 years in the Army, Fort Gordon is where I ended up, so my wife and decided to settle down in Augusta, Georgia.

I had a lot of memorable experiences in the Army, but what stands out most are my experiences overseas. We particularly enjoyed Germany—I did three tours there—two in the south and one in the north. I was serving in a unit on the East-West border in 1989 when the Berlin Wall opened up. We also spent some time in Izmir, Turkey—and were there when 9/11 happened. Travelling was what I enjoyed best about the Army.