I started another 100 days of prayer today.

It's been a year since I did the last one and some of you joined me. Well America and the world has not improved, and I think our families, our friends, our leaders, our nation, the world, those suffering everywhere, those caught up in addiction, or temptation, or are hungry or in financial trouble all need prayer.

So who will join me? I'd ask that you make up a list and every morning or day, set aside a little time and go down that list. You can publically announce here of this thread, or you can join me annomonously. However you decide, please do decide to commit some time to praying with me/us here for the next 100 days.

Lift up:
Your spouse
Your family
The folks on this forum
Yourself for wisdom and protection against the enemy
Let's lift up our country, our culture, and the kingdom of God as it is on earth.
Let's pray for those in fear and suffering and at war.
Let's pray against the plans of the enemy!
And let's pray for individuals who you know are in need.
Let's pray for revival and conviction for those who are falling away or who do not know Jesus.
And Let's thank God for allowing his son to dwell amongst us and teaching us the way and for his everlasting grace.

Day 1

Turn the volume down/off, it's all cursing, but the vid by itself is funny.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/564477868904225

So let's get a little insight here.
You may not have a movie or series in the category, and that's just fine.
But share what movie/series/other you would watch over and over again.
You can add up to two choices per category or screw the rules and write in whatever you want! ;-)

Here's a format to use, just copy and paste, then fill in your choices:

Favorite all-time movie:

Favorite war movie:

Favorite Action/suspense movie:

Favorite Comedy movie:

Favorite Western Movie:

Favorite Thriller movie:

Favorite documentary:

Favorite Sci-fi movie:

Favorite Musical movie:

Favorite Christmas movie:

We don't care about romance movies, so if you like these, keep them to yourself!

Favorite series:

Favorite Sci-fi series:

Favorite ancient (Viking/Roman/other) series

Favorite action series:

Favorite western series:

Favorite comedy series:

Favorite sport to watch:

Favorite something else: What category? What?

I think I am needing a lift.

I am tired of putting things on jack stands and crawling around on a creeper.

And with the slow recovery from the recent surgery, it would be so much easier to just get a good lift where I can raise the vehicle off the ground.

In light of the approaching suspension change on my Jeep Gladiator, a lift would be a game changer

Message to anyone who takes on the USA: You're gonna get hurt.

https://youtu.be/84oLf8OANEQ

He trains like I have witnessed our tier 1 warrior's train.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

I purchased my grandson his first gun today!

Was a lot of fun searching it out, figuring out which one to get, then finding it

I settled on a Savage bolt action .22 with a wood stock and iron sights.

And this is cool: While I was looking at it down at Buds in Lexington, I asked the salesman if he thought this would be a good first gun for a boy. He smiled and said, "Well my poppy bought me my first gun, and it was this exact model."
Poppy is the name all my grandkids call me!
Talk about a sign

The boy gets it on Christmas day

And I am setting up a small range next to his house and I will teach him all about shooting, so this is more about the experience.

It is rare atmosphere being able to sow into someone's life in this way, what a privilege!

After searching for readily installed truck box fitted flip open rooftop campers, I am surprised (appalled) by the prices.
These people want your first borne for what is not all that much of a product. I mean looking at these things, they are relatively simple and don't involve much in the way of materials, yet a bolt-down shell that has no bottom, no anything save for a door, a bed, some canvas, and a couple of side access panels can set you back 60% of the cost of a whole new Jeep or cheapo truck!!!!!!

I am just having the hardest of time swallowing having to shell out $15K-$33K for something that is just not all that great. It has to be all in the labor and shipping. The Alu-Cab which is my favorite so far will run every bit of $20,000 by the time I get it installed. The super spartan 4-Wheel Campers is so bare bones, it's silly and it's over $20K and I have to drive forever to get it.

I am just not seeing it! When I started looking, I was thinking of finding a nice pop top shell with a bed for $7K that I could kit out and get on the trail pdq. But that is just not there, even in the used market.

Yesterday morning after breakfast with my local aviator friends, Duane mentioned to me, I should get a tig and build my own. That suggestion fell on fertile ground after reading about this excellent build:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/gladiator-pop-up-pass-through-camper-build.227973/page-4

This guy^^^^ has mad building skills, but so do I. He is more precise and obviously an engineer and exercised extreme attention to detail. Looking back on the camper build I did for the Real-Man adventure meet-up that never happened due to Covid, I freely admit, that build is not as good as it could get, by a stretch. But it's good, strong, serviceable, and inexpensive.

So, although I am not committing to building another camper thing for the JT, I am in the midst of doing a feasibility study of the idea.

Currently, I have sketched out a general concept that would serve my needs. I am exploring the weight and costs for various materials. So with all that said, I'll post up as I advance or abandon this idea. It may serve for a good discussion.

Right now, the design criteria are to:
1. Be somewhat unique
2. Give me the maximum amount of room inside
3. Provide for something close to a 52" X 80" sleeping platform
4. Be as light as possible
5. Be easy to build/use easy to work with materials
6. Be a fun project that I would be proud to use on the trail and drive around in.

With that said, I am investigating materials with respect to cost and weight
Under consideration is:
Aluminum
Polyester fiberglass reinforced panels
Wood panels (Baltic Birch)

https://youtu.be/H06DerYSCNE

This topic has been moved to Adventure.

http://real-man-truckworks-and-survival.com/index.php?topic=5213.0

I'll start off the Christmas 2022 donation drive/collection. We'll start with $100 in the kitty.
I have not yet identified who/what we will be giving the money away to, but like every other time, it will be appropiate and be much needed. You all should feel proud, since 2022 marks nine years in a row we have done thins!

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/25/brain-expert-the-no-1-thing-that-sets-superagers-apart-from-people-with-weak-memory-skills.html

It might be prudent to review the result of the use of a single battlefield nuclear weapon

Here is a study focused on that subject:

https://sgs.princeton.edu/the-lab/plan-a

I think I'll share on this thread the start of the AEV JT Jeep off-roading. I'll keep the modifications over on the build thread and just use this place to show the jeep in use.

This trip was the Jeep's first foray into the wild, specifically into the Daniel Boone National Forest near McKee in central Kentucky. It is a near wilderness area where side-by-side and Non licensed dirt bikes are found all over the public roads and even encouraged. McKee is a quaint very old Kentucky town occupying the infrequent and scarce flat ground in a narrow valley where flooding is fairly common. My sister lives there with their wonderful family and they once even had a chevy malibu washed up into a pile of flotsam in that docile appearing creek in front of their house. Luckily, they sit maybe 100 feet above the water and have to cross a narrow bridge to get to their driveway.

What a tragic loss!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFep9_RneDc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7DglxtpVg

Was there ever any doubt? Again, another ploy to separate the populace into the 'administrations' perceived voting blocks, but it didn't work and won't work. We certainly have bad actors in our society, but it is across the spectrum and must be approached across the spectrum. Antifa, BLM, radical earth first, radical pro-abortionists, rioters against the police, ... they are worse in many cases than any of the collective supremacist groups.
Ex-FBI official to testify on Biden admin’s alleged pressure to fabricate ‘extremist’ and ‘White supremacist’ cases
OCTOBER 21, 2022

JUSTIN COOPER

An ex-FBI official is set to testify before Congress about whether she pushed agents to inaccurately reclassify cases after the Biden administration allegedly pressured the FBI to label more cases as “domestic violent extremism” and “white supremacist.”

The interview is part of a Republican investigation into whistleblower claims that the FBI falsely labeled cases that way to support the Biden administration’s narrative of a growing domestic terror threat following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

House judiciary committee Republicans plan to interview ex-FBI counterterrorism head Jill Sanborn on Dec. 2 about her role in the alleged stat-padding, ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced in a letter Oct. 18.

 

A whistleblower told the committee that Sanborn had “exerted pressure” to “reclassify” cases as domestic violent extremism in order “to hit self-created performance metrics,” Jordan announced in August.

 

Sanborn is set to answer to those claims when she meets with the House judiciary committee the morning of Dec. 2.

Sanborn spent over 20 years at the FBI, primarily in counterterrorism, according to a press release. She rose to executive assistant director of the National Security Branch before taking a job at Roku Inc. as senior director of geopolitical strategy and risk analysis.

Officials said domestic violent extremism cases boomed late last year, with the FBI actively investigating twice its typical caseload. New branches for domestic terrorism were set up in the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security last summer, as reported by The Hill.

White supremacist groups in particular are “the top domestic violent threat we face,” Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before Congress in 2021.

 

But in a July letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Jordan said whistleblowers accused FBI agents of “bolstering the number of cases … to satisfy their superiors” and reclassifying cases “even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification.”

“Every whistleblower has called it an environment of ‘pressure’ within the FBI,” the letter stated.

Read Revelations?

With all that is going on, it is a good time to review the book of revelations. I think we need to review and meditate on Revelations two and three. We still have time. Jesus has not come back yet, and no rapture has taken place, although I think if you have half a mind you can’t help but wonder if all the end-time pieces are gathered and are about to be played on a grand scale.

Yesterday our pastor delivered a sermon from the second and third Revelations where John having stood with God in heaven was told to write to the seven churches letters. In those letters, penned in exile in Pathos, Greece, he recorded the words of God and what God had said to him.
God is talking to his seven churches on earth about what he has against them and warnings before his son returns to earth. If you are a Christian, reading Revelations can cause some angst, because you, like me, have sinned. Some continue to sin, and we are anything except being prepared to be judged on that day we all will eventually face.

I was alarmed by the warning to the church of Ephesus where God warned those people to get back to the zeal they felt when they were first saved. He said he would remove that church’s lampstand if they did not change their ways. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelations 2:4-5)

If you truly have been saved, then the time following that moment was one where a strong love for God and Jesus and the holy spirit just came welling up from someplace deep inside. I was saved after leaving the Army and when I was training to fly jets and become an airline pilot. I remember one Sunday morning, perhaps a year later on, it was around 4 Am. I was flying back to Cincinnati from Las Vegas. During the flight, we had picked up a good tailwind and were clipping along with a ground speed in excess of 600 knots. I started to realize that I just might be able to make it back in time for church if we could keep up the speed.

Up there at 37,000 feet, I nudged the thrust levers forward a bit. The jet was already running at almost maximum speed with the airspeed needle almost touching the area marked by a barber pole symbol which indicated VNE or “velocity never exceeded.” Ah what the heck, I thought, there is certainly some extra built into every aircraft, so I nudged those twin thrust levers up some more. The needle moved a bit more, like maybe an eighth of an inch into the barber pole region. Immediately a harsh barking sound was generated, an electronic warning telling the inattentive pilot to SLOW DOWN!

I was a First Officer and the Captain, who seemed to be snoozing, looked at me with an annoyed expression as I pulled back the thrust levers. Well, a little while later, that captain sure looked to be snoozing once again, so I nudged the levers up some, then after a couple of minutes, I pushed them a bit more. The needle was like a millionth of an inch below the point where the claxon had sounded and I thought I was OK, but we hit a bump and the darned alarm sounded again.

This time the captain asked, “You in a hurry, have a hot date or something in Cincy?” I remember just answering, “Nope, just trying to make it to church on time.” I remember in the darkness of the cockpit seeing a smile on his face. He went back to snoozing and I pushed up the thrust again. I made it to church that morning and was almost on time. I wanted to get there because I just really wanted to be there. I felt alive there and no matter what Pastor Terry said, I was just inhaling it. I didn’t have time to change out of the black trousers and white shirt with the gold stripes on my shoulders, and when I walked in a little late, the pastor pointed me out and said it was good to see me. I must have said something about speeding in the jet because he asked me to tell the story and I did. I heard Pastor Terry tell that same story some years later, It had made an impression.

I think that is the zeal God is talking about. I think he wants us to love him that much because that’s how much he loves us.

So, let's have a discussion and some fun here

I probably won't, but I just may swap a early 6BT 12 valve into the Suburban

* Here's why: It only gets 10mpg on a good day

* I can sell the 6.0L with the LS6 heads and cam, and the supercharger, and the injectors, and the headers, and the exhaust, and the torque converter, and the fancy dual fuel pump setup, and maybe even the transmission

* Duane and I have struck up a deal for me to purchase a 1993 W250 chassis with a good 6BT (Rotary pump) with a Getrag 5-speed and the iron 205 transfer case. He is keeping the Dana 60 front and I will trash the Dana 70 rear axle.

* I have wanted to make my own fuel forever, WVO from the local truck stop to make an endless supply of free fuel, well, like .30 a gal when you amortize the centrifuge price.

* I want a non-electronic "survival" vehicle just in case.

Concept of the operation:

Starting with my 2002 Surburban which is in super excellent condition, I would rebuild the 12 valve and do a mild performance mod. I think I'd just keep the rotary pump since it's easier to start, simpler, bulletproof, and inexpensive. Give it good injectors, a better turbo, and a lift pump, and call it a day. Looking for 350-400HP/900-1200 ft/lbs. ish.

Not sure if I wouldn't just drop in the 5-speed with a clutch or not. The flip side is to just use the 4L80E. It can take a mildly warmed-up Cummins with a low-stall converter. I'd run it with a stand-alone controller. (But that wouldn't be EMP-proof)

I am going to just dump the whole ECM/TCM thing and only use the BCM to run the heater and do other interior things. I would fashion a custom analog dash cut by folks who build Aircraft panels and use a matching set of VDO or similar gages.

I'll just use the factory fuel system, albeit with a lift pump, and call that done. A stock Dodge W250 MBRP exhaust should fit, and after deciding what trans/transfer to use, have the driveshafts shortened or lengthened as required.

I wouldn't call any part of this proposed swap super difficult except for sorting out the wiring harness to keep the BCM things that I still need to work. Dash lights would be a thing of the past and I'd have to just can the anti-lock brakes since I doubt I could sort that.

With that, let the discussion begin

https://youtu.be/3MOy6Z_UP7c

Ouch, this is bad...Worse than bad. Moses speaking to the Jewish nation gave them both a blessing and a curse. The curse was for the disobedience of the Jewish nation. I started a discussion this morning where I was talking about all the suffering in Africa. I was talking to a friend who is a self-made biblical scholar. He is quite remarkable. Started out as a Marine enlisted guy who was only a Corporal. But he saw major combat in Fullushia, Iraq...The bad one.

I knew him as a humble young man who always wore the same shirt and pair of pants. That was because those were the only two articles of nice clothing he owned. He put himself through college graduating in four years. Then he went on to earn a master's degree in counseling. He has studied psychology, and he may have started his Ph.D. studies. But all along his passion is for biblical scripture. He is very, very good.

I was talking to him about the Ukrainian war and where it fit biblically. He answered in an unexpected way. He believes it will escalate to a point where nuclear weapons are indeed deployed. He feels at that point China and in his belief, Russia will enter into a war with America. Why, I asked. He said because there is a one-world government coming. He explained that with every big scary event governments grab power and freedom. He points to the Patriot Act following 9-11. He pointed out that during WW2 when the US was attacked, millions of young Americans volunteered to go fight, and die for their nation if necessary. He followed that in today's America, no one is willing to die for this country, He thinks that should a big war come to our shores people everywhere will be willing to surrender their freedoms just to be protected.

He said guys like he and I (and a lot of you) who are real people strong in our convictions will be the ones who those who are scared will flock to for reassurance. That makes sense. But he pointed out, that a OWG will not want such people so we will likely perish in the early transition stages. He believes that sets the stage for a weakened America to slide right into the OWG which sets the stage for the return of Jesus.

Almost as a side note, we reviewed those curses of Moses:

Curses for Disobedience
15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.[a] 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

36 The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.

38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.

45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, 48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.

53 Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. 68 The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Well, it's final. Some of our Army installations will be renamed so that we do not offend anyone who served in the Confederate Army. I believe Ft. Bragg is named for a confederate general. I suppose we will rename it "Fort can't we all just get along" or something like that...You know, something Non offensive. Notwithstanding the fact that the 82nd Airborne Division is one of our most awesome killing forces in uniform, we need to be sensitive to the feelings of confederate veterans...

Unfortunately, we have moved a bit closer to the use of nuclear weapons.

Putin is losing badly on the battlefield. It seems his Army is in full retreat in the Doneske with the Ukrainians making one stunning advance after another. Luanske has now been liberated and is fully in UK hands.

Understand that nuclear weapons do not win battles. They do not hold ground nor defeat an enemy. at least Tactical weapons do not. What they do, do, is punish an enemy in pursuit. Especially if that enemy has consolidated and is momentarily bunched up.

Putin has annexed these territories which Ukrainian forces are presently retaking. Putin has taken all the legal steps he needs to according to his constitution to deploy these weapons. Russian nukes can be used to defend the Russian homeland should an enemy set foot upon them. Since these territories have been annexed, in Putin's mind, they are Mother Russia.

We are on the cusp of the possible deployment of the bomb. There would be no reason to think anyone would respond with a counter-nuclear strike, as that would possibly escalate the situation. But once the nuclear genie is let loose; can it ever be bottled back up?

These are dangerous times, unprecedented times.



Former CIA Moscow chief of station on Putin's nuclear war threat

Michael Morell speaks with Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former CIA Moscow chief of station and William J. Perry Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, about Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats — and how American policymakers should respond. Mowatt-Larssen stresses that Western leaders must take Putin's threats seriously. His assessment is that we're now peaking in global nuclear risk, reaching a point not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago. He also explains why, as Ukrainians are winning on the battlefield, they are not ready to sit at the negotiating table.

Putin's nuclear threat: "It would be terribly irresponsible, Michael, if anyone, any Western leader thought of these threats as being bluster or saber-rattling or empty. I'm quite certain that all the Western leadership, based on at least the people I know and things I hear, are taking the threats very seriously. There's no military reason for Vladimir Putin to do this. In other words, he can't use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield to win a war he can't win with an army. Nuclear weapons don't take territories. They don't hold territories. It is a way to try to strike back at an enemy you can't stop with an asymmetric weapon of mass destruction. That's the danger."

Putin's hold on power: "No person, no leader in the world of an authoritarian country, is ever completely safe from other authoritarian minded people in that system. That's one of the dangers of running an autocracy, that there's always someone from within who might decide you're more trouble than you're worth. And that might even apply to Vladimir Putin at some point in this war. And so he's certainly aware of it. That's one reason he has no succession plan. It's a reason why he limits those who are around him to a very, very small select of totally trusted people because he's aware he wants to minimize the possibilities that he could be deposed in any way."

Why Ukraine isn't negotiating: "Zelensky also understands that if the West tries to pressure Ukraine to go to the negotiating table, to settle on some basis of where we are right now, it's capitulation for Ukraine. And he's in no mood to do that. They fought too hard. They've lost too much. So that means that he's likely to continue to defy Putin by continuing his attacks and intensifying the battle on the ground. So that puts Vladimir Putin in a very bad position because if that's successful, his options are also dwindling."

I know what the Colonel is talking about here. Not from Vietnam, but from Afghanistan where the Huey of old was resurected into something everyone called the "Super Huey." I was honored to pilot those birds on many combat sorties flying both the Gunship and medevac configurations. I agree, the bird is a gritty, tough warbird that was one of the high honors of my life to fly!

UH-1H Helicopter Vietnam Memories

By Keith Nightingale U.S. Army (Ret.)

Unique to all that served in Vietnam is the UH-1H helicopter. It was both devil and angel and it served as both extremely well. Whether a LRRP, U.S. or RVN soldier or civilian, whether, NVA, VC, Allied or Civilian, it provided a sound and sense that lives with us all today. It is the one sound that immediately clears the clouds of time and freshens the images of our mind. It will be the sound track of our last moments on earth. It was a simple machine - a single engine, a single blade and four man crew - yet like the Model T, it transformed us all and performed tasks the engineers never imagined. For soldiers, it was the worst and best of friends but it was the one binding material in a tapestry of a war of many pieces. The smell was always hot, filled with diesel fumes, sharp drafts accentuated by gritty sand, laterite and anxious vibrations. It always held the spell of the unknown and the anxiety of learning what was next and what might be. It was an unavoidable magnet for the heavily laden soldier who donkey-trotted to its squat shaking shape through the haze and blast of dirt, stepped on the OD skid, turned and dropped his ruck on the cool aluminum deck. Reaching inside with his rifle or machine gun, a soldier would grasp a floor ring with a finger as an extra precaution of physics for those moments when the now airborne bird would break into a sharp turn revealing all ground or all sky to the helpless riders all very mindful of the impeding weight on their backs. The relentless weight of the ruck combined with the stress of varying motion caused fingers and floor rings to bind almost as one.

Constant was the vibration, smell of hydraulic fluid, flashes of visionary images and the occasional burst of a ground-fed odor - rotting fish, dank swampy heat, cordite or simply the continuous sinuous currents of Vietnam's weather - cold and driven mist in the Northern monsoon or the wall of heated humidity in the southern dry season. Blotting it out and shading the effect was the constant sound of the single rotating blade as it ate a piece of the air, struggling to overcome the momentary physics of the weather. To divert anxiety, a soldier/piece of freight, might reflect on his home away from home.

The door gunners were usually calm which was emotionally helpful. Each gun had a C-ration fruit can at the ammo box clip entrance to the feed mechanism of the machine gun. The gun had a large circular aiming sight unlike the ground-pounder version. That had the advantage of being able to fix on targets from the air considerably further than normal ground acquisition. Pears, Apricots, Apple Sauce or Fruit Cocktail, it all worked. Fruit cans had just the right width to smoothly feed the belt into the gun which was always a good thing. Some gunners carried a large oil can much like old locomotive engineers to squeeze on the barrel to keep it cool. Usually this was accompanied by a large OD towel or a khaki wound-pack bandage to allow a rubdown without a burned hand. Under the gunner's seat was usually a small dairy-box filled with extra ammo boxes, smoke grenades, water, flare pistol, C-rats and a couple of well-worn paperbacks.

The gun itself might be attached to the roof of the helicopter with a bungee cord and harness. This allowed the adventurous gunners to unattach the gun from the pintle and fire it manually while standing on the skid with only the thinnest of connectivity to the bird. These were people you wanted near you - particularly on extractions. The pilots were more mysterious. You only saw parts of them as they labored behind the armored seats. An arm, a helmeted head and the occasional fingered hand as it moved across the dials and switches on the ceiling above. The armored side panels covered their outside legs - an advantage the passenger did not enjoy. Sometimes, a face, shielded behind helmeted sunshades, would turn around to impart a question with a glance or display a sense of anxiety with large white-circled eyes - this was not a welcoming look as the sounds of external issues fought to override the sounds of mechanics in flight.

Yet, as a whole, the pilots got you there, took you back and kept you maintained. You never remembered names, if at all you knew them, but you always remembered the ride and the sound. Behind each pilot seat usually ran a stretch of wire or silk attaching belt. It would have arrayed a variety of handy items for immediate use. Smoke grenades were the bulk of the attachment inventory - most colors and a couple of white phosphorous if a dramatic marking was needed. Sometimes, trip flares or hand grenades would be included depending on the location and mission. Hand grenades were a rare exception as even pilots knew they exploded - not always where intended. It was just a short arm motion for a door gunner to pluck an inventory item off the string, pull the pin and pitch it which was the point of the arrangement. You didn't want to be in a helicopter when such an act occurred as that usually meant there was an issue. Soldiers don't like issues that involve them. It usually means a long day or a very short one - neither of which is a good thing.

The bird lifts off in a slow, struggling and shaking manner. Dust clouds obscure any view a soldier may have. Quickly, with a few subtle swings, the bird is above the dust and a cool encompassing wind blows through. Sweat is quickly dried, eyes clear and a thousand feet of altitude show the world below. Colors are muted but objects clear. The rows of wooden hooches, the airfield, local villages, an old B52 strike, the mottled trail left by a Ranch hand spray mission and the open reflective water of a river or lake are crisp in sight. The initial anxiety of the flight or mission recede as the constantly moving and soothing motion picture and soundtrack unfolds.

In time, one is aware of the mass of UH1Hs coalescing in a line in front of and behind you. Other strings of birds may be left or right of you - all surging toward some small speck in the front, lost to your view. Each is a mirror image of the other - two to three laden soldiers sitting on the edge looking at you and your accompanying passengers all going to the same place with the same sense of anxiety and uncertainty but borne on a similar steed and sound. In time, one senses the birds coalescing as they approach the objective. Perhaps a furtive glance or sweeping arc of flight reveals the landing zone. Smoke erupts in columns - initially visible as blue grey against the sky. The location is clearly discernible as a trembling spot surrounded by a vast green carpet of flat jungle or a sharp point of a jutting ridge, as the bird gets closer, a soldier can now see the small FAC aircraft working well-below, the sudden sweeping curve of the bombing runs and the small puffs as artillery impacts.

A sense of immense loneliness can begin to obscure one's mind as the world's greatest theatre raises its curtain. Even closer now, with anxious eyes and short breath, a soldier can make out his destination. The smoke is now the dirty grey black of munitions with only the slightest hint of orange upon ignition. No Hollywood effect is at work. Here, the physics of explosions are clearly evident as pressure and mass over light. The pilot turns around to give a thumbs up or simply ignores his load as he struggles to maintain position with multiple birds dropping power through smoke swirls, uplifting newly created debris, sparks and flaming ash. The soldiers instinctively grasp their weapons tighter, look furtively between the upcoming ground and the pilot and mentally strain to find some anchor point for the next few seconds of life. If this is the first lift in, the door gunners will be firing rapidly in sweeping motions of the gun but this will be largely unknown and unfelt to the soldiers.

They will now be focused on the quickly approaching ground and the point where they might safely exit. Getting out is now very important. Suddenly, the gunners may rapidly point to the ground and shout "GO" or there may just be the jolt of the skids hitting the ground and the soldiers instinctively lurch out of the bird, slam into the ground and focus on the very small part of the world they now can see. The empty birds, under full power, squeeze massive amounts of air and debris down on the exited soldiers, blinding them to the smallest view. Very quickly, there is a sudden shroud of silence as the birds retreat into the distance and the soldiers begin their recovery into a cohesive organization, losing that sound. On various occasions and weather dependent, the birds return. Some to provide necessary logistics, some command visits and some medevacs. On the rarest and best of occasions, they arrive to take you home.

Always they have the same sweet sound which resonates with every soldier who ever heard it. It is the sound of life, hope for life and what may be. It is a sound that never will be forgotten. It is your and our sound. Logistics is always a trial. Pilots don't like it, field soldiers need it and weather is indiscriminate. Log flights also mean mail and a connection to home and where real people live and live real lives. Here is an aberrant aspect of life that only that sound can relieve. Often there is no landing zone or the area is so hot that a pilot's sense of purpose may become blurred. Ground commanders beg and plead on the radio for support that is met with equivocations or insoluble issues. Rations are stretched from four to six days, cigarettes become serious barter items and soldiers begin to turn inward. In some cases, perhaps only minutes after landing, fire fights break out. The machine guns begin their carnivorous song. Rifle ammunition and grenades are expended with gargantuan appetites. The air is filled with an all-encompassing sound that shuts each soldier into his own small world -- shooting, loading, shooting, loading, shooting, loading until he has to quickly reach into the depth of his ruck, past the extra rations, past the extra rain poncho, past the spare paperback, to the eight M16 magazines forming the bottom of the load - never thought he would need them.

A resupply is desperately needed. In some time, a sound is heard over the din of battle. A steady whomp whomp whomp that says: The World is here. Help is on the way. Hang in there. The soldier turns back to the business at hand with a renewed confidence. Wind parts the canopy and things begin to crash through the tree tops. Some cases have smoke grenades attached - these are the really important stuff - medical supplies, codes and maybe mail. The sound drifts off in the distance and things are better for the moment. The sound brings both a psychological and a material relief. Wounds are hard to manage. The body is all soft flesh, integrated parts and an emotional burden for those that have to watch its deterioration. If the body is an engine, blood is the gasoline - when it runs out, so does life. It's important the parts get quickly fixed and the blood is restored to a useful level. If not, the soldier becomes another piece of battlefield detritus.

A field medic has the ability to stop external blood flow - less internal. He can replace blood with fluid but it's not blood. He can treat for shock but he can't always stop it. He is at the mercy of his ability and the nature of the wound. Bright red is surface bleeding he can manage but dark red, almost tar-colored, is deep, visceral and beyond his ability to manage. Dark is the essence of the casualty's interior. He needs the help that only that sound can bring. If an LZ exists, it's wonderful and easy. If not, difficult options remain. The bird weaves back and forth above the canopy as the pilot struggles to find the location of the casualty. He begins a steady hover as he lowers the litter on a cable. The gunner or helo medic looks down at the small figures below and tries to wiggle the litter and cable through the tall canopy to the small up-reaching figures below. In time, the litter is filled and the cable retreats - the helo crew still carefully managing the cable as it wends skyward. The cable hits its anchor, the litter is pulled in, and the pilot pulls pitch and quickly disappears - but the retreating sound is heard by all and the silent universal thought -

There but for the Grace of God go I - and it will be to that sound. Cutting a landing zone is a standard soldier task. Often, to hear the helicopter's song, the impossible becomes a requirement and miracles abound. Sweat-filled eyes, blood blistered hands, energy-expended and with a breath of desperation and desire, soldiers attack a small space to carve out sufficient open air for the helicopter to land. Land to bring in what's needed, take out what's not, and to remind them that someone out there cares. Perhaps some explosives are used - usually for the bigger trees but most often it is soldiers and machetes or the side of an e-tool. Done under the pressure of an encroaching enemy, it's a combination of high adrenalin rush and simple dumb luck - small bullet, big space. In time, an opening is made and the sky revealed. A sound encroaches before a vision. Eyes turn toward the newly created void and the bird appears. The blade tips seem so much larger than the newly-columned sky. Volumes of dirt, grass, leaves and twigs sweep upward and are then driven fiercely downward through the blades as the pilot struggles to do a completely vertical descent through the narrow column he has been provided.

Below, the soldiers both cower and revel in the free-flowing air. The trash is blinding but the moving air feels so great. Somehow, the pilot lands in a space that seems smaller than his blade radius. In reverse, the sound builds and then recedes into the distance - always that sound. Bringing and taking away. Extraction is an emotional highlight of any soldier's journey. Regardless of the austerity and issues of the home base, for that moment, it is a highly desired location and the focus of thought. It will be provided by that familiar vehicle of sound. The Pickup Zone in the bush is relatively open, or if on an established firebase or hilltop position, a marked fixed location. The soldiers awaiting extraction close to the location undertake their assigned duties - security, formation alignment, or LZ marking.

Each is focused on the task at hand and tends to blot out other issues. As each soldier senses his moment of removal is about to arrive, his auditory sense becomes keen and his visceral instinct searches for that single sweet song that only one instrument can play. When registered, his eyes look up and he sees what his mind has imaged. He focuses on the sound and the sight and both become larger as they fill his body. He quickly steps unto the skid and up into the aluminum cocoon. Turning outward now, he grasps his weapon with one hand and with the other holds the cargo ring on the floor - as he did when he first arrived at this location.

Reversing the flow of travel, he approaches what he temporarily calls home. Landing again in a swirl of dust, diesel and grinding sand, he offloads and trudges toward his assembly point. The sounds retreat in his ears but he knows he will hear them again. He always will. Keith Nightingale is a retired Army Colonel who served two tours in Vietnam with Airborne and Ranger (American and Vietnamese) units. He commanded two airborne battalions and both the 1/75th Rangers and the 1st Ranger Training Brigade. He was a member of the Iran rescue attempt in 1981 (Operation Eagle Claw, better known to many as "Desert One") and was the assault force commander in both Grenada and Panama

Many of you may have gotten the same email from Chevy as I did. It shows details of the slightly modified 2024 HD trucks available sometime in the future from Chevy.
I like many of the features of the current HD trucks, but I could never get past that front end. It's all personal preference, of course, but for me I thought the double headlight arrangement that we currently have is awful. I actually ruled out owning a new truck just based on that. Don't know why, but it just didn't sit well with me.
Here's the new front end: