Random thought for the day

[Gwolf]

Spent a year in Thailand in 1966-67, in the US Coast Guard, building and operating a Loran C navigation station. The cook's Thai helper was just "Sam". Great guy and our morale booster.

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Thailand is a great place. Nice weather and friendly people. We had several detachment units in Thailand. One at Utapao Air Base was right on the Gulf of Thailand. Had beaches on the base. We re-supplied all the Thai Air Bases which had any US Airforce operations. Also picked up fresh vegetables and fruit for the smaller firebases in Vietnam during the war. After we were pulled out of Saigon in 1972, the unit operating there moved to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base up near the Mekong River on the Laotian border.

 

[Snoking1127]

Thailand is a great place. Nice weather and friendly people. We had several detachment units in Thailand. One at Utapao Air Base was right on the Gulf of Thailand. Had beaches on the base. We re-supplied all the Thai Air Bases which had any US Airforce operations. Also picked up fresh vegetables and fruit for the smaller firebases in Vietnam during the war. After we were pulled out of Saigon in 1972, the unit operating there moved to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base up near the Mekong River on the Laotian border.

The USCG Loran C station was 4 miles off the end of the Utapao AB and 4 miles to the side. The B52s rattled our buildings every morning once they got operational. Picture is from top of the 625' Loran Tower look over at UP, taken in September 1966. Sattahip area was just getting started with the build up when I arrived 2nd July 66.

 

[Gwolf]

The USCG Loran C station was 4 miles off the end of the Utapao AB and 4 miles to the side. The B52s rattled our buildings every morning once they got operational. Picture is from top of the 625' Loran Tower look over at UP, taken in September 1966. Sattahip area was just getting started with the build up when I arrived 2nd July 66.
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Yeah, I know all about how it sounds when 40 or 50 Buffs take off in formation. On our side the base it was known as the aluminum overcast.

-

 

[Snoking1127]

Pictures of crew. Electronic tech and chief ET, XO, and CO in top picture. I was on Loran Watch at the time and my lid was back in the barracks. Guy on my right and I are the only two remaining alive in the top photo.

 

[Cobranut]

Thanks for your service, guys.

 

[canamjhb]

Spent a year in Thailand in 1966-67, in the US Coast Guard, building and operating a Loran C navigation station. The cook's Thai helper was just "Sam". Great guy and our morale booster.

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I hadn't thought about Loran navigation for years. I had Loran on a couple of my boats way back in the late 70s or early 80s. Also had it on a commercial fishing boat that I skippered, I believe, in 1975. Remembering it wasn't near as user friendly as todays GPS.

 

[Snoking1127]

I hadn't thought about Loran navigation for years. I had Loran on a couple of my boats way back in the late 70s or early 80s. Also had it on a commercial fishing boat that I skippered, I believe, in 1975. Remembering it wasn't near as user friendly as todays GPS.

Loran bombs were not as accurate as the missiles flown through windows via GPS in the Middle East. However it's repeatably in taking recon photos along the Ho chi Minh trail was really good for the day.

 

[Bfromla]

Never served, but THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

And down here in Bossier LA & Barksdale AFB 8th Wing - Buff all day every day & few other louder B2 (maybe) not as often but noticeable.

 

[Gwolf]

♬ Wheel In The Sky - Journey ♬
For the ones who watched the videos posted a few weeks ago about the Ankgor Wat temple complexes of ancient Cambodia, you may notice some quickly flashed images of the individual temples of the Ankgor Wat or Ankgor Thom era in the "Wheel In The Sky" music video. The typical temples of that time period had five towers on the top of each individual structure. There was often also a hollow shaft which let the direct light of the sun into the interior of the temple only of the exact day of the Soltices. The previous video presentations also mentioned the similarities of the building methods and craftmanship to ancient Egyptian buildings, and the music video has quite a few frames of Egyptian architecture and hieroglyphics. Near the end of the video several temples with observatories and carefully mapped out relationships to light and shadow during the soltices located in Central and South America are included. The producers of the music video picked up on the theme of the ancient astronomers observing the rotations of the stars and planets as a "Wheel In The Sky". ​

 

[Gwolf]

Spent a year in Thailand in 1966-67, in the US Coast Guard, building and operating a Loran C navigation station. The cook's Thai helper was just "Sam". Great guy and our morale booster.

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All the Thai people have a surname which connects them to family members who share that surname, but it is used mostly just for official records and business dealings. The full names are often very long and include many syllables, therefore each individual is given what would be called a nickname at birth which is short and easy to pronounce. The nickname is what they are known as to family and friends, and the full name including surname is only used for official purposes.

Sam would have had a full name, but unless it was required for some official purposes, nobody would have ever heard the full name. It is very common for people who have known each other for decades to know a person only by the nickname. The entire name with the long and sometimes complicated surname would only have appeared on legal documents.

I am fairly familiar with many of the traditions and practices of the different countries, including the individual ethnic groups, because we had to deal with locals to deliver or obtain cargo and so as to not offend the group members by some unfamiliar to us, beliefs. We normally had an extensive briefing concerning the particular citizens or ethnic group the missions required us to deal with before going in. If you had successfully dealt with the group before, the briefing was usually not required. Some of the isolated local ethnic groups might have what was known as an advisor, usually from the Army, living with them who was able to translate without a lot of misunderstandings. One of the main things I remember, even 50+ years later, is that you never pat another person on the top of their head or touch the top of their head, especially not children, who should not be touched any place on their head. Also, as part of the belief, the feet are the lowest and considered least clean part of the body, and you never sit or prop your leg on something that would cause you to be pointing the bottom of your feet at another person. It is considered rude and anti-social.

 

[Albec]

 

[Gwolf]

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Is that another day that will live in infamy?


Tips to avoid bear attacks;

 

[Gwolf]

Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills & Nash ​

 

[weeneil]

Is that another day that will live in infamy?


Tips to avoid bear attacks;
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We did the Rockies on motorcycles 22 years ago, and when we were in Kelowna, the woman on reception gave us a large umbrella and told us to make ourselves big if we encountered a bear. Difficult to do when we both weighed around 120lbs and were 5ft 4in tall!

 

[Gwolf]

We did the Rockies on motorcycles 22 years ago, and when we were in Kelowna, the woman on reception gave us a large umbrella and told us to make ourselves big if we encountered a bear. Difficult to do when we both weighed around 120lbs and were 5ft 4in tall!

The problem is you went some place with very large bears. Don't worry about making yourself bigger, just go to places with smaller bears. Not much around here but Florida Black Bears. The bears here don't get very big. The black bears are not very aggressive unless you get between a sow bear and her cubs. They will usually try to avoid people as long as the people don't act like something good to eat or smell like something good to eat. One of the worst things here is people go into the national forests or the river trails without taking airtight ziplock bags with them. Then they open a can of food knowing they are supposed to pack their trash back out. If they don't wash the empty cans or seal them up inside an air tight Ziplock, then they will smell like something to eat. If they run, then they look like something to eat. It's the gators you gotta watch out for here. To a 12 or 15 foot gator every thing looks like food.

 

[RapidSpyder]

You know it’s dry in the Hills when you see this sign.

 

[Bfromla]

You know it’s dry in the Hills when you see this sign.View attachment 253136

Umm, defeats the whole camping experience.

Side note: the GoSun Solar ovens cook just fine without flames (fire bans or out on a boat even)

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Support with marine clamp kit clamping the throttle on the Spyder

 

[RapidSpyder]

Mel Brooks was so politically incorrect… Love it!

 

[Gwolf]

Twentieth Century Fox -- The Doors ​

 

[RapidSpyder]