I was able to take my son, Will, hiking in the Franklin Mountains State Park. Here are some of the sights from my walk:

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post titled “196th ASHC in Vietnam”. Since that time, several members of the 196th have written in the comments—I’m always humbled to be able to read them and watch them connect to one another. (I would encourage readers, if you were a member of the 196th, please check out that post as a way to connect with your unit members.)

Recently, Mike (Dusty) Rose sent a description of a wreck that occurred on the flight line along with some photos. With his permission, I am honored to be able to share them with you.

Here’s my story of the wreck. Myself, Wargo, and Harvey Raupp were working late that night in the engine shop. Harvey went down make the final hookups to the engine that maintenance had just installed. Harvey was laying between the engine and pylon. The rotors struck right above  Harvey’s  head. We heard this loud explosion and pinging noises and sparks on the p.s.p in front of the engine tent. We thought we were getting hit, so we took off running to the hooch to get our 16′s. Then, we ran into everyone running towards the flight line  and they told  us there had been a wreck. So we turned around.

When we got there, Harvey was standing there in shock and said; “Wow man! What happened?” He wasn’t hurt. I remember the flight engineer broke his arm or shoulder. Joe, that must have been one hell of a ride while it beat it’s self to death! I’m sending a couple of pictures, Dusty.

This evening, I was able to take some time to begin working on my 1987 Baseball Card Collection.

1987 was the year I began collecting cards. I had my first job and access to both money and cards.  I bought quite a few. It was also the year, I discovered Orel Hershiser and embraced the Reds and the Mets as my teams of choice.

I haven’t been good through the years of keeping up with purposely building—a package here and there at most.  But recently, I become increasingly interested in collecting again.  I recently acquired someone else’s collection through craigslist which included a large group of 1987 cards. It looks more and more possible that I could build this collection the old fashion way—card by card. 

Of this set, Roger Clemens was the number one card.

I love old hotels.  I wish I had the money and time to stay in more. So when I saw the top of the Plaza Hotel, I had to take a picture. I plan on visiting again one day, to get a better look. When I came home and “googled” the hotel—I was surprised by what I found.

From Wikipedia, I found:

In the fall of 1929, Conrad Hilton began construction. Nineteen days later the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, yet construction continued. On November 30, 1930, Hilton’s first highrise hotel was opened.

And from the hotel’s current website, www.caminorealelpaso.com/, I found a site full of wonderful pictures.  I can’t wait to visit!

After chapel, I took a minute to drive to downtown El Paso with my camera. While I found several places to shoot some street photography, I couldn’t find a place to park close enough.  I will get back to those areas later, I hope.

Instead, I drove past the El Paso Museum of Art and the Judson F. Williams Convention Center. The museum was still closed, so I put that on my to-do list.  I went across the street and spent some time with a line and color study—also with a little bit of work with lighting.

I planned to write about our first dust storm in El Paso in today’s post—but the storm kind of fizzled out—making it just another windy day.  So I worked on genealogy.  I first spent some time answering some emails from the week—which took me into to more research.

My research took me to the Battlefield of Moore’s Creek. It was a big find for me.  I discovered today that I have a better than average chance of gaining membership into the Son of the American Revolution, and my daughters can become members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Through my work today, I uncovered a family tree that links to a man names Ralph Regan (1742-1795) I have some degree of confidence that this is an ancestor of mine—but definitely not certainty.  I was even looking for this today, but it is nice to stumble along and find something interesting.

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Photo from Wikipedia and the National Park Service.

I’ve spent the last two days learning the  “Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training” (ASIST) model for suicide prevention.

As you may know, the Army has been experiencing record high rates of suicide among our Soldiers. I have seen first hand how this effects families and units—the loss of these Soldiers is devastating to the force. These Soldiers have so much to offer the world and the world has so much to offer them. It is a terribly sad day when a Soldier takes his or her life.

Upon in-processing here at Fort Bliss, every Soldier must attend the ASIST two day workshop to learn how to help their buddies who are under stress. Frankly, I was at first turned off by having to go.  I have completed this training in the past and I have too much experience working with suicidal people. But, after two days of review I am proud to see what Fort Bliss is doing to stop suicide here.  All Soldiers who come to Fort Bliss are trained in this model which gives every Soldier the skills to help other Soldiers escape suicide.  It is a great program, led by other Soldiers—it is good to see the effort put into preventing suicide.

Nikon D300 Shutter Speed 1/500; f/5.6; ISO 125; Focal Length 60mm

Nikon D3000 Shutter Speed 1/250; f/8; ISO 100; Focal Length 55mm

I started the day to simply organize my genealogical research and to chart a path of next steps to take in my research. .

I found several Andrews mottos along the way:

Victrix Fortunae Sapientia …Wisdom the Conqueror of Fortune

Virtue et Fortuna … By Virtue and Fortune

Fortiter Defendit…Defends Bravely

(from Volume 1 of Fairbairn’s Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland)

Then, I turned to finding out if I actually am authorized to have one. The crest I desire is the crest from the Andrews family side.  As with any ancestral society, the genealogy must be tight. So I began to look into the Andrews family.

Going four generations back I am related to a Robert Andrews, whose father was possibly named Thomas Andrews.  I know there was a Thomas who named his son Robert around the time and location that would fit, but I need more research.  However, assuming this connection is accurate, I have two graves to “uncover”.  Am I related to the Thomas in the Andrews Cemetery in Dale County, Alabama? or Am I related to the Thomas Andrews buried in  Holmes County, Florida?

I have some certainty that I am related to the Thomas in Holmes County—but the entire mystery consumed my day. And, yes, I loved every minute of it.

Having a slower paced day, I decided to go off-post for lunch today. While I had planned to go to the DFAC, I wasn’t feeling like eating with hundreds of people and standing in a cafeteria line. What I wanted to do was to find a place to sit and enjoy a sandwich. So, I pulled out my phone and hit the “places” app and searched for “Coffee”. In the midst of the laundry list of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, there was a little local shop that caught my eye.

I clicked on the link named Café Fioretti. I notice that the shop had a website, which I immediately clicked and was enticed to go out and find his little place. The website stressed tea and I knew it was the place for me.   Not far from the Cassidy Gate of Fort Bliss and off the Interstate just enough, I had no trouble finding what I was looking for.

I ordered a Tuna Salad Sandwich, which came with Navy Bean Soup (which happens to be one of my favorites soups!), along with a small order of Earl Grey.

My lunch was incredible! At first, it looked too good to eat—so I took a picture to sent to Monica and to Instagram. Then, I enjoyed a nice quiet lunch and my book. I’m not a food critic, so I don’t know how to properly explain the wonderful tuna salad and the perfect soup—but take my word for it—the food was excellent.  The tea was equally perfect—the tea blend was probably the best Earl Grey I’ve ever tasted.

The atmosphere is quiet but busy. I never felt like I was the only one in the restaurant, but I wasn’t crowded either. It was just a nice place to have lunch. I left refreshed and ready to finish the day.