Log Cabin in the wilderness

[Hemphrey Bogart]

Here's what a bad day at the office looks like at Folsom:
Most of these convicts had weapons
I referred to these as "Shit" days. A day that just made you say "Shit"!
I would tell my wife it was another 'shit' day today.


http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/968143/

doublejj
P.S. There are a lot of shit days at Folsom.

Heya Dubs,

That video got me curious so I went on youtube and they got a documentary on there where they spotlight that riot in 2002, among other things. They said the Captain that was on watch during that riot committed suicide 9 months later. I guess a couple of the bulls got seriously injured and the implication is that he felt somehow responsible.

I've never been to prison, but it strikes me as a place where the law of the jungle takes over. The idea that you can wake up one day and wind up dead because you were looking at someone wrong, or you showed some sort of disrespect/weakness is crazy.

Even if you'd never snitched in your life, you could wrongly be fingered as a snitch and there's your a death sentence right there. I know there's rules in prison, but it still seems chaotic as fuck despite all the structure.

HB.

 

[doublejj]

Cpt Doug Pieper

Cpt Doug Pieper

Captain Doug Pieper was a good man & friend. He is missed!

There were so many rules in Folsom, written & otherwise, it was hard not to cross a few lines daily!

doublejj



Anguished prison guard: 'My job has killed me'
Suicide note after riot highlights a troubled California system -- Senate to investigate
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Saturday, January 17, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle


URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/17/MNGQA4CAD51.DTL



This much is clear: Two warring gangs, some armed with objects sharp enough to kill, waged a bloody battle in the yard at Folsom State Prison on April 8, 2002.

But a year and a half later, the drama, accusations and intrigue surrounding the riot read like the kind of script California's new governor might have considered during his previous career.

But this is no movie.

A dedicated captain at the prison who was haunted by the riot shot himself in the head one year ago, leaving a suicide note for his family and bosses that read, "My job has killed me.''

An associate warden who was once prosecuted for doing favors for a member of the prison gang known as the Mexican Mafia stands accused by some of his colleagues of purposely failing to quell the riot.

And a whistle-blower alleging corruption and cover-up within the walls of the medium-security facility has California Highway Patrol protection because he fears for his life.

All of this is expected to spill out in public next week at state Senate hearings designed to investigate the internal workings of California's troubled Department of Corrections. Part of the testimony will focus on what happened before, during and after a riot that injured 24 inmates and left one guard permanently disabled.

But at the center of the hearings will be an overriding question that has come into sharper focus this week: Can the state's prison system, one of the world's largest penal institutions, police itself?

The question arises as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing eliminating the state's Office of the Inspector General, the only independent agency overseeing corrections.

"The California Department of Corrections has lost its way,'' said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, chairwoman of a committee that oversees prisons. "My demand of (the department) is reform, overall, right now.''

On Thursday, a federally appointed investigator concluded a probe into Pelican Bay State Prison by suggesting that the department, swayed by a powerful union representing guards, should be held in contempt of court for its continual failure to investigate or punish dishonest guards. Special Master John Hagar wrote in a damning report that a code of silence within the department created "an overall atmosphere of deceit and corruption."

Capt. Douglas Pieper ran head-first into that code, and his widow says it killed him.

Pieper was on duty in Folsom on the morning of April 8, 2002, when things began to go terribly wrong. That day, the prison was scheduled to begin integrating members of two rival gangs who had been locked in their cells for months: the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia, perhaps the two most influential gangs in the prison system.

The plan was to release inmates of the two groups slowly, a few at a time, into the main exercise yard to maintain control and ensure there was no trouble. Pieper, standing in a guard tower, quickly realized that plan was not being followed, he told his wife and investigators later.

More than 80 inmates with gang affiliations were released nearly at once, and it appeared Mexican Mafia members were advancing toward their rivals in a menacing way, according to a report by the Inspector General's Office, which looked into the riot last fall. The report says Pieper asked a superior, Associate Warden Mike Bunnell, if he should "shut down the yard'' -- prison lingo for ordering the inmates to lie face-first on the ground.

"Not yet,'' responded Bunnell, according to the report and a videotape that recorded the riot. Within seconds, a brawl erupted. Some inmates wielding sharp objects attacked each other in a brief but wild melee.

The riot was stopped in about 90 seconds, but that day haunted Pieper for the rest of his days, according to his wife, Evette Pieper, who is scheduled to testify during the Senate hearing Tuesday.

His wife says her husband began asking questions at the prison about what had happened, why it happened and why prison and Department of Corrections officials didn't seem interested in launching a serious investigation.

Soon after, Pieper was reassigned to a job he didn't want by Warden Diana Butler, according to the report. His wife says he began to suffer health problems as he fretted over the riot. He couldn't sleep and lost nearly 50 pounds.

A second-generation correctional officer, Pieper loved his job and was proud of the work guards do. But he began to seriously question some of his colleagues, and Evette Pieper says he was subjected to threats and pressured to sign documents stating he had willingly switched jobs.

"The message was, you open your mouth, and we'll keep messing with you,'' Evette Pieper said.

On Jan. 15, 2003, Pieper, 46, locked himself into his family's garage, put a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger. A lengthy note he left blamed his death on pressures at work. One of his last lines: "Warden, you have won.''

He is survived by a 20-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

Pieper's concerns that things weren't right at Folsom -- both before and after the riot -- have since been validated.

The confidential inspector general's report, a copy of which was obtained by The Chronicle, concludes that Folsom administrators botched the release of prisoners into the yard, didn't follow procedures in investigating the riot and then attempted to engage in a cover-up.

For example, one of the captains who apparently disobeyed orders and let inmates out in large numbers was involved in the review of the riot -- a clear conflict of interest, according to the report.

Butler, the warden, failed to discipline anyone and should have referred the case to the Sacramento County district attorney because weapons were involved in the fight, the report states.

Butler also was behind an effort by some prison administrators to erase the audio portion of the videotape showing that Bunnell, the associate warden, declined to prevent the riot when he could have, the report says.

A prison department official said that the department was continuing to review policies and procedures at Folsom and would make changes there.

"Whatever we find that dictates change will be done,'' said Bob Martinez, the department's director of communications.

Butler, who despite several attempts to contact her was unavailable for comment, was fired in December.

Max Lemon doesn't think that has solved the problems at Folsom.

An associate warden, Lemon is expected to testify Tuesday that he believes the fight was set up to allow the Mexican Mafia to punish its rivals. Lemon said in an interview that he thought the gang had too much influence with officials in the prison.

According to state records, Bunnell, the officer who delayed in ordering guards to shut down the yard, was fired from the Department of Corrections in 1992 for doing favors for inmates at Deuel Vocational Institute near Tracy, including arranging for the state to foot the bill for nearly $2,000 of dental work for a known member of the Mexican Mafia.

The dental work, which included three gold crowns, had to be performed by an outside dentist because the prison dentist refused, saying the crowns were unnecessary.

Bunnell was hired back four years later, however, after a court ruled that the evidence gathered against him had been illegally obtained.

Corrections officials said they were unclear how an employee who once was fired had become one of the highest ranking officials at the prison.

"That, along with a myriad of other issues, is being looked at,'' Martinez said.

Bunnell could not be reached this week for comment. Sources close to the prison department's operations told The Chronicle he had been reassigned from his job at Folsom and reported to department headquarters in Sacramento.

Bunnell is being called to testify at Tuesday's hearing.

State Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, called the riot and the aftermath a "very suspicious scenario,'' noting that prison officials seemed to have punished the Nuestra Familia gang for the brawl by keeping them on lockdown for months afterward, even though they weren't the aggressors.

This week, she helped Lemon secure protection from the CHP. He says he thinks gang members on the outside, or colleagues, may attack him, and he's afraid to leave his house and has stayed out of work.

Lemon says he's determined to testify publicly that the Department of Corrections is not in control at Folsom.

"The prison, and the department, need to be cleansed,'' he said.

Speier and Romero say a portion of the hearings Wednesday will allow for discussion on how to better police the department. Both suggest Schwarzenegger's proposal to save $2 million by closing the inspector general's office would be a mistake.

"A lot of this should begin with leadership, both in the department and from the governor,'' Speier said. "This needs to be taken very seriously.''

E-mail Mark Martin at markmartin@sfchronicle.com .

 

[doublejj]

Podium picture

Podium picture

Here's a pic of our racer on the podium at the racetrack.
That's the state of Oklahoma in his hands!lol!

doublejj

 

[woolybear]

For many years (& up until all the violence in Mexico started a few years ago), we would take long vacations, beach camping in Baja. My attempt at escaping & relieving some stress. We tried to go at least twice a year
I have a 4x4 truck & camper & carried 2 kayaks on top. We would explore back roads all over Baja, & we camped on many secluded & remote beaches. Found many great camping spots.
The lobsters were so plentiful we practally lived on them. My buddies son caught some big bugs freediving from the yaks
I sure miss those trips!

Baja Bug:
View Image

Grandpaw Bug:
View Image

holy shit those lobsters are scary big!

thanks for sharing the pics and stories, i'm 1/2 way thru. shit i have a lot of living to do to catch up to you!

nice

 

[doublejj]

A Shau valley 1970

A Shau valley 1970

War Story

A Shau Meatgrinder
Gary Linderer

If you're a six-man reconnaissance team deep in enemy territory, everything has to go right. When it doesn't, brave men die. This is a story about things going terribly wrong for a recon team of the 101st Airborne Division's famed Lima Company Rangers.

The mission began on 23rd April 1970, when a six-man Ranger recon team from L Company, 75th Infantry (Ranger) was inserted by helicopter on to a ridge top on the eastern side of the A Shau Valley in western I Corp, Republic of Vietnam. The A Shau was a bad place even on a good day. This was a bad day, and team leader Sergeant Marvin Duren and the rest of his patrol knew it. Their mission was to act as a radio relay team for a full Ranger platoon from their company which had just gone in to the valley to lay anti-tank mines along Route 547A, a dirt highway that ran across the valley's floor.

It was unusual for the Rangers to operate in a platoon configuration, but the mission called for unusual measures. Enemy tanks were a rarity even I Corp. But intel. had put them there on several occasions. Other recon teams and 2/17th Cav. aerial scout had reported NVA tanks and tracked vehicles operating along Rt. 547 over the previous two weeks.

The implications were frightening. With the U.S. involvement winding down, no one wanted to face enemy armour at this stage of the war.

The recon team's insertion attempt at their primary LZ had been aborted due to enemy ground fire, so Duren made the decision to go in on the patrol's secondary LZ – a saddle in the ridge flanked by steep slopes. He was glad his team was on the high ground acting a relay team. Those poor bastards down below could be in a world of hurt real quick if Mr. Charles got his act together – and in the A Shau, Mr. Charles always had his act together.

But radio relay wasn't just another walk in the sun, no way, Jose! Just 11 months earlier, Lima Company had lost an entire six-man radio relay team up near the abandoned Marine compound at Khe Sanh. Transmitting too long in the same location had gotten the team triangulated by the sophisticated Soviet radio directional locators employed by the NVA. A brief flurry of enemy had grenades destroyed the entire team before they could fire a shot. No, radio relay could definitely be hazardous to your health.

Once on the ground, Duren took point to lead his team off the lZ to 'Lay Dog' in some heavy cover long enough to find out if their arrival had attracted the attention of the neighbourhood Welcome Wagon. It had. Fifteen meters off the LZ, Duren was cut down by a long burst from an enemy AK-47. Hit twice in the right hop, in the chest and in the stomach, the courageous team leader was out of the fight before it started.

As NVA grnades exploded around him, and other automatic weapons joined in, Duren was hit again in the spleen, appendix, left arm and back. Firing from camouflaged bunkers, the waiting NVA had the six-man team pinned down in the saddle.

At first, the rest of the team was unable to reach the badly wounded team leader, but minutes later, Sergeant James Champion laid down heavy suppressive fire with his M-203 grenade launcher, enabling Sergeants Fred Karnes, the team's RTO, and Steve McAlpine, an ex-Special Forces medic, to crawl out to where Duren lay. McAlpine quickly started a saline IV in the team leader's neck to prevent him from going in to shock.

While preparations were being made back at the company rear to rescue the team, a Huey slick, piloted by Capt. Louis Spiedel from Bravo Troop 2/17th Cav., was inbound with Ranger SSgt. William Vodden on board to take the place of the wounded Ranger team leader. As the aircraft passed over the battle torn LZ, Vodden leaped out and ran to join the rest of the Ranger team. Heavy enemy ground fire hammered the Huey, causing it to crash on to the LZ.

Making sure the assistant team leader had everything under control, Vodden looked up to see the door gunner from the downed Cav. slick staggering across the LZ toward the Rangers' position. When the crewman fell again, Vodden left his protected position and ran out to retrieve the wounded door gunner. On the way back, Vodden was hit in the leg, shattering his femur.

As the ranger NCO lay there treating his own wound, he spotted a medevac helicopter form Eagle Dustoff approaching. Piloted by WO Fred Behrens and Captain Roger Madison, the Huey attempted to land amidst a heavy volume of enemy small arms fire to rescue the badly wounded Duren. McAlpine the assistant team leader, and Sergeant John Sly rose from cover and began to drag the Ranger TL toward the waiting medevac.

The Dustoff crew chief leaped from the ship and ran to help, enabling the two Rangers to get the now unconscious Duren aboard. Amid a hail of gunfire, the helicopter pulled away, heading back east toward the field hospital at Phu Bai.

While Duren was being extracted, the crew chief from Spiedel's downed Huey ran across the LZ and dropped to the ground at Vodden's feet. He told him the two pilots from his chopper were trapped upside down with their legs pinned in the wreckage. When he realized Vodden was hit and couldn't help him, the crew chief tried to make it to the Rangers' perimeter. Heavy enemy small arms fire turned him back, so he returned to Vodden's position and told him he was going back to the downed bird. The crew chief then disappeared over the crest of the hill.

Meanwhile, the Dustoff Chopper, piloted by Behrens, had arrived back on the scene to pick up Vodden. Flaring in fast over the LZ, the ship once again set down on the LZ amidst the smoke of battle, Sp4 Isaako Malo, the Ranger team's junior scout, Karnes, McAlpine, Sly, Champion and the Cav. door gunner climbed aboard. As the helicopter lifted, it took several hard hits – two striking WO Behrens in the foot and upper body, another killing the crew chief. The engine failed, and the helicopter auto-rotated back down on to the LZ.

The surviving crew and the passengers spilled out opposite sides of the down Huey, some heading for Vodden's position. Behrens dropped behind the closet cover he could find, while the rest sprinted for a bomb crater 50 feet away. A short while later, the survivors at Vodden's location were joined by the crew chief from the downed Cav. helicopter.

During the entire operation, Cobra gunships from the 2/17th Cav. had been making pass after pass over the NVA position, preventing the enemy form overrunning the men trapped on the LZ. But as darkness began to fall, the surviving Americans realized there would be no rescue that day. Son the gunships were forced to return to Camp Eagle, and the heavy fire from the enemy positions around them ceased.

The Cav. crew chief said he would try to reach his ship's crash site for another attempt at freeing the two trapped pilots. He took off, followed close behind by the surviving Dustoff crewman. They returned a short time later, saying it would take special tools to get either of the pilots out of the wreckage. They were concerned that the trapped and injured pilots would fall victim to the NVA after dark.

Surprisingly, the enemy stayed put during the night. Karnes, Madison and sly spent a sleepless night together, not knowing if anyone else was alive or not. In the morning, the three men crawled around the ridge top trying to locate a radio. It was during this attempt that an NVA sniper killed Sly.

When Karnes showed up a short later with a radio, Madison learned that an NVA battalion had been spotted by an aerial scout. The battalion was moving up to reinforce the NVA unit which had the Americans pinned down. Madison spent the rest of the day directing air strikes and Cobra gunship runs on the enemy positions, often bringing it right up to their own perimeter.

Later in the day, the two men were informed that a couple of aero-rifle troops from the 2/17th Cav. had inserted just north of them, while two rifle companies from the 2/502nd Infantry Battalion had also combat assaulted in to the valley below them. Unfortunately, enemy forces had stopped them cold.

Toward the end of the second day, Karnes and Madison made the decision to escape and evade. As they moved to the west side of the ridge, they ran in to McAlpine, who had just left a badly wounded Isaako Malo hidden in the hole on the crest of the ridge. Unable to carry the hip-shot Ranger, the three men decided to leave him where he was hidden and try to make it to the Cav. troops fighting a short distance away. They moved down the mountain, turned north on a secondary ridge, then swung back east until they reached the Cav's perimeter. They were shocked to see dozens of dead and wounded troopers inside the small perimeter. The NVA had mauled them during their insertion, killing 10 of the 'Blues' in the first 10 minutes.

A short time later, Capt. Madision was medevacked out with a batch of the Cav's wounded. McAlpine and Karnes spent the second night on the ground with the survivors of the Cavalry troops.

WO Behrens hid during the entire second day of the battle among the fortified NVA positions. Wounded a third time by a sniper, he hugged the Thompson submachine gun salvaged for the wrecked medevac and waited for the inevitable. He had already used up half his magazines killing the sniper who had shot him. He decided to save the rest for when the enemy tried to overrun his position.

Friendly aircraft repeatedly strafed and rocketed the area immediately around him. He screamed at the top of his lungs to alert any other possible survivors that he was still alive and breathed a sigh of relief when the Cobras adjusted their runs away form his location. He watched silently during the lull in the action as a number of khaki clad NVA came out of their bunkers to drag off their dead and wounded. The night, his second on the ground, was especially terrifying to the young medevac pilot. He held his breath and prepared to die as enemy soldiers moved around in the surrounding darkness.

Vodden, Champion and the surviving helicopter crewman tried to stay out of sight as each movement seemed to draw enemy fire. The Cav. crew chief continued checking on the two pilots still trapped in the wreckage of the downed Huey slick, giving them moisture form some pulpy roots he had found. The pilots were in very bad shape and getting worse by the hour. Miraculously, the enemy had not yet discovered them.

The three Americans, believing they were the only ones left alive on the ridge, decided Champion and the crew chief would try to E & E (escape and evade). The crew chief was armed only with a revolver. Champion, the stock of his M-16 shattered by an NVA bullet, had lost his web gear and rucksack. Vodden divided his remaining magazines and frags with Champion and gave the young Ranger his map and compass. At dusk on the second day the two men moved out. A short time later the crew chief returned to Vodden's position saying he had decided to stay and look after the injured pilots. Champion had gone on alone. An hour later, the two men heard firing in the valley below them. Vodden decided they had just heard Sergeant James Champion's “last stand.”

During the night, enemy soldiers moved all around them. On two occasions, Vodden fired at the silhouette of a man standing over the edge of the crater that hid the two Screaming Eagles. Each time, for good measure, Vodden also tossed a grenade in to the brush above them.

Tha Cav. crew chief again took advantage of the distraction caused by the Cobras and slipped off the ridge to check once more on his pilots. When he returned an hour later, he reported Vodden that the peter-pilot had died during the night.

Off in the distance, the two men saw a long sting of helicopters approaching. They knew help was finally on the way. For the first time in three days, they began to believe they might somehow survive this horrible nightmare.

In the afternoon, Vodden and the crew chief heard small arms fire and someone yelling in English. Then, miraculously, two L Company Rnagers apperared, ghost like, out of the brush and moved toward them. Ranger sergeants Dave Rothwell and Don Sellner had reached the two survivors. The Cav. crew chief and Vodden quickly medevacked off the ridge.

Karnes and McAlpine remained inside the Cav. perimeter until the morning of the third day. The two men volunteered to join up with a five-man reaction force composed of Ranger Captain David Ohle, Sergeant Dave Quigley, Sergeant Herb Owens and two other Rangers and lead them back up to the ridgeline.

General Tarpley, the division commander, had ordered an arclight on the ridge, scheduled for later that afternoon. Captain Ohle and his Rnagers had volunteered to go ahead of the B-52s and try to recover anyone who might have survived the three days on the ridge.

Nearing the LZ, the seven Rangers came under intense small arms fire from a large number of NVA hidden in reinforced bunkers. Everyone but Quigley was immediately pinned down, unable to move closer. Taking advantage of this window of opportunity, Quigley rushed through the bunkers alone until he reached the LZ. He stumbled upon Sly's body near the downed medevac. Crossing the LZ, he found many dead 2/17th Cav. and 502nd troopers who had tried in vain to reach the trapped Rangers and helicopter crewmen. Bodies were everywhere.

Then Quigley discovered WO Fred Behrens, more dead than alive, looking like a piece of Swiss cheese from all the holes in him. The NVA gunners had used him as a target for zeroing in their weapons. Unbelievably, Behrens was still conscious and asked Quigley for something to eat. Quigley dropped him a can of apricots and a canteen of water and moved on.

Captain Ohle had finally fought his way past the NVA bunkers and caught up with Quigley. The two Rangers located the Cav. chopper in the trees 300 meters down the hillside below the saddle, smashed flat like a pancake. Speidel was still alive, but would later lose both legs at the hips as the price for living.

Owens and Quigley searched the ridge for Champion and Malo. They found Malo's weapon but no sign of either man. Finally they had to give up and move back to extract the dead and wounded. There was no time to run a more extensive sweep, and the number of enemy soldiers in the area made the possibility of bringing in a larger reaction force foolhardy.

Three years later, Issako Malo was released from captivity by the North Vietnamese, along with other American POWs. To this day, he will not relate the events of the ill-fated operation nor the circumstances of his capture.

James Champion is still carried on the Ranger roles as Missing In Action. But most of those who survived that day believe James Champion never reached the valley alive.

Gary Linderer was executive editor of Behind the Lines. He saw action in Vietnam from 1968-1969 while serving as a LRRP / Ranger with the 101st Airborne Division.

doublejj

 

[Prairie Boy]

Wow! What an amazing thred/life! Thanks so much for sharing your story.
Much Respect from Canada!

Cheers PB.

 

[doublejj]

Traction!

Traction!

Sometimes the best traction are the guys your running over!lol!
Well I told him to "Ride it like you stole it"!
That's our boy #87!
This is how to Motocross, we ain't here to make friends

doublejj

 

[MummyCat]

bahahahahahaha!!! priceless pic!!!!

 

[Organic joe]

Nice that must of been one hell of a rush
And you probably couldn't have taken a better pic than that

 

[doublejj]

Shamming!

Shamming!

One of the routine jobs an Army medic has is 'sick call'. Each morning prior to moving out, the unit medic would hold sick call. It was a chance for soldiers to seek medical attention & receive treatment. If it was something beyond the medics ability to treat they would be sent back to the field hospital for further treatment.
Mostly it was change a bandages & handing out malaria pills.
Most soldiers knew that 'walking point' on an infantry patrol was close to a death sentence. It was very common for young soldiers who just found out they had the point, to be at sick call. "Shamming" is the slang for feigning sick or injured to avoid duty. Many times you could tell the kid was terrified & just shamming to avoid point duty. As a medic your job was to keep the troops in the field & combat ready.
So you would give the poor kid your best motivational speech & send him back to the front. The ones that you had to start an IV & load into a Medivac chopper later in the day, are the ones that stick with you. You both knew you were sending him to die.

doublejj

 

[doublejj]

Vietnam war dogs!

Vietnam war dogs!

One of the untold stories from Vietnam was the dogs. Of the 4000 dogs that served in Vietnam only about 200 made it home! Most were killed in action. The dogs were so effective, VC had the same bounty on killing a dog as an officer. They were high priority targets!

True war heros!

doublejj

 

[Organic joe]

Great posts as usual dbljj
Thanks for keeping this thread alive I check it every couple.days to see what new stories you've posted...
But what purpose did the dogs serve in the war? What was their jobs?

 

[doublejj]

Scout dogs

Scout dogs

Many were scout dogs & walked the point with infantry patrols. Hard for the enemy to hide from them. And many as sentry dogs for guarding. They saved many lives in Vietnam!

doublejj

 

[SneekyFarmer]

Many great stories in this thread Doublejj! Once again, Thank's for sharing with all of us here on ICMAG! I still think you should consider writing a book. You have a way with words bro, and I bet you would sell alot of copies! Maybe you could afford to buy yourself another cabin in the wilderness.....

 

[The Boys]

i just realized the only posts i read in this tread are DoubleJJ's LOL

 

[bombadil.360]

fuck, if someone were to kill any of my dogs, he'd be sorry... I'd take out a whole army empty-handed like a true bezerker lol...

 

[exploziv]

great stories and inspiring thread! thanks for sharing, doublejj!

 

[woolybear]

Thanks again for the stories, had no idea about the war dogs. I wonder if the Vietnamese have since added pups to their arsenal. Wonder who got the orders to kill them. Uck.

 

[944s2]

hiya all, great stories and pics again jj,thanks for the shelby pics, keep the stories and pics coming please brother,, peace and safe growing s2

 

[doublejj]

Liberated from Vietnam

Liberated from Vietnam

I'm about to show you guy's something very dear to me, that few people have seen.
I liberated this .45 from further service in Vietnam, and brought her back & gave her a good home. The rear sight was broken & the original barrel was rusted smooth inside like a shotgun. But with a new barrel & adjustable sight, she drives tacks now!
I'm not gonna sling a bunch of tales about this weapon, suffice to say, she has a special place in my heart, & I'll be happy to supprise my grandson with a gift of this old war horse, one day.

doublejj