When I left I had stuff crammed into every little nook and cranny of the pickup as I hauled an awful lot of stuff, most of which was not needed but I hauled with me anyway in case someone needed it for something. I had figured that someone else besides BigOhio was going to show and there is no telling what someone else is likely to forget.
Over the past few months I snagged a few things as insurance policies. One example is the 500 foot spool of wire I bought in case someone needed an antenna.
It never left the truck and is still unopened but I suppose some day I will be able to find a use for it sometime. I'll cut it up if I need radials for the 43 foot vertical I want to put up next time home.
I now have a nice Kalashnikitty T-shirt and a few odds and ends including a pretty good letter opener which is going to see a lot of service in the near future as there are going to be an awful lot of QSL cards coming in during the next few weeks.
When I got home and got the mail there were already QSL cards in it and three of them included SASEs and one of them had an SASE and a buck in it. The latter guy is going to the top if the line because he apparently knows that QSL cards and postage cost money and while I cheerfully return every QSL card I get, the truth is that this special event means a lot of QSL cards and postage is going to have to be coughed up.
While there have been a number of ideas for this special event QSL card, I think I am going to use the picture that was taken of me with Gunny Ermey at Camp Perry a couple years back. It's not for commercial purposes and it was taken at a public place so I doubt there is anything illegal about it. Besides, Gunny is a real supporter of the shooting sports.
He once told a group of us that he has it in his contracts that he gets time off for CMP highpower week and takes December off to do charity work.
The truth of this little adventure is that it started several months ago with a number of other people that wanted to join in and I wound up running the entire thing alone for the first week until BigOhio showed up as he said he would.
Seeing I carried the brunt of it, I am going to have the final decision as to what to do as far as QSL goes and I have decided that even though it is going to cost me s couple of extra bucks I am going to personally QSL every single contact even though it is likely going to cost me a few bucks.
I will be the first to admit that I did not do this alone as another guy drove to Camp Perry on his own nickel and met with the base CO, Ltc Barb Herrington-Clemens. He certainly grreased the skids for me. Colonel Clemens proved to be a wonderful person and a fine officer.
There were also a couple of other donations that ought to be mentioned, too like the guy that sent me a parachute which I had planned on using as an improvised shelter of sorts until at the last minute I found the little pop-up pavillion thing I eventually used. I did drag his 'chute along in case the wind tore the little pavillion up which it almost did the last night we were there.
The last night we bagged the 40 meter portion and decided to secure anything that was not weatherproof and break down as much as we could because of a severe weather warning. This proved wise as about ten minutes after we were done, the sky inzipped with one hell of a thunderstorm.
BigOhio and I sat in the shelter drinking bourbon as we watched a spectacular storm until there was a lull and then we broke for our vehicles where we both sacked out for the night.
I also have to give thanks to the Camp Perry National Guard that were always there giving me both support and a good natured ribbing from time to time, especially the NCOs.
WHen I asked one of them to have his people keep an eye out for my mother so I didn't have to pick up after myself, the NCOs grinned, but one Pfc asked me what my mother looked like. I told him she was a dead ringer for Barbara Billingsly which he promptly Googled. He spent several days looking for her but she didn't show up so BigOhio and I were forced to pick up after ourselves. Thanks go to the Pfc for his efforts, too as watching him tool around looking for Barbars Billingsly provided comic relief.
The junior NCOs in the S-3 shop were also great as they copied my daily logs and saved me a lot of pencil work as the basc CO had asked for a copy of them. While she didn't ask for one I think I will send her an After Action report because they might be interested that I ran for 5 straight days on solar power alone.
Considering how much time I was transmitting, that says a lot. The 5th day I did plug the battery into the charger and I was astonished at how quickly it topped off.
Thanks also are due to the Marine Corps rifle team in general and Gunny Otto, Joker and Rafterman (they know who they are) in specific for moral support and for dropping by often.
Finally I'd like to give thanks to an unnammed National Guard NCO that was asked by a private why I was wearing a pink Kalashinkitty T-shirt. He responded that it was because I was a badass and that tough guys wear pink because they can. Thanks, Sarge!
I am home now, and dog tired and still have a lot to do but I'll get on it as soon as I post this.
This is not me, it is an image I scooped off the web, but here's what a Kalashnikitty T-shirt looks like.
my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
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