The People You Meet

[micah719]

Nauti, you weren't by any chance on the coldest US Army post in Germany? If so, I'm recalling you and your mobile oven to help flatten Wagner's ugly red barn.

So, how big really is a Texas Beer? And, has it been crossed by sailboat yet?

[rabbidoninoz]

NautiBits, I haven't enjoyed reading a thread so much since...well, I can't remember when! Wishing you only happiness in your future sailing and cruising.

BTW, it's not so startling that USMC chaplain assistants are killing machines. But the fact that the CHAPLAINS are killers...that's the kicker! Yeah, I know...they're really Navy chaplains...sort of. Not me; I was Yoosaf. The most violent we got was when we were grinding the s**t out of our coffee beans.

Nu, good luck with your boat search and do keep the ironic humour coming (I'm living in Oz, so I can spell 'humor,' 'humour'...my spell-checker wants me to, anyway.) Be well...

Don

[NautiBits]

Jongleur::


Ahhhhhhh, sweet, so much the better (for those not paying any attention, Good Jongleur here feigned terminal confusion a few pages ago. Having sat through too many staff meetings during my Army life, I sympathized with his plight and made a solemn vow to somehow become much less interesting. I consider this to be a kind of psychological Easter egg hunt. MODS!! Anchors, anchors, I definitely need a bigger one. Make that two please. Whenever the mods come snooping around I've got to toss in the token seafaring blather to appease them.)

[NautiBits]

Micah:

I was in many cold places in Germany. Wildflecken, Grafenwöhr, and Ho-ho-hohenfels were some of my faves. You may know of the famous Kruezberg monastery near Wildflecken. Its famous to me because it was rated the world's best beer by Playboy for about a hundred years. The beer was really quite delicious. But, no matter when you went up that mountain, one had to drive back in the snow. Check that, someone else had to drive back down because I was drinking. Actually, we usually went by bus. Even in the back of the bus though, that ride back down was not fun. The lord works in mysterious ways, sometimes.

I did know a Micah in Pigtown, I mean Schweinfurt. I also worked with Wagner there. We called him 'The Undertaker'. Our tanks were the 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". He was 'Death', the Pale horse. I was the Black Horse, "Pestilence', or 'Pesty' for short.

Texas Beers. There are some good ones. Not quite enough to float a sailboat though. At least not a monohull. Maybe a Cat. There is a lot more great beer in Colorado, NY, New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and of course the West coast. Here is another crazy beer story. I was in Munich getting my passport so me and a couple of guys ( there were no women in those days) could to a beer tour of the recently opened ( to Americans) Czech Republic. Directly across from the Embassy was a pub. What looked like an oil truck rumbled up the street. It had one of the local breweries emblazoned on it. Out come the hoses and they're pouring beer into this joint out of a fire hose. The Germans are mighty thirsty lot. I had a fantastic part of my life there.

[NautiBits]

What's happening Rabbi Don:

Ladies and Gentlemen, you know things are going right when the clergy is in on your thread.

Don, you just resurrected another latent memory. One of my first Chaplains came around dispensing his candy bars and prophecy. He was sporting this menacing pig-sticker on his equipment harness. Yep, right next to his cross. (Folks, a pig-sticker is slang for a knife...not for buttering bread) I never carried one as I was a tanker and the idea is to neutralize the enemy as far away as possible. What the heck was the Chaplain going to do with his? It was a little weird.

So, what are you doing down there. I hope you're not chasing the ladies! I've always imagined it to be like, well, paradise.

[NautiBits]

RabbiDon:

Ooops! Just checked out your blog. Tell the Admiral I said hi! I'll assume you're not chasing the ladies then. If I ever get down there, I could probably use some good ministering. Put in a good word for me.

When I was a kid, there were only a few Catholic families on the block. If there were any Protestants, they were keeping a low profile. Everybody else was Jewish. Right on the corner was a Synagogue. One day the Rabbi came out and he was yelling at me. "Gentile! Gentile!" Well,it wasn't the first time that I'd gotten yelled at by the Rabbi. He didn't like it when we played "Johhny on a pony" against his building. I thought he wanted me to be gentle like I was strangling the neighborhood bully, or something. He didn't seem angry though. He was smiling. He was gesturing with his hands and whatever he was saying sounded like a question. I know, that is kind of stereotypical, but now I know he really was asking me a question. I didn't have a clue, but I answered "Yes". So, he took me into the Synagogue on a Friday night and had me turn off all the lights and stuff. Then he said 'Thank you' and gave me a candy bar. I did it for him many times after that too.

[Gelfling]

Originally Posted by NautiBits

Micah:

I was in many cold places in Germany............The Germans are mighty thirsty lot. I had a fantastic part of my life there.

Indeed.....I was an exchange student and the father/husband of the family I stayed with worked for Bitburger Pils (Bitte ein Bit!) and after about a week (4 days) he became a smell I won't forget!

But on my 16th bday I walked downtown and legally bought a beer and a Playboy.....just to see if I could! And THAT was the day I learned only American women shaved. Thank the stars I learned that info that day....it saved me quite a shock some time later! Ah......the good old days.

Not sure how much has changed, but when I was there the country was half its current size and they had their own money.

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by NautiBits

DonL:

Yep! Like I said, he(the Prince of Darkness) seemed like good people to me too.

Lucas is the Prince of Darkness. I know this because I owned a Triumph TR4A for several years.

Gelfling:

Are you from Middle Earth? Alas, I'm not a real Texan. I was stationed here back in the eighties, purchased a tiny little parcel, and rented it out ever since. My daughter is stationed here now, and is living in the house. One of my son's was born here. He's the Real Texan and has the hat, belt buckle, and brass balls to prove it. I'm just an hornery kid from Brooklyn.
I honestly did not stumble in here to steal anybody's thunder. I could see DOJ and I taking opposite sides of one of the nut-job arguments(discussions?) on CF. Then we would switch sides after about 5 pages of posts, step back after swatting the hornets nest a few times, and watch the implosion from the safety of the internet.

SkiprJohn:

That reminds me of my visit to Hitler's Vienna. The Admiral was haunting me about always wanting to visit Vienna. It had something to do with Mozart, or one of those piano players. We had just completed a tour of the newly open eastern europe and were heading back to the vastly more expensive western europe. I was a young Staff Sergeant travelling with the family (Admiral, three rug-rats, and granny) in a diesel(sorry, I loves me some diesels) powered Toyota van. We were having fun on our budget and we all had a blast. We had a plan though. Playing baccarat with the nobles in Vienna was not on that plan. So, I drove straight through the center of Vienna, stopped at every freaking red-light, and went right out the other side. Twenty years later, I still think it is hilarious. But, I'm a guy.

I took a slide photo of Mozart's statue in Vienna (not Virginia). It was in my slide show of Europe after I returned after 4 years there. It was in the cassette backward and I was forever asked by my slideshow viewers who "Trazom" was? I kept it that way just to see if my guests were still awake when I reached the Austrian tour.

I was stationed in Stuttgart at the Panzer Kaserne (Patch Barracks) from 71 to 75 when DM was at a pretty reasonable rate.

You're probably very familiar with Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Chiemsee. The Red Cross and MWR teamed up to give sailing lessons on Chiemsee and that's where I learned to sail in '72. I'd already served aboard 3 Navy Destroyers but didn't know how sails worked until then.

Ocean Girl and Sabray:

I do not know the book, but I'll put it on my list. Thanks.

DOJ:

Greetings! Even if you are Satan, I think everybody deserves a chance. In my fifty-something years I have been called mean things also. Reflecting back, some of it was deserved. I think I'm way more mature now. But, I ain't dead yet. I like to have too. En Garde!

Great to have you here.

[JamesBSailing]

Wow, I just had to say thanks for the entertainment. Good luck in the search. I'll pay for ringside seats between you and DOJ. Mabey I'll play the Don King roll and sell tickets. "Insiste Firmiter"

[NautiBits]

Rabbi D:

Now I've really gone and done it. I've posted a reply to you in my 'Weigh the Mizzen' meet and greet thread by mistake. It might be interesting. Who can tell these days?

[NautiBits]

Gelfling:

You were in Deutschland as a teenager! You are one lucky dude. And you lived with a guy that worked at a brewery!! Yeah, I don't think I would have needed anything else after that. Call me simple. That is heaven on earth! I was there when it was half, and again when it was whole. I was involved with a German/American cultural exchange that also included partnerships with the former East. Well, it is still East, but you know what I mean. That was a blast too. NautiBits the cultural ambassador. Heh-heh, what did those guys learn about America?

[NautiBits]

SkiprJohn:

Lucas and/or the Triumph itself, either could be the shape-changing deceiver

I also partied in Garmisch and sailed(and partied) in Chiemsee. I vaguely remember they had a Hobie there. Perhaps that is where my Cat fetish began

Much fun.

[NautiBits]

JamesB:

Are you a tanker?!? Steel on target brotherman!!

Garryowen!

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by NautiBits

SkiprJohn:

Lucas and/or the Triumph itself, either could be the shape-changing deceiver

Nope it's just Lucas, we have had many Land Rover's over the years that prove that. I even have a t-shirt that claims Lucas is the Prince of Darkness !

[SkiprJohn]

"I also partied in Garmisch and sailed(and partied) in Chiemsee. I vaguely remember they had a Hobie there. Perhaps that is where my Cat fetish began"

Seems like a lot of partying going on there. Probably partied in Berchtesgaden too?

In the 70s the MWR folks had 3 very old wooden gaff rigged sloops and no cats. It was fun learning how the very light winds could drive those heavy old boats in and out of the slips.