Sweet Xuan-thank you so much for your good wishes! I would love to visit your country. I don't know if Dennis could handle it, though. After his Nam tour he came home very scarred. When we first got together he would have feverish dreams and the sound of a helicopter would send him over the edge. He is a very strong man, but war memories were difficult for him. I would cradle his 6'3" frame while he was struggling with nightmares and I would whisper that it was all right and he was safe. He was in a very speciallized field, working on the mechanics on turrets in certain tanks. Those tanks got deployed again after 9/11. He was one of 6 people (5 men and 1 woman) still alive in the US specially trained in maintaing the turrets. He instructed people on the maintenance. Luckily (I would have built a cellar to hide him!!) they had enough younger personnel to maintain them. Still, I think he would probably love to see a country he once visited when wracked by war and pain. And see it back to it's peaceful, beautiful existance. I have to tell you, the grandbabies are AWESOME! So energetic and smart. We had a wonderful time with them. I think being so active in my younger years and being totally happy with myself and at peace in my soul, makes me look and feel younger than my 56 years. In my mind, I think I am 30. (Even though Soultan thinks I am boring-LOL!!!) God bless Xuan, I will certainly let you know how things go for me. You can't keep a feisty, fun-loving, happy, energetic, crazy old Italian broad down! I hope you will share more about your country, photos and it's history. Maybe we will come get you to go to the beach one day!

Grew up on a dairy farm in ohio and learned to dive a team of belgian draft horses (1 ton each)when i was 6yrs old. Served two enlistments in the U.S.A.F. from 1966 till 1973(Viet Nam Era). Stood on a guard detail in front of the Loraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn the morning after MLK was assasinated. Was on a detail that rode an Air Force C-130 for four days, continually flying west around the world twice and every time they stopped for fuel it was breakfast time...LOL..finally returned to where we started and to this day none of us know what that was about. Got spit on by hippie protesters in both Cleveland and Chicago while traveling from one base to another. Did two tours in Viet Nam (during my second tour i was pulled out early because my mother protested through the Red Cross. It seems i was combat exempt because I was the sole surviving son of a combat veteran). Spent four years in Germany and travelled throughout Europe. Was a Scoutmaster for military dependant boys in Germany and lead an 8 day 50 mile hike from Bitburg, Germany to Bastogne, Belium. Took up photography as a hobby while in Germany and later got into it professionally for a couple years with a newspaper. Now I do it as a retirement hobby. Drove an 18 wheeler that had two transmissions, one behind the other with two gear shifts and a total of 24 gears. Hauled a 162ft bridge beam from Elyria, Ohio to lower Manhattan in New York City. After truck driving I worked in construction and attended night school. Got certified to Journeyman level in 5 different building trades. Spent 54 days in pretrial confinement awaiting trial on a misdemeanor offence that has a maximum penalty of 10days, and i was found not guilty at trial. Back in my truck driving days in the mid 70's I was living in Massachusetts and I rented a room from Jan & Ken. Jan was working civil service at the base where I finally discharged and she had just been assigned to work in the area where I had worked. I spent months sitting at the kitchen table helping her with her paperwork and teaching her the job. About a year later I moved away and we were out of touch until three years ago. I found out that she retired with 36yrs service on the base. I was living in Ohio and Jan and I talked on the phone a couple times a week for over a year, until last August when I moved to Mass and she and I are now together and havig a blast.

Juanital I spent some time in one of those. It is a M60A1 Main Battle tank. A quick history and run down on it. Came into service in 1960. First served in the Viet Nam war. Has since served in just about every war world wide. They are four versions that were built. The 60, A1, A2, A3. The A1 and A3 were the same as the 60 with a 105mm main gun, except they were updated with better crew serve weapons and electronics. The A2 had a very short gun barrel and had a 152mm Gun-launcher. The tanks are still in use by the USMC and a lot of countries that were friends to the US at the time. They had a four man crew. Driver, Gunner, Loader and the Commander. The tube that comes from the hull and runs just in front of the storage box is the heaters exhaust. We would cook meals using the heat from that exhaust.lol The white tape (most likely Velcro) was used to place sensors for training. A device was connected to the main gun and when you "shot" an enemy tank the sensors would go off letting command know that the tank was hit. The two things I remember most about serving on an M60 was.... 1. The bond that a crew had with their tank and each other. 2. The choking smell of ammonia when we went to the firing range. The Turret would fill with smoke and strong eye watering smell of ammonia after a few rounds had been fired from the main gun.

When we had the blizzard of 1978, we lived in Indianapolis, five blocks from the grocery store. Neither of us thought of preparation at the time and we had two large dogs. Well, we wound up with almost no TP and only enough dog food for a scant feeding. It was fun, but I swore I'd never be in a situation where I had to walk that distance and back for those two items. Everything else was okay. Today I always make sure I have a good supply both at all times. Before we moved to the boonies, I was designing my house and researching what I would need. After a lot of research, I bought a Hopi Liberty wood burning stove. It provides heat efficiently, light and one level for cooking, the other for keeping things warm. I also bought a fan that works on the heat from the stove, not electricity, to distribute the heat. I have a good supply of wood both in the house and on the porch. I have lots of woods with deadfall as well. It took me a while to get the generator situation set up. The first one we had was a basic one with everything exposed. I sat and watched our little Australian Cattle dog destroy it while trying to get to a mouse inside the wiring. Didn't really realize what was going on. The next one was a Honda 200, totally enclosed. It sits on the porch ready for use at any time. There is also a larger, diesel powered generator in the motorhome. There's always lots of diesel in the motorhome and I keep all the vehicles full plus extra gas stored in the storage building. All of that is primarily to keep the fridge and freezer going although my late DH had to have the TV on. I do keep lots of flashlights, battery powered lights and batteries on hand. I've got candles, but prefer the battery powered while they last. Oh, I do have a portable radio and am a ham radio operator with both a handheld and a mobile unit. The pantry, cupboard, fridge and freezer are fully stocked. Probably could last for several months at least. I have plenty of water, then there's the hot water heater. If we were due a violent storm, I'd also fill up the washer. I do have some natural springs on the property and a nice creek at the rear. The chickens give me about five eggs a day. I keep an extra 50 lbs. of chick feed and 40 lbs. of dog food on hand. I'd go without food before I'd let the girls or Sig go without. When we first moved down here, it was not uncommon to wind up stranded if we had a big snowfall. The house is at the top of a very long, steep hill and they didn't have the equipment to clear our road. Heck, they usually couldn't get the nearby roads cleared. Now things are better. I just want to be prepared so if its bad and I don't want to go out, I don't have to and to be able to go for a long time in case of a natural disaster. We have had tornadoes go over our house and one went between the storage building and the house. No damage, knock on wood, other than the wheel chair ramp that weighs a ton winding up in the center of the drive. The master bath is situated very well in case of this and DH made sure the crawl space was extra deep. As for a nuclear disaster or whatever, I don't worry because I figure it would wipe us all out anyway. Its not like it as back in the '50s, 60's, etc. Madonna