Returning Comments

(I've crossposted this message to Arrow-L and Patch-L as well,
since some of the content addresses questions posted on
those two forums).

Hi Scouters!!

Well, after a week back at my hometown, I returned home yesterday to a LOAD
of email (812 messages, of which only
477 were "listmail"). I'll be answering as much personal mail
as I can over this next week in the mornings, after my daily run.

The "daily run" is going to be an extra event in my personal
life, and I'll have to get faster at doing it. My unit's physical
training test for record is next month, and I will have to be a lot faster
than 22 minutes in order to meet the Army's standard for
my age group (which is 18 minutes).

Here's what I know and can share with all of you. Right now,
it looks like I won't be around this summer for the NOAC/Electronic
Scouters' Reunion, nor for several personal
projects that I wanted to do with some of you and your units. My unit is
one of nine Army Reserve units slated for deployment to augment/replace
existing units in the "European theater" of operations. Actually, we are
going to linkup with the rest of the unit which has been in place since
December. The dates keep creeping back and back, with the latest date now
the last week of June or the first week of July. I will be
in-country for about nine months.

I have already secured an email address in Europe, and as soon as I'm on the
ground, in my office, and logged into
the laptop, I'll be sending it back to the list. In the meantime, I'll
still get email here at the addresses in the sig below.

Naturally, Jessica (my wife, for those on Arrow-L) is a little confused and
at the same time hesitant about my *now confirmed* longtime deployment. She
was told at a family support meeting correctly that none of the members of
my unit will be in Bosnia; however, I've been corresponding with several of
my counterparts from the "other half" which have stated that as soon as we
arrive, about a fourth of the unit will "go downrange". So, she's upset
that she wasn't told "the truth" as well as a little concerned for my safety
(as she quipped today, "And you better not be on any cut-rate plane,
either!" (Yesterday, a plane bound for Atlanta from Miami
crashed in the Everglades, killing all 100+ onboard. The plane
belonged to a upstart cut-rate aviation company) ).

Now, about visiting my hometown. The unit members stayed in the same
barracks that when I was 14 and 15, I sold newspapers at. It was nice to
walk and jog around the nine blocks during the week and have mental
flashbacks of selling the _Courier_Journal_ to new trainees and their drill
sergeants.

I also took the time to drop in on my old Troop, Troop 801,
which is experiencing some sort of crossroads crisis. (I'll be
asking the combined wisdom about that in a subsequent posting). I enjoyed
seeing my "camping log" (which hasn't
been used since 1982) still on the wall of the building and as
always, I had the chance to impart history and some advice to
the Scouts of "my home Troop". Tomorrow, they celebrate
their twentieth Eagle Scout since their formation in 1973
(which reminds me that I need to order the stuff so it will get
there tomorrow evening).

I found out that Fort Knox is now down to three Troops and
four Packs (at the height, it was nineteen Troops and twenty-four Packs) and
that the hospital no longer serves as
a longtime chartered partner of Pack, Troop and Post 127.
That's a shame, because Troop 127 was one of the installation's first
Troops, being chartered to the town of
Stithton (which became the "nucleus" of Camp and later Fort Knox) in 1927.
The other two remaining Troops are not doing any much better than Troop 801 is.

The housing area in which I grew up in is being demolished
starting next month to make way for more modern housing.
I took the time on Saturday afternoon to take pictures and to
walk around the mostly abandoned housing yet once more.
To touch the swings where I played and to walk over the dirt
where the neighborhood's children played all sorts of games.
To somehow capture once more a very important part of my
personal development.

I thought that with the current advances at Fort Knox, which is lobbying for
a new "urban-warfare center", that I would have email access. I was wrong,
and now, I'm suffering from that
error in personal judgement. Please be patient with me as I sort and sift
through everything over the next couple of days.

I also have some patches and shirts to mail out as well this week, too!!

I ache. It's hard to type correctly, because both arms hurt from
being air-needled with immunizations from MONDAY last.
My knees and calves hurt from running the block three times
as part of the PT test on Friday morning. Ah, the pains of being
old....*hehehehee*. I need to make the daily run up and
down my street a part of my routine for the next three to four weeks in
order to increase my stamina as well as to see if I can
indeed run faster than the slow 11 minute miles I was running
Friday. I need to run two 9 minute miles.

I'm glad to be back with all of you once again, and I am working on a way
that I can come back in August in time to participate in the Electronic
Scouters' Reunion. In the meantime, I'll do my best to be of service to you
and other Scouters. I really did miss everyone here, and thanks for
allowing me to "hobble down memory lane" once again!!

*hehehehee*

Settummanque!

(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle) (
co-Owner, Blackeagle Services of Kentucky (502.826.7046) __)_
174 Chapelwood Drive, Henderson, Kentucky 42420-5036 | ** |]
(H) 502.827.9201 (F) 502.826.7046 (W) 888.284.4848 (yea!) coffee?
anytime!
(Email) blackeagle@hcc-uky.campus.mci.net/kyblkeagle@AOL.COM
(WWW) http://scout.net/~cardinal/index.htm
"Geoworks & Leaders' Online--because EVERY PC can open doors!!!"

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