Skivvy Nine Lounge

Cowboy Blob's Saloon is based ideally on the Skivvy Nine Lounge, my home away from home during several tours (okay, all Five of them) to the ROK. The Lounge started out as some extra squadron space where some intel types would unwind after a tough day of "Keeping the Morning Calm" and could do so without endangering Operations Security by having any Tom, Dick, Red Horse Harry, or Korean bartender/bargirl overhear the conversation. I'm not saying national security secrets were part of the conversation, just that an observant enemy could gather sensitive OPSEC indicators from one of the prime intelligence units on the Peninsula there.

Over the years, Skivvy Niners poured their ingenuity, resources, and loving attention into the Lounge spaces. I spent a lot of time there as a DeeJay on my 4th tour.


When my USAF Retirement Ceremony came around, I couldn't think of a more apt place to hold it. I had not only many friends from multiple tours there, but some Korean coworkers with whom we kept the Morning Calm for two decades.

My buddy Kevin (left), whom I'd befriended on my first tour, was on hand for the ceremony. OMG! He's a Chief Master Sergeant now!

This little romp down Memory Lane was prompted by this following video aired in 2004 about the soon-to-be "re-purposed" Skivvy Nine Lounge. The MSgt Joe Pond featured was not only my friend Jon's roommate when I first met them in Texas in 1987, he'd also be my friend and sponsor during subsequent tours back to Korea. Yoooooooooooooo!

S9er Linky Love

There are only two three other bloggers that I know of who call themselves a "Skivvy Niner." Two have posted some entertaining stuff recently:

Effluent at No Man's Blog scares me with this look at the 22nd Amendment.

The Bastidge has now returned to Baghdad. His journey home makes all my old travel misadventures pale in comparison.

Lori, you're a sweetie, but handmade jewelry's not quite my bag. I visited Lori and Rick during my winter vacation back East.

Have a look at around the rest of their blogs while you're at it.

Time for Hot Beans Again!

Got a few more hours to go.

Thought some would taste good for Super Sunday. Why did the Super Bowl have to happen in Arizona? There's a Cactus Match that morning, but traffic promises to be a nightmare on the way back. It's Jon's Wedding Anniversary Weekend, so I ought not drop in and bother the celebrants; methinks I'll avoid the Phoenix area altogether.

There's an IPSC match up at Pima Sunday; at TRC is a Tucson Action Shooters Club multi-gun match on Saturday and a SASS Cowboy Match on Sunday. Will I finally drag myself out of my social comfort zone and try something new? Or will I sleep in both days? Either way, I'll have some yummy hot chili beans to warm me up afterwards.

Go to War

...with the action figures you have, not the action figures you want or wish to have at a later time.

-- Donny Rumsfeld


h/t Goofy1

S'Lotta Bananas

h/t's to Palmer & Nitro

Use a Coaster!

h/t to AlanDP

My Write-in for Next Week

Now We Know

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday
Got a caption or photoshop for this picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your autographed photo of Jacques Cousteau!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

Deathlok of The Temerity of High Maintenance impressed the boss with:

"Scientists show that it takes TWO goldfish to equal the production level of one government employee."

Other Contests:

Gone Rick Motel
Outside the Beltway
WILLisms
Support your Local Gunfighter
Blonde Sagacity
Right Pundits
Public Pondering

Photoshops:

Here's one at KeesKennis

View from the Porch...kinda

Sorry to hoark Tam's schtick for a moment... well, not really my porch. This spot is visible from some of my neighbors' back porches. I have to cross the street and risk getting thrown in jail to get this view; the drainage access to this patch of undeveloped Sonoran desert has been posted No Trespassing by the city. No other drainage ditch in the neighborhood is posted so, even though this is the shallowest by far. The others are raging rapids during flash flood conditions that could sweep away a grown man if the rainfall is heavy enough. So, why is this little stretch of concrete alone marked by the city?


I'm betting the homeowner whose yard abuts the drainage has some pull with City Hall and used it to scare kids from skateboarding near his house or peering over his privacy wall.

Didn't stop me, though. My criminal record is clean, but I'm willing to test the legal system if some asshole calls the cops on me while I'm on my way to commune with nature.

BoG2 Range Report

I finally got BoG2 (actually v2.5) to the range Friday. The brass-cased Serbian Wolf 55-grainers got along quite well with the replacement gas-piston upper and, against my better judgement, I shot two mags of steel-cased Russian Wolf through it too. Превосходный!!! I shot for accuracy at only 25 yards, but I shot quarter-sized groups using a padded block of wood for a rest. I took my time in a hurry, so don't poo-pooh the rifle's accuracy please.

I should have shot the Russian stuff for accuracy and comparison, but instead I hosed my old CCW qualification target with two magazines worth of double-tap drills. That was the only way to get a feel for the flash hider POF-USA stuck on the front. The 4-pronged hider doesn't help the bounce any more than the old bird-cage did (I didn't expect it), so after the February ACTS match, the Cooley muzzle brake goes back on.

Next time, I'll bring out some 62-grainers. BoG2 has a 1-7 barrel twist, so it's supposed to love heavier bullets.

Lenny & Squiggy's New Digs

Mistress Lisa and her Squeeze have fashioned a 4-story cage out of two double-decker cages. Sebastian's old cage featured a crawl tube on top; this week I'm chipping in Gracie's first cage to serve as an add-on.

Two Paws Up!

Not a Wasted Weekend

The Phoenicians and Glendalites are building arks and limiting their pets to two each... the Cactus 3-Gun Fun Match today was "washed out" by heavy rains that didn't let up all day. No biggie, Jon and I amused ourselves on the computer with more Steel Panthers MBT. We played past midnight last night, a rather unsatisfying (randomly determined) mission defending modern Sweden from the assaulting Peruvians. The snow and their cheap-ass Chi-Com tanks bogged down their attack in the face of Jon's two lone tanks and my well-supplied missile teams. At least the beer was top-notch!

Jon didn't bother to wake me at the normal time (it rained all night), but I dreamt he woke me a half dozen times. I'm weird like that. Must have been that one apricot beer I tried.

Today's desert Meeting Engagement between our 1992 Bundeswehr forces versus the computer's Egyptian Army was spiced up by Jon's decision to paradrop half his forces behind Egyptian lines. We had three tanks between us and they never saw much action; my three M109 SPARTY guns serviced scads of vehicles found by the paratroops with top-attacking cluster munitions. Our success drove the program into a temper tantrum: a suddenly unsuppressed infantry unit waxed Jon's Leopard 1A4 with an RPG and two platoons of Egyptian tanks appeared from the map edge to reinforce, much to the panic of Jon's paratroops. Well, Airborne held and we killed those too.

The drive back was scary-rainy until I hit Casa Grande, where the rain let up until I got drizzles again north of Tucson, which didn't get soaked nearly as much as the so-called Valley of the Sun.

Retired SF Soldier Gets Court Martial

BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 – Retired Army Green Beret Smokey Taylor got his court martial this weekend and came away feeling good about it.

Taylor, at age 80 the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association, was on trial by his peers under the charge of “failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber” in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville, TN, in December.

Read the whole thing.

Hu-ah.

Stop the Bus

I wanna get off....

Nice Qitty....

Happy Hump Day!

Wow, it's Wednesday already! Where did the time go? Time flies when you click the fresh button on the ACTS score page every 5 seconds.

Found in the Bargain Bin

LawDog showed me how to create my band and CD cover:

1) The first article on this page is the name of your band.

2) The last four words of the last quote on this page is the CD title.

3) The third picture on this page is your album cover.

I hear all the cool bloggers are doing it.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday
Got a caption or photoshop for this picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your collection of vintage whoopie cushions!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

Dennis at Gone Rick Motel wins with:

Man do I feel better...

Thanks for playing, y'all!

Other Contests:

Support your Local Gunfighter (2nd Place last week!)
Gone Rick Motel
Right Pundits
Rodney Dill
Public Pondering
WILLisms
Wizbang

Korean Striptease

Ever wonder what the guts of a Korean Daewoo evil black rifle look like? The Woo-1 pays homage to Eugene Stoner's AR innards... except that it's almost totally different. The gas tube still pukes crud all over everything; it is not a gas-piston weapon like the Woo-2. The bolt is almost identical to the AR's, sporting a cut opposite the extractor (see pic below).

Click either pic to get a not-very instructional video on field-stripping the Daewoo K1.

Now to clean 'er up and throw 'er back in the safe for another 10 years. I got some American rifles to wear out!

Tampa MLK Day Parade (Repost)

Some colorful bunting would have been nice.

Source

(I'm the Number 1 G00gl3 hit for Tampa MLK Day Parade. There is something wrong about that. Anyway, have a Happy St. Marty's Day!)

Rock n Roll Weekend

I brought along the Hebroom to unload some mags through the muzzle. DaisyCat got her first taste of Class III fun...with much supervision from Jon.



It took us a while to get to that point.

Piter celebrated his 20th Birthday with his first three mags of 9-mm buzzgun goodness while DesertCat got a refresher.

January ACTS Match

Yeah, we didn't get any of the Pros from Dover Michigan on our squad, so we had to settle for Gunsite Basic Carbine graduate Jon who finally gave the ACTS format a try. He kicked butt.

I was a bit slower.

Cool Desert Cat video here.

Oh

Did I say "non-Wolf?" I meant "non-steel case."

Friday Fertography - Final Edition

It saddens me to report that I'm out of the ferret ranching business. Lisa the Biker Chick, my awesome ferret sitter and house watcher, offered to adopt the boys and spare me the discomfort of pet allergies. They've gone to a good home with a couple cats to chase and I get my reloading room back. Lisa just got over the loss of little Sebastian and adores Lenny and Squiggy (when they aren't digging in her couch or pooping in the corner), so it's a win-win-win for everybody. But I miss them already.

Does it do tricks?

The MI ACTS guys had a little caption contest of their own going.

I couldn't resist making this animation.

At Least He's Not a Drummer....

Long Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until I get back to AZ and judge this
Got a caption or photoshop for this picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even that p.o.s. jalopy in your driveway!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins when/if I make it back to AZ.

Winner!

Heartless Libertarian wins with:

Reduced to 1 HP...and the carbon footprint STILL isn't zero!

Other Contests:

Support Your Lo-Cal Gunfighter (1st Place last week!)









Blonde Sagacity
Gone Rick Motel
Right Pundits
Rodney Dill
Public Pondering
WILLisms
Wizbang

BoG v2.5 is Back!

Yahoo! While POF-USA is off battling Wolf Ammo lawyers for the destruction wreaked on Box O' Gun 2, they sent me a replacement upper! I was surprised but not disappointed in the differences from the original upper. Apparently, they didn't want to send me an upper sans flash hider and removable front sight, so this came with a four-prong hider and their signature fully enclosed front sight. The fore-end is a P-9SX and has less railage than the old P4X(?), but it actually has all the accessory rails I could expect to use in my non-Tactical-Tommy lifetime.

The front sight rides the top rail instead of the gas block, so its a tad shorter than my original sight (which explains why they sent me a new one). Now I've either got to get out the Dremel or get Ed Cameron to trim off the top for me (me no likey stuff obscuring the downrange scenery above the front post)... or toss it in the box with the old sight and my collection of birdcage flash hiders and trust the EOTech batteries to hold out through a match.

The World's Best Lil Bro got me a case of brass Serbian M193 55-grainers for Christmas, so BoG v2.5 will be on a total non-Wolf diet. I'll probably bring it out to the ACTS match Saturday to test-fire and roughly sight it in. I've got too much stuff to do to seriously dial it in at the range before then. Heck, I gotta go grocery shopping right now! After my afternoon nap, I mean.

Back!

Had a great time with great folks, but it's good to be back at the hermit hacienda. Lots to blog about, so stay tuned! Okay... don't expect too much soon, 'cuz Jon's coming down for Saturday's ACTS shootin' match.

The Ranger hit the 66.6k mileage mark just outside the Nashville Fo'Fo'ty Parkway... coinkydink, ya think?

AR45 Thumper

Michigan ACTS shot yesterday; Arizona moved its matches to the Third Saturday.

What's the Problem?

When Dad's not too interested in the graphics on your video game, just deal with it, kid.

Say No More! Look Who's Four!

Lil Something

To make up for the spilled beer and dashed hopes of the previous post....

Hillary's Dead

Sh*t.

Sir Edmund Hillary.

Hope I didn't get yer hopes up....

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday
In this undated photo provided by www.title2media.com, Kumari Fulbright is shown during a photo shoot for a calendar in Arizona. Fulbright, 25, was indicted with three men Dec. 18, 2007, by a Pima County Superior Court grand jury on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Fulbright, was Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006, and sought the title of Miss Arizona during those years. (AP Photo/ www.title2media.com)

Kumari Fulbright is shown in this undated photo provided by the Tucson Police Department in Tucson, Ariz. Fulbright, 25, was indicted with three men Dec. 18, 2007, by a Pima County Superior Court grand jury on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Fulbright, was Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006, and sought the title of Miss Arizona during those years.(AP Photo/Tucson Police Department)

I wish they all could be Arizona Girls....

Got a caption or photoshop for either or both of these pictures? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your scrapbook of celebrity mugshots!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

Anonymous reader dropped this universal truth:

Ya know, it wasn't until someone covered her tits that y'all finally looked at her face.

The Blog Ad goes to the Runner Up, Shooter of Parallax Adjustment:

Bottom Pic: "Just leave her alone!! Why can't you leave Britany alone?! Can't you see she's having a hard enough time as it is!! Just leave her alone!

Other Contests:

Gone Rick Motel
Outside the Beltway
Support Your Lo-Cal Gunfighter (nyuk!)

WILLisms
Public Pondering

Photoshops

But...Explain the Penguin

h/t to Nitro

Mangy Varmints!

Still haven't done any shootin' since I've been home, but maybe this weekend Lil Bro can try out his HBAR and the BinkerDad can try his almost-new Browning BDM.

I pray Civilization doesn't collapse on my way back to Arizona... I've only got a Glock and a Ruger with which to defend myself now....

Hey, Where's all the Birdies?

Mom put up a new suet cake and dropped a bowl of birdseed into the feeder this morning but the usual crowd of doves, jays, titmice (titmouses?), and junkoes didn't show up... only a little downy woodpecker and a skittish cardinal.

Now we know why.

Mmmm...Bambi-Q!

to Lil Bro from Santa

Some Lucky Girl this Xmas

Or was it Kevin Baker?

BinkerBell