tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post9101558558259532013..comments2024-03-28T08:07:03.254-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: A Learning ExperienceOldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-66078523192981317022017-06-10T08:14:31.501-07:002017-06-10T08:14:31.501-07:00It does indeed!It does indeed!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-33125850871608324772017-06-10T03:15:07.110-07:002017-06-10T03:15:07.110-07:00Well, except for the artillery fire, yeah, that wo...Well, except for the artillery fire, yeah, that works. t was actually a very shallow ditch, and the rough ground stopped the truck before it went very far, so when it was all over, I just drove out again. But it makes a good tale.SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-1058792867788516212017-06-09T13:39:14.878-07:002017-06-09T13:39:14.878-07:00Great story Cap'n.
I had a sneaking suspicion...Great story Cap'n.<br /><br />I had a sneaking suspicion about "jhopb."<br /><br />:DOldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-1869829258976189512017-06-09T11:50:46.580-07:002017-06-09T11:50:46.580-07:0054 comments and there is little old me.
My girlfr...54 comments and there is little old me.<br /><br />My girlfriend's mother taught me to drive a stick shift so I could help drive to Annapolis. Chaperones are nice. They add a subtle je ne sais quois to girlfriends.<br /><br />I had a summer jhopb at Selfridge Air Force Base where they made me get an official US Government license..... Oh, it was so sweet. The clerk/typist filling out the pointless but official form asked each of us our birthdate. She was doing it alphabetical because that's the way beaurocrats are and so I was the last employee to be interrogated about my birthdate. Turns out, I was born years earlier than my mother thought. That stupid thing worked just fine at every bar in State College, PA. for years.<br /><br />and jheah, I really did mean to spell jhopb that way.HMS Defianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10024721130102173694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-5141267748823084102017-06-09T08:42:40.863-07:002017-06-09T08:42:40.863-07:00Kinda reminds of the scene in Band of Brothers whe...Kinda reminds of the scene in <em>Band of Brothers</em> where Bull Randall is cut off from his unit, he's in a ditch taking cover and as he crawls down the ditch a burning Sherman is trundling along beside him looking as if it's about ready to fall on top of him.<br /><br />Replace the burning Sherman with your truck (it's the red lights which put me in mind of the Sherman) and I can picture the whole thing. More or less...OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-45598173013380911252017-06-09T08:39:52.668-07:002017-06-09T08:39:52.668-07:00Heh. You have the honor of being the first person ...Heh. You have the honor of being the first person at The Chant to use the word "gadzooks" in a sentence.<br /><br />I only wish I'd thought of it first.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-61723357163436107482017-06-09T00:36:14.993-07:002017-06-09T00:36:14.993-07:00But you gots to be careful with sticks. I was at ...But you gots to be careful with sticks. I was at a car crash once, in a Chevy 4X4 pickup. I slapped into neutral, and leapt out of the truck after stomping on the parking brake, so the engine would continue to run, and provide power to the radio and lightbar. When the truck passed me as I ran down into the ditch was when I realized that I had missed the parking brake. I had wondered why the red lights seemed to be keeping up <br />with me.SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-26653156193412019332017-06-09T00:31:05.261-07:002017-06-09T00:31:05.261-07:00I learned to drive a stick on a '74 Opel Manta...I learned to drive a stick on a '74 Opel Manta. Gadzooks, but that was a fun car to drive!SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-87489837158703242722017-06-08T19:12:01.630-07:002017-06-08T19:12:01.630-07:00Wow, a little engine to start a big engine, learn ...Wow, a little engine to start a big engine, learn something new every day.<br /><br />I think I will be spending some time watching those videos. Love the big tracked vehicles, even when they're not tanks!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-12614081480130032542017-06-08T18:41:38.532-07:002017-06-08T18:41:38.532-07:00Grew up as a young lad on a ranch in the gold rush...Grew up as a young lad on a ranch in the gold rush country of California in the early 60's. By age eight I was tooling around the ranch in our WWII surplus jeep. I knew how to use all the levers---the main shift, and the two on the transfer case. We also had a surplus trailer. This proved useful later when I was stationed in (the former) West Germany in the mid-70's. I was one of maybe three people in our company who could back a jeep-trailer combo in a straight line.<br /><br />I was with the 156th Maintenance Co. and my MOS was Small Arms Repair. Our section had one of these---<br /><br />http://www.nf6x.net/2005/07/1970-kaiser-jeep-m109a3-2-5-ton-6x6-shop-van-for-sale/<br /><br />My buddy and I would routinely hop in the van and travel to customer units to perform weapons maintenance on site. So, I <br />got comfortable driving a deuce and a half in German traffic.<br /><br />My POV before and after my hitch was one of these, but in white, that I bought used from the original owner---<br /><br />http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/bmw-2002-road-test-review<br /><br />I returned home to my dad's place (he had re-married long ago) in the hills above Oakland, CA. It was about three months before anyone would ride with me in that 2002. Subsequently, I jazzed it up a bit with a Weber carb, headers, and 320i rims, tires, springs, and shocks. It was one snappy go-kart! <br /><br />During my college years (post military) I worked summer jobs on ranches. I got to be a fair hand running (and starting) a D8 Cat with a blade, similar to the one in the video below. 2-cylinder gas pony motor (which can be a PIA) is started up and then engaged to spin up the diesel. After the oil has a chance to circulate in the diesel, the throttle is opened to start it, and the pony engine is dis-engaged and shut down.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHedjnXdZXMRHT447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-57792358618764916512017-06-08T18:21:49.092-07:002017-06-08T18:21:49.092-07:00Hahaha!
Great stories Suz, thanks for sharing the...Hahaha!<br /><br />Great stories Suz, thanks for sharing them.<br /><br />(Mass Pike in heavy traffic, been there, done that. No fun at all!)OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-88870022494137667862017-06-08T16:38:29.750-07:002017-06-08T16:38:29.750-07:00So I was 12 or 13 when I learned how to drive stan...So I was 12 or 13 when I learned how to drive standard on a Massey Ferguson tractor. Did ok with putting the bucket down, then pointed it down slope across the side of the hill (we were picking up rocks out of the field) and all of a sudden gravity took over...did I mention it was March in the backside of the cow pasture...mud was the texture of the ground. I was headed for the back fence, sliding sideways at an increasing rate of speed...there was lots of yelling of "step on the brake!!" going on...all of a sudden, one of the farmer's nephews jumped on the step of the tractor and stood on top of my foot...I was already standing on the brakes (all 115 pounds of me at that time). He cranked the steering wheel over and we stalled out 2 feet from the fence. I just stuck to the Ford 8N after that, hauling hay wagons. <br /><br />My first car was an automatic, (used), but my first new car was a Dodge Colt with a manual transmission. The salesman took me out to show me how to shift it. After about 5 minutes, it all came back. Now I'm driving a Chevy Impala from 2012 (new to me in 2013) that is an automatic. Everything I drove, the Honda, Subaru, Saturn, were all standards. When I gave my daughter in law my last car, I asked if she could drive a standard..."yup, no problem", she got the car and it is still running. Must be pushing 300,000 miles now. <br /><br />Loved a standard, especially in winter. Not so much stuck in a traffic jam though, spent 4 hours on the Mass Pike coming home from an uncle's funeral holding the clutch in one afternoon. Stupid traffic accident! My legs were killing by the time I could get out of that mess. Got off in Great Barrington and took Route 2 home that day. <br /><br />Don't teach anyone how to drive. I'm a wreck just sitting in the passenger seat! Didn't help when my son got behind the wheel, pushed in the clutch, started the car, popped the clutch out and blew out the linkage cable. Poor kid, didn't even go 4 feet. His dad and step-dad did the honors from there on out. After I got it fixed. Suzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07117433684554337583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-44858736153288519312017-06-08T14:06:50.628-07:002017-06-08T14:06:50.628-07:00Was there such a thing as an automatic transmissio...Was there such a thing as an automatic transmission immediately after the war?<br /><br />Something I need to track down. It's those little historical details which fascinate me.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-32028702121790912302017-06-08T14:04:09.660-07:002017-06-08T14:04:09.660-07:00For a long time it was normal for me. From '72...For a long time it was normal for me. From '72 to '91 it's all I drove.<br /><br />When <em>The Missus Herself</em> started driving it was just easier (in so many ways) to drive an automatic.<br /><br />Would I go back to a stick? Depends. I am getting lazy in my dotage.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-56735594984825275132017-06-08T14:01:46.092-07:002017-06-08T14:01:46.092-07:00Good to know! (In case I ever need to drive a trac...Good to know! (In case I ever need to drive a tractor.)OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-55693405631027464122017-06-08T14:00:52.675-07:002017-06-08T14:00:52.675-07:00Which is why I try to avoid the urban homelands of...Which is why I try to avoid the urban homelands of the drive-by carjackers.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-9882342861807755622017-06-08T11:36:51.337-07:002017-06-08T11:36:51.337-07:00Driving a stick still seems normal to me. Here in ...Driving a stick still seems normal to me. Here in the land of fruits and nuts, I drive my son's '95 Toyota extended cab truck - "blue lightning". 210,000+ miles and now the platform for the grandson to learn upon. He had a "red lightning", an '89. At one time, we had five various Toyota sticks parked in the driveway. I drove my '64 Porsche from May of '64 'til three years ago. The spouse has conveniently "forgotten" how to drive a stick. Her dowery was a '63 bug, which she drove from Live Oak FL to Victorville CA in 1964 (in order to meet me)Dave's Daily Day Dreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17491764990082380190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-19596601959685055902017-06-08T10:55:50.682-07:002017-06-08T10:55:50.682-07:00The difference between a tractor and a standard sh...The difference between a tractor and a standard shift car or truck is on a tractor, you don't run through the gears from low to high to get up to speed. On a tractor you just put it in the gear you need and go.rkinionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05432551832152096206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-44774529938088302742017-06-08T10:54:55.600-07:002017-06-08T10:54:55.600-07:00Your Pappy was a smart man.
:)Your Pappy was a smart man.<br /><br />:)OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-43637292556561870542017-06-08T10:54:27.916-07:002017-06-08T10:54:27.916-07:00Thanks Paul.Thanks Paul.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-87049705606620291952017-06-08T10:45:58.707-07:002017-06-08T10:45:58.707-07:00"Do we recall this incident from time to time...<i>"Do we recall this incident from time to time?<br /><br />Yes, yes we do.<br /><br />Does The Missus Herself deny the tale and the way we tell it?<br /><br />Yes, yes she does."</i><br /><br />As my Pappy used to say <i>"Never let the truth interfere with a good story!"</i>juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-27032253304350947602017-06-08T10:15:29.350-07:002017-06-08T10:15:29.350-07:00Very entertaining post and comments. I've had...Very entertaining post and comments. I've had several manual transmission vehicles, but my favorite was my '49 Chevy pick-up. It started with a three on the tree, but later I had a five speed, floor mount put in. It would go anywhere.<br /><br />Paul L. QuandtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-48162782046203463742017-06-08T09:46:10.391-07:002017-06-08T09:46:10.391-07:00Thanks and very true as to the challenge thing.Thanks and very true as to the challenge thing.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-85934248578376954592017-06-08T09:45:40.060-07:002017-06-08T09:45:40.060-07:00I do miss my VW Beetle.I do miss my VW Beetle.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-33814142575805775222017-06-08T09:44:41.381-07:002017-06-08T09:44:41.381-07:00Indeed they are rare.Indeed they are rare.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.com