Sonny

I started out on MATS (and MAC) C-130's at McGuire and the crews were the absolute worst except for the Navy crews from Lakehurst. Then I went to Naha under TCS (TAS) and like you Bill, most (not all) of the time the crew left me as soon as the engines stopped. I too thought it was my job to get the plane OR and thought nothing of it. I also slept on the plane, mostly because I wanted to make sure there were no midnigt requisitions going on (except by me). I know there are some who will say they never had a crew chief on their missions, but I always flew with my plane (except when my asistant had taken her off the Rock) where ever she went in Nam and also flew on the Blindbat missions as a flare kicker. I loved what I did. Sonny

Ken, Happy belated birthday. Wouldn't you know it., the first time I don't check out Herkybirds something important happens!!!! Sonny

Thanks

Thanks to all for their condolences. Sonny

Right back at ya Ken. I hope all had a Merry Christmas. Sonny

Ken, I have been racking my brain but don't remember Ben. Ingram I remember. Here lately I seem to have a hard time with names. Events I still remember. Wish I could help. Things have been a little rough the last three months. My wife and best friend for 47 years passed away on December 1st. after being diagnosed with cancer in October. Sonny

Trained on 52's at Chanute in '64. Imagine my surprise when they put me on 130's at McGuire!! Sure glad they did. Sonny

Joe had asked Bob to help him out with the deck after work, so Bob just went straight over to Joe's place. When they got to the door, Joe went straight to his wife, gave her a hug and told her how beautiful she was and how much he had missed her at work. When it was time for supper, he complimented his wife on her cooking, kissed her and told her how much he loved her. Once they were working on the deck, Bob told Joe that he was surprised that he fussed so much over his wife. Joe said that he'd started this about six months ago, it had revived their marriage, and things couldn't be better. Bob thought he'd give it a go. When he got home, he gave his wife a massive hug, he then kissed her and told her that he loved her. His wife burst into tears. Bob was confused and asked why she was crying. She said, "This is the worst day of my life. First, little Billy fell off his bike and twisted his ankle. Then, the washing machine broke and flooded the basement. And now, you come home drunk!"

A man went to the doctor complaining of insomnia. The doctor gave him an exam and found nothing physically wrong with him. “Listen,†the doctor said, “if you ever expect to cure your insomnia, you need to stop taking your troubles to bed with you.†“It’s true,†said the patient, “but my wife refuses to sleep alone.â€

Edward Hale, while chaplain of the U.S. Senate, was asked, "Do you pray for the senators?" He quickly replied, "No. After getting to know the senators, I pray for the people."

Dear Ma and Pa, I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But, I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay.. Practically nothing!! Men got to shave; but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer, you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon, when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on 'route marches', which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back to camp in trucks. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Does nothing. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like them Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit the bulls-eye. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes. Then, we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this, except for that Tug Jordan , from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in. Your loving daughter, Alice

Married 25 years, Tom took a look at his wife one day and said, "Honey, 25 years ago, we rented a cheap flat, had a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10 inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year old blonde. Now, we have a nice house, nice car, big bed and large screen TV, but I'm now sleeping with a 50 year old woman. It seems to me that you are not holding up your side of things." The wife is a very reasonable woman. She told him to go out and find a hot 25 year old blonde, and she would make sure that he would once again be living in a cheap flat, driving a cheap car and sleeping on a sofa bed .

A biology teacher wished to demonstrate to his students the harmful effects of alcohol on living organisms. For his experiment, he showed them a beaker with pond water in which there was a thriving civilization of worms. When he added some alcohol into the beaker the worms doubled-up and died. "Now," he said,†what do you learn from this?" An eager student gave his answer. "Well the answer is obvious," he said " if you drink alcohol, you'll never have worms."

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. As they lay down for the night, Holmes said †Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see?" Watson said, "I see millions and millions of stars." Holmes: "And what does that tell you?" Watson: "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorogically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?" Holmes: "Somebody stole our tent."

Ken, Did you know Tom Talbert from the 35th.?? He was there until Sept. '68. I believe he was a Crew Chief. Sonny

Ken, Ran into a few from Facebook. They have a Naha site and they post some pictures that really bring back memories. Sonny

Ken, The berets were around in '68. I still have mine but never wore it. Would love to hear the song. Sonny

Dan, I am praying they got it right this time. No one should have to go through what you did. I hate it when I have to be at the mercy of someone else. Sonny

Larry, I believe you are right on Gregorio, he was the Crew Chief when I was there in '67-'68. Sonny

Sam, As you yourself said, each squadron had it's own special missions, so that made each one different in my opinion. You are speaking from a flight crew point of view and Ken and I are speaking from a maintenance point of view. Sonny

Sorry Ken, The 21st is the only squadron I wanted to be in. Had a lot of friends in the 35th but I never held that against them!!! Sonny

A defendant in a lawsuit involving large sums of money was talking to his lawyer. " If I lose this case, I'll be ruined." "It's in the judge's hands now," said the lawyer. "Would it help if I sent the judge a box of cigars?" "Oh no! This judge is a stickler or ethical behavior. A stunt like that would prejudice him against you. He might even hold you in contempt of court. In fact, you shouldn't even smile at the judge." Within the course of time, the judge rendered a decision in favor of the defendant. As the defendant left the courthouse, he said to his lawyer, "Thanks for the tip about the cigars. It worked!" "I'm sure we would have lost the case if you'd sent them." "But, I did send them." "What? You did?" said the lawyer, incredulously. "Yes. That's how we won the case." "I don't understand," said the lawyer. "It's easy. I sent the cigars to the judge, but enclosed the plaintiff's business card."

An elderly man, 82, just returned from the doctors only to find he didn't have long to live. So he summoned the three most important people in his life to tell them of his fate: 1. His Doctor 2. His Priest 3. His Lawyer. He said, "Well, today I found out I don't have long to live. So, I have summoned you three here, because you are the most important people in my life, and I need to ask a favor. Today, I am going to give each of you an envelope with $50,000 dollars inside. When I die, I would ask that all three of you throw the money into my grave." After the man passed on, the three people happened to run into each other. The doctor said, "I have to admit I kept $10,000 dollars of his money. He owed me from lots of medical bills. But, I threw the other $40,000 in like he requested. " The Priest said, "I have to admit also, I kept $25,000 dollars for the church. It’s all going to a good cause. I did, however, throw the other $25,000 in the grave." Well the Lawyer just couldn't believe what he was hearing! "I am surprised at you two for taking advantage of him like that. I wrote a check for the full amount and threw it all in!!!"

Three contractors are bidding to fix the White House fence. One from New Jersey, another from Tennessee and the third, Florida. They go with a White House official to examine the fence. The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says. "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me." The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me." The New Jersey contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers: "$2,700." The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?" $1,000 for me and $1,000 for you and we hire the guy from Tennessee."

THE BOTTLE OF WINE For all of us who are married, were married, wish you were married, or wish you weren't married, this is something to smile about the next time you see a bottle of wine: Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally. 'What in bag?' asked the old woman. Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, 'It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.' The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: 'Good trade.....'