Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/05/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Marc, Thanks for the words and the info! Once I get there, we'll have to do some shooting. I'm willing to bet you know where all the best places tourists don't know about are. Typo there, as you guessed. I was typing CPT and thinking Chaplain (CH). I am both. Glad to know there's a good Class 6 around. Wouldn't want to run out of communion wine! ;-) Jeff M ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc James Small" <marcsmall@comcast.net> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 11:19 PM Subject: [Leica] Grotesquely Off-Topic: Virginia it is! > At 04:52 PM 5/4/2007, Jeff S. Matsler wrote: > >Hello, > > > >Just got word from the Army Chaplaincy that I'm to be assigned to Ft. > >Eustis, VA. If all goes as planned, I'll be a Chaplain for a > >Transportation Battalion. > > > >This entire process, including this assignment has been a "God-thing", > >with doors opening that never should have by "normal" standards - and > >an assignment to exactly where we feel we need to be. Va was our > >first choice - which NEVER happens on a first assignment. Best of > >all, because I was medically released, my years out of service still > >count for pay. I'll be a CHAT w/ 12 years (which is a heck of a lot > >better than a CPT w/ 5!). > > > >Thanks for all of those who have been praying for Michelle and I. My > >new assignment begins 15 June, or thereabouts. There will be plenty > >of photo ops to put the Leicas through their paces - and the Minoltas > >too! > > > >If any of you live in the area, or nearby, I look forward to putting a > >face with the many names and personalities I've met. > > > >I should have my orders in a week or so. At that point - and only > >then as Ross can tell you - it's official. > > > >I will be re-commissioned next week at the local VFW chapter. That'll > >be fun and I'll try to get some pics. > > Fort Eustis is a flat and level place, a post of mud and dust and not a > lot more than that. It was established as a Coast Artillery post to keep > the British from seizing Richmond, though Queen Elizabeth the First and > Second seems to have done that on her own this past Thursday, followed by > a triumph at Williamsburg and another yesterday at Jamestown. When my > father was pulling his enlisted hitch with the 52nd Coast Artillery (Rwy) > at Fortress Monroe back in the 1930's, he'd occasionally be sent over as a > member of a party to pull maintenance on the guns at Eustis. > > Eustis was established as the home for the Transportation Corps during the > Second World War, after we figured out that our Army Air Force was bigger > and meaner than the Royal Navy, and so we really didn't have to guard the > James River environs to Richmond that closely. For years, the US Army's > logistics doctrine development and schools were divided between Fort Lee > in Richmond, Virginia (supply -- the Quartermaster Corps), Aberdeen, > Maryland (maintenance -- the Ordnance Corps), and Fort Eustis, Virginia > (Transportation Corps). After forty or fifty years of agony, the latest > Base Closing and Realignment (BRAC) process has decided to close down the > Ordnance, Transportation, and Quartermaster Schools with their related > doctrine development sections and to consolidate these in a new Logistics > School to be located at Fort Lee. Aberdeen Proving Grounds will now be a > Test and Development post. Fort Eustis has no real future mission and > will probably be a victim for the next BRAC, currently sugested for 2012 > or so. You will, of course, be rotated out by that point, so no hu-hu. > > I did my Commissary and PX shopping at Fort Useless when I was in Law > School at William & Mary, but it's been donkey's years since I've been > there. I currently live about ten miles from Fort Lee, about sixty miles > or so from Eustis, and our property values are going up due to the folks > being transferred here from Aberdeen and Eustis. I would suggest waiting > a while before buying a house, as the values will probably bottom out in > another year or so. The problem this has caused here at Fort Lee is that > the closest gate to the Class Six store is being renovated, so we have to > drive around to the Shop Road Gate, rather a bit of going around Robin > Hood's Barn. I will take my wife tomorrow to the Commissary while I visit > the Class Six store, that most vital part of the post to us retirees. > > In any event, welcome back to active duty. I am not certain just what a > CHAT is, but congratulations on becoming such. Is this like becoming a > member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Society of Turtles <he > grins, and grins again in the memory of Wally Shirra>. Sometime, I have > to tell you about the time a friend lost a railway engine at Eustis. > Well, he didn't lose it: he just got appointed to a Company Command and > the engine was on his property book and no one could find it, so he > refused to sign, and that was the only rational thing to do. The tale > grows from that ... > > Marc > > > > > msmall@aya.yale.edu > Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information