Back to the "Patch"

If there has EVER been a place I DIDN'T want to leave, it was San Vito, Italy, but as I've said earlier, there was a domestic problem with my ex and "custody" that had to be taken care of, so you do what you have to do.

One of the things I did about halfway through my Italian tour, was to order a Winchester Model 70 bolt action rifle, in 300 Winchester Magnum caliber, and a Remington 1100 12 gauge shotgun, (NO---not for use against HER----I'd better clear THAT up!!)

But I got them crated and shipped home so they'd be there upon my return. (I'd ordered them through our Rod & Gun Club on base, because you could get firearms at a discount through them).

Anyway, Now it was mid July of '76, Packing & Crating had already picked up and shipped my stuff to Mountain Home. The bus carrying several of us to the airport in Rome was waiting outside as we had our last breakfast in the chow hall. I rembember the warm morning sun being out as usual, as we all got on the bus to leave. Every change-of-duty station after that, throughout my entire Air Force career, found me ANXIOUS to get out of where I was!

But not THIS one.

I weighed it all out on the bus trip to Rome. though, and sort of "talked myself" into it.........it really wouldn't be too bad, at least I was FAMILIAR with Mountain Home, and I could hunt, fish or hike there. My old buddy Don Dixon from McChord was now stationed there as well, so I'd have somebody to play music with. I'd MAKE it work..............I REALLY did NOT want to leave San Vito.

It seemed like a long time before I landed in Medford. My folks picked me up at the airport. I dealt with my ex, and visited with my son, as I started putting together a gameplan in THAT situation.

Dad had been starting my Torino every now & then to keep the battery up and the oil circulated in it. I did ANOTHER oil change, put new tires on it and had it greased before the trip back up here to "Mountain Goat Airplane Patch", as I've always called it.

After my visit home, I loaded up my uniforms & other clothes, that new Gretsch guitar and my guns, said goodbye and headed for Bend.

It felt good to be back behind the wheel of that old Ford again, and to feel the "pulse" of that big "390" under the pedal. The last time I'd been on this road had been the winter of '74, on snow & ice. Now it was August of '76, the sky was beautiful, the road was clear and I could just sit back in the seat and "cruise away the miles."

I stopped in Bend, had lunch at Denny's, (the SAME Denny's whose dumpster once housed a "distributor cap!"), got onto the "infamous Oregon 20" and headed east to Idaho. Through Millican, Brothers, Burns, Juntura, etc. Along my way to Vale, I slowed it down just a touch as I passed that "clearing" where the "van" incident had taken place. Just like before, my Colt Python was once again laying on the seat beside me, but it would just SIT there this time......all the way to Mountain Home.

I checked into the base, got a room in the barracks, but would be looking for an apartment in-town, so my guns wouldn't have to be locked up in the Security Police Armory.

Capt Jim Birchfield, of Supply Squadron fame, who I'd known from before, was now OUT of the service and had built a Smokehouse restaurant called SCRUBBY'S, just outside the main gate. He was an old B-52 pilot who had flown both 52's and B-57's in Vietnam. Before I'd left for Italy, he & I would sometimes play guitars and sing together in his big office in the Supply Barracks.

NOW, he had his own restaurant, and would occasionally walk around there with his guitar, senerading the customers! (Something you do NOT see today). He used to laugh and call it "torturing the customers." all in fun, though, because he had a GREAT voice, as a few of you out there might know. The second thing he asked me (after "how was Italy"), was............"are you still playing music?"

That following Saturday Night, we were out there TOGETHER "torturing the customers", and did so occasionally until just before his death in 1992. I should do a post just ON "Scrubby's" sometime. Maybe I will.

My old "pickin' buddy" Don Dixon & I got hooked-up again, and soon we were doing those occasional "Saturday Night Dinner Shows" there with "Scrubby. Had a lot of fun.

I was working in a forward supply point in the DCM building 1224 along the flightline. All inside-work, and while I was there, I decided I wanted to be outside, and because I worked on cars all the time, I figured I could work on airplanes just as well............and be OUTSIDE in the fresh air, so while working down there, I put an application in to crosstrain into aircraft maintenance.

Although I still missed Italy, I LOVED being able to shoot again. I mean REALLY SHOOT. In Italy, people were restricted to shotguns, especially on base, at the Rod & Gun Club. I used to shoot an occasional round of skeet, just to keep from getting "rusty" while I was overseas. But back here in America, you could still go out into the sticks and shoot whatever you wanted to shoot----------(a freedom that MOST of this world DOESN'T have.......and may OUR freedoms never perish).

I couldn't hunt deer that fall, because I hadn't been back in Idaho long enough yet to qualify for a tag, but I COULD go out and "re-hone" my skills for NEXT year..........and you DIDN'T need a tag for VARMINTS, like coyote, rabbits, badgers, etc.

Thompson Ground Squirrels, (we know them as "whistle pigs"), are always over-running everything each spring, and make for good "22" practice-----------more than adequate to keep the "shooting eye" up, and reflexes sharp, without wasting expensive centerfire ammo in the larger calibers.

THIS, my second of four active duty tours here, was probably the tour that started to define Mountain Home, as "HOME" for me.

I learned a hard lesson about PCS moves too..........If you have something you really care about and are going overseas, LEAVE it with someone back HERE that you can trust! I had HAND-CARRIED my beautiful Gibson Hummingbird guitar to Italy with me, but allowed "Packing & Crating" to ship it back. It had a hardshell case and I'd loosened the strings a bit to take tension off the neck.

SOMEWHERE along the line, it had been dropped, and dropped HARD, because when I opened the case, the neck was snapped up near the neck. Well.............I put in a claim, of course, and they paid me what it was worth, but Gibson had discontined that model, and I could never find another one! Today, that line has been resumed, but it doesn't sell for the $600.00 it did back THEN! (Epiphone, which is MADE by Gibson, offers their version of that same "Cherry-colored Hummingbird" for around $500.00, but it is NOT the same guitar).

Live and learn.