FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Fort Rucker, Alabama ~ 29 MAY 2012

Serving The BEST Troops And Veterans In The World!! | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Fort Rucker, Alabama

Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) and the United States Army Aviation Museum. Small sections of the post also lie in Coffee, Geneva, and Houston counties.

The main post has entrances from three bordering cities, Daleville, Ozark and Enterprise. In the years before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the main post (except airfields and other restricted areas) was an open post with unmanned gates allowing civilians to drive through.

The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence is the dominant military facility at Fort Rucker. Training, doctrine, and testing are all key parts of the Center's mission to develop Army Aviation's capabilities. All Army Aviation training has been undertaken at Fort Rucker since 1973, as well as training of US Air Force and ally helicopter pilots.

 The Center is home to the US Army Aviation Technical Test Center (ATTC), which conducts developmental aircraft testing for Army Aviation. The United States Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command's Test and Evaluation Coordination Office and TH-67 primary and instrument training are both located at Cairns Army Airfield.

Operational units on the post include the 1st Aviation Brigade and the 110th Aviation Brigade handling Army Aviation training, and the USAF 23d Flying Training Squadron for the training of Air Force helicopter pilots. Additionally, due to the large number of Warrant Officers stationed there, the Warrant Officer Career Center and the Warrant Officer Candidate School are located at Fort Rucker.

Learn More About Fort Rucker HERE!

The United States Army Aviation Museum, located in South-central Alabama at Fort Rucker, maintains a collection of over 160 military aircraft, including one of the largest collections of military helicopters in the world. Public galleries represent the Army's involvement in aviation from the beginning days of the Wright brothers and early combat aircraft from World War I, to the highly technological machines flown by Army Aviators today.

Visit The United States Army Aviation Museum HERE!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[left that other site]

Hi everybody!

(((HUGS)))

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

Pride And Prejudice
May 29, 2012

Back in the 1930s, my childhood home was loving and happy, but my parents were often away. On those occasions, the center of warmth in our home was the kitchen and our tiny, joyous housekeeper named Annie.

I spent many hours with Annie, sitting at our kitchen table reading books or playing with toys and listening to her sing and hum spirituals and hymns. From her heart sprang a continual flow of wisdom, cheerfulness, and song.

One morning, with childish exuberance, I used a racial slur I had heard. “Oh my, no,” she said, and then proceeded to pour out her heart in a gentle lecture on the harm and hurt in that, accompanied by a terrible sadness in her eyes. I never used that word again.

I learned that we cause unfathomable sorrow when we dishonor and debase others through bigotry. Every human being is created in the image of God—more like God than any other creature and worthy of honor. To demean that image is to wound another human being at the deepest level.

There is but one race: the human race. God “has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). We are of the same family, made to be treasured and cherished by one another.

Of all creation’s treasures rare,
Not one compares in worth with man,
In God’s own image he was made
To fill a place in His great plan. —D. De Haan

God desires that we show respect to all people, because everyone bears His image.

Read: Acts 17:22–31

He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. —Acts 17:26

Bible in a Year:
Psalms 13-15

[Torahman]

Thanks for the status of Ft. Rucker. My father was trained there in ‘1943 with the 66th Infantry Division- The Black Panthers. (The original Black Panthers!) They were sent to the Battle of the Bulge but their transport ship was torpedoed in the English Channel on Christmas Eve 1944. it was the largest at sea loss of the war: 900 dead or missing. The sinking was covered up by Army intelligence and the families just got MIA notices. The sinking of the “Leopoldville” was forgotten until the novelist Clive Cussler came upon the wreck during a treasure hunt. Some kids from Cleveland came out in the dark winter night and found my father and a few other guys still alive in the water. Baruch HaShem! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here!

[Torahman]

Thanks for the status of Ft. Rucker. My father was trained there in ‘1943 with the 66th Infantry Division- The Black Panthers. (The original Black Panthers!) They were sent to the Battle of the Bulge but their transport ship was torpedoed in the English Channel on Christmas Eve 1944. it was the largest at sea loss of the war: 900 dead or missing. The sinking was covered up by Army intelligence and the families just got MIA notices. The sinking of the “Leopoldville” was forgotten until the novelist Clive Cussler came upon the wreck during a treasure hunt. Some kids from Cleveland came out in the dark winter night and found my father and a few other guys still alive in the water. Baruch HaShem! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good night, lauren, and have a wonderful time with your little darlings, cuties all.

Rest well. *HUGS*

[BIGLOOK]

Thanks for the trip to Alabama, Lauren......gotta see more of the north when I visit the South.

[yarddog]

When I first started working for civil service I was in Dothan, Alabama. I was assigned a coach, an old agent who was really sharp and about ready to retire. He was from Newton, Alabama.

I stopped by and visited with him not too many years ago and was surprised he was still alive.

[jesseam]

I got my flight training at Mother Rucker 1980-1981 soloing in the TH-55 LOB (little orange bastard. It took all my concentration to handle George the throttle, the pedals. cyclic and collective and keep that thing in the air.

[ConorMacNessa]

REQUEST PERMISSION TO COME ABOARD!

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS!!!





BOSTON, (Oct. 21, 2009) Boatswains Mate 2nd Class Philip Gagnon pipes as USS Constitution performs an underway demonstration in honor of the three-masted wooden frigate's 212th birthday. (U.S. Navy photo by Airman Mark Alexander/Released).
(Click for Bosun’s Whistle)



USS Constitution's 1812 Marine Guard fire vintage Springfield flintlock muskets during the ship's underway. "Old Ironsides" was underway for the "Constitution Day Cruise," which is conducted to thank the family and supporters of Constitution. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Nick Lyman (RELEASED)

OUR TROOPS ROCK!!!!!!!

Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Torahman, and welcome to the Canteen.

Thank you for sharing your memories/experiences of Fort Rucker. Interesting information.

Prior to the attack, the Leopoldville had made 24 cross-Channel crossings, transporting more than 120,000 troops. The Leopoldville was in a diamond formation with four escort destroyers, Brilliant, Anthony, Hotham, and Croix de Lorraine, and another troopship the SS Cheshire embarking from Southampton, England that evening.

On the day of the attack, the Leopoldville was carrying reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments, 66th Infantry Division of the United States Army towards the Battle of the Bulge. Of the 2,235 American servicemen on board, approximately 515 are presumed to have gone down with the ship. Another 248 died from injuries, drowning, or hypothermia. Captain Charles Limbor, one Belgian and three Congolese crewmembers also went down with the ship. An unknown number of British soldiers died. Documents about the attack remained classified until 1996.

One of the escort destroyers, Brilliant, came alongside the stricken vessel. Soldiers on the Leopoldville jumped down onto the smaller Brilliant. The destroyer could take only a few hundred of the men and headed for the shore. No further rescue attempt was made, and some 1,200 men were left aboard. USS PC-1225 also rescued survivors. The Leopoldville stayed afloat for two and a half hours after the torpedo hit, after which it sank.

We thank your Dad for his service to our country.

The sinking of the Leopoldville

[bamagirl1944]

It was Camp Rucker in the 1950’s. I think it was renamed during the Vietnam War. They trained the helicopter pilots there.

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!

Missing Man Setting

“The Empty Chair”

By Captain Carroll “Lex” Lefon, USN (ret), on December 21st, 2004

“In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture.The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

As you remember.

The small, round table is covered with a white linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is white symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

We should remember.”

Thanks To Alfa6 For The Narrative Of “The Empty Chair.”

Schumann - Traumerei
(Click)

Never Forget Those Who Sacrificed All That We Could Live In Freedom!!

Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Aloha, Hawaii...((HUGS))...did you get all your mainland calls completed satisfactorily? Everybody out and about today?

[luvie]

Awww....those cuties are just pure awesomeness, Lauren!

It's just amazing how much they've changed in these past 5 years!

This is the latest one I have of Piper. They are expecting a
new little one this coming January! Woohoo!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome to the Canteen, easternsky, and thanks for sharing your memories.

And we thank you for your service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Mac, for the Missing Man Setting, and its history, as we remember those who have given their all that we may gather safe and secure.

[beaglebabe]

Thank you for this trip! My Dad was stationed there twice. Both times we were lucky to get housing at Lake Tholocco. It was considered substandard housing that they used for families too large to fit in the normal housing.

The first time we were there was shortly after the Korean War, and Dad was in flight school. The second time was in the mid 60’s and Dad was a flight instructor.

One of my brothers later became a helicopter pilot, and he was stationed there as well. I'm sending him this link ... I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks again. Your post brings back so many sweet memories.

[easternsky]

We lived in a group of houses in a y in the road, the house was called the White House. We assumed at one time the owner must have been named White. lol. It sit upon blocks and was sooo cold, the water in the toilet actually froze every night. Little store on the corner, you could buy hamburger for l9cents a pound. The People at the local Church were so good to us, we were so poor and on Sunday someone would invite us over for Family dinner. We remember those times with such fondness.

[yarddog]

Several years ago, I saw an article in the Dothan paper about a trailer park outside Ft. Rucker.

The owner of the park said Dan Quayle, George Bush and Al Gore had all lived in his park.

I later saw where Al Gore and Tipper had indeed lived there. Never did check out the others but assume it must be true.

[luvie]

All Gave Some, Some Gave All
YouTube Video