FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi ~ 07 February 2017

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | laurenmarlowe

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi

Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler, Jr., a Mississippi native killed in France during the First World War. The base is home of Headquarters, Second Air Force (2 AF) and the 81st Training Wing (81 TW) of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).

The Second Air Force mission is to provide the best-trainined, combat-ready forces. To carry out this mission, Second Air Force manages all operational aspects of nearly 2,700 active training courses taught to approximately 150,000 students annually in technical training, basic military training, medical and distance learning courses. Training operations across Second Air Force range from intelligence to computer operations to space and missile operations and maintenance.

Keesler AFB is also the home of the 85th Engineering Installation Squadron (EIS), of the 688th Cyberspace Wing (CW), which is the Air Force's only active duty EIS. The almost 200 AFSPC Airmen and Civilians of the 85th EIS can design, engineer, and install the full range of C&I equipment and components typically found at a fixed site and other specialty systems unique to expeditionary forces.

They are also the only organization in the DoD to provide specialized engineering services such as electromagnetic hazard and interference investigations and High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) protection. During contingencies, the 85th EIS can deliver their unique skills to the warfighter within 72 hours.

The 403rd Wing is the largest flying organization at Keesler, and the only Air Force Reserve Command wing in Mississippi. With a military manning authorization of more than 1,400 reservists, including 250 full-time air reserve technicians, the wing performs dual missions: tactical airlift support during peace- and war-time contingencies, and aerial weather reconnaissance supporting the Department of Commerce.

Learn More About Keesler Air Force Base 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

 

 

[ConorMacNessa]

Still under the weather, Kathy - I'm in the third day of a ten day supply of Amoxicillin. Hopefully this will turn the trick,

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[PROCON]

LOL, nothing wrong with celebration; I hope you didn’t forget to let Penny walk and do her thing. :-)

[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 gold 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 gold 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."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...was Penny into walking today?

Are you ready for pub night?

[Kathy in Alaska]

WOW, lightman....that is quite the spread. Do you have snow to contend with?

Stay safe if you have to be on the roads.

[radu]

I noticed it was foggy there when I checked before going to bed this morning. Bummer you’ll have it to deal with all week. It’ll keep the streets nice and slick for those morning drives to work. Yuck!

I guess all the kitties enjoyed the day except Piper. She had to get a couple of shots and is still not talking to me. LOL!

None are going outside just yet, though it was warm enough. It still gets dark earlier than I can easily get them inside so we’ll wait until the sun sets later. The coyotes come out at dusk and cross the back fields to get to the RR tracks for their nightly hunts. A cat in the fields hunting mice is an easy target and we don’t want to lose any more of them. Lost too many already.

[left that other site]

Penny was celebrating with us! the 3-year-old twins got her to sit, give paw, give the other paw, and lie down and rewarded her with double treats with each correct response. She was in her glory!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome, Veto!....thanks for sharing such good memories.

I’ll bet Dad was watching. LOL!

[radu]

Howdy, LUV!

Have a nice lazy, retired-person Monday? LOL!

[radu]

Jump

[left that other site]

We did two miles today, but strayed into the woods. Penny leaped over a 4-foot barrier, and I think she hurt herself. She is limping a little bit, but there s no evidence of injury. I hope it was just a little thing that will work out, and she will be prancing about again in her own inimitable way.

[PROCON]

Aww, too cute!

Have you posted a pic of Penny? If not, please do.

[PROCON]

Jump?

"Jump" doesn't mean anything...

[lightman]

We had a nasty snow squall one week ago that dumped 2 inches in less than 30 minutes and caused a 50 vehicle pileup on the interstate highway 3 miles from home (one fatality, tragically); but otherwise no measurable snow since the 6th of January.

[radu]

I jumped on it, didn’t I? :-)

[left that other site]

Kathy...do you have a picture of Penny to share? (I still don’t know how to access the pics)))

[PROCON]

OK

WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO! :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Pro...still shoveling?

I had to have a truck load of snow removed from my yard so my plow guy would have someplace to shove snow next time he has to plow. It was already WAY up into the yard.

[PROCON]

Yup, still shoveling, but Spring is nigh, thankfully!

[radu]