FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Fort Rucker, Alabama ~ 03 SEPT 2019

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 primarily 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 installation for U.S. Army Aviators and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) and the United States Army Aviation Museum.

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 and air crew.

The 110th Aviation Brigade consists of four battalions using three different sites. 1st Battalion, 11th Aviation Regiment, operates and manages air traffic control services for USAACe/Fort Rucker and the National Airspace System.

1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment operates from Hanchey Army Heliport and conducts graduate level training using the AH-64D Apache Longbow and OH-58D Kiowa helicopters. 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment operates from Lowe Army Heliport and Shell Army Heliport and conducts combat and night operational training, using the OH-58, UH-1, and UH-60 helicopters.

Events in Afghanistan and Iraq have reaffirmed the qualities that caused the creation of Army Aviation in 1942. These qualities included the responsiveness to the needs of the ground commander and commitment to the Soldier in the ground fight. At the same time, Army Aviation – including Army Special Operations Aviation – has played vital and ever-expanding roles across the spectrum of Joint and Combined operations.

Learn More About Fort Rucker 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

 

 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Permission Granted!

[PROCON]

Nice, thanks for your Service!

We had a few B models, D's and later some H models.

I was an avionics tech, lucky to get in a bunch of test flights after repairs. Those Cobra pilots were crazy SOB's, LOL.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...did you have good playing weather for Labor Day?

We got a few sprinkles overnight and this morning. Maybe some rain tonight.

Been watching the hurricane thread...my brother's boat and wife are at St Simons Island in south Georgia. Glynn County has a mandatory evacuation. Bro is up here working at Prudhoe Bay. They just moved onto the boat after rebuilding her from "the ground up". Wife is stripping all she can before retreating to their land house in east Georgia. *sigh*

[TADSLOS]

No problem. It was an honor and a privilege to serve alongside some of the best people on the planet. The best and hardest 25 years of my life, by far. Yes and those Cobra Pilots were crazy SOBs, incredibly skilled and brave - same with the scout pilots! 😎

[ConorMacNessa]

Thanks very much, Kathy!
***HUGS***



Coming aboard as we speak.
Rendering Hand Salutes to our National
Colors and to the Officer of the Deck!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Janey…((HUGS))...lots of jump plane time for you this time.

I thought I read that Orlando airport was staying open. Where are you off to next?

[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!!

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!



"The Star Spangled Banner"
Verse Four
(Click)

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Please let me know by Freepmail if you would like
to be admitted to or released from my music ping list.

[ConorMacNessa]

REST IN PEACE, FALLEN BROTHER!



SFC Dustin B. Ard, USA
2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Died 29 August 2019 of Wounds Sustained in Afghanistan



"God Of Our Fathers"
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
(Click)






"Taps"
(Click)

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

I noticed there’s a bit of rain in your area. I hope you’ve gotten some at your house. It would be really nice if the areas that have been burning for so long are getting as much rain as Juneau. The young eagles at the Glacier Gardens nest are getting drenched.

[radu]

Rest in peace,
SFC Dustin B. Ard, USA

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Pro...we are off to Alabama this week.

Have your temps started to drop yet?

[SkyDancer]

Hai! - well back to Denver and doing some local stuff like Seattle, Phoenix, Cincinnati, back to Denver then up to Bismark, Missoula, Bozeman. Here's a shot of leaving Seattle just a couple of weeks ago.

[radu]

Howdy, PRO.

Have a good weekend? Get out and about or lay low, chillin’?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, TADSLOS...remembrances. We thank you for your service.

[radu]

Oh my gosh! Gypsy doesn’t have much of a chance, does she? :-(

[Kathy in Alaska]

TAPS

RIP

Fort Rucker Soldier, USA

Amazing Grace

[radu]

Howdy do, Conor. *HUGZ*

How are things going these days? Staying busy, busy, busy as usual?

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Radu!

*HUGS*

Things are going well, thanks! I hope you've had a great weekend.

"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]

Hi Kathy!

We are starting to cool off but temps are still in the mid 80's, better than the 90's.

Has the fire smoke gone away yet?