Replies

I’ve never been patched in a gang, but in my wild youth, directly after getting out of the service I did run with some guys that were bikers (full tats, colors, patched, the whole 9 yards). The funny part is that even though they were involved in a lot of illegal activities, we did have one thing in common. All those guys were vets. Many of them were the same age as my dad and his brothers, so they were ‘Nam era vets. It’s not always easy to come home and live a boring life in the suburbs, and when you’re young, you tend to make stupid choices. There’s even an MC that is combat vets only as well as the regular all vets clubs. Most grow out of it, some don’t.

The main issue down in Texas was probably the addition of the “Texas” patch. That’s a direct encroachment on territory, which is a big deal in that culture. I haven’t ridden in 20 years, but I do know that the Twin Peaks restaurants I’ve seen seem to have a lot of motorcycles in their parking lot. I always assumed they marketed it that way. The smaller clubs mentioned were either there by coincidence, or they might be affiliates. A lot of the main outlaw clubs have smaller clubs that feed into them. It’s kind of a weird culture. There was a great book a few years back about an FBI agent that infiltrated the Hells Angels that explained a lot of outlaw biker “culture”. I wish I could remember the name, I just remember the feds screwed that guy over and he had to go into hiding.