N O V A

[CT96]

Exploring some Confederate cannons in Gettysburg:

 

For the Caption Contest:

 

The Segway Light Mounted Cavalry Brigade

 

USMA Picket's Charge at the end of our visit:

 

[rmgill]

I guess Marc didn't put you guys to work eh? I suggested he could use you guys for several hours of work on something and you'd probably all like it...

[Corinthian]

Great pix especially of the armoured vehicles. Thanks for sharing.

[Fritz]

I guess Marc didn't put you guys to work eh? I suggested he could use you guys for several hours of work on something and you'd probably all like it...

Actually I did seriously inquire about volunteering but it's a four hour drive from home so I'm not sure how to make it work.

[rmgill]

Make a weekend of it for special events. The owner, Alan is a 1st class fellow as is Marc though he's usually pretty harried trying to handle all of the various tasks for the museum as well as find parts. There's an open house in September on the 24th and 25th.

[Fritz]

Make a weekend of it for special events. The owner, Alan is a 1st class fellow as is Marc though he's usually pretty harried trying to handle all of the various tasks for the museum as well as find parts. There's an open house in September on the 24th and 25th.

 

I thought they don't do any work on weekends?

 

I plan to be there for the open house.

 

* * *

I made it home a lot quicker than the GPS predicted, there was fortunately no heavy traffic on 95 north. Which is good because I need some extra sleep, for some reason I had trouble sleeping both at the hotel and at my friend's place. Tomorrow (and the rest of the week) is going to be a hard day at work.

[BansheeOne]

Conversely, it took us over two hours to get back from Baltimore due to atrocious traffic everywhere. We designated this an in-house dinner day; I'm probably not going to eat anything at all, as I usually just have some bread and maybe a little extra in the evening. I can do the full warm dinner routine for three or four days, but then I need to fast ...

 

It's been a very rewarding event so far, not least thanks to organization by Ryan and CT96. Tomorrow is the Capitol tour Harold has organized. Wednesday is the Spotsylvania/Fredricksburg/baseball day. We have moved the Udvar-Hazy visit to Thursday in exchange for Gettysburg on Saturday; Friday will be USS Wisconsin and the USS Monitor Center. I will only be able to upload pictures after returning home since I neglected to install the FTP extension on my tablet, though.

[Fritz]

Official Transport of 2016 Tank-Net I&I

[Fritz]

Btw

 

http://www.aaftankmuseum.com/

[BansheeOne]

So I'm mostly packed; checking out of the hotel in about 90 minutes with Sunday to leave for Dulles. Harold left about an hour ago, Allan early in the morning. The four of us conducted the extended program after the weekend, travelling to DC, the ACW battlefields of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Corthouse and Wilderness, the Udvar-Hazy annex of the National Air and Space Museum and, yesterday, USS Wisconsin in Norfolk and the Mariner's Museum in Newport News which includes parts of USS Monitor being slowly desalinated. Thanks to Harold for all the driving and Allan for navigation. The lady in the box was as troubled with pronouncation as ever. "Waaashington."

 

New member met was CT96 who took us to the range on Sunday among other things. Rubberneck intended to join us for dinner on Thursday but couldn't make it in the end. Weather was very nice from Monday to Wednesay, then turned towards tropical again. Still nothing unheard of back home, but plenty hot. I'm glad I didn't suffer the same fate as CT96 and contracted a full-blown head cold after entering the arctic-conditioned shuttle bus with my sweat-soaked t-shirt at Harper's Ferry on Sunday; for two days afterwards I had a bit of an itch in my throat, too.

 

Memorable quote from driving by a "battlefield store" on Wednesday:

 

Me: "Yeah, I'd like a medium-sized three-day-old battlefield, extra stink."

 

Harold: "Do you want flies with that?"

 

[Allan W]

Arrived in Vancouver @ 11:30 am after a morning flight. Good trip and a good time was had by all. Many thanks to Harold for doing all the driving after CT and Fritz departed!

[sunday]

Back at home.

 

In one word: Wow!

 

Udvar-Hazy, Air and Space Museum, The Natural History Museum, The American History Museum, USS Wisconsin, NSA museum, National Electronics Museum, Mariner's Museum, The National Museum of the Marine Corps, VMMV, The Capitol, The National Mall, American historical battlefields, American Cuisine, American roads (and American heavy trucks), etc. Special mention has to be made to the sense of space in real estate. And those beautiful farms of the rural parts of the Eastern Seaboard.

 

I am pretty much overloaded.

 

My most deep thanks to the people that made this possible, especially our drivers/planners Harold Jones, CT96, and Fritz.

 

Was nice to see again Allan and Fritz, after long separation, and to meet CT96 in the flesh for the first time. Would have been nice, too, to meet Ryan, Shep, and/or the Michaels. E5M

 

It should be said that Immigration, Customs, and TSA were not so hard, and the processes were pretty straightforward.

 

Sorry for the updates via Facebook, but it's easy for me to use it instead of the Grate Sight when far from home PC.

[BansheeOne]

Weather was very nice from Monday to Wednesay, then turned towards tropical again. Still nothing unheard of back home, but plenty hot.

 

Case in point: I came back to pretty much the same. Apparently yesterday at one point it was 38 degrees Celsius/100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Saarland.

 

Sorting through my pictures for the usual AAR will take some time, but here is how we were greeted coming in from Dulles ...

 

[sunday]

Tee hee!

[BansheeOne]

Finally got around to start the usual picture travelogue. I should preface this by saying that for Sunday and me, Day 1 after arriving was pretty much spent on our own scouting the immediate base surroundings, with no photos taken. As noted earlier, first order of the day was telling hotel staff how to swipe a last-generation credit card correctly, because swiping it both ways like they did upon arrival on Wednesday will seize up the system, followed by suggestions to contact our respective homebanks to authorize the transfer or else pay cash ...

 

Afterwards Sunday got an original Vietnamese beard trim at the barber shop down the road from the hotel while I reconnoitered the metro station for future trips to DC. At noon we checked out Reston Town Center and had tapas at a Spanish restaurant for lunch, which Sunday declared excellent. I can never get used to the chlorinated tap water in the US though, which tends to reflect in the ice at restaurants; after drinking a cup of ice water and a coke with two refills, I felt like I had swallowed a public pool, and largely moved to juice with no ice for the rest of the stay. Sunday also forgot his cellphone at the restaurant, naturally noticing after we had already called the hotel shuttle for pickup, which resulted in the latter going into a holding pattern while he went to retrieve it.

 

In the afternoon I tested the hotel pool while Sunday went to buy some clothing, but got himself somewhat marooned in an area with no taxis; he was eventually saved by some kind lady's access to Uber. He returned just in time to meet CT96 who had come to the hotel to pick us up for dinner, which went down at a shopping mall food court for the original American Mall Experience. Picking up some supplies on the way back, I also learned that dairy products named "half and half" include 50 percent coffee cream - a product that you can drink pure if properly refrigerated, but will quickly put you off high-fat milk beverages. Which is just as well, since medically-versed family and girlfriend just told me that my legendary daily two-liter consumption is not really as healthy as I thought, so I used that as the starting point to reduce intake.

 

That was the learning curve for Day 1.

 

 

Day 2: USMC Museum

 

Harold arrived during the night, and Fritz made it to the hotel driving down from New Jersey shortly after 1100 despite some traffic trouble. We then set off for the USMC Museum at Quantico with CT96 as the local guide. This is a fairly new installation opposite the base entrance, reflecting the Corp's considerable value of its own image from the outer design on down, obviously meant to evoke the image of the flag being raised at Iwo Jima. Naturally, the second flag from Mount Suribachi as well as an a print of the iconic picture autographed by the photographer are part of the collection. We also learned important facts like that while no Marines fought at Gettysburg, Lincoln was accompanied by a USMC officer when he subsequently delivered his famous address there, and music for the occasion was provided by a Marine band.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides an assembly of historic weapons and equipment, like the little-known King armored car ordered by the USMC in 1915, the museum's main attraction is in the very lifelike full-size dioramas chronicling the conflicts Marines participated in. Looking at my pictures afterwards, I found that Harold apparently is an immortal who was present both at amphibious landings during WW II in the Pacific and on firebases in Vietnam! The Chosin Reservoir diorama makes the point in an already heavily airconditioned building that, yeah, it was cold during that battle.

 

There are also other cute installations like a TV screen showing air support missions in Vietnam being set into the bottom of a Skyhawk fuselage to be viewed from a reclining couch below. The Corps itself seems quite enarmored with the heroic background provided by the museum; a retirement ceremony went down in front of an air assault scene in the entrance hall while we were there.

Edited September 3, 2016 by BansheeOne

[Harold Jones]

We also learned important facts like that while no Marines fought at Gettysburg, Lincoln was accompanied by a USMC officer when he subsequently delivered his famous address there, and music for the occasion was provided by a Marine band.

the display for this was labeled Marines at Gettysburg.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Harold Jones

[BansheeOne]

Day 2: VMMV

 

After a quick lunch at the USMC Museum cafeteria, but already having racked up the delay customary for I&Is, we left for the VMMV. Of course half a mile before the driveway to the collection, we got stuck in a traffic jam adding another 15 minutes or so; it didn't matter in the end since the gentleman eventually leading us around had ample time left. We found our contact provided by Ryan going about restoration of an FT-17, with a Pz 61 waiting next door. We were then shown what I termed the world's most expensive game of Tetris, a hangar crammed to the last spot with a variety of vehicles, all runners; crawling between, over and into them resulted in various bruises, though I didn't mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another shed on the far side was similarly crammed with stuff including two T-34, a DUKW, BTR-152, PT-76, Czech T-55, East German T-72, Strv 103, Centurion, Abbot, Bren Carrier, and a couple Ferret, Fox, Striker and FV432. They were hard to photograph bunched up like that, and I felt sorry I could't be there for the open house on 24/25 September. Random other vehicles were sitting around awaiting restoration, like an LVT4 and M56 Scorpion. We left immensely satisfied.

 

We returned to the hotel to link up with Allan who had flown in in the afternoon. Dinner was in Reston at the previously-scouted Spanish restaurant. We established that despite a seeming overabdundance of parking garages in the town center, the hotel shuttle was the way to go; after finally finding a spot, Fritz spend 15 minutes looking to pay for it in one of the various posted ways only to find that this was in anticipation of such a system being introduced later this year, parking being in fact free as of yet ...

Edited September 3, 2016 by BansheeOne

[BansheeOne]

Day 3: Gettysburg

 

Saturday was an all-day trip up north to Gettysburg. First stop was the battlefield visitor center for orientation, into which you aren't allowed to bring backpacks. And there is a sign to that effect about every five steps from the parking lot, in case you think this doesn't mean you. We didn't view the exhibition at the center for which admittance is charged; the main attraction there was a crowd of Amish milling about. Armed with battlefield tour maps and apps, we then set out again by car to the north of the town, where the first shots of the battle were fired.

 

The area is a somewhat Lovecraftian, or maybe Poeish, landscape strewn with memorials and markers for regiments, batteries, headquarters, generals, states and individual moves, giving it the air of a huge graveyard, which is probably apt. We made the counterclockwise circle along Seminary Ridge and Peach Orchard to the site of Picket's Charge, then on to Big and Little Roundtop before returning to the visitor center for some lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we went back out to Cemetery Ridge with the "High Watermark of the Rebellion" and the "Nah-nah-nah, we won" memorial, as Harold called it. It was there we beheld the recreation of Picket's Charge (15-yard-line kick-off) by USMA cadets already posted by CT96. Thusly educated, we returned to base.

[BansheeOne]

Day 4: Ranges and more battlefields

 

On Sunday morning, CT96 took the three of us Yurros to the range at Rippon, WV. One guy came out to rent us some rifles and hand out the attendant ammunition ahead of official opening at noon, then left us to entertain ourselves with CT96 acting as range safety officer. We took three ARs, one with an Aimpoint and one .22 training wheel variant with a Holosight for Sunday to fire his first live rounds. After Fritz and I had blown some 200-plus rounds on the 50- and 100-yard range, Sunday also used up the rest of the purchased .223 while I tried CT96's Glock 26. Detailing who had shot how much of what when it came to the tab proved a bit of a challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile Harold and Allan had toured Bull Run; we met back up at Harper's Ferry, taking in the historic Lower Town at the Potomac-Shenandoah confluence. Only some outlines remain of the much-fought-over former arsenal and the building where John Brown holed up during his failed attempt to stir up a slave revolt that eventually brought him to the gallows. It was all very scenic, but probably also the hottest day of the program; we were glad to lunch at a rustic, but air-conditioned restaurant with Appalachian charme, spending only a little more time in town afterwards before heading back. CT96 then took his leave since he had to be back on the job the next day; he hoped to join us for dinner at least once in the following week, but unfortunately could not make it.

[BansheeOne]

Day 5: National Cryptologic Museum

 

On Monday we set out towards Baltimore, with the first stop at Fort Meade for the National Cryptologic Museum. Which per its mission statement is "the main gateway of the NSA to the public", and also a bit of a recruitment tool judging from the way it presents cryptology as a challenge to kids.

 

There is a hall of fame honoring various ELINT missions gone wrong like the C-130 shot down over Armenia in 1958 after it inadvertantly (or maybe not) strayed into Soviet airspace, the Pueblo and the Liberty incidents. The historical sections give ample room to WW II cracking of both German and Japanese codes as well as American codetalkers, with much original equipment, but go well before and beyond that, including broad reference to the Zimmermann telegram and indeed examples of cryptology from before American history. Cooperation with the UK and the seminal Polish work that led to the bombes of WW II is also noted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sections dealing with more recent times have various mainframe computers and peripheral devices like for automated memory cartridge storage on display. Most importantly though, the museum giftshop sells NSA apparel, of which Sunday and I got a polo- and t-shirt respectively. In fact I wore mine to work just yesterday.

 

A footpath leads to an area adjacent to the NSA headquarters where an L-23, EA-3 and EC-130 are on display. Taking pictures with the building in the background is prohibited though, which leads to the question whether it is allowed to take pictures of the signs showing the prohibited view? Not that the NSA headquarters hasn't been shown in various movies etc.

[BansheeOne]

Day 5: National Electronics Museum

 

The National Electronics Museum is close by, next to a Northrop Grumman building; it's probably no accident that it includes a lot of aerial and air defense radars from the SCR-270 and AN/APS-1 on, ECM pods, sonobuoys, etc. Communications are also prominent, including an SCR-399 mobile station and a model of the first TV satellite. For good measure, there's also a working Theremin, which is much more fun than the "how does electricity work" installations for kids at the entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BansheeOne]

Day 5: Baltimore Harbor

 

Afterwards we made our way to Baltimore Harbor, where we had lunch at the same Lebanese taverna Fritz and I had eaten on the way to Lewisburg last year. Their sharwama was as good as before, but I unwisely signed onto their free wifi with my e-mail adress. Of course I've gotten spam from them ever since. At least if the NSA is tracking my credit card after I paid with it at their museum store, they're not bothering me with it!

 

We got the chance to tour two of the museum ships in the harbor we hadn't had the time for last year though. The first was USS Torsk, a GUPPY submarine. While not the roomiest diesel boat I've ever been one - that distinction definitely goes to USS Growler, the Regulus missile sub we saw in New York last year - it was still head and shoulders over any German U-Boat from WW II; and come to that, even the post-war 205s and the Tango I've been on in Hamburg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second ship was USS Constellation who had her topmasts back. After promptly brushing my cap off with the tarpaulin stretched over the upper deck when coming aboard, I managed not to hit my head below, though I walked in a tiring sideways crouch to achieve that. I would also have liked to tour USCGS Taney, the last ship active at Pearl Harbor afloat, but tickets were for either two or four with the fourth being an old lightship, and we had to make our way back, too. As it is, Fritz said goodbye here and returned home to NJ.

[sunday]

Great pics Banshee, as ever.

 

It should be noted the attention our Range Safety Officer devoted to yours truly. Fortunately, he only had to intervene a couple of times when the muzzle of the device was pointed in such a way that a hypothetically chambered round would have been fired in a way such that the bullet should have fallen outside of the range. And another when initially handling the rifle, and pointing it in a possible harmful way. But I am not complaining - better safe than sorry, and it was a nice showing of what a RSO does.

 

Should not have shown my groupings however, even if those were better than the ones a hypothetically blind bat would have achieved .

 

Have to work in my photogenicity.

[BansheeOne]

Day 6: Capitol

 

On Tuesday morning we took the Metro into DC for the Capitol tour Harold had organized. Compared to last year, scaffolding of the dome was on the retreat, but it was still closed to the public and we were relegated to the Crypt below; according to the cheerful Midwesterner who guided our tour, they were repairing something like 10,000 cracks in the structure. It's a familiar problem for me, our own dome in the Reichstag gets closed twice a year for cleaning, to the dismay of visitors.

 

Another point of interest to me was the visitor center itself; ever since the open queuing for the Reichstag roof terrace was dispensed with over fears of it being a potential terror target a couple years ago, there have been plans for something similar in Berlin, but they are naturally caught up in debate between the city and the Bundestag about where to put it. The most confusing thing to me in the Hall of Emancipation was the white spacesuit the statue of Senator-elect John Swigert was wearing; the untreated bronze of his skin made me puzzle "hey, who's that black astronaut?"

 

Sorry José, the picture on your phone didn't come through in the shot you wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't know the Supreme Court once sat in the Capitol building. Not having strayed north of that last year, I also got to snap pictures of their own building and the Library of Congress this time. Later on I chased aircraft coming in low over the Mall for Reagan International all the way to the Lincoln Memorial for scenic shots. Weather was all-round beautiful that day.

[BansheeOne]

Day 6: Museum of American History

 

In between, we split up to view sights and installations of the Smithsonian Institution according to individual choice. Sunday and Harold first went to the National Air and Space Museum which I had already toured last year, so I went with Allan to the Museum of American History where we were later joined by the others. They have a somewhat interesting section on "Americans at War" on the top floor, but the one on the development of transport in the US on the ground floor is probably the bigger attraction.