RW> Richard Webb:

BK>>  I see military as the first choice. It's not a matter of being
BK>> able to do something productive, but to serve, and be ready for  the
BK>> dangerous stuff.

 RW> I do too, for just that reason.  YOu learn a lot there,
 RW> even if you never really have to use it later.

 You learn to jump when it's necessary to jump, without waiting
 for an explanation.

>
BK>>  That was my plan. I believe I said a Swiss style service.
BK>>  Everyone trains, and is in the reserves.

 RW> YEp, you go wherever you fit, but you get much military
 RW> type training as you can handle.  THey might not put a
 RW> rifle in my hand for example, but they'd make sure I had
 RW> some extensive hand to hand possibly, and various other
 RW> things. I got a lot of that sort of stuff anyway, as I
 RW> sought it out via other means.

 And you could learn to break down and unjam a rifle in the dark.

>
 RW>> I strongly believe that to
 RW>> get a high school diploma young people should undergo cert
 RW>> training.

BK>>  I have often thought about that.

 RW> At first I went into that course thinking it would be just
 ...
 RW> knowledge that I'd either find it a waste of my time but
 RW> complete the course for the paper, or I'd find it was
 RW> great.  With this instructor and others like her it's a
 RW> damned good course, and every American should take it.

 Lotta stuff like that. But it ain't the 3R's, so they won't fund
 it.

 ...

 RW>> meanwhile my lady's sitting there in her wheelchair.  I
 RW>> pushed her forward and said something like "she may not be
 RW>> able to operate a lever, but she should get a shot at
 RW>> coordinating the team.

BK>>  Exactly what I was referring to.

 RW> YEp, and she was quite observant, told the third man who
 RW> would be actually grappling with the body to get his hands
 RW> back more than once.  YEs, we assembled debris as it might

 And that is something you can do even if you can't do the actual
 job. OTOH, that man needed to be told, which suggests runing the
 show would not be something he was ready for.

 ...

 RW> exercise at the end of the weekend course often, we set me
 RW> up in a park somewher to be "out of area" radio contact,
 RW> have kathy work frs with the team and demonstrate our quick
 RW> setup hf vhf and uhf setup.  We usually arrive about lunch
 RW> on their Sunday training day, let the folks see the old van
 RW> just sitting in their parking lot.  Half an hour after
 RW> they've entered the classroom to pick teams for the
 RW> assignment they come out to see a tripod antenna mast and a
 RW> bunch of gear set up ready for operation.

 Yep. Get them interested, show them, don't tell them.



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... A citizen between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats-Ben Franklin
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