I haven’t posted a video in a while (aside from the penguins), so here’s Dan and Max playing Don’t-Swat-the-Finger-or-it-will-Bring-its-Friends last night. I have no idea what we were watching, so I can’t tell you what the background sound is.

Of course, all veterans should get their hug today, but I have to focus on mine!

Dan was stationed for approximatly 14 months at King Khalid Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. He got to work on the über cool F117A Stealth Nighthawk, a black ops project, which was partially declassified shortly prior to the war. Some of you may remember this post, showing Dan driving the jammer under the stealth to load a bomb. He was a weapons tech and also spent time painting the inside of the bomb bay doors. All told he spent six years with the United States Air Force.

Lest we not forget the other service men and women of the Gulf War (or any war, for that matter):

Gulf War (1990-1991)
Total Servicemen/women: 2,322,332
Battle Deaths: 147
Other Deaths (in theater): 235
Other Deaths in service (non-theater): 1,590
Non-Mortal Woundings: 467
Living Veterans: 2,015,235

(Note: in theatre here refers to the battle area, but not in battle, i.e., someone died in a car accident, or had a heartattack while in the persian gulf area. Non-theater here refers to someone who died during war time, but not in the battle area, like Korea or elsewhere.)

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is the Friends of the Flathead County Library’s annual book sale. Friday and Saturday it’s a dollar an inch, and on Sunday, it’s a dollar a bag. How could anyone pass that up?? And yes, I’ve added quite a lot to my to-be-read pile. As I was browsing the History and Politics section Dan approached me, just beaming. He wanted to show me a picture in Skunk Works by Ben R. Rich & Leo Janos.

To understand why this picture is so important to me, click on it to enlarge it, or as Leesa says, “click it to big it.” The driver of the bomb lift truck (also called a jammer), is Dan.

Last summer we spent a few Sundays in the Northfork area. We went hiking and trudging through some of the most frigid waters looking for rocks. There’s Dan, another of my handsome guys!