PCS move "stuffs"

[Eagle5US]

Well folks...we survived our drive from Lewis to Fort Leonard Wood (FLW) with only a few glitches and we again have internet:lifter

Without TOO much detail, a few FLW observations-
-It is freakin HOT here.
-Appareantly the rain wets the wings of all insects in Washington State, because there are GNATS here at FLW that insist on entering every available orifice and attacking all mucus membranes with a ferocity I have yet to encounter in the species.
-It is considerably CHEAPER here for just about everything
-The people are fantastic. Lots of smiles, friendly handshakes and waves. Both on and off post.
-We have met more folks near our quarters (which are GREAT BTW) in the last 4 days, than we did our entire time at Ft. Lewis. If you can SEE their house from ours, they have come over and introduced themselves, offered whatever help we could need etc...but then what made it truely different, they came over again later on just to be sociable. Sets in a bit of confidence that my family will have some "neighbors" while I am gone.

During the drive across the country...we also noticed something that was pretty "neat"...
As we left Washington and got into Idaho / Montana we first noticed it. SUPPORT for the military. People would ask us why we were traveling and we told them we were being transferred by the military. Then it came out: "Thank You for your service", "Can I have the honor of shaking your hand?", "Let me buy you and your family some cold sodas and snacks for your trip", "Thank you for protecting my family's freedom". One guy in RURAL South Dakota kept his shop open for an extra hour and a half (until 23:30) to replace the tires on our trailer (blow-out at 2100 that evening:( ) when he found out we were a military family AND THEN gave us a discount when he rang us out saying that he was proud to finally be able to help someone in the military. Truely touching deep down.
Our first stop into western Missouri for gas, the counter lady actually asked my wife to bring me in the store so she could shake my hand and thank me. She did so with tears in her eyes. I was humbled.

There is a blatant pride and respect for military service here in the heartland that I had not been priviledged to witness until now. If there is anyone who needs confirmation that the American people are indeed proud of our Armed Forces...please, feel free to have them drive across the middle of this great Nation.

We are getting settled, and loving it here. FLW may indeed be "Lost in the Woods" (other than a single Wal-Mart-the closest "store" or town is about 35 miles)-but it is a nice little post with great folks. I'll start work in about 2 weeks and will be deploying with someone:rolleyes: this fall.

That's the update!

Eagle

[CoLawman]

Excellent Report Eagle! Enjoyed reading it.

[MtnGoat]

Eagle,

That's sounds like a great drive. Wish the news reporters driving across America for their Great America Vacations series for the Morning talk shows would show what you experienced. Knowing them (News) they would find everything bad and negative on the side for the military.

FLW - Yes it is lost in the woods.

People are great around there, funny "little" post. The hunting is great, get a bow if you don't have one yet. If your units doesn't have any hunter (What??) stop by Range Control talk to them. That a great Range Control and stop by the Sapper Training Det/ School. They will have hunters there.

That post has gotten so big in the last ten years.

Good Luck and have fun in the Woods. Be safe when you deploy.

[Monsoon65]

Outstanding! Now that's the kind of PCS stories I like to hear. Sounds like your new posting is getting off to a good start!

[x SF med]

Eagle-
What? No cynical liberal commie bastards on the trip? Must have made a fro a very pleasant, if uneventful, trip. C'mon over here to the NE US - yo uwill realize, you are not in Kansas anymore - although I've heard some pretty cool stories from Fleet Week in NYC - I understand people treated the squids and jars pretty well - not too many soldiers around though.

Glad your faith in American values has been rekindled - sounds like you couldn't have asked fro a better trip - well, except for the destination - FLW, why man, why??? Not even the Charlies like FLW, and they get to blow things up.:D

[jbour13]

It's good to know that my fellow Missourians can be so cordial.

If you need a good place to hunt and have time this fall let me know, I grew up about an hour from FLW and most of the family still resides in the Ozarks.

I'm sure there's plenty of extra family land to hunt on. Just don't shoot the cows :D

BTW, I got a "Thanks for all you do" today at a gas station on Owen Dr. Caught me by suprise, and I felt bad when all I could initially do was stutter the words "Your wa wa wa welcome". I think she understood.

[Bill Harsey]

Eagle-
What? No cynical liberal commie bastards on the trip?
Last time I stayed with Eagle we got out the map and marked out a route of safe passage way north of Oregon.

[x SF med]

Last time I stayed with Eagle we got out the map and marked out a route of safe passage way north of Oregon.

That explains it!!!! and Ft Lewis is east of Seattle too.

[12B4S]

Sounds like a great trip Eagle. Even in my day, sometimes, once in awhile, now and then... Somebody would come up and thank me. Few and far between back then. Didn't matter, it was great to know, that there were people out there, that appreciated thier Country's Military.

I spent about five or so months at 'lost in the woods', besides calling it that, it was also known as ' Little Korea .' Miserable, hot humid summers and frigid winters. :) Came across an old pic the other day. Platoon graduation from AIT combat Engineer MOS, dated 5 March 1969. Enjoy your time there. It wasn't all that bad a Post. Mostly just for us going through Basic and AIT there. :D

[LibraryLady]

That explains it!!!! and Ft Lewis is east of Seattle too.

Nope.

South. But not far enough for the influence to dissipate.

Eagle, I'm glad you had a relatively smooth trip across the country. In my travels across the northern Rockies and Plains states, I have found they are very appreciative of the military and veterans too. As a western WA native, I can say it used to be that way, but no longer. Too many others have moved in and changed it. Eastern WA still shows its appreciation, though.

LL

[Gypsy]

I enjoyed this so much I read it again. Welcom to Middle America...the heart of the US. :lifter

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Great trip! Don't envy the unpacking. Told my wife when we moved up here that this was the last move as I had finally thrown out all the stereo packing boxes:D

I have also noticed a favorable turn toward the military up here. Today when I was making my way back from my monthly trip to the commissary a car that had passed me suddenly slowed down in the passing lane so that I drew up along side of him. At first I thought he was having some kind of a problem, then he started to honk his horn and rolled down his windown. I instinctively reached for my glove box and then he honked again and whiped this big ole salute on me and then sped off. Evidently when he passed me he noticed the 06 and DOD registration stickers on my windshield needed for post entry. Thought for a minute we had us a gunfight about to erupt. After all I was still in Massachusetts at the time.:D

[Cincinnatus]

BTW, I got a "Thanks for all you do" today at a gas station on Owen Dr. Caught me by suprise, and I felt bad when all I could initially do was stutter the words "Your wa wa wa welcome". I think she understood.

The last time I took my sister to the airport in Burlington there was a soldier (first I'd seen in person wearing the ACU) at the next island at the Mobil station. When I thanked him for his service he seemed dumbstruck.

[SRT31B]

Sir,

Glad to hear everything went good with the move. From what I can remember it was hot until the middle of October or so, but then it cooled off pretty quick. For most of December the low was around 12* and the high around the mid
40's.

The snow was nice (until we had to sleep in it), but most of the time it was that slushy rain crap that just sucks. And the wind... NEVER STOPS BLOWING...
All in all though, it was a decent place to be for a few months.

If you get the chance, head by Stem Village. They have an AWESOME group of guys that run the Special Tactics Branch at USAMPS. They also have all kinds of fun toys to play with...