Tomahawks Adventure travel and survival

Bangkok/Khao San Road

2012-01-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

I have to travel to Bangkok, Thailand in a few days to see about getting Mam a visa and take care of some other business.

Kaho San road in Bangkok is normally one place I avoid like the plague. Why? - far too many foreigners there. I dont travel to an exotic place like Thailand to hang out with a bunch of people from my own country. I never understood why folks like to do that.

Anyhoo, the one good thing I have experienced at Khao San road is that they have a small used gear vendor there. Apparently a lot of hippy back packers pawn there gear to this guy for weed or food money then never pick it up..

Its a good thing because if you dig through the pile of gear you can usually find some decent gear. I happen to be in the market for a bigger backpack so Ill look there on Khao San road, then get the hell outta there as soon as possible.

For any of you folks out there that might be traveling to Thailand and want to experience Khao San road here is a little info from wikipedia about it.

Tomahawk – scouts out!

Bangkok/Khao San Road:

Khao San Road (Thai: ถนนข้าวสาร) is a small road located about a block from the Chao Phraya River at the northern side of Rattanakosin. Backpackers and budget travellers are drawn here by some of the cheapest accommodation and travel deals in Thailand. This article also deals with the wider Banglamphu area that hosts a few interesting temples, as well as lots more places to stay and eat.

Pronunciation tip:

The syllable "khao" is pronounced similarly to the English word "cow", but since the late 1990s, backpackers have often been mispronouncing it as "coe" (perhaps confusing it with "koh", meaning "island", which in itself is incorrect and should be an abrupt "goh"; perhaps influenced by the book/movie The Beach). Please help re-introduce the correct pronunciation into the backpacker community by pronouncing it properly.

The word khao san itself means milled rice and is an attribution to the historical role of this street in the rice trade. The first business to open on Khao San Road was a small hotel aimed at serving civil servants from the provinces who came to Bangkok on business. The hotel was followed by Sor Thambhakdi, a shop selling monks' accessories. Four similar businesses moved in after, and Khao San became known as a "religious road".

Word soon spread about the easy lifestyle and friendliness of the locals. Friends told friends, and before long, the owner of the house started to charge 20 baht for food and lodging. The first commercial guest house, called Bonny, opened in 1982 with six small bedrooms.

Today, there's a lot more than six small bedrooms on offer. In the span of just a couple of blocks, there are bars, food stalls, restaurants, convenience stores, pharmacies, internet cafes, money changing booths, ATMs, shoe stores, massage parlours, tailors, travel agencies, laundry, boxing gyms, optometrists, endless warrens of suspiciously discounted designer clothes and, oh, rooms for the night.

The chaos has spilled over to the entire area, including Soi Rambuttri, which features little bars and restaurants that are starting to spill out onto the pavement; Phra Athit Road, with its colonial-style mansions and riverside hotels; and Sam Sen Road, a quiet neighbourhood with cosy guest houses and vegetarian restaurants. It is indeed a tourist destination, although it is also a little unsafe at night and instances of mugging and pick-pocketing do occur.

Bangkok Tourist Information Office, 17/1 Phra Athit Rd (under the Phra Pin Klao Bridge), ☎ +66 2 225-7612(-4), [1]. 09:00-19:00 daily. It's a good idea to stop by the tourist office for some maps of the city. You can also get hotel and dining addresses here or ask any other questions you may have.

Inferno (1953)

2012-01-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

As a kid, this was one of my favorite movies. Maybe you can download it somewhere.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The Compass

2012-01-23T09:08:00.001-08:00

Lately,I have been wandering around My neighborhood here in Kuwait and began to notice many examples of a compass motif on buildings, fences and sidewalks. This made me wonder if there is any type of significance to the compass in Arab history - nope, at least I didnt find any info on it.

I have always liked the Compass Rosette design. I have one that was made for me by my friend Evelyn. One of these days Ill add it to the quilt Im making.

Included here are 3 examples of Compass motifs. There are many more around I just figured more pics would be redundant.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Compass History:
A compass is a navigational instrument that measures directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions (or points) – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined. Usually, a diagram called a compass rose, which shows the directions (with their names usually abbreviated to initials), is marked on the compass. When the compass is in use, the rose is aligned with the real directions in the frame of reference, so, for example, the "N" mark on the rose really points to the north. Frequently, in addition to the rose or sometimes instead of it, angle markings in degrees are shown on the compass. North corresponds to zero degrees, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90 degrees, south is 180, and west is 270. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearings, which are commonly stated in this notation.

There are two widely used and radically different types of compass. The magnetic compass contains a magnet that interacts with the earth's magnetic field and aligns itself to point to the magnetic poles. The gyro compass (sometimes spelled with a hyphen, or as one word) contains a rapidly spinning wheel whose rotation interacts dynamically with the rotation of the earth so as to make the wheel precess, losing energy to friction until its axis of rotation is parallel with the earth's.

The magnetic compass was invented during the Chinese Han Dynasty between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD, and was used for navigation by the 11th century.The compass was introduced to medieval Europe 150 years later, where the dry compass was invented around 1300.This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass.

Johnny Cash - I've Been Everywhere

2012-01-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

I have not been "everywhere man" but I have been to more than most. This song bears a similitude to my life over the past few years.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Once Upon a Time in the Sierra Madre

2012-01-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

My good friend "Trailhawk" in the Philippines wrote this story about an experience he had many moons ago. I think you will like it.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Once Upon a Time in the Sierra Madre:

By Jing Lavilles de Egurrola AKA "Trailhawk"

I STOOD NAKED with 499 other “captives” on a cold and windy early morning of January 1989. My time in Tanay, Rizal is winding out in about two weeks. Infront of us are our sets of fatigue uniforms and combat boots piled high like a mountain on a road junction at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range.

I am assigned as pathfinder and I am issued a compass to lead 100 people back to Camp Capinpin during the escape and evasion phase. At a given signal, we are going to break free from our “holding area” in a deep valley and recover our clothes up here. I don't think I could do that in utter confusion. But I marked where my uniforms lay and I don't have to go far. I have to think fast.

Up ahead is a clump of grass surviving in the middle of the road going down to that valley. It is almost shoulder high and I believe no one could imagine that it could hide a big guy in there. But first, I would retrieve what my grandfather taught me many years ago: to sit still like a rock and harness my mind to confuse the “enemy” before I could reunite with my uniform and boots.

Then a rifle shot cracked in the air and everyone stampeded down the road. I ran with the other “captives” and crouched low when I ran past the grass. Stealthily, I eased back into its protection. More shots were heard and more footsteps came hurrying down until there were no more. Then silence.

I bent my head between my knees, closed my eyes and willed my mind to go blank. I heard nothing except the wind and crunch of heavy boots and one of the “enemy” came close. Then the grass danced before a strong breeze and it is reassuring.

I could feel an “enemy” standing just a meter beside me unmindful of my presence. Warm exhaled air lightly touched my skin pores as it is carried by the breeze but I am a rock today and I am invisible. Discovery meant hard butt strokes from an Armalite or from an M14 and indescribable disgrace.

The “enemy” took three steps forward and I heard a loud metallic action as a round is loaded into the firing chamber. Then a burst of gunfire is fired into the air. Warm empty brass shells landed on my head and my back. Another burst is fired again. The “enemy” gave last-minute instructions and I could understand it clearly well.

Once the transport trucks leave, I opened my eyes. I looked around the surroundings and cautiously approach the mound of uniforms in a wide circle and found my boots and my army fatigues. By the time I was tying up the shoe lace for my last shoe, the first “captive” arrived, followed by another until all 499 milled around the mound. Everyone were grabbing for himself clothes and shoes, fitting this and that.

I just could not believe two guys fighting over the same shirt and a sleeve almost got separated. Elbows flew. Raised agitated voices rang in the cold morning. Wrong pairs of shoes scattered everywhere. Pants seesawed back and forth. Discipline learned the hard way evaporated. It took almost an hour before the crowd settled down and donned their uniforms in the best way they can.

I regrouped my 100 and I stifled a laugh at their appearance. Each group is on its own and we are five in all. Then the whole 500 traveled as if it is one group and that is insane. I decide to break away for I know the “enemy” will be waiting and laughing. From here to the camp are “enemy” checkpoints and discovery meant physical humiliation.

Half of my group questioned my logic and it is torn apart. I am left with fellow “captives” from the Visayas and Mindanao regions, to include my Moslem brothers. My ragtag group evaded several checkpoints over a land that I am not familiar with. I led them by studying the terrain and chose where my route would take with a characteristic cunning taught by grandpa.

My group arrived first at half past noon inside Camp Capinpin undetected and I reported to my training officer. Half of my command is found missing during headcount and I bore the brunt of the punishment but that is nothing compared to the ignominy of being “recaptured” at the checkpoints which the rest were, several times.

Really, it is nothing for I found solace in the fact that I have outwitted the veteran Scout Rangers at their own game and turf.

~Jing de Egurrola aka The Trailhawk

www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com

Egyptian Kushari - Its whats for dinner!

2012-01-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

Since I have been working in Kuwait, I have had very little time to cook the foods I enjoy eating and making. So, I have been taking my meals at an Egyptian placed called "Gad", its pretty good stuff with Stone oven pizzas, shiskababs, all manner of grilled veggies etc on the menu. But my personal favorite is a dish called "Kushari" - which consists of rice, pasta, lentils, onions, chick peas all covered in a hot sauce. Pretty tasty.

A large order to go is about $3.75 American, or 1 Kuwati Dinar, not bad for a large volume of food. This Dish is not only tasty but very filling. It sits on your stomach like a sack of stones but, its a meal that is packed with energy and will stick to your ribs.

I have posted the recipe and a bit about the dishes history. If you get around to making it I hope you enjoy this food as much as I do.

Right now, Im going to polish of this food then smoke a decent Cuban cigar, followed by a cup of Indian style tea.

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

KUSHARI:

Kushari was originally a poor man's dish, but nowadays kushari is enjoyed by all strata of society. Variously spelled koshari, kosheri, koushari or koshary.

4 servings
Ingredients

Rice -- 1 cup
Macaroni pasta -- 1 cup
Lentils -- 1 cup
Oil -- 2 tablespoons
Onion, chopped finely -- 1
Garlic, minced -- 2 to 3 cloves
Tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes -- 2 cups
Pepper flakes -- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
Salt and pepper -- to taste
Oil for frying
Onion, sliced thinly -- 1
Salt and pepper -- to taste

Cooking Method:
1.Cook the rice and 2 cups of water in a covered pot until done, about 20 minutes. Cook the macaroni according to package directions, or until al dente. Simmer the lentils and 2 cups of water in a covered pot until tender, 30-45 minutes.

2.While the rice, pasta and lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent and wilted, 4-5 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and pepper flakes, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, add a little water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

3.Heat about 1/2-inch of oil in a heavy skillet. Add the sliced onions and fry until they turn brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

4.Place the rice, macaroni and lentils in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir together gently with a fork. Portion the mixture into individual bowls and spoon some tomato sauce over each portion. Top with crispy fried onions and serve hot or at room temperature.

Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse

2012-01-14T21:57:00.001-08:00

I started reading this book last night. I was able to down load it from one of the sites online. I have read "The Patriots" by Rawles and found it to be a pretty good Novel, but certainly nothing to rave about. What I like about this current rawles work is that he talks about "Haji", Afghanistan, and a few other things Im familiar with.I dont believe Rawles has ever been "Down range" but he certainly seemed to have done his research for this book.

One of the thing I liked the most is that in the first few pages of the book he has posted my favorite Jeff cooper quote;

“Weapons compound man’s power to achieve; they amplify the capabilities of both the good man and the bad, and to exactly the same degree, having no will of their own. Thus we must regard them as servants, not masters—and good servants to good men. Without them, man is diminished, and his opportunities to fulfill his destiny are lessened. An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.”

~Col. Jeff Cooper

Kinda Cool. Anyhoo, Id recommend this book for all of you adventurers out there in cyber space.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

WHAT IF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT ENDED TOMORROW?

The America we are accustomed to is no more. Practically overnight the stock market has plummeted, hyperinflation has crippled commerce, and the fragile chains of supply and high-technology infrastructure have fallen. The power grids are down. Brutal rioting and looting grip every major city. The volatile era known as “the Crunch” has begun, and this new period in our history will leave no one untouched. In this unfamiliar environment, only a handful of individuals are equipped to survive.

Andrew Laine, a resourceful young U.S. Army officer stationed overseas in Afghanistan, wants nothing more than to return home to Bloomfield, New Mexico. With the world in turmoil and all air and sea traffic to America suspended, Laine must rely on his own ingenuity and the help of good Samaritans to reach his family. Andrew will do whatever it takes to make it home to his fiancée, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

Major Ian Doyle is a U.S. Air Force pilot sta-tioned in Arizona with his wife, Blanca. Their young daughter, Linda, is trapped in the North- eastern riots. Three teenage orphans, Shadrach, Reuben, and Matthew Phelps, have no choice but to set out on their own when their orphanage closes at the beginning of the Crunch. Then there is Ignacio Garcia, the ruthless leader of the criminal gang called La Fuerza, who will stop at nothing to amass an army capable of razing the countryside. And over everything looms the threat of a provisional government, determined to take over America and destroy the freedoms upon which it was built. The world of Survivors is a terrifyingly familiar one. Rawles has written a novel so close to the truth, readers will forget it’s fiction. If everything you thought you knew suddenly fell apart, would you survive?

Meet the Author

Former U.S. Army intelligence officer and survivalist James Wesley, Rawles is a well-known survival lecturer and author. Rawles is the editor of SurvivalBlog.com—the nation's most popular blog on family preparedness. He lives in an undisclosed location west of the Rockies. He is the author of the bestselling Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse and a nonfiction survival guide, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It.

Read an Excerpt:

1
Urgency and Exigency

FOB Wolverine, Task Force Duke, Zabul Province, Afghanistan October, the First Year

Andy was awoken by the sound of mortars. His many months in Afghanistan had taught him the difference in sound between outgoing and incoming mortars and various artillery. These were distant mortars, so he knew that it wasn’t friendly fire. Andy already had Operation Enduring Freedom camouflage pattern (OCP) pants and interceptor body armor (IBA) on, and was snatching up his M4 carbine and helmet when the take-shelter warning siren sounded. He popped out the door of his containerized housing unit (CHU) and jumped down into the entrance of the heavily sandbagged shelter, just a few steps away. Moments later the two lieutenants from the CHU next door piled in behind him. One of them took the precaution of scanning with a flashlight the floor and walls of the shelter for scorpions. He found just one and stomped it without comment.

The mortar rounds started to come in, with a succession of sharp blasts that shook the ground. There were about twenty impacts, arriving in a span of ten seconds. They could see the flashes of the explosions reflected on the wall opposite the doorway. The closest round impacted about one hundred feet away—close enough that shock waves could be felt.

As the rounds came in, Andy Laine said a silent prayer. He knew that only a direct hit would endanger him, but it was still unnerving, since he had less than a month left in-country.

“That may be all she wrote, sir,” said one of the lieutenants dryly.

Laine agreed. “You’re probably right. Just another shoot-’n’-scoot deal.”

At the far side of the forward operating base (FOB), they could hear the echoed commands from the Arty boys, and then the deep-throated crumps of outgoing mortars. They sounded like big 4.2-inch mortars, just three rounds. Andy marveled at how quickly the counter-battery radar team could pinpoint the insurgents’ firing location and direct return fire. Less than a minute after the enemy rounds impacted, the reply was sent, no doubt with considerable precision. It was no wonder that the mortar duels with the jihadis had become less frequent in recent months.

As they waited for the all-clear horn, Andy leaned against the sandbag wall and stretched his calf muscles, more out of habit than because of any stiffness. At six feet two inches, with a runner’s physique, he weighed just 180 pounds, and prided himself on his flexibility. When doing physical training (PT) with his units in garrison, he was always among the most limber.

The next morning, along with dozens of his fellow Fobbits, Laine did a bit of gawking at the damage done by the mortars. It actually wasn’t much. One round had shredded the corner of a CHU and another perforated a tent with dozens of small holes—the largest about three inches across. All the rest of the mortar impacts had no effect, leaving only black marks on the ground and some scattered shrapnel. A couple of the newbies to the FOB posed for pictures in front of the damaged CHU. “So what? Big deal,” Andy muttered to himself as he walked to the company headquarters.

At thirty-one years old, Andrew Laine was the typical lean and fit U.S. Army captain. He was on his second deployment to Afghanistan. His first had been to Iraq. On this new deployment, his assignment was “branch immaterial.” Although he was branched Ordnance Corps, he was assigned as a staff officer in a Stryker battalion, an infantry unit equipped with sixteen-ton wheeled armored personnel carriers (APCs). With the heavy manpower requirements of ongoing deployments to Afghanistan, it was not unusual for officers to get assignments outside of their usual career path. “The needs of the Army” was the reason often cited when making these assignments.

Andy and his older brother Lars had grown up in the shadow of their late father, Robie Laine, a Finnish-born Army officer who retired as a full colonel. Their father earned his U.S. citizenship by joining the U.S. Army, and eventually retired to a small horse ranch near Bloomfield, New Mexico. Robie had been raised on a farm and was convinced that he should retire on a farm. Their late mother was an American of mostly Swedish ancestry. She had died of breast cancer when the boys were in high school.

Following the mortar barrage, Andy spent a frustrating ten-hour day of pushing paper for the battalion, which was greatly complicated by the process of the unit’s upcoming redeployment to Germany. That afternoon, Andy chatted with Larry Echanis, the battalion S-1, the staff officer in charge of personnel. Echanis had been Laine’s martial arts sparring partner for the past several months. He had taught Andy some Hwa Rang Do katas, and Andy reciprocated, teaching Larry his mixed martial arts moves.

Their battalion (or “squadron,” in Stryker parlance) was a forward deployed part of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Vilseck, Germany. The incoming squadron was a sister unit in the same regiment, and also part of Task Force Duke. But Andy’s squadron was headed back to Germany, in a regularly scheduled unit rotation.

Laine and Echanis had been discussing events back home. Lately, the war effort had been taking a backseat to tumultuous economic events emanating from New York City and the world’s other financial centers. Larry Echanis seemed worried but was trying to be upbeat. He asked, “You think that this’ll blow over, right?”

Laine put on a glum face. “At this point, there’s no way. The whole system is breaking down. The global credit market is frozen, the sovereign debt problems have blown up past the GDP levels for most countries, and the derivatives have totally imploded. We’re in a world of hurt. I think there’ll be some major riots and looting soon.”

Echanis bit his lip. “Well, that won’t be a big deal for my family. Most of them live in eastern Oregon. Have you ever been through Ontario, Oregon? It’s out in the middle of nowhere. The disruption will be in the big cities. Our town is three hundred miles from Portland, and more than three hundred and fifty from Seattle as the crow flies.”

Laine shook his head. “I wish it was that simple. Sure, the riots will be in the big cities. The metro areas will be death traps. The suburbs will be only marginally safer. But you got to realize that these days even the small towns are dependent on long chains of supply. When the eighteen-wheelers stop rolling, everyone is gonna be hurting. It will definitely be safer out in the boonies. But you should tell your family to stock up on every scrap of food they can find. They need to get out of dollars and into canned goods right away.”

“You really think it’ll get that bad?”

Laine answered soberly, “I’m afraid it will. Does your family live in town or out on a ranch?”

“Used to be ranchers. All in town now, but we’re Basques, so we still know how to live the old-fashioned way. My mom used to cook a lot of our meals in a dutch oven. I didn’t even know how fast food tasted until I went off to college. There’s no comparison to my mom’s cooking.”

“Well, with those skills, and living where they do, they’ll probably ride the storm out pretty safely.”

The conversation left Andy feeling uneasy about his plans for leaving active duty. Strapping on his MOLLE vest to leave his desk at the battalion headquarters, Andy turned to Echanis to say, “Well, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. I’m going to stop by my CHU and grab a duffel bag and then I’m off to the Haji-mart.”

It was 90 degrees but felt even hotter, since Andy was wearing IBA and had the weight of an M4 carbine slung across his back, a PRC-148 radio, and numerous MOLLE magazine pouches. The only concession to being in a relatively safe area was that he was wearing a boonie hat instead of a MICH helmet.

As Captain Laine walked past the guards manning the HESCO barriers at the FOB’s main gate, he read the signs on the Haji market windows just across the road. They proclaimed: “Very Best PriceS,” “DVD,” and “Custtom TailoreR.” As he walked in the door, the smell of the market hit Andy like a hammer. It was an odd mix of Turkish tobacco smoke, incense, kerosene, sweat, and overcooked lamb. It certainly didn’t smell like the exchange store back at the FOB. Aside from the hint of JP8 jet fuel, which was a presence everywhere in the FOB, the exchange smelled just like any retail store in America: hardly any smell at all—almost antiseptic. In contrast, Ali’s store reeked. An aging Italian-made air conditioner was roaring above the door but not keeping up. It was perhaps 10 degrees cooler inside than outside.

Nabil Jassim Ali gave his usual “Salaam, salaam, Mr. Colonel” greeting. The portly and balding Pashtuni flashed his yellowed, crooked teeth. He called all the American soldiers “Colonel,” even the privates. It still made Andy laugh every time he heard it.

Eyeing the empty duffel bag slung over Laine’s shoulder, Ali chortled. “Perhaps you are wanting to buy plentiful numbers of thingings, Mr. Colonel?” Laine nodded. Ali waved him in and added, “The store I am closing in a few minutes, but for you, Colonel, I am willing to be late.”

“You always have the best deals, Mr. Ali,” Andy said with a smile.

“Do you have afghanis? The American dollar not so good, today. It is slipping off another five percent.”

“Down five percent in one week?” Andy asked.

“In one day, Colonel,” Ali replied seriously. “Soon, I think, I take no more American money.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I have plenty of afghanis.” His front pocket indeed bulged with a huge wad of cash: a mix of afghanis, dollars, and a few euros. In the bottom of his pocket he also felt the weight of eighteen American Eagle one-ounce silver coins in plastic sleeves.

Ali’s store had the usual “Haji-mart” merchandise. There were cigarettes, pirated CDs and DVDs, imitation designer sunglasses, magazines (mostly in Arabic), cheap Chinese knives and ersatz Leatherman tools, candy, sunflower seeds, sodas and sports drinks, jerky, chewing gum, and assorted trinkets.

There were three young Stryker troops already in the store when Captain Laine arrived. When he passed them in the dimly lit narrow aisles, they each acknowledged him with a hushed “High speed, sir!” That was the newly arrived battalion’s unofficial motto. But Andy was accustomed to hearing it at a much higher volume inside the FOB.

Laine sorted through packets of jerky, settling mostly on the teriyaki flavor, piling up a large stack in the crook of his left arm. The three enlisted soldiers completed their purchases, buying the usual Fobbit food: energy bars, packets of salty chips, and Coca-Colas that came in cans with both English and Arabic markings.

After the three soldiers left the store, Laine stacked the packets of jerky on the counter. Then he walked back to the shelf to get a second armload. This, too, he stacked on the counter. Ali smiled. “Perhaps you are wanting to buy all of my jer-kee?” he asked. Laine chuckled, and replied, “Well, not all of it; just most of it.”

Next he went to stock up on batteries. He ignored the Egyptian bargain brand—of dubious quality—and selected a dozen four-packs of Energizer AA batteries, being careful to pick the ones with the latest expiration dates. While Laine was sorting battery packages, Ali locked the front door and turned the “OPEN” sign around.

Laine stacked the batteries in a couple of piles next to the jerky on the counter, then his gaze shifted to Ali’s permanent smile. After a pause, Laine asked, “I’ve heard that you sell some other, ah, unusual merchandise that you keep in back.” He pointed to the doorway to the back room, which among other things served as a kitchen and bedroom.

“Sir, I have none alcohol. It is forbidden.”

“No, no. That is not what I meant. I’ve heard that you have some more expensive merchandise, like watches, some good optics, and guns.”

Ali’s smile got bigger than usual and he nodded. “One moment, Mr. Colonel,” he said, then disappeared into the back room.

Ali returned lugging a large suitcase, and Laine knew that he’d struck pay dirt. This was where the rumor mill at the FOB said the shopkeeper reputedly kept “the good stuff.”

Ali gently slid the heavy suitcase onto the store counter, unfastened the latches, and spun it around. He opened it to display a large assortment of new and used wristwatches, digital cameras, film cameras, binoculars, assorted boxes of ammunition, and a few pistol holsters.

Laine and Ali spent the next five minutes haggling over the price of a pair of rubber-armored Nikon 7x30 compact binoculars. They finally settled on a figure that seemed high to Andy, but he assented, realizing the prices would surely be double that in less than a month, perhaps in just a few days.

Laine paid for the jerky, batteries, and binoculars, nearly depleting his wad of afghanis. Eyeing the boxes of ammo, he said: “I see you have some nine-millimeter ammunition here. Do you have any pistols in that caliber?”

Ali frowned. “Yes, Colonel, I do, but you are cannot be afford them. Prices are—what is it they say—‘escalating.’ For a pistol, a good one, we are conversing of $5,000, American.”

“What if I paid you in silver, uhh, lujain coins? Lujain?”

“Ahhh! Lujain! This works for me. In Kabul, silver closed today at eighty-three American dollars for one ounce. In London it was eighty-one dollars.” Andy nodded. The man certainly knew his markets.

Mr. Ali turned and again walked to the back room. Laine heard the sounds of boxes being shifted and restacked. Soon the store owner returned with another suitcase that looked even older than the first. He put it on the counter, flipped the latches, and swung it open. Captain Laine let out a slight gasp when he saw the contents. The suitcase was crammed full of pistols, revolvers, holsters, and magazines.

Andy sorted through the guns. He saw older Afghan Army–issue Tokarevs, a few ancient revolvers that looked either Belgian or German, and a couple of Egyptian Helwan pistols. One revolver immediately seemed suspect. It was a Pakistani copy of a Webley .38 revolver. Looking closely at the gun, he saw that it was peppered with fake proof mark stampings and was erroneously stamped “WELBEY.” That made Andy laugh.

Seeing Andy’s expression, the storekeeper noted: “The guns from Peshawar, they are not so good.”

Andy replied, “Now, that’s an understatement!” He didn’t trust their metallurgy and mechanical tolerances any more than he did their spelling.

Putting the revolver down, Andy noticed that there were several plastic Glock Model 19 magazines but no Glock pistols.

“Do you have any Glocks?”

“Sorry, Mr. Colonel, but none of those I have. Those guns of Glock sell very quick, when I am getting one.”

Then Andy spotted a pistol in a well-made holster that looked different from the others. Withdrawing it from the holster, Andy was pleased to see a SIG P228 9mm pistol in nearly new condition. It looked just like the U.S. Army–issue P228s that the CID agents carried, except that it wasn’t stamped “U.S. PROPERTY.”

“This is my most nice of my pistols. You are liking it?”

The moment that he saw the SIG, Andy knew that he was going to buy it. The moment felt portentous somehow. He nodded and said, “Yes, I do like it.” He knew that it was against regulations to bring any weapon home from the OEF theater of operations.

Andy rummaged through the suitcase and found six spare SIG P226 series magazines, including two thirteen-rounders, three fifteen-rounders, and just one scarce magazine of twenty-round capacity. He took a few minutes to closely inspect both the gun and the magazines. The pistol had no rust pitting and just a bit of finish wear at the muzzle. Locking back the slide, he examined the bore, holding a slip of paper behind the barrel to act as a reflector. Cupping his hand over the rear sight and holding the back end of the pistol nearly to his face, he could see the faint glow of tritium dots. He muttered to himself, “Eleven-point-two-year half-life.” The magazines were genuine SIG Sauer made—with the distinctive zigzag seam on the back—and they, too, looked nearly new.

Setting the holstered pistol and the four magazines next to his previous purchases, he said, “This will do.”

“I will sell you this ZIG with just of only one magazine for thirty ounces of silver, and one ounce more for each magazine more.”

Laine shook his head and answered: “No, no, no. That is too much. My offer is eight ounces, and I want you to include these magazines.”

“This is an insult to my family. Shall my children starve and beg in the street? I am not a fool. But for you, as good and honorable officer, I will make a price of twenty ounces, with those extra magazines including.”

“No, make it twelve.”

Ali shook his head. “Eighteen ounces.”

Andy countered, “Nope. Fifteen.”

“Sixteen,” Ali snapped back.

Andy replied firmly, “Done!” They shook hands. Andy counted out sixteen of the American eagles, all still packaged in two-coin “flip” plastic sleeves. Ali took the time to scrutinize the pairs of coins closely, removing several of them from their sleeves. He looked satisfied.

“You are needing of amma-unitions?”

“No, thanks, I’ve got plenty. Nine-mil is standard for the Army.”

Andy spent a few more minutes rummaging through the suitcases, selecting a pair of magazine pouches that had obviously been made for different double-column pistol magazines but fit the standard SIG magazines—a tight fit, but they would do. Each pouch held a pair of magazines. The two pouches cost $220 in the increasingly worthless greenbacks.

Starting with the holstered pistol at the bottom, Andy filled the duffel bag with his purchases and again shook hands with Ali.

It was nearing sunset, and the temperature outside was down to 80 degrees. Ali unbarred the door, and they exchanged “Salaamu alaikum” (Go in peace) good-byes. Andy wondered how peaceful things would be in the near future. “Not very,” he muttered to himself, as he shouldered the duffel bag.

© 2011 James Rawles

The Guns of the South - cool book

2012-01-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

The book "Guns of the South" is a pretty good read. Just wanted to throw it out there for those interested.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The story deals with a group of time-traveling Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members from 2014, led by Andries Rhoodie, who wish to alter the outcome of the Civil War and, as a result, ensure the success of their own cause in the future. In order to do this, they provide General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and General Joseph Johnston's Army of Tennessee with a large number of AK-47s. To all but a few Confederate leaders, who are told the truth, they are known as "Rivington men" after the (fictional) North Carolina town where they set up their base.

The Confederacy, starting to reel towards defeat in the late winter of 1864, welcomes the guns and other supplies. The armies of the Confederacy are trained in their use, and when the opposed armies break camp to fight the Battle of the Wilderness, there is an overwhelming Confederate victory rather than the inconclusive result in our timeline. Lee's army defeats the Union again near Bealeton, Maryland, crosses the Potomac River, and in a daring night battle, captures Washington, DC. With parallel successes by Confederate troops on other fronts, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln has little choice but to sign an armistice, agreeing to the withdrawal of Union troops, and negotiations to determine a final border.

These negotiations are conducted by three commissioners per side. C.S. President Jefferson Davis appoints Vice President Alexander Stephens, Secretary of State Judah Benjamin and General Lee. President Lincoln appoints Secretary of State William H. Seward, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Major General Benjamin Butler.

During these negotiations, the Confederacy abandons claims to West Virginia and Maryland, while the United States cedes the Indian Territory, with Kentucky and Missouri to hold state-wide referendum votes to determine which nation they will join. These are to be supervised by an Election Commissioner from each side. Lee is appointed by Davis while Lincoln appoints General Ulysses S. Grant. Also, each side appoints 500 Election Observers per state.

After the completion of the negotiations, voting, and political conversation — during which a minor incident occurs where two members of the AWB are caught by Union Election Observers attempting to smuggle AK-47s into the disputed states — referenda are held. Kentucky chooses to join the Confederacy while Missouri chooses to remain with the Union. General Lee returns to his duties in Virginia with the hope of finally settling down with his family, including his ailing wife, at their home, Arlington House, for the remainder of their days.

Such is not to be. President Davis makes clear his wish that Lee be the next man to hold the position. In fact his appointing Lee as one of the Peace Commissioners and then Election Commissioner was, in part, to keep his name in front of the electorate. The AWB, whose goal from the beginning had been to maintain the Confederacy as a bastion of Black oppression, feel that Lee is too soft on the question of slavery and rally behind General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a member of the Confederate cavalry, in the hopes of electing him to office. A slave trader himself, Forrest is believed to be the perfect man for the job of maintaining the standard of white supremacy.

The election is hotly contested, both men heroes of the recent War and filled with charisma, but Lee emerges the victor despite the introduction of 20th and 21st century campaigning techniques by the AWB to bolster Forrest's one-note campaign to preserve slavery in the South. Several of the states which voted for Forrest begin to call for secession from the Confederacy and the creation of their own nation, echoing the original Southern secession after the election of Lincoln to the Union's presidency. However, Forrest feels that such an action would be nothing short of petulance and concedes defeat, offering his personal service in the Confederate Army if any states do attempt to secede.

Lee is presented with a stolen book from the future, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, proving that the Rivington men lied about the catastrophes which they claimed lay in wait for the South if it lost the war. He confronts Rhoodie. The AWB has no chance of influence over Lee, and, at the presidential inauguration, several of its members attempt to assassinate Lee. They attack now-President Lee armed with Uzis and shielded with kevlar (or a similar material) vests (both still a mystery to the Confederacy) and manage to kill a number of prominent Confederates, including Lee's newly-inaugurated Vice President Albert Gallatin Brown and General Jubal Early. Lee survives the attempt on his life by nothing more than pure luck, though his wife, Mary is killed. The AWB forces in Richmond are attacked, and, after a fierce battle, are finally defeated. Their offices contain many items from the 21st century that are a mystery to the soldiers who discover them— gas-powered electrical generators, fluorescent lighting, and a Macintosh computer—but most importantly contains dozens of historical texts that reveal not only the AWB's true intentions, but that they had twisted the historical facts so as to present the South's defeat as far worse than it actually was. All of these are contained in a secure area at the AWB headquarters in Richmond, behind a safe-like door which the Confederates lack the technology to defeat, but eventually "outflank" (Instead of breaking down the door, they break through an outer wall of the building).

After the capture of the AWB's Richmond offices, Lee presents before the Confederate leadership all the historical documents that the men from the future used to inform themselves of the events of the present time. With the view of hindsight, which is always 20/20, they see how the issue of slavery is near-universally reviled in the future and that, where they had hoped to be vindicated for their actions by their descendants, almost the entire world viewed the Civil War and Southern Secession to be nothing more than a crime against humanity itself. With this new information, Congress is more inclined to agree to Lee's plan to pass a bill for gradual emancipation of its entire slave population. The bill itself was modeled after a proposed act of legislation in slave-holding Brazil, though the real bill was not proposed until years after the setting of the novel, and Turtledove has conceded that it is, indeed, anachronistic.

Lee orders the Confederate army against the AWB. However, the AWB have managed to secure control over an area around Rivington, due largely to elements of their advanced technology which they have not shared with Lee's men (including mines, mortars, walkie-talkies, flak jackets, and so-called "endless repeaters", in reality belt-fed machine guns that prevented any form of massed advance on the AWB lines), and they manage to successfully repel all Confederate attempts to retake their territory. With the AWB resupplied from the future, the conflict appears to be a stalemate. With a newly reinstated Forrest in command, it is a brilliant strategy by Lt. Colonel Henry Pleasants, a former Union officer who remained in the South after he had been captured during the War, that finally allows the Confederates to breach the AWB perimeter. The Confederate forces manage to overcome the AWB's superior technology through sheer numbers and determination. The AWB combatants are eventually defeated, and those who are unable to escape in their time machine are captured. Rhoodie surrenders, but is killed by one of his slaves in retaliation for severe mistreatment. Most of the Rivington men kept their slaves under deplorable conditions and, despite years of tradition which demand the slave be put to death, even the Confederate soldiers believe Rhoodie deserved what he got, quickly ordering the slave to flee the area.

The surviving AWB members are held in a Confederate prison under constant guard. While all face a sentence of death, proceedings are on indefinite stay so long as those willing to cooperate assist in bridging the gaps in the information presented in the historical texts and technological items recovered following the AWB's defeat. Although some gaps would prove almost impossible to fill due to numerous generations of technological advancements—1870s technology would be far too immature to attempt to repair a 21st century computer at the component level, for example—most of the AWB survivors agree to cooperate.

A minor effect - but very important to Lee himself - is the introduction if nitroglycerine from the future, helping to stave off Lee's heart disease and ensure him a longer life than he had in our history.

The book does not continue beyond 1870. The ending gives the impression that later relations between the Confederacy and the US, as well as between Whites and Blacks in the Confederacy itself, would be considerably better than in Turtedove's unrelated Southern Victory timeline, which proceeds from a different Point of Departure and does not involve a time-travelling incursion from the future.

The Grey Trailer Official 2012 [HD] - Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney

2012-01-14T01:50:00.000-08:00

Im not a big fan of this actor but the film looks like it might be worth a watch!

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The Grey Man - Playin' Possum

2012-01-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

“A prudent man foreseeth evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”

~Proverbs 22:3

For a while now,I have planned on doing a blog post about what some folks like to call the "Grey man". I kinda pride myself on being the "Grey man" because I like to blend in when Im traveling around the world.

Depending on the venue,I rarely ever wear the types of clothing(5.11,Blackhawk,etc.) or carry the types of back packs or man purses(Blackhawk,Maxpedition,etc.)that a lot of my fellow contractors do.I don't walk around wearing a huge watch with all the bells and whistles on it. Nor do I wear a multi tool, logos of any type,or military clothing. I try to perpetuate the look of a vacationing Old teacher rather than that of a hippy backpacker, or out of work mercenary.

I do own that stuff though and will use it when operational on a FOB or remote location etc.

People, especially younger folks tend to forget that the only thing you can assume about a broken down old man is THAT HE IS a SURVIVOR.

As the "Grey Man" living and working/traveling all around the world ,I do carry, concealed on my person(in my "possum pouch"),several items which I call my escape kit. These items are;

1. plastic hand cuff key.
2. 3' of kevlar string - great for sawing through flex cuffs.
3. a small "Button" SAS compass - kind of expensive but worth it.
4. Hand cuff shim
5. my Swiss army knife with a scissors and saw
6. sometimes my lock pick set(I'm a certified locksmith).

The string, cuff key, button compass, and brass shim are easily hidden in my personal clothing every day.

Im toying with the idea of buying a small ceramic blade also but just have not found one of suitable size for my purposes.

I liken the "Grey Man" to the American Opossum,visible but not paid much attention too, fierce if need be, able to blend in to urban or wild environments,able to play dead(and live to fight another day),has hidden places to keep things on his(its) person. And Their specialized biology, flexible diet and reproductive strategy make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions.

Not at all Unlike the "Grey Man". If I had to pick an animal to be like Id choose the Opossum because of its versatility.

While surfing the net looking for pictures etc. to use for the post I stumbled on to this post by "Habcan" on the western rifle shooters blog at:

http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2007/05/next-steps-grey-man.html

I probably could have written something better but, Im feeling lazy today and "Habcan" expresses the description of the "Grey man" pretty well. The blog seems to have some good stuff on it also.

Anyhoo, check it out if you feel like it.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

The Grey Man

The latest from Habcan:

The Grey Man is always invisible in plain sight.

The Grey Man is totally aware of his environs, his own capabilities or lack thereof, his weaponry and his levels of competence with that weaponry. He constantly strives to improve upon both his capabilities and competence. In public, he is always respectful, even to the point of obsequiousness if the situation calls for it. He always appears to be just a little confused by what is happening around him, while in reality he is alertly doing a tactical assessment.

The Grey Man NEVER draws attention to himself by word, dress, action, or mannerism. The Young Grey Man is dismissed as a wimp, the Older as a doddering old fool. The Grey Man derives great inner satisfaction from having this portrayal of himself accepted by all he meets, for it means he is succeeding in his disguise of his actual persona.

The Grey Man is a private man. He practices with his weaponry in private, or only with his fellow Grey Men, always in a secluded location. If he must resort to use of a public facility, he schedules his practice for times when he is likely to be the only one there. At such times he would probably wear bright clothing, to be remembered only as ‘that guy in the red jacket and sunglasses’, a quite different person from his usual persona. If right-handed, he would always occupy the leftmost station on a NRA bulls eye pistol range, with his back to an observer, or the rightmost one for riflery or combat pistol practice. He would not have his name emblazoned on clothing or equipment, nor would he have any noteworthy affiliation proclaimed on his cap. “He’s just a guy. Comes every Wednesday morning for his coffee break. Always pays cash.”

The Grey Man does not drive a pink Cadillac with steer horns on the hood, NOR does he drive the biggest mutherin’ 4X4-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles BOV in the lot. The older his vehicle is, the rustier, the less likely it is to draw attention (or to be stolen, for that matter). This vehicle is, under its exterior, scrupulously maintained and in excellent running order. If pulled over by authority on the basis of appearance, it can be shown to meet or exceed all requirements under licensing laws, and an obsequious co-operative manner precludes a search under the seats. The Grey Man does not speed on the highway: cruise control is his friend. So is the Highway Patrol: he waves to any he sees. If he travels the same route constantly, at the same times, The Grey Man becomes a ‘fixture’ and can be dismissed from conscious observation.

It helps the Survivor to build up this persona of The Grey Man gradually and over time. The anti-gun sheeple neighbors will quickly rat out the ‘Patriot’ who is always loudly declaiming about his ‘Rights’ and ‘what will happen if they try to take my guns’. The Grey Man goes far out of his way never to offend anyone, imitating the duck which appears calm on the surface of his pond whilst paddling like hell under the surface.

Be seen as conservative in all you do. A Survivor is a Grey Man, and that little old grey man alone over there in the corner is probably a Survivor!

And that young guy next to him? Just another wimp? Or are they both watching each other’s backs?

Making the other guy waste precious time in assessing the situation is a big part of staying alive. Practice being grey now, while there's time to build your skills.

Kamal Navigation device

2012-01-08T01:28:00.000-08:00

Has anyone out there ever seen or used one of these Kamal navigation devices?? If so drop me a line and let me know how it works and how effective they are. I might just have to make one. Until looking up info on Arab Dhows I had never heard of this type of Navigation tool.

I think it is about as cool as the sun compass used by the vikings and then centuries later by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) in the deserts of Libya in WW2.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

A kamal is a celestial navigation device that determines latitude. The invention of the kamal allowed for the earliest known latitude sailing, and was thus the earliest step towards the use of quantitative methods in navigation. It originated with Arab navigators of the late 9th century, and was employed in the Indian Ocean from the 10th century. It was adopted by Indian navigators soon after, and then adopted by Chinese navigators some time before the 16th century.

Description:
The kamal consists of a rectangular wooden card about 2 by 1 inches (5.1 by 2.5 cm), to which a string with several equally spaced knots is attached through a hole in the middle of the card. The kamal is used by placing one end of the string in the teeth while the other end is held away from the body roughly parallel to the ground. The card is then moved along the string, positioned so the lower edge is even with the horizon, and the upper edge is occluding a target star, typically Polaris because its angle to the horizon does not change with longitude or time. The angle can then be measured by counting the number of knots from the teeth to the card, or a particular knot can be tied into the string if traveling to a known latitude.

The knots were typically tied to measure angles of one finger-width. When held at arm's length, the width of a finger measures an angle that remains fairly similar from person to person. This was widely used (and still is today) for rough angle measurements, an angle known as issabah in Arabic, or a chih in Chinese. By modern measure, this is about 1 degree, 36 minutes, and 25 seconds, or just over 1.5 degrees.

Due to the limited width of the card, the kamal was only really useful for measuring Polaris in equatorial latitudes, which perhaps explains why it was not common in Europe. For these higher-latitude needs somewhat more complex devices based on the same principle were used, notably the cross-staff and backstaff.

The kamal is still a tool recommended for use in sea kayaking.In such an application, it can be used for estimating distances to land.

Around this time (of the Discoveries) the Arabs were using a very ingenious instrument in the Mediterranean Sea that allowed them to know latitude. It was called al-kamal – the guiding line. It was simply a small wooden board with a notch made on top and in the middle of it and a piece of string that was attached to the centre of the board; it could only be operated at night. To find where they were, an operator would adjust the distance of the piece of wood closer or farther away from his eyes in order to have the bottom of the plank levelled with the horizon and the North Star placed inside the notch. The operator would then tie a knot in the string on the point where it touched his nose, and a celestial location was then marked. There were no angles to measure and record or complicated mathematical formulas to consider. From then on the navigator knew that every time the horizon was leveled with the bottom of the board, the North Star was inside the notch, and the distance measured in the string was the same as marked, he was in a place that had the same latitude as the one where he had made those measurements. Portugal had to wait for Vasco da Gama to bring it from India on the first voyage he made there in 1498.

Arab Dhows

2012-01-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

I had some time to kill so I walked over to the Kuwait science center to check out the Arab Sailing Dhow exhibit.

The exhibit consists of several original Arab Dhows of different sizes moored in a small enclosure. I especially liked the largest of these vessels, apparently it was built in 1938 by the famous Arab Shipright AliAbdul-Rashoul, for Mohammad Al-Ghanim and sailed the coastal waters until 1994 when it was purchased by the Kuwait historical society for this exhibit.

One of the things I found interesting was the Cooking hearth(see picture) which was housed in a small shed in the bow of the ship. From where I was standing, I could see a concrete like hearth , a large cooking pot and a large kettle for boiling water to make coffee or tea.

This set me to thinking about the cook and the challenges he must have faces trying to feed a crew of men on a rough sea.

Viewing these vessels, I could almost imagine myself standing on the burning deck , or working in the rigging as the beautiful old ship plied its was around the gulf. Those classic days of the Arab fishing/sailing Dhows are - from what some say "Gone forever". But I have seen a few Dhows on the water when I go jogging on the corneiche, for me, it is good to know that this part of our human history has not been lost or forgotten.

I have included a bit of info on Dhows for those interested.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Dhow (Arabic,داو) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Some historians believe the dhow was invented by Arabs but this is disputed by some others. Dhows typically weigh 300 to 500 tons, and have a long, thin hull design. They are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, fresh water or merchandises, along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and East Africa. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty people, while smaller dhows typically have crews of around twelve.

History:
Even to the present day, dhows make commercial journeys between the Persian Gulf and East Africa using sails as their only means of propulsion. Their cargo is mostly dates and fish to East Africa and mangrove timber to the lands in the Persian Gulf. They often sail south with the monsoon in winter or early spring, and back again to Arabia in late spring or early summer.

Some scholars claim that the sambuk, a type of Dhow, may be derived from the Portuguese caravel.

Traditionally Yemeni Hadhrami people, as well as Omanis, came to Beypore, Kerala, India along the centuries in order to build Dhows. The reasons were the availability of good timber in the forests of Kerala, the availability of good coir rope and also the presence of skilled carpenters specialized in ship building. Formerly the sheathing planks of a dhow's hull were held together by coconut rope instead of nails. Beypore Dhows are known as 'Uru' in Malayalam, the local language of Kerala. Settlers from Yemen, later known as 'Baramis', are still active in Uru business in Kerala.

Captain Alan Villiers (1903 – 1982) documented the days of sailing trade in the Indian Ocean by sailing on dhows between 1938 and 1939 taking numerous photographs and publishing books on the subject of dhow navigation.

Navigation:
For celestial navigation, dhow sailors have traditionally used the kamal. This observation device determines latitude by finding the angle of the Pole Star above the horizon.

Types of dhow:

Baghlah (بغلة) - From the Arabic language word for "mule". A heavy ship, the traditional deep-sea dhow.

Baqarah or baggarah (بقارة) - From the Arabic word for "cow". Old type of small dhow similar to the Battil.

Barijah - Small dhow.

Battil (بتيل) - featured long stems topped by large, club-shaped stem heads.

Badan - a smaller vessel requiring a shallow draft.

Boum (بوم) or dhangi - a large-sized dhow with a stern that is tapering in shape and a more symmetrical overall structure. The Arab boom has a very high prow, which is trimmed in the Indian version.

Ghanjah (غنجه) or kotiya - a large vessel, similar to the Baghlah, with a curved stem and a sloping, ornately carved transom.

Jahazi or jihazi. A fishing or trading dhow with a broad hull similar to the Jalibut, common in Lamu Island and the coast of Oman. It is also used in Bahrain for the pearl industry.

Jalibut or jelbut (جالبوت)- A small to medium-sized dhow. It is the modern version of the shu'ai with a shorter prow stem piece. Most jalibuts are fitted with engines.

Pattamar, a type of Indian dhow.

Sambuk or sambuq (سنبوك‎) - The largest type of Dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history.

Shu'ai (شوعي)- Medium-sized dhow. Formerly the most common dhow in the Persian Gulf used for fishing as well as for coastal trade.

Zaruq - Small dhow, slightly larger than a barijah.

The term "dhow" is sometimes also applied to certain smaller lateen-sail rigged boats traditionally used in the Red Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf area, as well as in the Indian Ocean from Madagascar to the Bay of Bengal. These include the feluccas used in Egypt, Sudan and Iraq, and the Dhoni used in the Maldives, as well as the tranki, ghrab and ghalafah.All these vessels have common elements with the dhow. In East African countries such as Kenya the Swahili word used for dhow is "jahazi".

Big Smoke Cigar Store

2012-01-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

I was wandering around Salmiya, Kuwait today and stumbled upon a billboard that advertized "Gurkha" Brand Cigars.Never seen that brand before , so I decided to check them out.

After a short search I was able to locate the "Big Smoke" Cigar store but it was closed. I did a bit of window shopping and noticed several types of Cuban cigars and many high end accessories for the Cigar smoking consumer.

Im hoping to go back and buy a couple of the "Gurkha" Brand Cigars and give them a try.

In the mean time you can check out the Big Smoke website at; www.http://bigsmokekw.com/

its kinda cool, you might like it.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Yiorgos Caralambo - Camel Driver

2012-01-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

"Greek George" as his American counterparts called him was a Camel driver for the U.S. Army Camel Corps experiment. He was Hired at the same time as "Hi Jolly" and came to the USA on the ship USS Supply. He appears to be an interesting character. It makes me wonder how a Greek citizen came to be living in Smyrna,Turkey working as a camel herder - there has got to be an adventurous story in the somewhere.

I couldnt find much about the man or his fellow Camel Drivers except "Hi Jolly". Please take a look at the info below and feel free to drop me a line if you find anything additional about the Camel corps or any of the men.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Yiorgos (Greek George) Caralambo (? - September 2, 1913) was a camel driver hired by US Army in 1856 for the Camel Corps experiment in the Southwest. The camels were to be tested for use in transportation across the "Great American Desert."

Biography:
Caralambo, who was of Greek ancestry, was living in Smyrna, Turkey, when he was selected for the Camel Corps. The American government hired eight camel drivers from Asia Minor to tend for the animals.Caralambo and the other camel drivers arrived at the Port of Indianola in Lavaca County, Texas with their animals on the USS Supply.In Steven Dean Pastis' article "Go West Greek George," the eight men are identified: Caralambo, Hadji Ali (later known as Philip Tedro), Mimico Teodora (Mico), Hadjiatis Yannaco (Long Tom), Anastasio Coralli (Short Tom), Michelo Georgios, Yanni IIIato and Giorgios Costi.

The United States had purchased a total of 33 camels: 3 in Tunis, 9 in Egypt, and 21 in Smyrna. The Camel Corps hauled supplies to build the Butterfield Overland Stage Route from St. Louis, Missouri to Los Angeles. The route was completed by September 1858.

Through his service in the Camel Corps, Greek George met Major Henry Hancock, a Harvard trained lawyer and wealthy Los Angeles landowner. Hancock was so impressed by Caralambo's dedication that he wanted to employ him privately to drive camels carrying mail along the Butterfield Route. Hancock allowed Greek George to build a farmhouse with stables to house the dromedaries in the northwest part of Rancho La Brea, in present-day West Hollywood. The plan fell through when the Army disbanded the Camel Corps in 1862. Greek George was forced to turn the camels into the wild; they roamed the area for at least thirty years afterwards.

Greek George remained at Rancho La Brea well into the 1870s, taking care of Major Hancock's cattle and horses. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1867 and changed his name to George Allen.

On May 5, 1874, Tiburcio Vasquez, the most notorious of the Mexican banditos to terrorize California in the 1870s and 1880s, was captured while hiding out in a shack behind the home of Caralambos, known to locals as "Greek George". Vasquez, who terrorized Southern California for over twenty-three years, frequently used Greek George's farmhouse as one of his numerous hideouts. Someone informed on Vasquez, possibly Greek George himself, enticed by the $15,000 reward. However, others claim it was a relative of Vasquez, angry because the outlaw had had an affair with the relative's niece. A posse led by Sheriff Albert Johnson rode from Los Angeles to Greek George's residence. The site is in present day West Hollywood, thought to be near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and King's Road.

Caralambos later moved to Montebello, California and died near Mission Vieja San Gabriel in 1913.

Hi Jolly or Hadji Ali

2012-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

"Hi Jolly" is another interesting rascal from western american history. Originally hired by the Army as a Packer and Camel driver(Contractor) for the 1850s Camel corps experiment, "Hi Jolly" was a veteran military campainer with the French Army in Algeria and probably other places, and he was a knowledgeable scout and animal handler.

Info about this man is a little scarce but here is what I have found.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Hi Jolly or Hadji Ali (Arabic: حاج علي Ḥājj ‘Alī; Turkish: Hacı Ali), later known as Philip Tedro (born ‘Ali al-Hajaya 1828—December 16, 1902), was an Ottoman subject of Jordanian parentage,and in 1856 became one of the first camel drivers ever hired by the US Army to lead the camel driver experiment in the Southwest. Hi Jolly became a living legend until his death in Arizona. Once, insulted because he had not been invited to a German picnic in Los Angeles, he broke up the gathering by driving into it on a yellow cart pulled by two of his pet camels.

Biography:
As near as anyone can determine, he was born of Jordanian Bedouin parentage in Jordan in the region of the Levant around 1828.Hi Jolly, originally named Ḥājj ‘Alī, was an Ottoman citizen. He worked for the Ottoman armed forces and he was a breeder and trainer of camels. Some sources allege that he took the name Hadji Ali during his early life after making the pilgrimage to Mecca. The title hajji was given when, as a Muslim, he made the Hajj pilgrimage.Other sources report that his mother was of Greek origin and his father was Syrian. Hi Jolly's membership in the Army's Camel Corps experiment was not his first quasi-military adventure. He served with the French Army in Algiers before signing on as a camel driver for the US Army in 1856.

Ali was one of several men brought over by the American Government who were to drive the camels as beasts of burden for transporting cargo across what was then known as the "Great American Desert." Eight of the men, including Ali, were of Greek origins, having arrived at the Port of Indianola in Lavaca County, Texas aboard the USS Supply.

The book Go West Greek George by Steven Dean Pastis, published in both Greek and English, specifically identifies all eight men. These pioneers were Yiorgos Caralambo (later known as Greek George),Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly, a.k.a. Philip Tedro), Mimico Teodora (Mico), Hadjiatis Yannaco (Long Tom), Anastasio Coralli (Short Tom), Michelo Georgios, Yanni Iliato, and Giorgios Costi. The Americans acquired 3 camels in Tunis, 9 in Egypt, and 21 in Smyrna, 33 in all. Ali was the lead camel driver during the US Army's experiment with the U.S. Camel Corps in using camels in the dry deserts of the Southwest.

After successfully traveling round trip from Texas to California, the experiment went bust, partly due to the problem that the Army's burros, horses, and mules feared the large animals, often panicking, and the tensions of the American Civil War led to Congress not approving more funds for the Corps. In 1864, the camels were finally auctioned off in Benicia, California and Camp Verde, Texas.

After the Camel Corps, Ali attempted to run a freight business between the Colorado River and mining establishments to the east using a few camels he kept. Unfortunately, the business failed and Ali released his camels into the Arizona desert near Gila Bend. He was discharged from the Quartermaster Department of the U.S. Army at Camp McDowell in 1870.

In 1880 Ali became an American citizen and used the name Philip Tedro (sometimes spelled Teadrow) when he married Gertrudis Serna in Tucson, Arizona. The couple had two children.In 1885, Ali was rehired by the U.S. Army where he worked as packer under Brig. Gen. George Crook during the Geronimo campaign. In his final years Ali moved to Quartzsite, Arizona where he mined and occasionally scouted for the US government. He died in 1902 and was buried in the Quartzsite Cemetery.

U.S. Army Camel Corps

2012-01-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

I first heard about the U.S. Army Camel corps when I saw the Moive "Hawmps" a comedy about the Corps and its camels and soldiers. Didnt take it seriously though and nevr even thought about it until one night several years later I was sharing a fire with one of my drifter associates known as Frying pan Jack..........We started talking about Pack Mules and Burros we had known, while passing a bottle of Old overholt whisky back and forth.

Old Fry mentioned the Camel corps and the grave site of "High Jolly" the Syrian who came to the USA back in the day as a camel handler for the Army. Apparently "High Jolly" spent 30 years in the army and died near Quartzite ,Arizona in 1902(?).

The U.S. Camel Corps was a mid-nineteenth century experiment by the United States Army in using camels as pack animals in the Southwest United States.

While the camels proved to be hardy and well-suited to travel through the region, the Army declined to adopt them for military use. Horses were frightened of the unfamiliar animals, and their unpleasant dispositions made them difficult to manage.

So, I have included some 411 below for your historical enjoyment. If you can find the movie "Hawmps" check it out, its good for a laugh.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Origin:
In 1836, Major George H. Crosman encouraged the United States Department of War to use camels for transportation in campaigns against Native Americans in Florida during the Seminole Wars because of their ability to survive on little food and water. His arguments won the attention of Senator Jefferson Davis. It was not until after the U.S.-Mexican War (1846–1848), when the US forces were required to campaign in arid and desert regions, that officials began to take the idea seriously.

Newly appointed as Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce, Jefferson Davis found the Army needed to improve transportation in the southwestern US, which he and most observers thought a great desert. (The adventurer Josiah Harlan was lobbying for the Army to use camels.) The rough terrain and dry climate were considered too harsh for the horses and mules regularly used by the Army. Among those supporting the alternative mounts was Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale. When his unit had taken the arid southern route, it ran out of water, endangering both men and beasts, and was attacked by Apaches. Beale thought camels superior for transport in such an inhospitable landscape. He was influenced by reading Évariste Régis Huc's Recollections of a Journey Through Tartary, Thibet [Tibet], and China in 1852, which extolled the camel's virtues.Ironically, camels originated in North America but had died out in their home continent due to hunting and climate change; their descendants survived only in Asia, Africa and in South America as llamas.

On March 3, 1855, the US Congress appropriated $30,000 for the project. Major Henry C. Wayne, was assigned to procure the camels. On June 4, 1855, Wayne departed New York City on board the USS Supply, under the command of then-Lieutenant David Dixon Porter, a cousin of Beale.

The ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in Smyrna on January 30, 1856, where it loaded 21 (some reports say 31) camels. Two weeks later it departed with the camels and five handlers for the Gulf of Mexico. On April 29, 1856, the Supply arrived at Indianola, Texas. Large swells made the transferring the camels to a shallower draft ship for landing impossible; both ships had to go to the mouth of the Mississippi River to find calmer waters for the transfer. The Fashion arrived at Indianola and unloaded the camels on May 14, 1856. A second shipment of forty-one camels arrived on February 10, 1857.

Use in the Southwest:
On June 4, 1856, the Army loaded the camels and they were driven to Camp Verde via Victoria and San Antonio.Reports from initial tests were largely positive. The camels proved to be exceedingly strong, and were able to move quickly across terrain which horses found difficult. Their legendary ability to go without water proved valuable on an 1857 survey mission led by Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale. He rode a camel from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River and his team used 25 camels on the trip. The survey team took the camels into California, where they were stationed at the Benicia Arsenal.

During a 1859 survey of the Trans-Pecos region to find a shorter route to Fort Davis, the Army used the camels again. Under the command of Lt. Edward Hartz and Lt. William Echols, the team surveyed much of the Big Bend area. In 1860, Echols headed another survey team through the Trans-Pecos that employed the Camel Corps.

End of the experiment:
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Camel Corps was mostly forgotten. Handlers had had difficulty with their camels spooking the horses and mules. Beale offered to keep the Army's camels on his property, but Union Secretary of War Edwin Stanton rejected the offer. Many of the camels were sold to private owners; others escaped into the desert throughout the West and British Columbia. Beale's favorite, the white camel "Seid", fought with another camel during rutting season and was killed by a crushing blow to head. Seid's bones were sent to the Smithsonian Institution. Feral camels continued to be sighted in the Southwest through the early 1900s, with the last reported sighting in 1941 near Douglas, Arizona.

Hi Jolly (Hadji Ali), an Ottoman citizen, came to the US as the lead camel driver. He lived out his life in the US. After his death in 1902, he was buried in Quartzsite, Arizona. His grave is marked by a pyramid-shaped monument topped with a small metal camel.

Frank Laumeister, a veteran of the corps, bought several camels from the Army. He took his herd to the new Colony of British Columbia in 1862-1863, where he used the animals to carry freight on the Douglas Road, Old Cariboo Road and other gold rush-era routes there. Between the region's rocky trails and roads, which cut up the camels' feet, and the hostility between camels and mules, the experiment was a failure.

Laumeister put his camels out to pasture, from which some escaped. The last sighting of a feral camel in British Columbia was in the 1930s. Their presence in local history is reflected in the name of the Camelsfoot Range near Lillooet, and in a local basin called "the Camoo".

Aeta Negritos in the Philippines

2012-01-04T20:47:00.001-08:00

I was missing my Aeta friends at Pamalaklakan village today. Just thought id throw out this info about some of my favorite people on earth. Each time I visit my friends near Subic Bay, I am made to feel at home, and oddly I feel more comfortable there than I do in my own country.

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk - scouts out!
The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta,”), Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are considered to be Negritos, who are dark to very dark brown-skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small frame, curly to kinky afro-like textured hair with a higher frequency of naturally lighter hair color (blondism) relative to the general population, small nose, and dark brown eyes. They are thought to be among the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian migrations.

The Aeta were included in the group of people termed "Negrito" during Spanish colonial rule as Negritos. Various Aeta groups in northern Luzon are known as "Pugut" or "Pugot," a name designated by their Ilocano-speaking neighbors, and which is the colloquial term for those with darker complexions. In Ilocano, the word also means "goblin" or "forest spirit."

The Aeta people in the Philippines are Australo-Melanesians. Today other groups of Australo-Melanesians are the Aborigines in Australia, Papuans and the Melanesians of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia etc. The history of the Aeta continues to confound anthropologists and archaeologists. One theory suggests that the Aeta are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines, who, contrary to their sea-faring Austronesian neighbors, arrived through land bridges that linked the country with the Asian mainland about 30,000 years ago. Unlike many of their Austronesian counterparts, the Aetas have shown resistance to change. The attempts of the Spaniards to settle them in reducciones or reservations all throughout Spanish rule failed.

The Aeta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of the Philippines. Aetas are considered as the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian migrations. They are nomadic and build only temporary shelters made of sticks driven to the ground and covered with the palm of banana leaves. The well-situated and more modernized Aetas have moved to villages and areas of cleared mountains. They live in houses made of bamboo and cogon grass. Aetas are found in Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Angeles, Olongapo, Panay, Bataan and Nueva Ecija. But because of the Mount Pinatubo eruption, some of them moved to resettlement areas in Pampanga and Tarlac.

Nel Mathiasan was the first explorer to rule the Aetas.

Mining, deforestation, illegal logging, and slash-and-burn farming has caused the indigenous population in all parts of the Philippines to steadily decrease to the point where they number in the thousands today. The Philippines affords them no protection. In addition, the Aeta have become extremely nomadic due to social and economic strain on their culture and way of life that had previously remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Demographics
The life expectancy at birth of the Aeta is just 16.5 years,with only a third of children surviving to adulthood at 15 years – at which point life expectancy is still only 27.3 years. Young women reach full adult height (average 140 cm) at age 12 or 13.

Language
All Aeta communities have adopted the language of their Austronesian Filipino neighbors, which have sometimes diverged over time to become different languages. These include, in order of number of speakers, Mag-indi, Mag-antsi, Abellen, Ambala, and Mariveleño.

Religion
There are different views on the dominant character of the Aeta religion. Those who believe they are monotheistic argue that various Aeta tribes believe in a supreme being who rules over lesser spirits or deities, with the Aeta of Mt. Pinatubo worshipping "Apo Na". The Aetas are also animists. For example, the Pinatubo Aeta believe in environmental spirits such as anito and kamana. They believe that good and evil spirits inhabit the environment, such as the spirits of the river, sea, sky, mountain, hill, valley and other places.

No special occasion is needed for the Aeta to pray, although there is a clear link between prayer and economic activities. The Aeta dance before and after a pig hunt. The night before Aeta women gather shellfish, they perform a dance which is partly an apology to the fish and partly a charm to ensure the catch. Similarly, the men hold a bee dance before and after the expeditions for honey.

In the mid-60s missionaries of the American-based Evangelical Protestant mission group New Tribes Mission, in their effort to reach every Philippine tribal group with the Christian Gospel reached out to the Agtas/Aetas. The mission agency provided education including pastoral training for natives to reach members of their own tribe. Today, a large percentage of Agtas/Aetas of Zambales and Pampanga are Evangelicals.[citation needed] Jehovah's Witnesses also have members of the Aeta people. (See 1993 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses).

Clothing
Their traditional clothing is very simple. The young women wear wrap around skirts. Elder women wear bark cloth, while elder men wear loin cloths. The old women of the Agta wear a bark cloth strip which passes between the legs, and is attached to a string around the waist. Today most Aeta who have been in contact with lowlanders have adopted the T-shirts, pants and rubber sandals commonly used by the latter.

Practices
The Aetas are skillful in weaving and plaiting.

Women exclusively weave winnows and mats. Only men make armlets. They also produce raincoats made of palm leaves whose bases surround the neck of the wearer, and whose topmost part spreads like a fan all around the body.

Medicine
Aeta women are known around the country as experts of herbal medicines.

Art
A traditional form of visual art is body scarification. The Aetas intentionally wound the skin on their back, arms, breast, legs, hands, calves and abdomen, and then they irritate the wounds with fire, lime and other means to form scars.

Other "decorative disfigurements" include the chipping of the teeth. With the use of a file, the Dumagat modify their teeth during late puberty. The teeth are dyed black a few years afterwards.

The Aetas generally use ornaments typical of people living in subsistence economies. Flowers and leaves are used as earplugs for certain occasions. Girdles, necklaces, and neckbands of braided rattan incorporated with wild pig bristles are frequently worn.

Music
The Aeta have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles – ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument.

Ron Hood and survival.com

2012-01-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

As most of you know I do a bit of traveling and do not for the most part live in what I like to call “Main stream America”. The result of this is that I tend to get my information from stateside a little late.

A long while back I was informed that Rom Hood of Hoods Woods video series and the founder of survival.com had passed away. Ron had been fighting a battle with cancer but died of a heart attack during the night, while sleeping by Karen's side.

http://www.survival.com/?page_id=838 - follow link for additional info.

The survival industry is pretty small and when one of our own passes on it makes quite a void. Ron hood ,to me was the original survival guy. I had collected all of his and Karen’s videos and enjoyed them very much.

Especially the South American Jungle survival and solo survival episodes. I do Like the “Cave cooking” videos real well also.

I appreciate Karen and Ron's care and approach to taking care of their cuhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifstomers. While working in the middle east as a contractor ,I made some purchases from the Hoods. Karen went out of her way to ensure that I got the vids etc. via APO.

Quality customer service is something I will not forget.

Please check out the survival.com website and lend support to Ron's family. It is a good site and Forum loaded with a lot of useful information.

http://www.survival.com/

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

Beads

2011-12-28T06:37:00.001-08:00

The other day I was walking along the beach and began to notice bead like objects in the sand. So, I began picking them up and discovered that they were actually bits of coral and shell that time , sans and surf action had turned into natural beads.I collected a large bag of them and and will give them to my friend Mam in Thailand. She enjoys this type of natural beauty and simplicity.

I began to wonder about beads in history and how long they have been around. I was surprised to see that they have been around in various forms for over 80,000 years.

See below a short article I found on the net at ; http://www.mckenzieglassworks.com/history_of_beads.htm

you might find it interesting. If not Im sure you can easily locate more info elsewhere.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

A VERY SHORT HISTORY OF BEADS AND THEIR SYMBOLOGY

by Michelle McKenzie copyright 2006

Beads have been significant for many cultures for eons. They've been used as money and worn as talismans

and amulets to bring wisdom and fortune to the wearer. Found dating back 38,000 years, beads have

been made from pebbles, shells, teeth, claws, clay, glass and more. Glass became an important

material in beadmaking with its discovery, around 3400 years ago.

The word bead comes from the Anglo Saxon words bidden (to pray) and bede (prayer.) Prayer beads are known world-wide, and help the user recite prayers and keep track of the sequence and number of the prayers. Worry beads, also common around the world, help with decision-making, and keep the hands busy. Beads continue to be used as talismans to protect the wearer against evil, and as amulets to bring wisdom and fortune.

Used for prayers, protection, worries, money or adornment, beads have been important to us for a very long time. The history of beads is long and rich, and if you would care to read more, a list is offered at the end of this to assist you further in your studies.

Glass was discovered about 3,400 years ago, and since then has become a very important material for the bead-maker, user and wearer. Lampwork beads are made using a “lamp” (flame) as a heat source for melting the glass. Now lampworkers use torches to heat the glass to a molten state and gather it on a steel rod. Canes of glass are blended, melted and coaxed into the many colors, shapes and designs seen today.

SYMBOLOGY

There are a number of symbols used the world over in beads and other objects, and it’s useful to know the meanings of these. Symbolism, too, entails a huge body of work, and books on this subject are listed here as well. Below are a few that will be useful for this workshop.

bullet Spiral – a symbol of being, knowing or becoming.
bullet Circle – totality, perfection, unity, eternity. A symbol of completeness that can include ideas of permanence and dynamism.
bullet Eye – occult 3rd eye, or eye of the heart can mean spiritual perception. Sometimes an eye is painted on an object to protect against the evil eye. Blue is a favorite color for these.
bullet Dots – are also called eye beads and were used to protect against the evil eye.
bullet White – purity, innocence, truth, sacred or devine
bullet Black – loss, absence
bullet Red – life, strength, vitality, physical nature
bullet Yellow – intellect, mind
bullet Green – harmony, sympathy, higher mental plane
bullet Blue – inspiration, devotion, the spiritual nature

Suggested reading for further study:
bullet Beads; an Exploration of Bead Traditions Around the World. Janet Coles. Simon & Schuster. ISBN:068483462
bullet The Universal Bead. Joan Erikson. Norton. ISBN:0393310051
bullet Dictionary of Symbols. Jack Tresidder. Chronicle. ISBN:081181470X
bullet The Complete Book of Amulets & Talismans. Megene Gonzalez-Wippler. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN:087542287X

Tuba palm Wine by Trailhawk

2011-12-25T01:56:00.000-08:00

Was missing the Phillipines today. Christmas in the PI IS USUALLY A GREAT TIME. My good friend Trailhawk AKA Jing. posted this about making "Tuba" palm wine in his FB page.

Thought you might enjoy it.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Jing Lavilles de EgurrolaCamp Red

Foreign-based bushmen, look at this picture. It is a coconut tree with a cut-out bottle of Sprite attached upside down to the heart of the coconut. The heart is lopped off and the sap goes collected into the plastic bottle. What you don't know about the collected liquid is, it becomes what we call coconut wine or coconut juice or simply in our vernacular "tuba". Tuba when stale becomes "bahal" and when fermented becomes "bahalina". Tuba, bahal or bahalina is our poor man's version of wine. The bahal when it becomes more stale becomes coconut vinegar.

Merry Christmas from Kuwait

2011-12-25T01:10:00.000-08:00

Tomahawk saying hello and Merry Christmas to all of my friends out there in Cyber space.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Cat Eye Light

2011-12-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to throw this out there. While on my last job I found this Cat Eye Light on top of my wall locker. Apparently some knuckle head put it up there and forgot about it. Good for me though. "Finders keepers Loser weepers" as the old saying goes.

Ordinarily I would not use this type of light or even think about it. Normally I use a Sure fire light, or a Head lamp of some type. But, Being a "free" light I decided to give it a try and save the batteries in my other lights for later use.

I found that I actually like this "Cat Eye" light. The beam is similar to my Sure Fire and this one has a strobe mode which is kinda cool. Ill never use a strobe for anything but at least I have the option now.

According to the "Cat Eye" website I apparently have model HL-AU230. Ok, cool.For those of you interested in checking out this type of light for possible use you can visit their website at ;

http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/HL-AU230/

I would recommend this light for all of you adventurers out there.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Why I dislike military contractors

2011-12-20T05:14:00.000-08:00

Time to drag this one out of moth balls, and as they say "A picture says a thousand words" the one I posted with this article says a million. - Tomahawk

I received an email from a good friend of mine who happens to be south African , he sent me a write up done by someone about the Military contractors one might find in the middle east and Afghanistan.

Having worked as a contractor in Qatar, Kuwait(twice!),Kosovo,Darfur, afghanistan and the Philippines, I can tell you that 95% of all the contractors I met were 100% assholes and dumb shits.

There are always those guys in pseudo authority positions that have this need to make the job harder then it has to be. Why? I don't know! Knuckleheads I suppose.

Over the years, I have met many Vietnam era Green Berets and Navy seals who were all great guys to work with or hang out with .

This new breed of special operator is a different animal all together, I have not met any army or navy SF types that I like . The USMC force recon guys Tho, are all - to the man, almost a pleasure to work with.

My most enjoyable contract was in Darfur Africa, Perhaps because it was because I was the only American working there, I had retired , professionals from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Canada as my peers. I like 100% of those guys.

anyhoo, Enough rambling. here is a cut and paste of the write up from

V Man;

So I got bored today and felt inspired. Here are my tips for new contractors:

Shave your head and grow facial hair. Bonus points for a scraggly Taliban beard. Lets’ face it, when Abdul is lining up that RPG with your vehicle, and he sees that bad assed beard, he will tremble in fear and put down his weapons. This is a proven fact. Also, it will help you blend in with the locals. Because all the locals are 6 foot 2, 250 pounds, speak English, and wear body armor.

Buy Gucci kit. I know your company may issue you armor, but it’s probably crap. UN style blue vests are the corporate rage. Don’t go buy that crappy airsoft knockoff crap from China. Buy quality American made kit. Even if your company issues you good stuff, buy your own. It’s just cooler that way. Make sure to fit as many pouches and magazines on it as you can. Get molle pouches with molle on them so you can attach other molle pouches to them. The more the better. If you can’t fit in the door of your truck, cut the strap so the door opens wider. Can’t fit behind the wheel? Take out the seat and sit on ammo cans. That’s hard core.

Get tattoos. I’m talking a lot of them. All over your arms and neck. Make sure they have skulls, tribal emblems, guns, Chinese characters, and barbed wire, in them. That makes them cool, which in turn makes you cool, and scary. Abdul sees that dark black ink all over you and shits his man jams. No way he’s going to fight that force. Huge crosses are always cool. Show everyone how devout of a Christian you are. Don’t put too much thought into the design, just pick something out of the book. Save that brainpower for the gym.

Steroids. Eat that shit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don’t worry about piss tests. Get some pencil necked admin geek to piss for you. Twenty bucks is a ton of cash for those TCN’s and you know they are clean for steroids.

Baseball cap. You need one and only one. Never change it or wash it. It needs to be sweat stained and covered with grime. Frayed edges and cool patches help. If you don’t have one, just grind a new one in the dirt for a while. Give it that “been there done that” look. The well gunner should be able to smell it when you’re driving.

Morale patches. If you suck and can’t cover all the available Velcro on your kit with pouches, cover it with morale patches. There should be at least on offensive word on each one. Skulls, religious references, and brand name knock offs, are always popular. Nothing says “professional” like a “Hey Fuck Face” patch.

Go to Thailand. Nothing says “I’m a winner” like paying a 16 year old for pussy. Better yet, get a Thai girlfriend. Support her, her husband, and her kids. Pay their rent and put braces on the crumb-snatchers. That way you always have a place to crash in country.

Go to the gym. Every chance you get. Wear muscle shirts to show off your tribal tat covered guns. Grunt loudly so everyone knows how hard you are working. If it sounds like a porno, you’re doing it right. Stare at yourself in the mirror and check out that ass. Remember, when your boss sees how much effort you’re putting into the gym, you will definitely get that team lead position.

Buy a new house. Your wife and her future husband need a good place to raise your kids. Make sure that the payments are at least 25% of your monthly paycheck.

Buy a new car and motorcycle. Don’t pussy out and get a Corolla. Get an F-350 Supercab four wheel drive with the biggest Diesel they offer. Get a Harley. Anything but a Sportster will work. I don’t care if you never rode before, you need a Harley. Keep them in the garage of that McMansion that you bought so your wife’s boyfriend can borrow them.

Spend all your money. You’ll get more in 28 days. Don’t save anything. It doesn’t matter that you have no retirement plan and social security will be non-existent when you are old. You can always start saving next year. This shit is tax free after all. Why should you save for tax payments?

Buy an iPod. Shit, buy three. You need one for the room, one for the gym, and one for the truck. How else are you going to jam to the greatest band in the world, Nickleback, while you are driving, lifting, and relaxing?

Bitch about the internet. It doesn’t matter that you are in some third world shithole, you have a right to be able to upload videos of yourself onto YouTube for everyone to see. Make sure to upload full videos of your daily movements. OPSEC is for pussies.

Facebook picture. If it doesn’t show your rifle, your kit, your truck, and your guns, you are doing it wrong.

Weapons accessories. Fuck policy, weapons were made to be altered. If there is open rail space, you fail. Bolt something to that. Buy a PEQ-4. It doesn’t matter if you don’t move at night, you still need it. Same goes with night vision. If you can’t afford the night vision, at least get the mount for your helmet. Vertical fore-grip is a must. Only losers use the hand guards. Plus, with all that shit bolted to the rails, you are going to need that vertical grip to hang on to. Weapon too heavy? Get your ass back to the gym.

Knives. You need lots of them. You need the biggest fucking knife you can find to strap to your kit. Make Mick Dundee piss down his leg in fear. Get another one to tape to your thigh rig. You need at least one Benchmade auto knife to clip in your pocket. When talking to people, click it open and closed repeatedly. This will get your point across no matter what it is. If you’re man enough, stick a knife in your boot and another around your neck. Listen, you really can’t have too many knives. They’re like magazines in that respect.

Cellphone. Like the internet, even though the citizens of the country you work in are still wiping their ass with small rocks, you need a cellphone that does everything. If you can’t check your email or surf porn while on venue, what good is it going outside the wire? If you can get a molle pouch to keep it on your kit, you get more bonus points. Bonus points are good for discounted pussy in Thailand.

Military Chicks. Lure them into your vehicle with promises of alcohol and big cocks. The PX is the best place to find them. Bang them hard enough so everyone in your container complex knows what’s going on. Make them walk home.

Alcohol. If your company allows alcohol, drink as much as you can as often as you can. Puke and piss in the hall. Challenge the TCN’s to gunfights and win. Break shit. Throw bottles. Make sure that the company seriously rethinks it’s alcohol policy every time you show your face. Ruin everyone else’s fun. Get so drunk you do things that while sober would be considered gay. It’s OK, you were drunk when you ate that pringle out of your TC’s ass. If your company doesn’t allow alcohol, get shitfaced anyways. Make sure to leave your empty bottles where admin will see it. Everyone loves having their room searched because you are a fucking idiot.

Saint Michael the Archangel

2011-12-20T05:03:00.000-08:00

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

Contractors.....A bunch of Fuck ups!

2011-12-14T00:45:00.000-08:00

As you followers of this blog are aware I am currently in Afghanistan working as a security contractor.

Several years ago I made a promise to myself to never take another Force Protection security contract due to the Low Caliber of people associated with this type of work.

Out of Boredom and desperation I accepted my current Force protection contract as mainly something to do while waiting for my Kuwait work visa to process.

Upon arrival in Afghanistan I was reminded of why I dislike this type of work - The people it attracts.

These jokers are all cut out of the same piece of cloth. to the man they only know about Guns, Pussy, working out and tattoos.

They seem to be the largest collection of misfits and losers I have encountered to date. The only difference between these assholes and convicts is a jail sentence.

Since my arrival 3 weeks ago I have encountered nothing but hostility from my co workers,and a total disregard for any type of manners or appropriate social behavior.

Selfishness, favoritism,and Ignorance reign supreme.In my military career there was always at least one 2 faced,back stabbing shit stirrer in each unit - conversely, this place had about 5 or 6 per team.

It is a fact that out of the 100 or so people I have met and encountered while being here only about 5 have any type of manners or proper social skills. The rest are comprised of complete and total assholes, misfits, fuck ups and ignorant sons a bitches. Oddly or maybe not so, the Men from the United Kingdom who are employed here are pretty nice guys and have social skills and manners. It is only my fellow Americans that are the supreme assholes, fuck ups,wanna be navy seals, psd, wwps, bad ass operators AKA dumb asses and douche bags.

I just want to recommend to anyone thinking about applying for this type of work to think twice before throwing yourself into this type of fucked up scenario with these type of assholes. Like me you will probably regret it. I look forward to getting out of here and back to a place where people act normal and do not subscribe to a "Prison yard mentality".

This is defiantly my last rodeo with these mother fuckers.I do not want to be associated with these types of people.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawk in Dubai

2011-11-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

I will post again when I can.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Nelly - another one

2011-11-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

Im another One!

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

survival.com

2011-11-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this.Please go and check out the site and forum. Thanks!

survival.com

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

2011-11-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

I am about to embark on yet another great adventure. I would like to express my thanks to the people who helped me get my passport and the items I needed for this next phase in my journey into the unknown.

Thank you seems to be an inappropriate expression of gratitude to the people who have shown me such great generosity. But, however, At the moment I lack the alchemy to express myself in the written word. Suffices it to say Thank you to my friends for all of their help with money,transportation, paperwork, clothing and needed equipment.

I will close with these lines “Do not fear on my account, tho I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The author of all things watches over me.” Matty Ross in the Movie “True Grit”.

And perhaps these words from Hunter S. Thompson are apropos. “We walked in the street drunk and laughing and talking like men who knew they would separate at dawn and travel to the far corners of the earth.”

Take care my friends. I will post again when I can.

I am off to the 3rd world – see you on the trail!

Tomahawk

Is Cammo really Necessary??

2011-11-21T13:20:00.001-08:00

Last week when I was out in the hills farting around I decided to test out the camoflage ability of the current Army digital cammo. Recently Matt and me dug several sets of this type of cammo out of a dumpster on base. For me it is an annoying color but if is free what the hell.

I stood behind a small oak tree in the shadows cast by the leaves to see how well the army stuff would blend in. I also tried a green shirt, a reticulated long sleeved shirt, a black hoodie,and a grey t shirt and vest. the only one that didnt blend in well was the black hoodie. I did not have any woodland cammo in my gear. You can see from the pics that cammo isnt really necessary. While most cammo is cool it was never a necessary to native people around the world. From my experiences it is better to use natural cammo then anything manufactured these days.

anyhoo,

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Lard Bucket Cooker

2011-11-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a pic or 2 of my Lard Bucket cooker. I found this lard bucket on my first day back in Arizona after hitching all the way from Maine.

When I was looking for a place to sling my hammock I noticed this lard bucket upended on a cut branch in a ancient juniper tree. God only knows how long this Bucket was on that tree. It has a nice patina of rust on it , and I have decided only use it to heat up MRE meals or Canned goods in water.

The stove I used was my Emberlit (www.emberlit.com) given to me by my friend Northwest manitou from the bushcraftusa forums. I used this stove in conjunction with my alcohol stove made by......oops, cant remember....Ill post that info later. I did use "HEET" for fuel , I purchased the "HEET" from Walmart for about 2 bucks a bottle.

I had to use an old Sterno can as a prop for the alcohol stove but it worked out ok. I was able to heat my rations then subsequently use the water for washing up and cleaning my spoon etc.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

fall colors 027

2011-11-18T13:27:00.001-08:00

fall colors 024

2011-11-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

fall colors 026

2011-11-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

UK Pathfinder patch

2011-11-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

200,000 Views

2011-11-15T12:51:00.001-08:00

Ok, Ill admit. I have been a little lazy lately about posting on my blog this month. Last week I was in the woods for several days and didn't even consider doing anything to post. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it.

I just noticed that my Blog views are approaching 200,000(199,981)in number. Not bad considering more than 1/2 of these views are unique(109,031). I started this Blog in August of 2009 out of boredom. I was sitting in my truck at my Buddies house in Montana when I got the Idea.

Anyhoo, over the past 2 years I have made 663 posts on various subjects from History to, wilderness travel, to alternative living and a few other subjects. I lost count of the pictures I have posted in this Blogs history.

Considering the volume of Posts I have Made there seems to be VERY few comments on any posts except from a core group of followers.

Oh! I forgot, the most comments I got on ANY of my posts was when I posted about those 2 yahoos on the TV survival show double survivors or dual survivors etc. 95% of those comments were from knuckle-head followers of those 2, disrespecting me for speaking my own opinion- on my own blog. Go figure.

As it stands Now, Ill still post from time to time if I come across anything interesting or happen to do something adventurous myself. I don't consider the total number of views this blog has received in the past 2 years to be worth the effort to put it together.

It has been my experience that most people are Gear and video oriented and would rather watch TV then to actually get out there themselves.

I'm heading out to the woods this afternoon for a few days. Maybe Ill look for something to post.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Oak "Noggin" not a Kuksa

2011-11-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was hiking once again in my beloved Huachuca mountains. I spied an interesting Burl on an oak tree that would make a great “Noggin”, or what some folks lately like to call a Kuksa.I don't know when or where the word "Noggin" became associated with this type of vessel but it is thus. A "Noggin" is a unit of measure used back in the colonial period for alcohol. It is the same amount as a "Gill" which measures out to about a 1/4 pint.

Basically the "kusa" and "Noggin" are the same thing. I prefer to use the word Noggin because it is American - with its roots in England. I was born and raised in the American outdoors and better identify with American History and Idioms than that of Europe.

All of the johnny come lately wilderness practitioners, “Survival experts” and “Bushcrafters” can keep using the term/word Kuksa if they want to – the Tomahawk wont.

The long hunters of the colonial American period made and used Noggins from Maple burls mostly, they were easy to harvest and carve, and perhaps lasted a long time for the men of the forest.

The Burl I found was on a live oak tree about 6000 feet in the mountains. I cut it off with a hack saw because it was all I had, yes. It took a long time to cut it off the tree.

My friend Pete is a master carpenter, and me being a bit lazy, took the burl to Pete to get a few suggestion as to how to more easily carve it out. Pete fired up his torch and burned it out a bit then we took turns scraping it out. I got some course and fine sand paper to sand it with and also used my Swiss Army knife to whittle on it a bit.

After I whittled “Er down a bit and sanded on it a while, I greased it up with some cocoa butter and olive oil that I had in my pack.

I was making this Noggin as a gift for my friend Matt , it seems to have turned out pretty well. I think it will be a good vessel for drinking coffee, whisky or water, and perhaps for dishing up a mess of sofkie.

Here are a few pictures associated with the making of this Noggin.

Tomahawk – Scouts Out!

Tom hiking in the Huachucas

2011-10-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just a short vid of my recent weekend hike in the Huachuca mountains. Also, here is a picture of a giant Burl on an oak tree along the trail. mt Swiss army knife is on top for reference.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

TOMAHAWK AND THE EMBERLIT STOVE

2011-10-31T18:52:00.002-07:00

Tomahawk on a hike 2

2011-10-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

Cool burl on a tree in the mountains

2011-10-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk on a hike in the hills day 1

2011-10-31T18:51:00.001-07:00

tom in sierra vista

2011-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Weekend hike pics

2011-10-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics from my weekend Hike in the HUachucas. The temps were perfect , the leaves were beautiful, I didnt see any Illegals but i did find a painted gallon water jug which indicates drug runners.

It was a good hike over all.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

LEGEND OF THE LOST TRAILER 1957 JOHN WAYNE

2011-10-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

my favorite "Duke" movie! mainly because of the Heenies/mules and Sofias great titties.

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

Parachute Riggers - "I will be sure Always"

2011-10-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

"I will be sure Always"

Back in the early 90s I attended the U.S. Army Parachute Riggers course at Fort Lee,Virginia. It was a 16 week long course which was divided into phases, the first phase was packing Personnel rigs (MC1-1B&C), reserves, and this phase covered the fundamental knowledge of parachutes and the types of materials used in making them etc. We next woved into the Heavy drop rigger shop and learned to rig chutes and heavy drop pallets for supplies of food , water and ammo.
But, my favorite phase was the AER shop where we leaned to use all of the sewing machines used in repairing Air Items and parachutes.

It was a good course but I wouldn't want to do it over.

Tomahawk - Scouts (and riggers) Out!

U.S. Military:
Riggers have played an important role in the American military since the advent of the use of the parachute for aerial insertion of troops, supplies, and equipment into combat zones. In addition to the maroon beret worn by paratroopers in airborne units, riggers are authorized the wear of a distinctive red baseball cap as their military headgear when on rigger duties.

U.S. Army. When the Army formed its first paratrooper unit in 1940, a parachute test platoon, the paratroopers themselves prepared and took care of their own parachutes. The test platoon had only 3 men, two enlisted soldiers and one warrant officer, from the Army Air Corps serving as the precursors of the Army's parachute riggers.

When the Army created five Airborne divisions for World War II, the Army stopped training each paratrooper how to pack his own chute and started support organizations for parachute packing and rigging. The first riggers received their training at Fort Benning, GA.

After 1950, the Army assigned the Quartermaster Corps with the mission of aerial delivery, including parachute rigging. A parachute rigger course was established at the U.S. Army Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, VA in 1951, and has continued since then.

Airborne Orientation Course. For students completing basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., preparation for Airborne and rigger training begins before even departing for Fort Lee with attendance at the post's Airborne Orientation Course. According to an Army News Service story, "while most of the course involves physical training, soldiers are also familiarized with such Airborne operations as parachute landing falls, rigging equipment and actions in the aircraft." The AOC has raised the success rate for soldiers subsequently attending Airborne training from 60 percent to 89 percent.

From AOC, rigger recruits go to Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA. If a rigger recruit does not pass Airborne School, that soldier is reclassified.

The Army MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) designation for parachute riggers (prior to fiscal year 2003: 43E2P) is graded in 5 skill levels, from 92R1P to 92R5P. Recruits are designated 92R0P.

After Airborne School, the 92R0P recruits head to Fort Lee to attend the 13 week Parachute Rigger Course. The course provides training on inspecting, packing, rigging, recovering, storing, and maintaining air item equipment. It is divided into three phases. Air Drop Phase - Includes instruction in cargo parachute packing, rigging supplies and equipment for airdrop, types and limitations of aircraft. Students become proficient in the use of the various technical manuals for rigging airdrop loads. At the conclusion of the instruction, the students participate in an airdrop exercise. They pack the cargo parachutes, rig the loads to be dropped and place the loads in the aircraft. After the airdrop, the students recover the loads and equipment. Aerial Equipment Repair Phase - Trains fundamentals and procedures of inspection, classification, and repair of maintenance of personnel, cargo, extraction parachutes and airdrop equipment to include the service of High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) Automatic Ripcord Release (ARR). Parachute Pack Phase - Is designed to equip students with the working knowledge of inspection and packing procedures relative to personnel, light cargo and extraction parachutes. The student receives concentrated instruction on the troop back parachute. The student is required to jump the parachute he/she packed during the examination. Throughout the course, the student is constantly reminded of the fact that all parachutes must be packed with meticulous care to insure proper functioning. Any malfunction could result in death or in equipment loss.

All U.S. Army parachute riggers are required to be Airborne qualified, and by tradition are required to be prepared to jump any parachute packed by any U.S. Army parachute rigger, without checking the log book for the name of the rigger who last prepared it. The official motto of the U.S. Army parachute rigger is: "I will be sure always."

Service members from other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces also attend parachute rigger courses at Fort Lee.

Smoke Jumpers

2011-10-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

I love this old smoke jumper stuff.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Lure of the Wilderness (1952) 1/6

2011-10-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty good movie with Jeff Hunter. But, I like the original better.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil

2011-10-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Im dedicating this song to my good friend Joe Garza.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

"Hoe Tater" Walking stick

2011-10-24T07:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday when I was hiking out of the mountains back to town I stopped along the creek for a short break. As I was sitting there I noticed a perfect walking stick in the branches of a Maple tree. I decided to climb up in the tree and harvest the branch with my Swiss Army knife saw.My friend Matt was wanting one of these type sticks so I decided to make this one for him. Easy Peasy.

My father AKA "Hoe Tater" had a type of walking stick he always made, it has a hook on the top of the stick and a fork on the bottom. This makes this stick a lot more versitile and functional. As a kid I can remember Ol' "Hoe Tater" walking the woods with this type of stick and using it for getting persimmons out of a tree or to move plants out of the way in search of morel mushrooms. Hy would use the fork for catching snakes and harvesting grass for making beds or use it as a rake for scraping up leaves for a shelter.

I always make this type of stick in the woods , not because it was "Hoe Taters" favroite type and that I have fond memories etc. but rather because it is very useful in the wild.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

G.I. Spoon

2011-10-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

Back about a million years ago when I first joined the U.S. Army, I volunteered for Airborne Training and ended up in the 2/505th Infantry, Scout Platoon , with the 82nd Airborne Division.

One of my fondest memories of that tour was going to the Central Issue Facility (CIF) to get my TA-50 Issue of gear from Uncle sam.

As a 19year old kid, I was amazed at all of the cool gear the Army was giving me. But most of it went unused due to weight and bulk etc. One of the items I did use a lot of was my G.I mess kit spoon.I have used this spoon for digging holes, making fish hooks from wire, fixing my weapons, to make jewelry ,and even to eat with.

Before I enlisted in the Army, I would listen to the stories of the old WW2 vets, one fella told me that besides his weapon and ammo he valued his canteen and cup, Mess kit spoon, Zippo lighter and pocket knife.

So keeping this in mind I bought my first multi bladed Swiss Army knife at the PX along with my 1st Zippo Lighter, and my first watch with a luminous dial....but for some reason what clinched it for me about keeping and using this spoon, was when I saw and old E6 in the motor pool with a G.I. spoon clipped on his key chain.

anyhoo, long story short,in 1978, when the time came for me to out process from the 82ns Abn Div for an assignment over seas, I kept my Canteen cup and G.I. Mess kit spoon. I still have both of those items today. The spoon in the picture is my original 1976 issue spoon and it has been around the world and will continue to travel with me from now on.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

3 stoves in the woods

2011-10-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last week when I was out in the hills for a few days I tried out 3 different stoves People have given me over the past year.

My friend Matt gave me a "Hobo" stove and some sterno to try out which works but takes a lot of time. I was also trying out a alcohol stove made from a Pepsi can , my good friend Jeff gave me this one last year and I put it away and simply forgot about it. The other day when I was rooting through some extra gear I uncovered it then threw it in my pack with a bottle of "Heet" fuel.

I cant remember who makes this stove but it is stamped on the bottom of the Pepsi can/stove - I filled it with "Heet" fuel and it burned long enough to boil about 2 liters of water. The only draw back to this recycled can stove is hat it is a little flimsy and tends to bend up pretty quick.

The 3rd stove I tried out was an Emberlit(emberlit.com)given to me by a friend and blog follower Mikail. I like this stove, it is made of stainless steel and breaks down to a small flat package that can easily be packed away in the top pocket of my back pack.

I didnt burn any wood in the Emberlit but was able to burn paper in it to boil a can of creek water for tea.

After using these 3 types of stoves in the outdoors in real wilderness conditions, If forced to choose between the 3 , I would have to take the Emberlit. The reasons being,is that this stove is easy to pack, its light weight and can/will burn any type of organic fuel from wood to pete, to paper, pine cones etc.

But ultimatly, so will a "Hobo" stove, and you can make one of those from just about any can you find anywhere in the world.

Anyhoo, just my thoughts,

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Pathfinder by Richard R. Burns

2011-10-19T14:04:00.001-07:00

Ok,this is my last post for a while on military/history subjects. Having been a pathfinder I very much enjoyed this book.

If you get a chance give it a read, if you like military history/action adventure stories this book will not disappoint you.

here is a short synopsis of the book. Im sure you can find it on evilbay or amazon.

Tomahawk - "1st in Last out"

December 1967: Richard Burns had just arrived in Vietnam as part of the fourteen-man 101st Pathfinder Detachment. Within just one month, during a holiday called Tet, the Communists would launch the largest single attack of the war--and he would be right in the thick of it. . . .

In Vietnam, Richard Burns operated in live-or-die situations, risking his life so that other men could keep theirs. As a Pathfinder--all too often alone in the middle of a hot LZ--he guided in helicopters disembarking troops, directed medevacs to retrieve the wounded, and organized extractions. As well as parachuting into areas and supervising the clearing of landing zones, Pathfinders acted as air-traffic controllers, keeping call signs, frequencies, and aircraft locations in their heads as they orchestrated takeoffs and landings, often under heavy enemy fire.

From Bien Hoa to Song Be to the deadly A Shau Valley, Burns recounts the battles that won him the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and numerous other decorations. This is the first and only book by a Pathfinder in Vietnam . . . or anywhere else.

Richard R. Burns

Richard C. Burns retired from the army as a master sergeant, E-8. He completed two combat tours in Vietnam, serving as a Pathfinder with the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. He conducted Pathfinder operations for infantry and recon units, supported an element of Special Forces, and was attached to the 1st Vietnamese Airborne Division. After a stint as a recruiter in his native New England, he spent the bulk of his twenty-year military career in Special Forces. His training includes Pathfinder Course, Jumpmaster Course, Vietnam (MACV) Recondo School, and Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC): Light and Heavy Weapons. He has received numerous decorations, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, two Air Medals, and the Purple Heart.

Richard Burns has two children and lives with his wife in Gainesville, Florida. He has written many articles on elite military units and is a columnist and staff writer for Behind the Lines magazine.

11th Airborne Division WW2

2011-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

The 11th Airborne Division or "The flying asshole" as an Old trooper from this Division told me they called it, it yet another unsung unit from WW2. Being a former member of the 11th Aviation Group Pathfinder Platoon, which supposedly traced its lineage from the "Flying asshole" I have always been interested in this Unit. Especially its involvement in the Raid on Los Banos POW camp in the Philippines.

Below is some info about these cats during the 2nd world war and a bit beyond.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

11th Airborne Division (United States):

The 11th Airborne Division ("Angels") was a United States Army airborne formation, first activated on 25 February 1943, during World War II. Consisting of one parachute and two glider infantry regiments, with supporting troops, the division underwent rigorous training throughout 1943. It played a vital role in the successful Knollwood Maneuver, which was organised to determine the viability of large-scale American airborne formations after their utility had been called into question following a disappointing performance during the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Held in reserve in the United States for the first half of 1944, in June the division was transferred to the Pacific Theater of Operations. Upon arrival it entered a period of intense training and acclimatization, and by November was judged combat-ready. The 11th Airborne saw its first action on the island of Leyte in the Philippines, but in a traditional infantry role. In January 1945 the division took part in the invasion of Luzon. The two glider infantry regiments again operated as conventional infantry, securing a beachhead before fighting their way inland. The parachute infantry regiment was held in reserve for several days before conducting the division's first airborne operation, a combat drop on the Tagatay Ridge. Reunited, the division participated in the Liberation of Manila, and two companies of divisional paratroopers conducted an audacious raid on the Los Baños internment camp, liberating two thousand civilians. The 11th Airborne's last combat operation of World War II was in the north of Luzon around Aparri, in aid of combined American and Philippine forces who were battling to subdue the remaining Japanese resistance on the island.

On 30 August 1945 the division was sent to southern Japan as part of the occupation force. Four years later it was recalled to the United States, where it became a training formation. One parachute infantry regiment was detached for service in the Korean War, but on 30 June 1958 the division was inactivated. It was briefly reactivated on 1 February 1963 under the new name of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), to explore the theory and practicality of helicopter assault tactics, before being finally inactivated on 29 June 1965. The division's personnel and equipment were transferred to the newly-raised 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).

Formation:
Inspired by the pioneering German use of large-scale airborne formations during the Battle of France in 1940 and later the Invasion of Crete in 1941, the various Allied powers decided to raise airborne units of their own. One of the resultant five American and two British airborne divisions, the 11th Airborne Division was officially activated on 25 February 1943 at Camp Mackall in North Carolina, under the command of Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Swing. As formed the division consisted of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment and the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment, and with a complement of 8,321 men was around half the strength of a regular American World War II infantry division.

The division initially remained in the United States for training, which in common with all airborne units was extremely arduous to befit their elite status. Training included lengthy forced marches, simulated parachute landings from 34-foot (10 m) and 250-foot (76 m) towers, and practice jumps from transport aircraft; hesitancy in the doorway of an aircraft resulted in an automatic failure for the candidate. The washout rate was high, but there was never a shortage of candidates; especially in American airborne units the rate of pay was much higher than that of an ordinary infantryman.

Before training was complete a debate developed in the United States Army over whether the best use of airborne forces was en masse or as small, compact units. On 9 July 1943, the first large-scale Allied airborne operation was carried out by elements of the United States 82nd Airborne Division and the British 1st Airborne Division in support of the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky. The 11th's commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Swing, was temporarily transferred to act as airborne advisor to General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the operation, and observed the airborne assault which went badly. The 82nd Airborne Division had been inserted by parachute and glider and had suffered high casualties, leading to a perception that it had failed to achieve many of its objectives.

Raid at Los Baños:
Paratroopers of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment prepare to board transport aircraft for their raid on the Los Baños internment camp, 22 February 1945.
Main article: Raid at Los Banos

A large number of civilian prisoners had been detained by the Japanese on Luzon, mostly in internment camps scattered throughout the island. The largest of these was located on the campus of the Agricultural College of the Philippines at Los Baños, some forty miles (64 km) south-east of Manila.

General Douglas MacArthur had tasked the 11th Airborne Division with rescuing the Los Baños internees on 3 February, but the division's ongoing combat operations around the Genko Line left it unable to divert any resources at that time.All that could be accomplished during February was to gather information, primarily through liaison with the guerilla groups operating in Southern Luzon and around Los Baños. Maj. Gen. Swing and his command staff were briefed daily by the officer working with the guerilla groups, Major Vanderpool.

From the guerillas and a few civilians that had escaped the camp, Vanderpool established that it was surrounded by two barbed-wire fences approximately six feet tall. Several guard towers and bunkers dotted its perimeter, each containing at least two guards. Prisoners left each morning under armed guard to gather food supplies and firewood from a nearby town.

Vanderpool was informed that the camp's population consisted of American civilians in three distinct groups: Protestant missionaries and their families; Roman Catholic nuns and priests; and professional workers such as doctors and engineers, and their families. The latter group included several hundred women and children. While all the inmates appeared to be in good health, many had become weak from food rationing.

On 20 February, Maj. Gen. Swing was finally able to release sufficient troops for a raid on the Los Baños camp, and a four-phase plan was devised by Major Vanderpool and the divisional staff officers.The divisional reconnaissance platoon would travel across a nearby lake and move to the outskirts of the camp, securing a large adjacent field as the drop zone for a company of paratroopers. Having landed, the paratroopers would eliminate Japanese resistance in the area, secure the camp, and prepare for its evacuation.

Fifty-four amphibious Amtracs would transport two additional companies of paratroopers to the lake shore, where a beachhead would be established while the Amtracs continued to the camp to evacuate its occupants. Simultaneously, a task force consisting of a reinforced infantry battalion, two battalions of heavy artillery and a tank destroyer battalion would advance down Highway 1 towards Los Baños to interdict any Japanese attempts to interfere.
Los Baños internees after the raid, 23 February

Assisted by a group of guerrillas, on the night of 21 February the divisional reconnaissance platoon made their way to the lake and collected ten canoes. Despite navigational difficulties, the platoon came ashore near Los Baños at 02:00 the following morning, and after securing the paratroopers' drop zone, concealed themselves in the jungle near the camp.

During the afternoon B Company of the 1st Battalion, 511th PIR was transferred to the airfield from which they would be deployed, while the rest of the battalion rendezvoused with the Amtrac convoy.At 07:00 on the morning of 23 February, B Company took off in ten C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft, arriving over their drop zone shortly afterwards.

As the first paratroopers landed, the reconnaissance platoon and the supporting guerilla fighters opened fire on the camp's defences, using Bazooka rounds to penetrate the concrete pillboxes, and then entered the camp to engage its garrison. The paratroopers soon joined the battle, and by 07:30 the Japanese guards had been overcome and the internees were being rounded up and readied for evacuation.

At the lakeshore the 511th's other two companies had secured their beachhead, and the convoy of Amtracs reached the camp without incident. Priority during loading was given to the women, children and wounded; some of the able-bodied men walked alongside the Amtracs as they returned to the beach. The first evacuation convoy left the camp at approximately 10:00, with B Company, the reconnaissance platoon and the guerrillas remaining behind to provide a rearguard.

By 11:30 all of the civilians had been evacuated, and at 13:00 the Amtrac convoy returned for the rearguard, with the last paratroopers leaving the beach at approximately 15:00.[55] Meanwhile on Highway 1, the taskforce that had been deployed to protect the operation met heavy Japanese resistance and suffered several casualties, but was able to block Japanese forces that advanced on the camp, before retreating back to American lines. The raid had been a complete success, liberating 2,147 civilians.

Colonel Aaron Bank

2011-10-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Im not a big fan of the current crop of Army Green Berets. All of the Individuals I have met "Down range" during my time as a contractor were a bunch of condescending smart asses and braggarts.

Conversely all of the Vietnam era SF vets are all down to earth guys and are a pleasure to associate with.I have been meaning to do a Post about Colonel Bank. This will more than likely be the only mention of Current Army Special forces on this blog.

Anyway, Aaron Bank is the Father of The green berets. Im not really impressed by that, what impressed me about this man is that during WW2, he served in the Jedburgs, then , later in the was the Office of Strategic Services.More over, he was among the first Americans to earn Parachute wings at the British Jump school. He was also trilingual and could converse equally well in English, French or German.

Here is what wikipedia has to say about the man/legend. I hope you like it, if not - I really dont care!

Tomahawk - scouts Out!

World War II career

As a young man, Bank worked as chief life guard at an upscale resort in Biarritz. His widowed mother taught language (French and German) lessons to earn a living, this explains his unusual fluency in French and German, a skill which had much to do with his later activities as a special operations commander.

He enlisted in the Army in August 1942, then volunteered for special operations work. He was in his late thirties, and thought "too old" for combat, but he was an unusually athletic man and so was accepted into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II.

The OSS conducted both espionage operations (SI Branch) and special operations (SO Branch), for sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Bank was assigned to SO Branch, and on July 31, 1944 led the Jedburgh Team PACKARD, parachuting into Lozère Department of France and linking up with French Resistance.

At the time of "Operation Anvil", also known as "Operation Dragoon" (the Allied invasion of Southern France approximately six weeks after the D-Day invasion at Normandy), Bank and his French partisans drove the German forces away from the beachhead ahead of the Allied troops, liberating a number of French towns before the regular forces arrived.

In late 1944 and early 1945, Bank led "Operation Iron Cross," which evolved into a plan to capture or kill Adolf Hitler. The OSS actively recruited German POWs who were opposed to Hitler to form a special forces unit, outfitted with SS uniforms and highly trained in "raid and snatch" techniques. (The OSS found many willing volunteers amongst former German soldiers, primarily former German Communists, who vigorously opposed Hitler, and German Jews who had taken refuge in the Wehrmacht, posing as Gentiles.) This unit was trained as parachute infantry and was intended for insertion into the expected "Alpine Redoubt" on the Austrian/German border, where senior Nazi officials were planning to make their last stand against the advancing Allied armies.

Hitler was expected to flee from Berlin and retire to the Alpine Redoubt before the Soviets could enter the capital city, so General William Joseph Donovan, head of the OSS, issued this order: "Tell Bank to get Hitler."

"Iron Cross" was canceled almost on the eve of execution because intelligence showed that Hitler had remained in Berlin. (He committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945.) Additionally, the 101st Airborne and 7th Army divisions were advancing so rapidly they were expected to capture the non-existent Alpine Redoubt before "Iron Cross" could be executed. (Bank's enemy-uniformed volunteers would also be prime targets for allied forces.)

With the capitulation of Germany in May, 1945, Bank was reassigned to the Pacific theater, where he was inserted into Indochina and linked up with Ho Chi Minh, then leading the resistance to the Japanese. Bank spent considerable time traveling through Vietnam with Ho and was impressed with Ho's manifest popularity among the Vietnamese population. Bank advised the OSS of Ho's great popularity, recommended that Ho be allowed to form a coalition government, and predicted that Ho would win a popular election overwhelmingly if one was conducted.

It is not known whether Bank's recommendations reached President Harry S. Truman, but American policy was contrary: Ho was a long-time Communist, having joined the party in the 1920s in Paris, and therefore was considered unacceptable as leader of a coalition government. Some French "Vichy" military forces remained in Indochina, and the United States now consented to the use of these residual forces to block Ho and reinstate Indochina as a French colony. President Truman and later President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided financial support to the French, thus leading to the Indochina War and ultimately the Vietnam War.

Post-war activities and the founding of the Special Forces

After the war Bank remained in the Army and became a leading advocate for the formation of a professional special forces (unconventional warfare (UW)) division, equivalent to the SO branch of OSS. Colonel Russell W. Volckmann (who had been a guerrilla in the Philippines) and Bank were instrumental in convincing the Army it needed such a force. The primary place such elements would be deployed, they thought, was behind the "Iron Curtain," in the Eastern European nations dominated by the Soviet Union, where there was a real possibility of a local resistance movement arising.

In 1952, Colonel Bank became the first commander of the Army's first Special Forces unit, called the 10th Special Forces Group. (This number was selected to confound the Russians with suspicions of nine more such units.) In establishing the 10th, he was as flexible as he had been with "Iron Cross", drawing upon former members of the "1st Special Service Force" known as the Devil's Brigade, as well as veterans of the OSS, the Parachute Infantry units, and guerrilla elements in the Pacific.

Using the training and strategies and the lessons learned during World War II, Bank created an elite unit of men skilled in foreign languages (to interface with foreign insurgents), the arts of sabotage and stealth tactics, the use of explosives for demolition, amphibious warfare, rock climbing, jungle warfare, mountain fighting and as ski troops.

Special Forces today are still all volunteer and organized into "A teams," as Aaron Bank organized his men in the 10th Special Forces group in 1952, with two experts in every specialty. They still undergo an arduous training process in which large numbers of men fail or quit, as Aaron Bank required of the men of "Operation Iron Cross". Special Forces today acknowledge the paternity of Colonel Bank with great pride.

Colonel Bank was commended by President George W. Bush in 2002, the year he celebrated his hundredth birthday, for developing the unconventional warfare programs and techniques that were used in toppling the Taliban.

Later years

Aaron Bank retired from the Army in 1958, and remained a vigorous man well into his eighties, swimming several miles a day in the Pacific Ocean near his home in San Clemente, California.

In the early 1970s, Colonel Bank began a personal investigation of the lack of security at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which is a few miles south of San Clemente. Bank determined that the San Onofre plant was protected by one private security guard with a sidearm, as if the only concern was civilian theft. Bank concluded that a single special forces soldier could overcome this guard, seize the plant and destroy it with a small quantity of explosives. The consequence could be a Chernobyl-type accident, whereby the damaged plant would spew radioactivity into the atmosphere and contaminate thousands of square miles, including the nearby Los Angeles basin.

Colonel Bank became alarmed at the recklessness of the civilian operators of San Onofre, and actively lobbied, then testified before a closed session of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, warning of the dangers of terrorist sabotage at San Onofre. As one of the world's leading experts on the sabotage of electric generating facilities, Bank spoke with great authority—but the AEC ignored him and did nothing.

Bank then shared his concerns with an investigative journalist, who wrote an exposé of poor security at San Onofre for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1974. This led to a Congressional investigation and further secret testimony by Colonel Bank before a Congressional committee. This time, Bank's testimony was heeded, and Congressional pressure forced the AEC and its successor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to act. The U.S. nuclear power industry was ordered to spend billions of dollars implementing anti-terrorist security measures at commercial nuclear reactors nationwide, including on-site security squads with automatic weapons, remote scram capabilities (to take control of the plant from a distance and shut it down in the event of an attack) and the use of "red teams" to probe defenses and thereby eliminate vulnerabilities.

http://www.c312.com/honorary_members.htm

Coues Deer antler shed

2011-10-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Last evening as I hiking down from Huachuca peak I spotted a Coues deer antler shed laying off the trail. A cool score, Ill give it to a friend who makes ferro rod handles with antler and buttons etc.

The Sonoran Coues Deer is one of the Smallest of the white tail sub species found in the USA and Mexico. I think the Florida Keys Deer is the smallest. I also think this sub species is named for Elliot Coues. His work was instrumental in establishing the currently accepted standards of trinomial nomenclature - the taxonomic classification of subspecies - in ornithology, and ultimately the whole of zoology.

so there you go, check it out for yourselves if you like.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Fall Morning in the Mountains

2011-10-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

JUst posting a short video on my early morning sojourn in the Huachucas.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Big cats in the woods

2011-10-17T13:39:00.001-07:00

While exploring a side canyon in the Huachucas last week, I cought a glimpse of a fawn colored wraith slipping away into the forest. There was an unmistakable feline smell in the air. This glimpse of a Mountain Lion reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a Biologist on Fort Huachuca about the Big cat sightings on post in recent years. There Have been Jag sightings in the Pelloncillos, Chiricahuas and the Huachucas, 5 Oscelot sightings in the Huachucas, and Jagarundi sightings in SW Arizona. Then in turn, This conversation reminded me of an experience I had with a Big Cat in Thailand. It could only be one of 2 types of big cat – a Leopard or a Tiger.

Back in March one of my lady friends in Thailand invited me to go with her to Kaijang krachang National park. This park is about 3 hours south west of Bangkok. We hopped into a van taxi and cruised down to the park and set up camp.

The next morning I suggested that we hitch hike up to the top of the road where the real jungle in the park is and is very close to the border with Burma.

We packed our gear and headed out. It was my friends first time hitch hiking and she got a real kick out of it and was amazed that you could get so far in one day by thumbing a ride.

Anyhoo, we got to the appointed place in the park and located camp spot for the next couple of nights. That afternoon we were looking around for something to do before dark so we just wandered the trails near the camp ground and were later invited to some peoples camp for dinner that evening.

While eating dinner with our new friends one of them suggested that we hike down to some popular water falls and get some pictures of the fall and local plant life and perhaps see some horn bills.

It sounded great to me but my friend decided that she didn't want to walk that far just to see some flowers and water falls. So, early the next morning, I packed my Hennessey hammock, silk sheet, a gallon of water, some munchies, my head lamp, camera,binoculars,jungle knife and a few other things then hit the trail. And Im sure a few things I have forgotten.

Anyhoo, early the next AM, I hit the trail and began the steep decent toward the falls. It was nice and cool in the mist of the early morning jungle. I got to see 3 hornbills and numerous snakes and small birds along the trail. The leeches were out in force and I had to stop from time to time during my hike to scrape them off.

It soon became hot and humid and the decent was very steep so I took a break and polished off the coffee in my Nalgene bottle , burned off a few leeches then hit the trail again.

The falls were pretty but not what I expected from the way folks talked about them, the forest though was REAL jungle , similar to the types I have seen in the PI and south America. This woods had a shit load more leeches and skeeters than I had experienced before.

Anyhoo, I farted around, tried to take some pictures but my camera batteries were dead and the old girl didn't seem to want to function in the humidity. I got my camera at a pawn shop on Mindenao in the PI about 4 years ago so Im surprised it worked up to that time.

Being in the jungle I have always been surprised as to how fast it gets dark under the canopy . My Atea Negrito friends at Subic always wear their head lamps so they will be ready for darkness. A good Idea. I realized that I wouldn't be able to hike the 4K up hill before full dark so I began to look for a place to set up my hammock.

I slung the Hennessey hammock between some hardwoods on the edge of a fairly large bamboo grove, cut some dry bamboo and collected what “Squaw wood” I could find for making a fire later.

Basically Im pretty Lazy , Fire = fuel = effort = burning up calories and energy. But I did collect some wood, and about dark , kindled a flame, heated some water for tea, ate some of my munchies, farted around trying to get my camera to work, swatted Mosquitos, burned leeches and generally had a good time in my remote solitude.

Long story short – I crawled into my soogans, and tried to sleep. I did drift in and out by Jungle sounds kept waking me up. I head what sounded like Deer snorting in the forest, things crashing into the trees, bugs,the creek and squeaking of the bamboo etc.

Sometime during the night I awoke to what smelled like a cat, it was a very distinct smell, soon after that I heard a low deep low rumbling growl which made me shit my pants(literally) , followed immediately by a Hiss or a breathy Haaaaaaaa, similar to what a house cat makes when cornered by the family dog. I was afraid and didn't know what to do, I had my jungle knife hanging from the guy line inside of my hammock and grabbed that. Funny – it was in a metal scabbard which rattled and was a bit annoying but I never bothered to fix it – Lazy again!, perhaps it was a good thing I never did fix it.

Anyway, this rattling noise combined with my yelling was enough to chase off this critter. My idea is that this big cat smelled a human, maybe never smelled an American before, Saw me in my hammock but had never seen this form before and didn't know how to attack or react other then flee.

I thank God for that or for what ever reason ol Cat lit a shuck. I lay in the hammock for a few moments to listen, I scrambled out with my head lamp on, and rebuilt my fire. I wished that my laziness had not got the best of me earlier and that I would have collected more wood.

I was Making as much noise as possible singing songs , army cadences, and chopping on the bamboo to find fuel. Also I had read that most big cats attack from the rear so I kept my Back to the Bamboo thicket and kept up my vigil until dawn.

In the earliest AM, I packed my gear, and hit the trail. The trail head was a welcome site but I still had a bit of a hike back to the National park campground. As luck would Have it my lady friend had shanghaied a dude to drive to the trail head to look for me.

After chucking my pack into the back of his pick up truck, I climbed in to the cab with my friends and had a leisurely ride back to the camp grounds where I had a decent meal and a shower then slept like Rumple Stiltskin for most of the day.

This experience was just one of many on my sojourn into the unknown, I hope to experience many more things on the trail but I doubt that Ill ever go alone into the Jungles of South East Asia.

Tomahawk – Scouts Out!

The 161 Special Operations Squadron in WW2

2011-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

The 161st SOS in WW2 is a pretty cool and yet Unsung unit in WW2. this unit was used to drop SOE , Jedburgs and later OSS agents into France and elsewhere.

I read someplace that the Lysander aircraft used could hold 4 fully equipped agents in their parachutes.

Check out this Wikipedia info and links below if interested.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

http://www.aviationartprints.com/lysander.htm

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1997/08/stuff_eng_detail_lysander.htm

http://www.warbirdalley.com/lysander.htm

No. 161 Squadron RAF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
No. 161 (Special) Squadron RAF
Active 9 May 1918 - 17 August 1918
15 February 1942 - 2 June 1945
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Air Force
Role Special Duties
Part of No. 3 Group
Base RAF Newmarket Feb 1942-March 1942
RAF Graveley March 1942-April 1942
RAF Tempsford April 1942-June 1945
Motto Liberate
Equipment Lockheed Hudson, Westland Lysander, Handley Page Halifax, Douglas Havoc, Shorts Stirling, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
Insignia
Identification
symbol MA / JR

No. 161 (Special) Squadron was a highly secretive unit of the Royal Air Force tasked with missions of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Their primary role was to drop and collect secret agents and equipment into and from Nazi-occupied Europe. The squadron had a secondary role in acting as the King's Flight.

History

A proposal was made on 9 May 1918 to create a Squadron flying the Airco DH.9A in a daylight bombing role. The scheduled formation date was postponed several times before the plans were entirely cancelled. The squadron was reformed at RAF Newmarket on 15 February 1942 when the King's Flight was combined with elements of 138 Squadron. In April, 161 Squadron moved to RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire where it would remain until disbandment on 2 June 1945.
Aircraft

Several types of aircraft were used by the squadron in the course of their duties.

Westland Lysander February 1942 - November 1944
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V February 1942 - December 1942
Havoc I February 1942 - December 1943
Handley Page Halifax B.Mk II September 1942 - December 1942
Handley Page Halifax B.Mk V November 1942 to November 1944
Lockheed Hudson III / V October 1943-June 1945
Short Stirling III and IV September 1944 - June 1945

The Lysanders, Hudsons and Havocs were used for parachuting/landing and collection of agents whilst the Whitworths, Halifaxes and Stirlings were used for supply-dropping missions.

The PBY Catalina flying Boat in WW2

2011-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have always had an interest in flying boats of all types but especially the PBY Catalinas in WW2.

Here in Arizona you can still find the hulks of these venerable aircraft in the desert junk yards around Tucson - or at least you could. I have not been to Tucson in years other than going to the Airport.

These planes were used for all manner of missions in WW2 and were actually used initially by the Alamo scouts for insertion into their respective mission AOs.

I like the fact that these planes had a galley and crew quarters , had long range capabilities and could touch down on land or water.

If you are interested in further information about this cool old plane please take the time to check out the link below for War bird alley. Or you can read the info from wikipedia I have provided. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBY_Catalina

See you on the Trail!

http://warbirdalley.com/cat.htm

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. In the United States Army Air Forces and later in the United States Air Force their designation was OA-10. A Canadian-built PBY would be familiarly called a Canso.

During World War II, PBYs were used in anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escorts, search and rescue missions (especially air-sea rescue), and cargo transport. The PBY was the most successful aircraft of its kind; no other flying boat was produced in greater numbers. The last active military PBYs were not retired from service until the 1980s. Even today, over 70 years after its first flight, the aircraft continues to fly as an airtanker in aerial firefighting operations all over the world.

The initialism of "P.B.Y." was determined in accordance with the U.S. Navy aircraft designation system of 1922; PB representing "Patrol Bomber" and Y being the code used for the aircraft's manufacturer, Consolidated Aircraft.

Background

The PBY was originally designed to be a patrol bomber, an aircraft with a long operational range intended to locate and attack enemy transport ships at sea in order to compromise enemy supply lines. With a mind to a potential conflict in the Pacific Ocean, where troops would require resupply over great distances, the U.S. Navy in the 1930s invested millions of dollars in developing long-range flying boats for this purpose. Flying boats had the advantage of not requiring runways, in effect having the entire ocean available. Several different flying boats were adopted by the Navy, but the PBY was the most widely used and produced.
PBY riding at sea anchor.

Although slow and ungainly, PBYs distinguished themselves in World War II as exceptionally reliable. Allied armed forces used them successfully in a wide variety of roles that the aircraft was never intended for. They are remembered by many veterans of the war for their role in rescuing downed airmen, in which they saved the lives of thousands of aircrew downed over water. PBY airmen called their aircraft the "cat" on combat missions and "Dumbo" in air-sea rescue service.[1]
[edit] Development

As American dominance in the Pacific Ocean began to face competition from Japan in the 1930s, the U.S. Navy contracted Consolidated Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft Corporation in October 1933 to build competing prototypes for a patrol flying boat.[2] Naval doctrine of the 1930s and 1940s used flying boats in a wide variety of roles that today are handled by multiple special-purpose aircraft. The U.S. Navy had adopted the Consolidated P2Y and Martin P3M models for this role in 1931, but both aircraft proved to be underpowered and hampered by short ranges and low maximum payloads.

Consolidated and Douglas both delivered single prototypes of their designs, the XP3Y-1 and XP3D-1, respectively. Consolidated's XP3Y-1 was an evolution of the XPY-1 design that had originally competed unsuccessfully for the P3M contract two years earlier and of the XP2Y design that the Navy had authorized for a limited production run. Although the Douglas aircraft was a good design, the Navy opted for Consolidated's because the projected cost was only $90,000 per aircraft.
PBY waist gunner mounting port side gun blister.

Consolidated's XP3Y-1 design (company Model 28) was revolutionary in a number of ways. The aircraft had a parasol wing with internal bracing that allowed the wing to be a virtual cantilever, except for two small streamlined struts on each side. Stabilizing floats, retractable in flight to form streamlined wingtips, were another aerodynamic innovation, a feature licensed from the Saunders-Roe company. The two-step hull design was similar to that of the P2Y, but the Model 28 had a cantilever cruciform tail unit instead of a strut-braced twin tail. Cleaner aerodynamics gave the Model 28 better performance than earlier designs.

The prototype was powered by two 825 hp (615 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-54 Twin Wasp engines mounted on the wing’s leading edges. Armament comprised four 0.30 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns and up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) of bombs.

The XP3Y-1 had its maiden flight on 28 March 1935, after which it was transferred to the US Navy for service trials. The XP3Y-1 soon proved to have significant performance improvements over current patrol flying boats. The Navy requested further development in order to bring the aircraft into the category of patrol bomber, and in October 1935, the prototype was returned to Consolidated for further work, including installation of 900 hp (671 kW) R-1830-64 engines. For the redesignated XPBY-1, Consolidated introduced redesigned vertical tail surfaces. The XPBY-1 had its maiden flight on 19 May 1936, during which a record non-stop distance flight of 3,443 miles (5,541 km) was achieved.

The XPBY-1 was delivered to VP-11F in October 1936. The second squadron to be equipped was VP-12, which received the first of its aircraft in early 1937. The second production order was placed on 25 July 1936. Over the next three years, the PBY design was gradually developed further and successive models introduced.

Myke Hawke - Army Veteran and Survival expert

2011-10-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

As you all may know, I don't watch much TV, I'm usually bumming around in the woods someplace and if I'm not, Ill usually be in the company of an attractive lady and the afore said company negates the need for TV entertainment.

Recently though, I was surfing the net and found some videos of a guy named Myke Hawke doing jungle survival skills. Pretty cool stuff, I liked his hammock set up and gear display etc. I was informed by my friend Matt that Myke has 2 shows on TV - "Man/woman wild" and "One man army". I didn't watch them on TV but was able to download a couple episodes of each to my laptop for casual enjoyment.

I actually like both shows - especially "Man / woman wild" Myke and his wife Ruth make a great team. This "Survival" show is far better than the other ones I have seen on YT except maybe good ol' Les Strouds "Survivorman" series.

"One Man Army" is a good show too and I got a kick out of seeing the smart ass, pretentious Navy SEAL get booted out in the first round.

Mykes method of presentation is the type I like, not annoying and hyper acting. He presents the information in a military style that I grew accustomed too while I was a member of the Army. And Myke does it wearing shoes and not sporting a gotee or a rag tied to his head or calling everyone "Brother".

Below I have attached the links to Mykes website and both discovery channel shows, you can click on them and open in a new tab. Im sure you will like what you see and enjoy the shows. Im looking forward to buying Mykes book on Languages to add to my travel library.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

http://mykelhawke.com/

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/man-woman-wild/mykel-hawke.html

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/one-man-army-videos/

Tomahawks New Knives

2011-10-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

My Good friend T. j. Learnihan was kind enough to gift me 2 beautiful knives from his collection. I am proud to own these two blades and will put them to good use in the field. I might even retire Ol' Butch for a few weeks to let these new knives do their job.

I hope you like the picture of these blades.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks Home made knife case

2011-10-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was out in the woods and realized that I needed a new belt case for my Swiss army Knife. The case my good friend Mountain Mel made for me was just a bit small for this SAK.

Taking a look through my plunder , I decided to use a piece from the Hennessey hammock strap as the main part of the case. Next I cut a strip of webbing off of my camera case to use as fill for the sides of the case. The Hennessey strap came with a ready sewn belt loop so it was a simple matter of sewing all of the pieces together.

Easy Peasy, I used my sewing kit and artificial sinew thread , sewing the entire case with double stitches. The resulting knife case came out a little crooked but is functional and should take me and my Swiss Army Knife(SAK) down the trail a mile or two.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Dumpster Dived Solar Oven

2011-10-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a short video on my Dumpster Dived Solar oven. Last week when Matt and me were doing a bit of DD behind a circle K store, we uncovered a roll of clear packing tape, some Mylar wrapping and later on a postal service flat rate shipping box. I was able to bang out a solar cooker in a few minutes using these materials. In this video I am cooking brown rice and lentils with dried onions. It took about 2 hours to cook these ingredients until done. I added Kosher salt, A salsa verde packet from MREs, a dash of Olive Oil and some Vienna sausages I scored compliments of an Illegal alien "Lay up site". All in all it was a tasty meal.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawk on the trail

2011-10-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

On the trail in the Huachucas last week.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Tomahawk and his new Hennessey

2011-10-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just showing off my new Hennessey expedition Hammock given to me by my good friend "Old Pappy" and the under quilt gifted to me by Jeff Ramey.

Thanks again Fellas!! Im in need of a day pack if anyone out there has one to sell or trade lemme know please!

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Alpen glow in the Huachucas

2011-10-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

Alpen glow on cerro Tomahawk in the Huachucas. Just thought you might like to see it.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Large Larva

2011-10-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

This Larva was crawling across the trail on a cool Huachuca morning. I dont know what kind it is but it is colored like a Sacropia moth. If anyone knows what type is is lemme know please.

Thanks,

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

P.S. my friend John says they taste like chicken..........

Small Lizard on the trail

2011-10-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I saw this Lizard on the trail the other day. I have since learned that it is a Pine Lizard. Thanks John Simmons for the info!!

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Book Rewiew - "At play in the fields of the Lord"

2011-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

"At play in the fields of the Lord" by Peter Matthiessen is a pretty good book and I would recommend it as a take along book for an adventurer. I read this book the other day when I was out on the Mountain. I really like the characters in this story especially "Wolfie" and "Lewis Moon". They are a couple of American adventurers stranded in south America because their American passports have been revoked in abstentia for joining foreign armies etc.

Both are raging alcoholics, womanizers and yarn spinners - kinda reminds me of me. There are some excellent descriptions by "Wolfie" about his friend "Lewis Moon".

From page 63 in the book; "I dont know why I even tollerate this mad man, you know it?" " There is this kind of very way out cat - like you run into him all over the world, and each time he dissapears, but always I know Im going to run into him again, because the guy is on the road, he's always on the road, and hes got nine lives and nine names and nine faces."

From page 65 in the book; "He got up in them rivers and got hold of a big haul of them river diamonds some way, and that was all the stake he needed. He bummed around this continent on foot - like one little knap sack. Even the handle of his razor is sawed off; it fits inta a match box, for Christs sake!" "He learned long ago to travel light and he never gave up the habit; he don't own nothin' he don't want to."

From page 66 in the book; "He don't belong nowhere,hes like a house cat somebody runs out on, you know, like turns out at the edge of some woods: He don't belong where he comes from and he don't belong where he is, so he keeps moving, and soon hes a wild animal that you don't never tame again."

These descriptions of Lewis bear a startling verisimilitude to my own life thus far, on my trail into the unknown.

I was able to download this movie last night also and watched it. About half way through the film I started packing my bag for a trip to Amazonia but remembered that like "Lewis" and "Wolfie" my passport has also been revoked by the state department. Damn! I should have never taken that repatriation loan in Bangkok!

Rest assured, that once my Passport has been restored, Im hitting the trail for parts unknown.

If you find the time to read this book and/Or watch this movie, Im sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Movie Info:

At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) is a drama film directed by Héctor Babenco adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by American author Peter Matthiessen. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jean-Claude Carrière. The 3-hour, 9-minute story stars Kathy Bates, Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger, Aidan Quinn, John Lithgow and Tom Waits.

Plot:

A pair of Americans, Lewis Moon and Wolf, become stranded in Mãe de Deus (Portuguese: Mother of God), an outpost in the deep Brazilian Amazon River basin, after their plane runs out of fuel.

The local police comandante wants the Niaruna tribe, living upriver, to move their village so they won't be killed by gold miners moving into the area and cause trouble for him with the provincial government. The commandante cuts a deal with Moon: if he and his fellow mercenary would bomb the Niaruna village from the air and drive them away, they will be given enough gasoline for their airplane to be allowed to leave.

Born-again Christian evangelist (and missionary) Martin Quarrier and his wife Hazel arrive with their son Billy, here to spread the Christian gospel to the primitive Niaruna indigenous natives. They arrive in Mãe de Deus to meet fellow missionaries Leslie and Andy Huben, who live with a civilized Niaruna helper. In town, they meet a Catholic priest who wants to re-establish a mission to the Niarunas, as the former missionary was killed by them.

Moon and Wolf leave in their plane to attack the Niaruna. But upon seeing the community with his own eyes as well as an Indian firing an arrow at the plane, Moon has second thoughts. The plane returns to Mãe de Deus.

That night, after a discussion with Wolf, Quarrier and the priest, Moon takes an Indian drug and becomes hallucinatory. He takes off alone in his plane and parachutes into the Niaruna village. Moon, a half-Native American Cheyenne, aligns himself with the Niarunas. He is accepted as "Kisu-Mu", one of the Niaruna gods, and begins to adapt to Niaruna life and culture.

The four evangelicals travel upriver to establish their mission. Indians originally converted by the Catholics turn up, awaiting the arrival of the Niaruna. Eventually they do come and accept the gifts that the Quarriers offer, not staying long.

Young Billy dies of blackwater fever, causing Hazel to lose her sanity. She is returned to Mãe de Deus. Martin becomes despondent, arguing with Leslie and gradually losing his faith.

Moon encounters Andy swimming nude. After they kiss, Moon catches her cold. He returns to the Niaruna camp and inadvertently infects everyone there. Much of the tribe becomes sick. Moon and the tribe's leaders go to the missionary Leslie to beg for drugs.

Leslie refuses, but Martin agrees to provide the drugs. He travels to the Niaruna village with the missionaries' young helper. In the village, after Martin speaks with Moon, helicopters arrive to begin bombing. Martin is killed by his civilized helper. Moon is exposed not as a god but as a man. He runs, ending up alone.

Tomahawks dumpster dived/home made knife sheath

2011-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to show you all the sheath I made for my Bubba Pharris "Mad Trapper" Knife. I dug a leather purse out of the dumpster behind the good will store and salvaged a piece of leather suitable for this sheath.

Using the Sharpie brand marker I usually carry in my pack, I drew out the basic shape that I wanted for this sheath and then cut it out along with a welt with the scissors from my sewing kit.

Next I chewed a crease in the leather to make it lie better when I punched the holes in the leather. Using my swiss army knife awl, I punched out all of the holes in both the welt and main sheath piece.

Taking one of the smaller needles from my sewing kit and some artificial sinew thread I sewed it up using a double stitch then a wrap stitch. Next I used the knife to cut out the belt loop .

The entire process took less than an hour. I purposely left a hole in the tip end of the sheath for a tie down thong. I will also add a braided brain tanned buck skin lanyard as soon as I can find it in my junk cached at my friend Matts house.

I hope you like the simplicity of this type of sheath as much as I do.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks base camp

2011-10-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about his Base camp in the Huachuca mountains of SE Arizona. A dumpster dived tent, bivvy sack and other Gear.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks New Trap spring knife

2011-10-06T19:16:00.001-07:00

My good friend and fellow woods bumb "Bubba" send me a knife he made for me from a animal trap spring. It is a good blade and functions well in the field. Over the past week I used my new "Mad Trapper" Knife for everything in the woods. I really like the feel and functionality of this blade. Good work Bubba!

I call it the "Mad Trapper" Knife because in the inventory list of equipment compiled by the RCMP on the death of Albert Johnson, AKA the "Mad Trapper" there were 2 knives. Taken from the book "The Mad Trapper of Rat River" by Dick North - Appendix A , Exhibit C.

http://tomahawksadventuretravel.blogspot.com/2011/07/tomahawks-whisky-jacks-evaluation-of.html

One was listed as a "Knife made from a trap spring" and the other was "Small knife in moose hide sheath".

Anyhoo, this knife is pretty cool both in function and look, it is made of good steel and I can see why the old timers like the "Mad Trapper" used knives of this type.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Hennessey Hammock - 2

2011-10-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

For all of you followers of this Blog you may recall that Recently I have posted that my Hennessey Hammock, Given to me over 2 years ago by my good friend and fellow adventurer "Cyber Slinger",is falling apart. I have used this 1st hammock all over the world and slept in it more nights consecutively then it was probably designed for.

The other night while sleeping in my hammock I was "Birthed" from it around 3 AM when the Velcro bottom closure gave way. It was a rude awakening in mo re ways than one.

Today, I was the recipient of a care package of sorts from my good friend Patrick. He managed to score an Expedition weight Hennessey Hammock from a person who had no further use for it. Patrick was generous enough to send me the hammock along with 2 other goodies like a Patagonia vest and a book about the Alamo scouts in WW2.

I cant hardly wait to get back up on the mountain so I can sling my new Hammock, throw on my vest against the evening chill and read my new book by the light of my head lamp.

Il post some more pics when i return of the new hammock in operation.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The history of Tiger Stripe Camouflage

2011-10-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have been enamored to Tiger stripe camo even since my brother Arturo sent me a Tiger "Boonie" cap from Vietnam. I can still remember opening that package and seeing this moldy cap for the first time. I was about 11 years old or so and thought it was pretty cool. My mother washed the hat for me and I wore this "Boonie" cap for several years before it was lost to history. Over the years I have bought other Tiger stripe clothing from catalog stores and salvation army etc. I had a pretty good collection of the stuff for a while. Recently in Thailand, I asked my good friend and master tailor "Raja" to make me some long and short sleeved Tiger stripe shirts. You can see one of these shirts in the above photo.

Please find below as much as I could locate on the history of this type of Camouflage.

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Tigerstripe is the name of a group of camouflage patterns developed for close-range use in dense jungle during jungle warfare by the South Vietnamese Armed Forces/US Forces. It derives its name from its resemblance to a tiger's stripes. It features narrow stripes that look like brush-strokes of green and brown, and broader brush-strokes of black printed over a lighter shade of olive or khaki. The brush-strokes interlock rather than overlap, as in French Lizard pattern (TAP47) from which it apparently derives. There are many variations: R.D. Johnson counted at least 19 different versions in early drafts of Tiger Patterns, his definitive work on the subject, although it is unclear if these are all different print patterns, or if they include color variations of a few different print patterns.

It is unclear who developed the first tigerstripe pattern, consisting of sixty-four (64) stripes. The French used a similar pattern in their war in Vietnam , while simultaneously, the British used a similar pattern in Burma (Possibly the-then SAS Smock/Denison Smock). After the French left Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps continued using the pattern, a variant of which was later adopted by Vietnamese Rangers (Biệt Động Quân) and Special Forces (Lực Lượng Đặc Biệt). When the United States began sending advisors to South Vietnam, USMAAG advisors attached to the ARVN were authorized to wear their Vietnamese unit's combat uniform with US insignia. Soon, many American special operations forces in the Vietnamese theater of operations wore the pattern, despite not always being attached to ARVN units: it became the visible trademark of Green Berets, LRRPs, SEALs and other elite forces.

Tigerstripe was never an official US-issue item. Personnel permitted to wear it at first had their camo fatigues custom-made by local tailors, ARVN uniforms being too small for most Americans; for this reason there were many variations of the basic tigerstripe pattern. From 1969 5th Special Forces Group contracted with Vietnamese producers to make fatigues and other items such as boonie hats using ARVN fabric. During the latter stages of the war, tigerstripe was gradually replaced by the-then-new ERDL pattern, a predecessor of the woodland BDU pattern.

Besides American and ARVN forces, Australian and New Zealand military forces also used tigerstripe camouflage combat uniforms while on advisory duty in Vietnam, with Australian and New Zealand advisors to the ARVN, and Australian and New Zealand Special Air Service soldiers being the principal wearers of tigerstripe uniforms, while regular Australian and New Zealand ground forces continued wearing the standard-issue olive drab green combat uniforms.

The Tamil Tigers used a tiger stripe camouflage pattern in their uniforms, but it is graphically very different from the family of patterns famous as Tigerstripes from the Vietnam War. The Tamil Tigers' pattern lacks black, and is small and overwhelmingly horizontal.

Tiger Stripe Products, a professional camouflage designer, licenses variations to manufacturers for military use and for the civilian market. With input from Tiger Stripe Products, the United States Air Force developed a digital tigerstripe like pattern using various greens, greys, and blues for use with its new Airman Battle Uniform.

Digital MARPAT pattern used by U.S. Marine Corps was also influenced by tigerstripe. Of the two patterns shown here both are from the Vietnam era, the first one being a Tiger Stripe Products version of an early to mid Vietnam War pattern referred to as "John Wayne Dense" from its appearance in The Green Berets. The other version pictured is a product from the latter part of the war which is darker than most other patterns of Vietnamese War tigerstripe.

US Special Operations Forces such as the US Navy SEALs and the Green Berets are still using tigerstripe camouflage in operations in Afghanistan, and it has proved itself to be very effective for this type of environment.

Special fabric rather than pattern artwork design determines NIR detection. Near Infrared (NIR) Signature Management Technology is used by the U.S. Department of Defense to prevent detection by NIR Image Converters. These photocathode devices do not detect temperatures, but rather infrared radiation variances. NIR-compliant uniforms use a special fabric that allows soldiers to appear at the same radiation level as the surrounding terrain, thus making them more difficult to detect. NIR technology also make uniforms less visible in low-light environments by reducing the reflection of light.

Tomahawk and some fossils

2011-10-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Matt and me found some fossils while we were hiking around. just thought you might like to see them too.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawk and some pine pitch

2011-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Matt and me were hiking around in the Huachuca mountains. In this vid Im talking about collection pine pitch from a lightning scar in a ponderosa pine.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tom , umbrella and Green River knife

2011-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk and his Umbrella and Trusty Green River Knife in a squall.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawk and the water cress

2011-10-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Matt and me were just walking around the mountains making some short films you might like. This one is about water cress and the horse tail plant.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Mysterious Island, a Survival book wrapped up in a Novel

2011-10-03T09:26:00.001-07:00

Mysterious Island by Jules Verne was a favorite book of mine as a kid. I have always liked the references to various survival skills contained in the book. here is an excerpt from when they castaways found the mysterious chest floating in the sea and inventoried the contents. There was some very useful items contained therein.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The covering of zinc was torn off and thrown back over the sides of the chest, and by degrees numerous articles of very varied character were produced and strewn about on the sand. At each new object Pencroft uttered fresh hurrahs, Herbert clapped his hands, and Neb danced up and down. There were books which made Herbert wild with joy, and cooking utensils which Neb covered with kisses!

In short, the colonists had reason to be extremely satisfied, for this chest contained tools, weapons, instruments, clothes, books; and this is the exact list of them as stated in Gideon Spilett's note-book:

--Tools:--3 knives with several blades, 2 woodmen's axes, 2 carpenter's hatchets, 3 planes, 2 adzes, 1 twibil or mattock, 6 chisels, 2 files, 3 hammers, 3 gimlets, 2 augers, 10 bags of nails and screws, 3 saws of different sizes, 2 boxes of needles.

Weapons:--2 flint-lock guns, 2 for percussion caps, 2 breach-loader carbines, 5 boarding cutlasses, 4 sabers, 2 barrels of powder, each containing twenty-five pounds; 12 boxes of percussion caps.

Instruments:--1 sextant, 1 double opera-glass, 1 telescope, 1 box of mathematical instruments, 1 mariner's compass, 1 Fahrenheit thermometer, 1 aneroid barometer, 1 box containing a photographic apparatus, object-glass, plates, chemicals, etc.

Clothes:-2 dozen shirts of a peculiar material resembling wool, but evidently of a vegetable origin; 3 dozen stockings of the same material.

Utensils:-1 iron pot, 6 copper saucepans, 3 iron dishes, 10 metal plates, 2 kettles, 1 portable stove, 6 table-knives,

Books:-1 Bible, 1 atlas, 1 dictionary of the different Polynesian idioms, 1 dictionary of natural science, in six volumes; 3 reams of white paper, 2 books with blank pages.

Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

Guerilla Gardening

2011-10-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of what these cats and kittens are doing.I have been reading about them for a while and have finally gotten around to posting about them.

Take some time to check out the webpage. it is informative and entertaining.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

American Apocalypse by Nova

2011-10-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Prior to leaving on a recent camping trip in the Huachuca mountains of Arizona,I was looking around for a book to read in case I had to ride out a storm in my hammock. My friend Matt suggested "American Apocalypse" by Nova, I have always liked these type of stories about "The end of the world as we know it" (TEOTWAWKI) or "Post apocalyptic world" (PAW) scenarios. AA by Nova turned out to be a good read and very appropriate for the times we live in. Personally?? this story gave me a lot of food for thought because I have been living out of a backpack in the woods in various places around the world for about 3 years now. I even know a few guys like the character "Max" in the story.

Im posting the link to the American Apocalypse Blog and you can check out this book and others by Nova.

http://theamericanapocalypse.blogspot.com/

In short, I would definitely recommend this book for all of those folks out there that are into studying and reading about what I feel is the future of America.

See you in the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

The End of an Operator

2011-10-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been getting a little tired of hearing about all of the new "Survival Experts" shown on various T.V. shows. My self? Im into other things....Besides if you are in a "Survival situation" you fucked up.I have wandered the world for almost 40 years now in some pretty inhospitable places and have yet to be in a so called "Survival Situation" , why?? because I watch my own six and I have some true friends in all corners of the world.

Below is a bit of info about an "Outlaw Bushcrafter" and Bush pilot. taken from the Bushpilot website. www.bushwings.com
I hope you like it, if so follow the link above to the site for the rest of the Bush Pilot adventure stories.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

END OF AN OPERATOR

By

Ron Fox

During the vacation which allowed Charlotte and I to spend some
time together, driving the Land Rover to Texas, we decided that maybe this
smuggling game wasn't as much fun as it was before the peso crashed.
Having returned home with eight bullet holes in my T-Bone, we began
having doubts and it was on this trip that we decided to bring my border
career to a close. Gus was not happy with our leaving. I had become the
Chief Pilot and Director of Operations of our small outfit and he relied on
me to coordinate our flying activities and handle the ever-growing
paperwork which was necessary to stay in compliance with federal air
regulations. Several of our pilots had already bailed out due to the
diminishing number of trips we were able to fly. Gus was having great
difficulty getting paid for the trips we did fly due to the impossibility of
getting dollars out of Mexico. Paid in pesos in Matamoros, their value could
drop by half by the time Amy could get them to the bank in Brownsville.
The peso was dropping like a rock. In December, 1981 you could get a
dollar for 12.5 pesos. In January a dollar would cost 25 pesos. By mid-
January it would be at 50, then 100, then 150. The peso's collapse sent
such a shock through the smuggling business that many operators stopped
flying altogether. When the business finally picked up again, there were
fewer and fewer flights to pass around and the competition was getting
fierce.

Operators began cut-throat dealing, often supplying information to
mexican customs about a competitor's flights. Sometimes this would result
in planes getting shot down or sabotaged. Sometimes this would result in a
pilot getting jumped at a strip. By the middle of summer in 1982,
Charlotte and I decided to call it quits with the smuggling game. She had
just gotten a job in Dallas with a startup airline, Muse Air and she wanted to
go. I had to admit that it was time.

With Texas still in a full-blown recession, flying jobs were scarce
everywhere. After trying to find a flying job for a few months, I finally
gave up and started driving a limousine for $4.40 and hour plus tips. Talk
about culture shock. After my first month, looking at my paycheck I
realized that I used to work one night for more than I was earning in more
than a month of driving limos and hearses to funerals. Had I not lived like
there was no tomorrow while engaged on the border I would have been
better prepared to face my post-border situation.

After months of driving and looking for flying work I managed to get
hired by a local freight outfit, flying a single engine Cessna carrying
canceled checks and film. It wasn't much for income, but it beat a limo.

The following September Charlotte and I tied the knot. I realized that
she was the best thing to ever happen to me and if she could put up with me
for as long as she already had I had better not let her get away. I also
realized that she was the one and only stabilizing influence in my life. She
had not only nursed me back from a broken back, but she was always there
through thick and thin. There are not many women who could go through
all the things we had and still want to make a life with someone of such
poor prospects. So far, love has conquered all and, through more thick and
thin we have been happy. Having settled in to married life, an apartment
near Love Field in Dallas, and both working in the airline business, we
were shook up to receive a phone call from Gus's wife, Carmen the
following June. She told us that Gus had been killed in a plane crash in
Mexico.

After things fell apart on the border and remained depressed for over a
year, Gus was beginning to get opportunities for trips again. He had been
spending his time trying to make a go of an avionics repair shop at the
airport, but it wasn't going well. I spoke to him several times about his
increasing opportunities for getting back into the smuggling business, but
would not agree to come back to it. He claimed he was not able to afford
paying pilots to fly the first few loads he was able to get so he was going to
fly them himself. I tried to talk him out of doing that because I knew the
type of pilot he was. He was a good pilot, but he was a general aviation
pilot, not a professional. His limited flying experience and proficiency did
not prepare him for the difficult flying he was trying to do. He had flown
two trips to Mexico in the T-Bone. He spoke of what a bear the T-Bone
was when overloaded. He knew of my difficulties with that airplane with
more than eighteen hundred pounds in it. That's why I was surprised he
had taken off on his third trip with over two thousand pounds of electronics
onboard. He didn't make it.

Gus broke too many of the rules we had lived by in this business. The
rules he broke were specifically: too much weight for the airplane to fly
properly, flying past the point of no return without enough fuel to get
home, descending too close to the ground without seeing it,
getting too slow with too little power close to the ground, and reacting with
yoke instead of throttle to avoid a collision with an obstacle.

The entire year I had spent on the border with Gus, we never flew much
further south than Vera Cruz because it was beyond the return range of the
aircraft without additional fuel. Pilots who flew further south were
committed to land somewhere and get fuel in order to get home. They had
to be awful sure they could get into their strips. Unexpected visitors to
their strips or unexpected fog or bad weather could ruin their whole day. It
was very risky landing at unknown airports with a load of contraband to get
fuel. Many pilots were captured this way.

The only way for a pilot to find out how much weight was too much for
their airplane was to carry too much and learn how the airplane handled.
The one time I carried two thousand pounds in a T-Bone, I flew into a
small cumulous cloud and the bottom dropped out of the airplane. I
dropped over two thousand feet before I could regain control of the
airplane. At max cruise power, I was only flying about fifteen knots over
stall speed and any large control inputs would send the airplane out of
control. On that trip I was lucky enough not to encounter any more clouds
and I brought the airplane into the strip hotter than a firecracker with a lot
of power to be able to continue flying down to the ground. After that I
always limited the load to eighteen hundred pounds and I was always
careful to insist the load be placed to get the center of gravity in the middle
of the airplane. Uninitiated pilots used to laugh at our procedure of pushing
down on the tail of the airplane until the nose came off the ground and then
releasing it to see if it would come back up on its own. It worked.

Without a current altimeter setting after almost four hours of flying, you
couldn't trust the read-out on the altimeter to tell you precisely how close to
the ground you were. If you were not familiar with the elevation of the
terrain of your strip environment or anywhere along your route, it was
easy to crash into the ground if it was obscured with low clouds or fog.
My personal rule was not to descend to within a thousand feet of the
ground or water without seeing it. If I reached a thousand feet without
seeing it, I just returned home to fly another day.

Another rule which kept me alive was to always hold extra airspeed and
have the aircraft under excess power whenever I got close to the ground.
Once an airplane gets close to its stall speed and close to minimum power
on the engines, sudden control inputs can put it out of control quickly.
With extra airspeed, your controls are more responsive and you can always
convert extra airspeed into altitude. With extra power on the engine at high
rpm, it produces power quicker.

As with instrument flying, when a pilot must overcome the natural
tendencies of his body to react to feeling from the balance in the inner ear
and rely on his eyes to give him inputs on his attitude from his instruments,
so must a bushpilot overcome his natural tendencies to react to
hazardous situations close to the ground or obstructions. He must always
be aware of his airspeed and constantly compare it with the actual stall
speed of his aircraft. As mentioned before, airspeed gives the control
surfaces of the airplane (ailerons, elevator and rudder) their ability to
maneuver the airplane. At stall, the wing is not producing lift and it will
fall. Near stall, the control surfaces, have little capacity to maneuver the
airplane. The higher the airspeed, the more effective these control surfaces
are, so it is usually smart to carry a little extra airspeed in case the need to
maneuver abruptly arises. Without extra airspeed it can be fatal to react to
an obstruction by pulling on the yoke. Power must first be added to
increase speed and this takes time. Yoke input can help change the
direction of engine thrust, but it is lift of the wings and control surface
effectiveness which are the main movers of an airplane. This is why extra
airspeed is so important. Since the stall airspeed of an airplane increases
dramatically when overloaded, it is important to know how much airspeed is
needed to both keep flying and to maneuver. You won't find the answers to
these questions in the books. The lines on the charts only go up to the
allowed weights of the airplane. You have to develop this knowledge by the
seat of your pants assisted by a good stall warning system. The T-Bone had
a big red light on the instrument panel right in front of the pilot's line of
vision. When stall speed was approached, the light would begin to blink.
Near stall speed the light would stay on.

Gus had tried to take too much weight in the airplane. He had flown
past the point of no return trying to make Loma Bonita. He had descended
too close to the ground without seeing it. He had gotten slow close to the
ground. It was said by witnesses that he broke out of the fog right above
some houses and he immediately pulled back on the yoke to bring his nose
up. The aircraft immediately stalled and his plane crashed nose first into the
ground. He hadn't had time to push the throttles forward for more power.

The news saddened Charlotte and me a great deal. Gus was a loveable
guy to everyone and I loved him like a father. I couldn't accept what
Carmen was telling me through her sobs of anquish. I was in denial. I was
angry at Gus for taking such chances and I was angry at myself and feeling
guilty for saying no to his request that I return. My mind was whirling in its
irrational desperation for something I could do to make him alive again; and
I was crying.

Gus had looked out for me. He hadn't left me in Mexico like so many
of the border operators would have when I crashed and broke my back. He
never questioned my reasons for canceling a mission and he worked hard
for everyone in our outfit. He left a son just a few months old who would
never get to know his father. And Charlotte and I lost a good friend.

One often learns proper behavior by observing the behavior of those
deemed proper. This has often been, at least for me, a confused process
because I too often observed what turned out to be the wrong people, or at
least the wrong behavior. With most of the guys I hung with, both in the
Navy and out, what our heros did and what we thought as a group was
cool, thay's how we behaved. With most of the women I had been involved
with, what often seemed to be selfless, caring people turned out to be more
interested in their own welfare at the expense of anyting shared between us.
At least that was my experience before I met Charlotte.

Charlotte taught me the experience of true love by how she loved me.
There was no reservation of feelings, weighing the benefits of career moves,
assessments of the probability of success, or metering of emotion tit for tat.
There was only a constant feeling of adoration not dependent upon
anything else. Those feelings were easy to return and I knew I was onto
something I had never experience before.

It was these kinds of feelings which made it easy for me to leave the
border, that and a few bullet holes reminding me what a lucky guy I was.
In many ways I was trading one adventure for another, from one with a
dubious future to another of enormous potential for happiness. Of course,
nothing was guaranteed; that's where the adventure came in.

"I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid;" to borrow a line from an old movie
about early jet test pilots, ("Chain Lightning," Warner Bros, 1950,
Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker), "Those who come back from their first
mission are living on borrowed time. Well, how much can you borrow?"

Copyright 1998, BUSHPILOT, all rights reserved.

Tomahawk and the little frog

2011-10-01T11:24:00.001-07:00

Tomahawk talking about a little from he found clinging to the rocks in a mountain stream.

Scouts out!

The Emberlit stove

2011-10-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about my new Emberlit stove donated to me by my good friend NWManitou from the bcusa forum. it is a great stove and i have been using it with sterno so far but when it is colder ill try out wood and charcoal.

www.emberlit.com

Tomahawk - scouts out!

Big centipede on the trail

2011-10-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk and the "Big Bastard" centipede on the trail in the Huachucas.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawk in the Huachuca Mountains

2011-10-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about his stealth camp in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

PFC Guy Gabaldon USMC WW2

2011-09-27T10:57:00.003-07:00

I love writing about and posting info about real american heros especially those unsung men from the WW2 era. I just heard about Guy today. just wanted to post this info to help spread the word about this Hero. I sure hope he finally gets his Congressional Medal of Honor.

Semper Fi!

Tomahawk - Scouts out!

PFC Guy Louis Gabaldon ( March 22, 1926–August 31, 2006) was a United States Marine who was credited with capturing (or persuading to surrender) about 1,500 Japanese soldiers and civilians during the Battle of Saipan (1944) in World War II. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor but was instead awarded the Silver Star which was later upgraded to the Navy Cross Medal for these actions. His exploits were turned into the film Hell to Eternity.

Gabaldon was born in Los Angeles, California into a Mexican-American family, he was one of seven children. He was raised in East Los Angeles where as a ten year old he would earn a living by shining shoes on Skid Row. Gabaldon who was a member of a multiethnic gang referred to as the "Moe gang," moved out of his house at the age of 12 and moved in with the Nakanos, a family of Japanese-American heritage whom he considered his extended family. He attended language school every day with their children and learned to speak Japanese. He also learned about their customs and culture.

At the outbreak of World War II the Nakanos, his "adopted" family, were sent to a relocation camp in Arizona. He went to Alaska to work in a cannery. On March 22, 1943, Gabaldon's 17th birthday, he joined the United States Marine Corps. After receiving his basic training at Camp Pendleton he was assigned to Headquarters & Service Company, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.

The Pied Piper of Saipan
The United States considered the possibility of a full scale invasion of the Japanese mainland but decided that such a feat would be costly with an estimated one million American casualties. The capture of Saipan was considered essential for the establishment of airfields which would accommodate the B-29 Superfortress bombers to be used for the planned invasion. On June 15, 1944, an armada of 535 ships carrying 127,570 U. S. military personnel which included Marines from the 2nd and 4th Divisions began the invasion of Saipan. Japanese soldiers seldom surrendered during World War II and, as the invasion went badly for the Japanese, they were ordered by their superiors on Saipan to kill seven U.S. Marine and Army troops for every man they lost, or commit suicide.

Gabaldon began bringing in prisoners the very first day that he arrived on Saipan. According to Gabaldon:

"The first night I was on Saipan, I went out on my own," said Gabaldon, "I always worked on my own, and brought back two prisoners using my backstreet Japanese".

He was reprimanded by his superior officers and threatened with a court-martial for leaving his post. However, the next night he went out and repeated once more his actions. He carefully approached a cave, shot the guards outside, moved off to one side of the cave, and yelled in Japanese, "You're surrounded and have no choice but to surrender. Come out, and you will not be killed! I assure you will be well-treated. We do not want to kill you!"

The next morning he returned with 50 Japanese prisoners. As a result Gabaldon was permitted by his commanding officer to act as a "lone wolf" operator.

This was the situation when on July 7, 1944, after spending a night near Saipan's northern cliffs, Gabaldon heard and listened to thousands of Japanese troops and civilians preparing for a large "banzai charge." The attack was unsuccessful and the surviving Japanese returned to their positions. The next day, Gabaldon captured two guards and convinced one of them to return to the cave with an offering of surrender. Shortly after, a Japanese officer showed up and after speaking to Gabaldon accepted the conditions of surrender. Over eight hundred soldiers and civilians surrendered to Gabaldon and were turned over to the United States military authorities. For his exploits, Gabaldon became known as the "Pied Piper of Saipan".

Gabaldon continued to capture more Japanese soldiers until he was wounded in a machine gun ambush. He was credited with the capture of 1,500 enemy personnel and was recommended for the Medal of Honor by his commanding officer, Capt. John Schwabe, on the justification that he singlehandedly captured more than ten times the number of prisoners taken by Sgt. Alvin C. York in World War I, Gabaldon however, was awarded a Silver Star instead.

Post World War II
Gabaldon received an Honorable Discharge from the Marine Corps as a result of his combat wounds. After he returned to civilian life, he moved to Mexico and ventured into various businesses such as a furniture store, fishing, and the import-export of Mexican goods. Gabaldon, whose first marriage to June Gabaldon ended in divorce, met the person who was to became his second wife, Ohana Suzuki while working in Mexico.

Gabaldon's World War II exploits became public when in 1957, he was the invited guest of This is Your Life, a popular television program aired by NBC in the 1950s, hosted by Ralph Edwards, which presented the life stories of entertainment personalities and "ordinary" people who had contributed in some way to society.The fact that he captured at least 1,500 Japanese prisoners was verified on the national program by Marines Corps intelligence officers Colonel Walter Layer, Colonel John Schwabe, Major James High and several enlisted men from military intelligence.

Hollywood producers became interested in Gabaldon's story and in 1960 released the film Hell to Eternity where his actions on Saipan were memorialized. He was portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter as an adult and by Richard Eyer as a boy. Gabaldon himself served as an adviser in the filming of the movie.

On November 23, 1960, after his exploits became widely known through the television program and the movie, the United States Government upgraded his Silver Star Medal to a Navy Cross Medal which is the Marine Corps second highest military decoration to the Medal of Honor.

Tomahawks gear for the road - Maine to Arizona

2011-09-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

When I took off out of Maine and headed to Arizona I knew it was around 3,400 miles or so according to google maps. Keeping this in mind I wanted to keep my gear as light as possible for this trip.

I had limited gear to pick from because I simple don't like to pack around a lot of equipment. Ill break this down into 5 sections. 1. SHELTER (to include clothing). 2. WATER. 3. FIRE. 4. FOOD. 5. Miscellaneous.

SHELTER : Hennessey Hammock, 8x8 tarp, poncho liner(Wiggies), plastic sheet, Crazy creek chair. (Clothing) Hitech hiking shoes, 3 pair smart wool socks, 1 pair canvas high tops, flip flops, 2 sets boxer shorts, 2 pair carharrt shorts, 1 pair long pants, I belt, 2 T shirts, one heavy cotton shirt by Blackhawk gear, I hooded sweatshirt, one light short sleeved shirt,1 light fleece sweater, baseball cap, one wool cap. 1 set of light gloves, 3 extra bandannas.

WATER: 4 1 quart water bottles, 1 lard pail cooking pot, one travel mug.

FIRE: some water proof matches in a water proof container. And the knowledge of several other types of fire making techniques.

FOOD: 1 small jar of instant coffee, one Summer sausage and one large Hershey bar.

MISCELLANEOUS: Reading glasses, Sunglasses, shaving kit and tooth bush, swiss army knife, green river knife, some cordage in a cotton sack, small head lamp, extra batteries, sewing kit, camera, laptop, external hard drive, some fishing line and a single hook. 2 pens and a sharpie marker. ID,plastic spoon, chap stick, umbrella.

My pack was a Jansport “Big Bear pack”

That's about it. I have never liked to carry a lot of gear. I simply cannot enjoy myself if im humping a 60 or 70 pound pack.

See you on the trail.

Tomahawk – Scouts out!

Pictures from the road

2011-09-25T23:19:00.001-07:00

Tomahawk heading south
Tomahawk in the White Mountains of Arizona

The view from the back of a pick up in Arizona
Takin a break on the road
The Historic Witch Well Tavern
Tomahawks first sunset back in Arizona
Just wanted to share the last pics of mt hitch hiking trip from Maine to Arizona.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

hitch3 031

2011-09-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

Just thought you all might like to see the view from the back of the pick up I caught a ride in.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Hitch hiking in Arizona - white mountains day 15

2011-09-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

In the white mountains of arizona.

Tomahawk - scouts Out!

Stealth camp on the Navajo reservation in Arizona

2011-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about his stealth camp on the Navajo Rez.

Tomahawk - scouts Out!

Tomahawks arrival in Arizona - day 14

2011-09-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about his arrival in Arizona after a 14 day hitch hiking trip from Maine.

see you on the trail.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks "Stealth Camp" in East Texas

2011-09-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

Tomahawks camp in East Texas near the town of Clarksville, TX.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks "Stealth Camp" in Arkansas

2011-09-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk drinking beer and talking about his stealth camp near the winding stair mountains of Arkansas.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

UPDATE - Arkansas 2

2011-09-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about the road in Arkansas.

Scouts Out!

hitch 2 015

2011-09-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Tomahawk talking about his first day in Arkansas. Day 11 of this Journey from Maine to Arizona.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

UPDATE - Tomahawk in eastern Kentucky

2011-09-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Update from Tomahawk on the road in Eastern Kentucky. This is pretty country so far. Rides are difficult to get and road side camping spots are getting fewer as the miles go by.

I hope to get into lexington,KY tomorrow and take I65 SW.

Tomahawk - Scouts Out!

Tomahawks pictures from the road

2011-09-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a few picks from the road while I have a decent internet connection.The first picture is of Me and my new friend Durbin from Charleston, WV. He is a USMC Vet,Blog follower and all around good guy.

Tomahawk - scouts Out!