Virtual-Doug

A New Season

Yeah – I admit it.  I was getting bored!

There aren’t any high school sports in the summer (obviously) and I didn’t travel to Việt Nam this summer (equally obvious), so I didn’t do a lot of photography.

(As always, be sure to click on the photo to see a larger version.)

But now we’re back at full tilt – football has started up again and volleyball too.   Some of these photos I shoot to sell to the newspaper and others I take to post on my own business’ web site to sell to parents.  Neither makes me a lot of money.

It’s nice to be back on the sidelines talking with other photographers and coaches I hadn’t seen for awhile.

But mostly its fun to watch the athletes.  I can’t say I am a “sports nut”, though I’ve been known to rest my eyes during an occasional pro football game on a Sunday afternoon.  I do enjoy watching the high school kids play.  The vast majority will never play organized sports after high school.  I’m sure they go to sleep at night dreaming of scoring the winning touchdown for the University of Texas at the national championship bowl game and the girls dream of winning a scholarship to a Division I school, but reality hits them at the next practice after they drop the ball or miss a spike.

No – they’re playing for their school – to win the pride of parents watching in the stands – to be good at something – to have fun.

Hey – that’s what sports are supposed to be about – and I’m glad it’s back for another year.

Reflections

The car automatically turned right – I certainly was not thinking about it.  Most Sundays, I would go visit Mom after worship services, so without thinking, I was a mile or so down the road before it dawned on me.

To the many people who left comments here or sent condolences on Facebook or called me on the phone - - thank you.  Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

I tell people I’m already well into the mourning process, and well I should be.  The “real Mom” passed on at some indefinable time in the past year or so.  Nonetheless, I was surprised to feel physically tired the day after she passed – just needed a break.

A visit to the Good Samaritan nursing home to pick up her few possessions and say goodbye to the staff.  They are super people and really took great care of Mom.  How many nursing homes can you say that about?

What remains are the phone calls to Social Security, Medicaid, IRS, and all that stuff.  Paperwork.  I shall let my siblings worry about burial.

Peace.

The Mom Report – Last Post

Thank God for the life of Marion Young.  Ninety three years old and her basic personality still shown forth.  She just didn’t know how to give up.  Her mind ravaged by Alzheimer’s, my mother passed away in her sleep this evening about 6PM.

I love my mother deeply, but I’m glad she finally went.  You see, she was always my intellectual foil – the mother who was always one bit of smarts ahead of me.  A fierce reader, she used to do the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink.

The woman who could not remember my name or even what relation I was to her was not really my mother – certainly not the Mom I will remember.  The one good thing about her dementia was that she remained unaware of the death of her own daughter – my sister Karen who died last September. 

I am a walking example of the Biblical imperative to “raise up a child in the ways of the Lord.”  Though I rejected the faith as a young man, I returned to my deep Christian roots while in my 30s.  Though I am sad she is gone, I also know my real mother died awhile back when the dementia robbed her of her mind and personality, and I know she is not only with God, but with my sister and her beloved Carey as well.

Keep a seat for me, Mom.  I’m in no hurry to join you, but I’ll be there some day.

Iraq and the 1st Cav

After reading about LTC Karcher, I’ve been renewing my connections to the 2/5 Cav (say it like we do – “two five Cav” or “2nd of the 5th).   I was told of a book published by ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz titled “The Long Road Home:  A Story of War and Family.”   Published in 2007, it chronicles the first fight the battalion had after it was deployed to Sadr City (the Shiite slum of Baghdad) on Palm Sunday, 2004.  Raddatz does a great job of linking the story of the soldiers with that of their families back home – including the stories of the seven men of 2/5 Cav and their families who died that day. 

Reading the book, I was totally dumbfounded to read that none – not one person from the commanding general on down - had ever been in combat. 

None.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.

But the story that caused me to literally cry out loud, and waken my wife lying in bed next to me was reading about a dialogue between the commander of Company C and his boss, LTC Volesky.   My emotional response came when I read Captain Troy Denomy use his radio call sign.

His call sign was “Comanche 6.”

My old call sign in Vietnam.

I use it as my email address today.

And I know how Charlie Company got that call sign.

After I attended the dining-in in March 2003, Captain Darrel Gayle, the commander of Charlie Company at that time, contacted me.  He told me that after hearing my locker-room talk at the dining-in, he had asked the men of the company if they wanted to carry the call sign “Comanche” into Iraq.

They said “Yes.”  They changed from being “Charlie Rock” to “Comanche.”

(I have written about the origin of the call sign on Charlie Company’s Vietnam era website, www.tallcomanche.org.)

First Sergeant Casey Carson was also an artist.  He designed a pocket coin for the troops to carry and sent one to me.  I carried it in my pocket during that first deployment.

I wonder if the company still uses the call sign.  It is in Iraq as I write this.

Another “Welcome to America”

Our small group of Vietnamese continues to grow.  Last month we welcomed Tuan to America as he begins his doctoral studies in America.  Now we welcome Thanh.  She is one of Trang’s best friends as well as one of her classmates.  That means she was one of my students when I taught at the University of Huê.     Thanh (on right) will pursue a Master’s Degree in English as a Second Language at the University of Texas-Pan American.     The two will share an apartment near campus.

Could this be the beginning of a “Little Saigon” in deep south Texas?

Faith Beyond Mine

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately – reading about an Army Lieutenant Colonel named Tim Karcher who lost both his legs in Iraq  in June.  I first heard about him on Martha Raddatz’ blog. 

I’ve never met the man, or his wife, but I have a connection with him – he commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry regiment – part of the 1st Cavalry Division.  I was once a company commander in that battalion, way back in the days of the war in Vietnam.  In June, 1969 – forty years ago to the month – the 2/5 Cav had another battalion commander seriously wounded when a 122mm rocket hit the Tactical Operations Center on LZ Ike. 

I have another connection - in the more modern time.  On March 2003, I was the guest of honor of the 2/5 Cav’s former commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gary Volesky at a “Dining-in” – a formal celebration of the history of the regiment - prior to the battalion's first deployment to Iraq.

I want to meet LTC Karcher and his wife.  I read her postings on the Caring Bridge site  she set up.  I want to meet them because we share a common faith, but I do not share the strength of their faith.  In a recent posting, Tim is quoted as saying “God promised me eternal life, not eternal legs.”

I would like to think that under similar circumstances, I would demonstrate that same kind of faith, but I know myself too well.

The Weekly

    

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The Weekly

205

A New Kind of Photography . . . for Me

When I posted on July 28th, I mentioned that I was working on a photography project about a family reunion.  The Mystery Guest Blogger’s family got together in July – not only did Trang and Tuan experience a little bit of Americana, but I had the chance to work on a self-assigned project.

I gave myself the project of creating an audio slideshow.

Most readers know I shoot photos (mostly high school sports) for a local weekly newspaper.  Newspapers like The Progress-Times will be around for awhile even as larger big-city newspapers are closing.  (Think Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, and the Albuquerque Tribune.)  But, the news business is changing as more information is distributed via the Internet.  I’m not going to kid myself into thinking I could get a job creating audio slideshows for a major newspaper, and I know the publisher of the Progress Times is not net-savvy enough to ever run audio slide shows on his web site – creating multimedia stories is just something I want to learn.

This is a first effort – I’ve learned a lot from doing this first project – I know it is what it is.  It is a first effort.

Be kind - -