Wolfpacks ... *drool*

This was certainly a Marx Bros rehearsing. :rotfl:

Yay, Steve! Good job. Now, where is the rest? :up:

I saw that! Thanks!:sunny:

Actually I think that was the idea. Just that you won't always be able to do anything you want with them, and once basic instructions are given each boat is on his own, as they can't communicate. More will come from Dan on what is actually happening. Of course that may take awhile.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

PAINTBALL WARS

We got up and headed for the paintball place. Some of us had already left for home, but there were still enough left for a good dust-up. I rode with Mookie-Mookie this time, and had yet another good talk. I'm too old and creaky to run around and crouch down, so I talked with FAdmiral and StdDev and we took pictures of the rest having fun. The first fights were held in what looked like a bombed-out village, with partial structures and sandbags everywhere, and some trees. James played mean marine and ran around like a madman, and ran right into Dan who shot him out of the game. Neal was stealthy, as was Valerie, while Natasha commanded the rear. On the other team Dan seemed to be doing the best, and I think he won, but I'm not sure.

The second battle had James being a lot more stealthy, and shooting from cover. When he managed to get revenge on Dan, Valerie stepped right into the same building and started shooting at him. I told him later how it had happened, and he said "Yeah, I remember thinking 'I thought I just killed that guy'!" At the end James ran up on somebody who was lying prone behind some sandbags (I think it was Mookie, but who can tell when they all have cammies and masks?), and shouted "Surrender!" He did, but I think James shot him anyway.

There was a third battle there, but the fourth and last took place in an open ground filled with large pipes of some sort. This is the one that's in the pictures that have been posted. Everybody went out fairly quickly. I had a good shot of Dan and James dukeing it out at close range. James managed to hit the pipes and catch Dan with ricochets. Then James and NikiMcBee managed to stalk each other very effectively, which ended with McBee dodging around the other side of a pipe and right into James's line of fire. McBee took one square in the chest and the battle ended. All-in-all everybody had a good time.

THE BARBECUE

We got back to the house and the barbecue began. Neal's dad and mom made an amazing meal of pork ribs, roast beef, Texas-style beans and other good stuff, and also had cake and banana-cream pudding. I actually managed not to overeat, so I had something to be proud of. Our missing GWX guys finally showed up (sure, they made it for the food!), and I got to talk to Todd (Kpt. Lehmann) and Jeff (Privateer) at long last. Great guys to talk to, just like the rest.

I then got to show Dan and Jeff the project I've been working on, which is collecting ship names and putting them in the proper categories for SH3 Commander and the Next Big Sub Sim, however that turns out. It sounds small, but the idea is to have the game award a name that actually fits the model of the sunken merchant, and maybe even the exact tonnage that goes with that name. That way if you sink 'SS David Crockett' you would be awared exactly 7176 tons, not some random number centered around the generic 7170 that goes with the Liberty Ship in the ID book.

Chad showed us a cool video of his own sub sim project, and then Neal entertained people by showing them Aces Of The Deep, and how far we've come since then. I was surprised at the number of people who had never seen it.

After everybody went back to their hotels, McBee put The Cruel Sea on Neal's big screen TV, and I saw it for the first time. I read the book last year, and was surprised at how close the book stuck to it. James and Neal missed it, deciding that since they had to get up at 0400 so James could make his flight, it might be a good idea to go to bed a little early.

And that was our last full day.

Anouther good one Sailor Steve.:up:

Another great post Steve.
:up:

And as I always say.
Call me anything you want?
Just don't call me late to Dinner!!
:rotfl:

Till next we meet My Friend!!
:rock:

As I posted elsewhere that thread will be forthcoming soon...:arrgh!:

Wow incredible story!! I gotta get to one of these things sometime, especially if they are in Texas!

You've just missed one :doh:

Neal demonstrating Aces Of The Deep (I was one of those who hadn't seen it before).

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/503/p1000157gr8.jpg

I recognise that pencil drawing just behind Neals head, that's by one of our resident artists, I can't remember his name right now but he's done some wonderful pencil drawings. :rock:

Great recount Steve, really enjoyed reading it all.

Wild Stallions! :rock:

Very nice! Encore!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13

Neal and James got up at 0430, as James's flight was at 0600. Neal then went to the Grey Wolves' portable lair, and took Todd to the the airport for his flight at 0930. Then they showed up at Neal's, and Dan immediately told Neal that he just had to go to the hobby store before he left. So Neal, Dan and Jason took off for the store, and Jim, Grant and I had one last talk. They came back from the store with a Revell 1/72-scale Gato model, and then I found out it was Neal's birthday.

There's a story about that model that hasn't been told yet, but it's Neal's story and I'll give him one last chance to tell it right before I spill the beans for him.:rock:

Sometime during those last hours I got to have one last good one-on-one talk, this time with Grant (TarJak). Part of my tour in Viet Nam was working with an Australian task group, and it was headed by HMAS Melbourne. It turns out that Grants dad was on the Melbourne at that time, so we were actually in the same group at the same time. Pretty cool how that works out sometimes. We talked about a lot of other things. I don't remember a lot of them, but the point was really the talking, not the subject.

Everybody's flights were at around the same time, so we started loading up Neal's truck and getting ready to go. I was sitting in the living room talking to Jason, when the horn honked out in the driveway. I offered to help McBee carry his stuff out, but he said his flight wasn't until later, and I realized that I was the one holding up the train. So we said goodbye and Neal took Dan, Jim, Grant and me to the airport, and there we said our last farewells.

HOME AGAIN

My flight to Phoenix was on a Boeing 737 this time. Back in the '70s I thought the 737 was a cool plane - almost the fighter among airliners. This one was just old. Stuffy, bad air conditioning, bumpy. I was glad the flight home was on a new Airbus again.

And then it ended almost as badly as it started. It started with them taking my shampoo, and it ended with bad timing. My flight landed at 2035, and I got outside to the bus stop at 2045, only to find that the bus left at 2040, and that time of night they only run once an hour. So I waited in the boring terminal and out in the cold for what seemed like a week, and finally the bus came. It took me to a point where I had about a half-mile walk home, and I got there at about 2200.

And there I am still, and this story is done, and I'm glad because I'm running out of things to say.

All told, it was a great trip. I've had vacations that seemed to go by way to fast, but this trip every day was filled with activities, good food and great conversation.

And I got to meet some of the people I've always wanted to, and I wasn't disappointed.

Until next year...

'Sailor Steve' Bradfield

An outstanding tale of Subsim shenanigans!:arrgh!:

Cheers for sharing them, it makes us who couldn't join you feel like we had been there anyway.

:up:

Tango589
Brendan Sheahan

Ps.

Neal's picture is COMPLETELY different to how I had imagined it!