All over the world, Special Forces, Vietnam, South America, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Asia, Turkey, Taiwan, Belgium, Luxembourg....50 years is a long time. (Ok Ok, I know I know....there are two 870's there but that was because those guys hadn't shot a shotgun in 50 years and I figured the 870 was the easiest to use.)

Languages Left to right: French, Italian, Mandarin; Spanish, Swedish; Spanish, Africaans; Turkish, Mandarin (and an obscure Vietnam Montagnard language "Rhade."

That's very neat, Gene. I'm fortunate enough to have two hunting partners with whom I've been hunting for just a couple years short of 50. We're all 3 vets, but we didn't serve together. Became friends in grad school when we were out drinking one night, started discussing bird hunting. I'd just stumbled into woodcock that fall while looking for ruffed grouse. Iowa was a great pheasant state at the time, and I had trouble convincing people it was worth the effort to hunt woodcock and grouse in Iowa. (No longer worth the effort for grouse, unfortunately.) We were all looking for an excuse to get away from the books from time to time.

Did you ever cross paths with the now-late Michael McIntosh-- RWTF

I did not but David Trevallion has told me many stories about him. As a writer he is surely missed. He and David were a great team.

That looks like a group of good friends right there! Those smiles tell of many good times.

Kind of interesting psychologically how "good-times" come out of "bad-times." Even today, remembering the worst of trying situations in the heat of combat and the difficulties we collectively faced over 50 years in foreign environments, (one of those guys was 15 seconds from being executed in Brazil when the Polícia Federal showed up), it comes out that the bad is filtered out, the good comes to the fore, and the comradeship is what remains.

We played golf together on occasion after the retirement of my buddies, while I continued abroad. I've never seen them as a group enjoy themselves more than this outing and that is what shooting sporting clays was all about.

I never met Michael. Which is a bit strange given that we're about the same age, both native Iowans, both outdoor writers. "Mac" did more of the high dollar hunting lodge stays than I did. And when I did, our paths never crossed.

Gene, that's quite a collection of languages. I had an instructor at a training site with which I expect you're familiar who spoke Xhosa, the "click" language of South Africa.

When I was teaching French at Northern Iowa, the two profs who were doing the language methods class had me come in and give a brief class in Arabic. Arabic, unlike most European languages, doesn't have infinitives. So I did an exercise with the students based on "I want to, you want to followed by a verb. Not only does the "want" form change. So does "to eat" or whatever verb I was using. That really confused students used to Spanish, French, German, and Russian.

If we mention politics or religion the teacher locks the thread....but let's this stupid narcissist post stand.

I believe McIntosh was dead before this bozo ever lost his mind over a double barrel shotgun.

He doesn't lock them for those reasons, jOe. He locks them when people are unable to control their impulses and behave like assholes.

Right on.

Kinda like Jake Allen after the Canadiens got shitmixed by Buffalo.




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LGRW