Entirely possible we met at Flatwater, but you're mixing up some details. I've never smoked a pipe. I used to travel to Flatwater with another Larry who did (Navy vet, although he didn't stick around for 20), and I think he was smoking a pipe back then. But it's been a long time, so not surprised everything isn't crystal clear. It isn't for me either.
You're correct about my first sxs . . . Ithaca SKB 150 12ga. The reason I was in Rota, however, had nothing to do with the service. (At least not the uniformed service.) I'd completed my initial obligation with the National Guard when the CIA hired me. I was working out of the embassy in Morocco when I flew up to Rota, expressly to buy a shotgun. Our Air Force guys flew up to both Rota and Torrejon fairly frequently. Hopped their C-47 reconfigured into more of a VIP aircraft (although I was certainly no VIP.)
Much of my "logic" about the Muslim world comes from my time in Morocco. All of us old CIA hands chuckled when Obama's CIA Director, John Brennan, said we didn't steal secrets. But in fact, we didn't. Most of the time, we hired locals who had access and were willing to cooperate with us. We couldn't have done our jobs without them. Sort of like the Afghan "terps", who served with our military there. Their knowledge of the language(s) and the culture saved a lot of lives. Muslim terrorists? Kill them all. But the fact remains, most of them are being killed by our boots on the ground Muslim allies, whether they're Afghans or Arabs or Kurds. If we're going to continue fighting those wars--and better we fight them there rather than waiting for them to bring it here (like 9/11)--we can get by with relatively small numbers of American troops (mostly Special Operations types, supported by air power) as long as we're working with friendly locals. That's how my logic works, in a nutshell.
Got back in the Guard and then the Army Reserve post-CIA. I'd initially been Infantry, but it made a helluva lot more sense for me to stick around once I found a Military Intelligence unit. They even saw fit to wave a magic wand, instantly turning a SSG into a CPT. Worked for me. After that, I stuck around in the Army Reserve, ultimately retiring about the same time you did.
