Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[Charlie Tango]

Yeah, I got my TS clearance in '67. After I got outta the Navy in '68, I never even thought about asking around who got questioned. However, what they didn't know didn't hurt me.

I have no idea what my final clearance (I never had TS/Crypto) was in the army was, but it was one night in 1973 as the MP duty officer and I were driving around we got a call to report to post headquarters at some early morning hour. We pulled up in the blackness and the post duty officer major asked, "What's your clearance, Sergeant?" The lieutenant took him aside and had a quiet word with him, after which the MPDO and I were escorted into an inner sanctum and were told that the Israelis and the arabs were at it again, and the DEFCON level had been made more scary. That made the lieutenant a Suddenly Busy Man, so I drove him back to the MP station and went on my merry way.

 

[GwenOnBass]

What funny views we hold ... In The Day for me, war breaks on a live wire feed from AP. That's how it is for me, my work is to inform ... and yet, so abstract from here. Words coming in one at a time ... a picture begins to emerge and we do our best.

 

[ahc]

One of my post full-time music jobs eventually required a clearance, but not a super duper double secret high level one. Starting years before the clearance requirement for that job, I used to work in the Pentagon from time to time and other restricted offices/areas. Never got to see the War Room or "The Button" . However, working at the most secure facility I'd ever been to happened 15 years before that job, playing music, for the Navy... in the desert in Morocco. On that "tour" I also got to wander around looking at the missile subs in Rota, Spain. Me. A long haired degenerate hippy musician.

While in Rota we were staying at a hotel on the beach. One morning we woke up to a lot of commotion, sirens and ship noises. A Spanish Navy destroyer had beached itself right off the hotel beach pointing it's bow directly at our hotel. The US Navy folks had a lot of fun with that and made lots of comments at the Spaniard's expense. After all, weren't they one of the world's greatest navies at one time?

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I was a black ops CIA agent working in a remote broadcasting station overseas assigned to protect a genius cryptographer who also happened to be a beautiful woman. Things went sideways, and oh.... wait.... that's the movie I watched yesterday called "The Numbers Station." Disregard. Back to your regular programming.

In my defense, I got awful good at field stripping a cigarette butt during barrack grounds cleanup detail.

 

[GonePlaid]

One of my post full-time music jobs eventually required a clearance, but not a super duper double secret high level one. Starting years before the clearance requirement for that job, I used to work in the Pentagon from time to time and other restricted offices/areas. Never got to see the War Room or "The Button" . However, working at the most secure facility I'd ever been to happened 15 years before that job, playing music, for the Navy... in the desert in Morocco. On that "tour" I also got to wander around looking at the missile subs in Rota, Spain. Me. A long haired degenerate hippy musician.

While in Rota we were staying at a hotel on the beach. One morning we woke up to a lot of commotion, sirens and ship noises. A Spanish Navy destroyer had beached itself right off the hotel beach pointing it's bow directly at our hotel. The US Navy folks had a lot of fun with that and made lots of comments at the Spaniard's expense. After all, weren't they one of the world's greatest navies at one time?

Yup, they use to get 4000 miles to a galleon.I'll see myself out.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I was a black ops CIA agent working in a remote broadcasting station overseas assigned to protect a genius cryptographer who also happened to be a beautiful woman. Things went sideways, and oh.... wait.... that's the movie I watched yesterday called "The Numbers Station." Disregard. Back to your regular programming.

I my defense, I got awful good at field stripping a cigarette butt during barrack grounds cleanup detail.

Thought you were going to tell us about Madam Yes.

 

[ahc]

Or...

 

[spiritbass]

I had to have clearance to work in our operations area, but I was not a secret asian man. Pretty laid back weekend around here. I hauled mom's old swivel rocker up to my brother and sis in-law, then we visited a little restaurant in the small town of Clark, MO. Their Friday night buffet was commendable. The fried chicken and catfish were quite good. Loving the fall weather - good sleeping with the windows open.

 

[the harp unstrung]

^^^a granddaughter day!

The Puppetry Center, ATL...

 

[spiritbass]

View attachment 3990915

^^^a granddaughter day!

View attachment 3990749

The Puppetry Center, ATL...

View attachment 3990901

View attachment 3990902

View attachment 3990903

View attachment 3990904



View attachment 3990914

View attachment 3990913


View attachment 3990916

Cool granddaughter, cool outing!

 

[Al Kraft]

Interestingly enough there has never been much I recall that requires a clearance to know that made me happier or more optimistic after learning it. My friends, neighbors, banker, doctors, etc. still get the "the visit" every 5 years that starts with a badge and formal words regarding national security. At least they don't require us to get re-fingerprinted every 5 years like they used to...never quite understood that one.

 

[beans-on-toast]

View attachment 3990915

^^^a granddaughter day!

View attachment 3990749

The Puppetry Center, ATL...

View attachment 3990901

View attachment 3990902

View attachment 3990903

View attachment 3990904



View attachment 3990914

View attachment 3990913


View attachment 3990916

Kermit looks a little bloated.

I saw the fruit of a classical puppetry arts workshop last summer. So much is behind the art just to bring one character to life. Beyond creating the puppet is the cloths. A lot of design is involved. Teams work on script writing and mechanical animation, narration, music, lighting, stage direction. It’s a big deal.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Interestingly enough there has never been much I recall that requires a clearance to know that made me happier or more optimistic after learning it. My friends, neighbors, banker, doctors, etc. still get the "the visit" every 5 years that starts with a badge and formal words regarding national security. At least they don't require us to get re-fingerprinted every 5 years like they used to...never quite understood that one.

Now they take a DNA sample and a iris scan.

 

[Al Kraft]

Now they take a DNA sample.

Missed out on that last time around (about two years back), but the in-person interview was close to three hours and there were no skipped questions or discrepancies on the SF-86. You'd think if I haven't defected or even worked outside of national security scrutiny during the last 6 decades I'd be a pretty safe bet by now.

Edit...Although they do have digitized biometrics on file for me.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Odin wakes with a start before sunrise and the coffee is on. Osteopathic surgeon number one is Monday afternoon, osteopathic surgeon number two is Wednesday morning. Osteoarthritis it is, yet never too much to administer a therapeutic belly rub and chin scratch for Odin.

Spy coolness already peaked, IMO, by the time of Our Man Flint. The memory of the ring tone of Flint's phone still holds a place in my own neural net, and I can hear it quite clearly in my mind's ear. No spy stuff for this little black duck.

Used to be you got your prints rolled to carry press credentials. That's where it started for me. One moment, it seems, I'm pounding concrete with a reporter's notebook in hand, the next thing I'm being "welcomed in" at Ross Perot's old outfit. That company could have been called "Government Contracts 'R Us" so everyone got scrutiny. My boss was a bubblehead (with dolphins).

And as you may well guess by this point my natural view of things, none may be surprised who got called out on the carpet for submitting an expense report cover sheet in a font called Ransom.

The dress code was pretty fierce, especially considering the culture I came from. Yet also used to it as part of my continued financial well-being. "Everyone in here is wearing a uniform," Frank Zappa once told his audience following a highly charged moment of performance art (that upset everyone).

All those work clothes went to goodwill upon my retirement.

Today's clothing situation is a simple matter of selecting something to facilitate a swift evaluation of my foot. New DNR orders to be signed ... happy Monday you GOFs

 

[Charlie Tango]

Odin wakes with a start before sunrise and the coffee is on. Osteopathic surgeon number one is Monday afternoon, osteopathic surgeon number two is Wednesday morning. Osteoarthritis it is, yet never too much to administer a therapeutic belly rub and chin scratch for Odin.

Spy coolness already peaked, IMO, by the time of Our Man Flint. The memory of the ring tone of Flint's phone still holds a place in my own neural net, and I can hear it quite clearly in my mind's ear. No spy stuff for this little black duck.

Used to be you got your prints rolled to carry press credentials. That's where it started for me. One moment, it seems, I'm pounding concrete with a reporter's notebook in hand, the next thing I'm being "welcomed in" at Ross Perot's old outfit. That company could have been called "Government Contracts 'R Us" so everyone got scrutiny. My boss was a bubblehead (with dolphins).

And as you may well guess by this point my natural view of things, none may be surprised who got called out on the carpet for submitting an expense report cover sheet in a font called Ransom.

The dress code was pretty fierce, especially considering the culture I came from. Yet also used to it as part of my continued financial well-being. "Everyone in here is wearing a uniform," Frank Zappa once told his audience following a highly charged moment of performance art (that upset everyone).

All those work clothes went to goodwill upon my retirement.

Today's clothing situation is a simple matter of selecting something to facilitate a swift evaluation of my foot. New DNR orders to be signed ... happy Monday you GOFs

My younger brother worked for the same outfit for some years, maybe 30 years ago. Too buttoned-down for him, so when he got an offer from his current employer he jumped ship.

 

[GwenOnBass]

My younger brother worked for the same outfit for some years, maybe 30 years ago. Too buttoned-down for him, so when he got an offer from his current employer he jumped ship.

The perfect employee for that outfit, I believe, is both a Mormon, and a civilian who held military officer rank. This was a stark contrast to my previous employers' mien. By then I was kind of used to it, having worked for a man who served as a special forces colonel with four tours of duty in Vietnam.

 

[Charlie Tango]

The perfect employee for that outfit, I believe, is both a Mormon, and a civilian who held military officer rank. This was a stark contrast to my previous employers' mien. By then I was kind of used to it, having worked for a man who served as a special forces colonel with four tours of duty in Vietnam.

Yeah, my brother found it hard to breathe there. He inherited the same wacko sense of humor that I did from our father, and that didn't fit.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Odin wakes with a start before sunrise and the coffee is on. Osteopathic surgeon number one is Monday afternoon, osteopathic surgeon number two is Wednesday morning. Osteoarthritis it is, yet never too much to administer a therapeutic belly rub and chin scratch for Odin.

Spy coolness already peaked, IMO, by the time of Our Man Flint. The memory of the ring tone of Flint's phone still holds a place in my own neural net, and I can hear it quite clearly in my mind's ear. No spy stuff for this little black duck.

Used to be you got your prints rolled to carry press credentials. That's where it started for me. One moment, it seems, I'm pounding concrete with a reporter's notebook in hand, the next thing I'm being "welcomed in" at Ross Perot's old outfit. That company could have been called "Government Contracts 'R Us" so everyone got scrutiny. My boss was a bubblehead (with dolphins).

And as you may well guess by this point my natural view of things, none may be surprised who got called out on the carpet for submitting an expense report cover sheet in a font called Ransom.

The dress code was pretty fierce, especially considering the culture I came from. Yet also used to it as part of my continued financial well-being. "Everyone in here is wearing a uniform," Frank Zappa once told his audience following a highly charged moment of performance art (that upset everyone).

All those work clothes went to goodwill upon my retirement.

Today's clothing situation is a simple matter of selecting something to facilitate a swift evaluation of my foot. New DNR orders to be signed ... happy Monday you GOFs

All the best with your upcoming medical excursions. A pedicure is in order. At the end of the day, you’ll be back home with Odin.

Dress codes seem to go with some types of work. I can spot someone who works in finance a mile off. Cheap polyester suits, skinny legged drain pipe pants and pointy toed shoes. They start wearing these outfits in school. I know of one tailor that caters to judges. Their suits are literally cut from the same cloth, same material, same pattern. Then there are the Century21 gold jackets. They should have gone out with disco.

A lot of private high schools have uniforms these days. They want everything to be uniform. The standard is kilts. They must not have enough material to go around because they wear them a little too short. Or maybe they unroll them at the waist when they get to school.

I once worked for a company that required dress pants and a tie. I worked as a chemist wearing a lab coat and the clothing requirements seemed unreasonable. Acid splashes would burn holes in your pant legs. Their logic was, you had to look professional in case a client toured the facility. Problem was, it was a restricted area and clients were never allowed in. So it was down to an overbearing boss who liked to control people. They were shocked when I quit at the dawn of the computer age to return to school.

 

[Al Kraft]

Odin wakes with a start before sunrise and the coffee is on. Osteopathic surgeon number one is Monday afternoon, osteopathic surgeon number two is Wednesday morning. Osteoarthritis it is, yet never too much to administer a therapeutic belly rub and chin scratch for Odin.

Spy coolness already peaked, IMO, by the time of Our Man Flint. The memory of the ring tone of Flint's phone still holds a place in my own neural net, and I can hear it quite clearly in my mind's ear. No spy stuff for this little black duck.

Used to be you got your prints rolled to carry press credentials. That's where it started for me. One moment, it seems, I'm pounding concrete with a reporter's notebook in hand, the next thing I'm being "welcomed in" at Ross Perot's old outfit. That company could have been called "Government Contracts 'R Us" so everyone got scrutiny. My boss was a bubblehead (with dolphins).

And as you may well guess by this point my natural view of things, none may be surprised who got called out on the carpet for submitting an expense report cover sheet in a font called Ransom.

The dress code was pretty fierce, especially considering the culture I came from. Yet also used to it as part of my continued financial well-being. "Everyone in here is wearing a uniform," Frank Zappa once told his audience following a highly charged moment of performance art (that upset everyone).

All those work clothes went to goodwill upon my retirement.

Today's clothing situation is a simple matter of selecting something to facilitate a swift evaluation of my foot. New DNR orders to be signed ... happy Monday you GOFs

I spent my government carer in a suit and tie as my uniform of the day, with a few exceptions made for time on the flightline or in operational environments/situations where other attire was safer/more appropriate. I get to be a little less formal these days in my more supportive versus very public role, but there are still certain activities that require the classic business look (in strictly wool, cotton, silk, and leather all in the traditional conservative colors).

Best wishes for a swift recovery.