Here we are again. It's John and Joe. We're back. same place, but we've changed our recording area a little bit. before we were sitting in different places and now we've changed where we're sitting, but we'll see how this works. Primarily we're doing that because he can't hear me very well. We want Joe to be as loud as John is. One of the things that has come to mind with this last week of events is this bombing of Iran, and a lot of people we've talked to have said, gee, why don't you talk about when you were younger and stuff you used to do? Well, the group that M Duran was the stuff two bomber from the five oh ninth. Group Squadron out of Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri. This group is part of what's now called the strategic command. When I was in the Air Force, we had the strategic air command, just the same group but different name. At the time I was in the Air Force, we had, B 40 sevens. They were the first six jet bomber that we had. I was lucky enough to. Go to school at Low Air Force base on the bombing navigation system on this airplane. So I got to service all this bombing equipment, and radar equipment. I was in school for about a year. I was in the Air Force for four years and the school for years. So I was well trained. But anyway, it brought back memories of when I was in the Air Force and we used to have these alerts and, general lame who commanded strategic care commander was very tough, but all the fellows in SAC were very dedicated. There wasn't a single person I knew that has anything bad to say about their time in Sack, except it was a grueling experience because we were part of the Cold War, and at that time. cold War was going on from, you know, the late fifties into the seventies we were aimed at defending our country against Russia. we always had planes in the air. ready to go at a moment's notice. We would have alerts, take off and come back and land just for practice. So I just wanted to, say, hats off to those guys that did this. When I was in, we never dropped a bomb on anybody, but I think the enemy knew we were around and knew we were capable. our motto, and it still is the strategic command, is peace is our profession. So let's hope this thing gets peaceful. Joe, when we were talking about, wars and what we did, a lot of people have said, what'd you do when you were younger? I guess we could talk about World War II a little bit. what were your experiences then? Well, we had a shortage of food. So we all had victory gardens and we tended those gardens and raised vegetables and cans. Vegetables. And we had, stamps. War bonds. And, we could get very little food at the grocery store. So, we depended very much on raising our own. we had chickens, so we raised chickens and we ate our vegetables. I remember going to school, I think once a week, we used to bring 10 cents and buy a stamp to put in a book. And that book, when you got$18 and 75 cents. You got a bond. And in 10 years it was worth$25. And so actually, I think I had eight of those saved. And that's how I bought my first furniture for my first apartment. See? Paid off, didn't they? Yes, it did. So, the other thing we talked about was, you know, we had blackout curtains. But you had to have pulled at night. We had air raid wardens that would come around and if there was light coming from a window, they would knock on your door and say, put the light out or put your curtains up. Because at that time we were afraid of, getting bombed. I was in Birmingham, Alabama, that was the steel center of the South. I lived in Pennsylvania and we still had the same thing, so it was A thing throughout the nation. we remember, rolling up aluminum, if you guys remember gum, and rolled up in the balls and, took that into school. And that was turned in also all the time. So World War ii, at that time I was just a youngster 10 11 and, I can remember watching airplanes and I had an airplane spotter guide. I had the silhouettes of all the different enemy planes, and when planes flew over, I could look up in the sky and try to identify if that was an enemy, aircraft or not. Of course, at 11 years old not much I was gonna do, but at least, I was at work identifying, so yeah, my first husband was in the merch Marines and, and they had two guns ownership and he said that. He could reach out and touch the lines, the, ships came back close to mines and that was a tough job. But you did something special for your husband too. Well, they were not recognized as part of the service. So after his death, I decided that I was gonna honor him for what he had done through the Second World War. I contacted my senator and went to work Guess what? Merchant Marines are now recognized. That's did good work. wars are a bad thing. I remember when I went into the service, the Korean War was just ending. I remember my mother's blessing, president Eisenhower at that time for ending the war. But, you know, the war didn't end with end of the Korean War. We had the Vietnamese war, which was. Talked about so many times, and the veterans were treated so bad from that, the Gulf War, the war in Afghanistan, the Iraq war. when Joe and I first went to Sun City, Hilton Head, we were very active, over in that area with the military support group, we had about, 700 members of that group. Yes, we did. And, I was in charge of programs and every month we had to get a different program. So I was involved with Fort Stewart, which was past Savannah, with a marine base, up in, Beaufort, South Carolina with a Marine air station, in Beaufort, South Carolina. So we always had representatives, speak chaplains come, bands play, Very patriotic, Flyovers. And you were tack man. I had the, signal with a radio to the aircraft when it was time to fly over our parade. So from my time to the say go to, they flew over. It was just a matter of a few seconds. So, pretty fast. one of the things that the women did was, we contacted the local Flo. And he gave us yellow ribbon. we made the yellow ribbons, as you have probably seen people wear. we sold those yellow ribbons and gave all the funds to the wives of the pilots because when the pilots are away, the wives have quite a responsibility. They have to keep the home front going. keep the car under repair. And many times they just didn't have the money to do it. Yes, that's right. we try to help take care of it we had one of our friends who was a speaker at one of our programs, a chaplain who was in Iraq used to send us emails from over there almost on a weekly basis. He and his wife, live in, Virginia. One of the things that we did that I thought was interesting as part of the, military group, we visited a lot of different locations and one of the places that, I thought about with airplanes, we went to a Charleston Air Force base up in Charleston, and they wing had C seventeens. And the C 17 was a three person airplane, pilot, co-pilot, and a load master. And, Joe, got to be copilot One day I did, I sat in the copilot seat. She had to climb up a ladder to get up in the copilot seat. That, that was a big plane. you know, that plane carried, tanks, people supplies, all kinds of stuff. One of the things about the plane that we had the pleasure of being on was, if any of you remember Jessica Lynch, Jessica Lynch was, captured and, prison camp over there in, in Iraq. She, Was out on the battlefield and some of her coworkers were killed. they had a raid and rescued her. the plane that brought her back to the United States was the C 17, the one we were sitting in. that was kind of interesting. Jessica was the only prisoner of war since World War ii and, the first ever woman made a prisoner of war. So it was, quite a thing. So that was a fond memories of those days. So when we could do things like that, this invasion, bombing of Iran has, brought all these things back home to me. And to Joe as we remember what we did, in Iraq, Afghanistan. Now, what's going on now? we just got, growing up I, during war time was not easy. Now the kids today don't understand how it was to do without, I don't think any of'em are doing without anything, nowadays. it's a different world and it's a lesson to learn and kind of a sober, podcast for us, but something's been on our minds to talk about. And, we hope we've enlightened you a little bit. Maybe you can remember, what you were doing, when these wars started. Not a lot of you can remember. We get into World War II like we do, but, we remember We're very, patriotic and fearful of the wars. Yes, we are. Well, with that being said, I think we're going to end our, podcast and, hope you'll listen again. We do appreciate all of our listeners. Yes, we do. we are listened to in 43 cities now and two countries, and, whoever is listening to us in the Netherlands. We thank you. We don't know who you are, but you know who we are. We're John and Joe This is the end of our podcast. See you next time. Bye.