Tag Archives: labor

U.S.

“nobody has any money”: U.S. Food Crisis, March 2019

Video

Incomplete list of main stream news links announcing United States food supply shutdowns, emergencies, outbreaks and recalls for the month of March, 2019:

Netherlands base Heineken announced it will eliminated 15% of its jobs in the United States

A new study says honey bees can’t thrive off the pollen from today’s modern farm fields, they’r going back to living off wild plants!

March is National Nutrition Month in the United States.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

ALABAMA:  180 hemp farms approved

New online farmers’ market

Restaurant Mellow Mushroom shutdown

The Melting Pot shutdown due “to other obligations and opportunities”

Sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams volunteer at Feeding the Gulf Coast Food Bank, 04MAR2019.

ALASKA:  Meet the last dairy farmer in the state

Chinese tariffs attack Alaskan seafood ops

Cat that lived 6 years in general store gets evicted by food inspectors

Dumb-ass poachers illegally shoot then butcher hibernating bear and cubs, not only caught on security cams but took their own pics of the crime!

ARIZONA:  If most of our drinking water is already safe why is the U.S. Department of Defense paying University of Arizona 1.2-million tax dollars trying to make it safe?  Turns out our drinking water is not safe to drink, blame it on something called PFAS: “Not only are the chemicals everywhere, and bad, but the advisory level established by the EPA is so extremely low that it makes it even more challenging to treat them.”-Reyes Sierra, chemical and environmental engineering professor 

State Department of Agriculture confirms horse deaths due to EHV-1 

Perfect Pear Bistro shutdown a six years old location due to the rent being jacked-up

More proof that veggie doesn’t sell,  Veggie Rebellion grocery store shutdown, the owner saying “Money never stretches far enough, people don’t want to work with small organizations, and the future is generally uncertain.”

ARKANSAS: Farmers sue U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over catastrophic flooding

Buffalo gnats killing hundreds livestock and wild animals: “The animals can die from blood loss and even suffocating because their airway is compromised, but the most common cause of death comes from shock. The anti-coagulant in the fly’s saliva can accumulate when thousands are biting an animal, causing them to die from toxic shock similar to allergic reactions.”-Kelly Loftin, University of Arkansas’s Division of Agriculture

CALIFORNIA:  Land O’ Lakes issued a layoff WARN for its dairy ops in Tulare, 79 jobs gone in May.   Evil Albertsons owned Vons issued a shutdown WARN for a grocery store in Barstow, 65 jobs gone by the end of May.   Unified Grocers issued a layoff WARN for its ops in Commerce, 67 jobs gone by the end of May.  Online grocery delivery service Instacart issued numerous shutdown WARNS, more than 250 jobs gone by mid-May!  Grape and cherry grower/seller Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons issued a mass layoff WARN, 511 jobs gone in April!  Industry news reports indicate that Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons is “Selling land and shedding jobs…”

Revealed; California’s water is going to Saudi Arabian owned farms which produce food for animals in Saudi Arabia!

Scientists from two universities accuse state and county officials of ‘gaming’ pesticide permits for farmers, allowing farmers to use deadly chemicals on food

USDA shifts $45-million in taxpayer funding to California to fight outbreak of vND

 Vintage Grocers suddenly shutdown its store in Westlake Village, 65 jobs gone

after three years Skool Japanese Gastro Pub suddenly shutdown due to lack of business

Walmart shutting down a San Jose Neighborhood Market, 83 jobs gone by April

Milk Pail Market shutting down after 45 years due to three years of city road work killing off business

After only 15 years Phantom Rivers Wine shutdown due to the age of the owners

Café  Bizou shutting down its 25 years old Sherman Oaks location

COLORADO:  Mystery kidney disease affecting farm workers blamed on climate and agriculture chemicals

U.S. Air Force being sued for contamination of ground water, causing millions of dollars in farm losses

Starbucks shutdown one of its Colorado Springs locations, no reason given

State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs employees teamed up with National Guard personnel to march to Fight Hunger, 15MAR2019.   It’s the third year for the Fight Hunger march, in which the donated food was carried in their backpacks.

CONNECTICUT:  The First & Last restaurant failed to live up to its name, shutting down while there are still other restaurants open, it’s blamed on a lawsuit filed by the city

Rita’s Italian Ice shutdown to allow a next door restaurant to expand

DELAWARE: Invasive bug causes $8-billion in economic damages, police-state searches being conducted

Hemp investors wine about bureaucratic red tape

FLORIDA: After six years Dahlia’s Pour House shutting down when “the beer runs out” due to a failed attempt to sell the bar

The realities of marijuana farming results in a big pain in the grass: “I’m not against medical marijuana by no means. If it helps someone who’s sick, that’s great, but why should it affect my life? I can’t even have peace at my own home! I don’t like the strong smell of marijuana either, and you can see kids holding their noses at school bus stops, but that’s not even the biggest issue I’m having. It’s the noise. It’s unbearable really and it’s 24/7.”-Ted Miller, lives next to new marijuana farm

What happened to all the farming in Broward County? You can keep looking till the cows come home, but you won’t find many

As the food insecurity in the U.S. refuses to go away, in Florida another Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules (from my old USAF ‘alma mater’ Dyess AFB, Texas) was loaded with food and other supplies for refugees from a sanctioned country, in South America.  Information from USAID stated that in February at least enough food for 10-thousand people has been shipped to rebel Venezuelan distribution operations in Cúcuta, Columbia:

GEORGIA: The Peach State’s ‘right to farm’ law feels threatened after court ruling 

GUAM: List of most destructive invasive species affecting Guam

HAWAII:  “… it is with great regret that we made the decision to close the Makawao Steak House. The business had been operating at a financial loss for two years…” 

House plant sales being blamed for invasion of non-native fire ants

IDAHO:  Despite a global glut of dairy products killing off the dairy industry nation wide, University of Idaho wants to spend taxpayer, and donor, dollars building the largest research dairy in the U.S.

Equine Herpes Virus as been diagnosed in Idaho, after the horse traveled through Arizona and Utah

Local farm uses geothermal heat to grow veggies in Winter

Magic Valley now home to crickets-for-food farm

ILLINOIS:  Future of farming will require farmers to get ‘off-farm’ jobs

$700-thousand federal tax dollars going to ‘specialty’ farms in Illinois

After five years ‘high-end’ Standard Market suddenly shutdown its store in Naperville

After 30 years Shoeless Joe’s Ale House & Grille shutdown

Schnucks shutting down a grocery store in Belleville, in connection to last year’s take over of local Shop-n-Save stores

INDIANA: Aramark food service contractor issued a WARN, 2-hundred jobs threatened in Indianapolis!

Shyler’s BBQ shutdown, the owners saying “Over the last few years there has been a multitude of new restaurants pop up throughout the city. More are coming. The pie is split to many ways. It is difficult to succeed in this business.” 

IOWA: The state Alcoholic Beverage Division issued a WARN, 39 jobs in Ankeny gone in April.

How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms, in Iowa

KANSAS: After devastating floods farmers are now saying they can’t rely on government for help because “They don’t have any money, nobody has any money.”

Oil company wants to run pipeline across farms

KENTUCKY: Hemp farming explodes, leading the nation

MAINE: Lobster catch brings big money

New state tax refund for maple syrup and honey?

MARYLAND: As many as 36 Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores shutting down!

State senate considers banning Chlorpyrifos

Lawmakers overide governor’s veto, new minimum wage affecting farm labor costs

MASSACHUSETTS:  Elizabeth Warren wants to stop the growth of corporate farms

Lefty’s Brewing shutting down due to the health problems of a co-owner

After 38 years Quarterdeck Seafoods shutdown 

Cereal maker Post shutting down its Weetabix factory in Clinton, 181 jobs gone by July!

After 38 years of breakfast Sorella’s shutdown due to part of the building being sold-off

MICHIGAN:  Boersen Farms sued yet again, for failure to pay its debts

TreeHouse Foods closing Battle Creek plant, more than 50 jobs affected

Food giant Kroger is once again shutting down a grocery store, this time on East Blue Grass Road, 81 jobs gone 

Hideout Brewing Company shutdown after 13 years due to failed attempts to sell it

After 11 years Dolce Vita Italian suddenly shutdown

After 65 years Pasquale’s Restaurant shutting down 

After 40 years iconic Ginopolis shutdown 

Last year corporate officials of Country Kitchen shifted focus in an effort to boost sales; cutting operating hours and serving breakfast only.  Apparently that effort failed as the nearly 50 years old Detroit Lakes Country Kitchen was shutdown and the property put-up for sale.

MINNESOTA: Cokato Plant-Faribault Foods issued a WARN, 102 jobs threatened, date as of yet to be set!  Farm retailer Mid-States Distributing issued a WARN for its ops in Mendota Heights.

Local farm income lowest in 23 years

six consecutive years of extremely low profitability results in farmer mental health becoming top concern

Cryptosporidium parasite detected in Minnesota groundwater

MISSISSIPPI: half of Mississippi’s counties affected by flooding, pushing hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural farmland underwater

MISSOURI: Schnucks shutting down two of its grocery stores in Saint Louis, at least 130 jobs affected!

New state laws changing farming

MONTANA: After two brutal winters, stock growers press feds to expand taxpayer funded livestock loss compensation

NEBRASKA:  “We’ve gone through 2018 with nothing on the horizon for better markets. Sad to say, 2018 was a tough year but 2019 is where we’ll run out of our ability to manage this cash-flow crisis.”-Ben Steffen, farmer

Flooding caused a bottled water shortages, among other problems, alleviated with the help of the National Guard.

NEVADA: outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus

NEW HAMPSHIRE: 200 years old farm now ‘protected’ by taxpayers

North Country Smokehouse Recalls Ready-To-Eat Sausage Products due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination

NEW JERSEY:  One million pounds of illegal Chinese pork, possibly contaminated with African Swine Fever, captured at New Jersey port!

Cows and calves mysteriously dying

For some reason the U.S. Department of Labor is advising New York farms to advertise for job openings in New Jersey!

NEW MEXICO:  USAF contaminates groundwater near Clovis, downplayed by state officials

NEW YORK: Food service contractor Aramark issued a WARN, 193 jobs threatened due to loss of contract with Clarkson University!  Kuni’s Corporation issued shutdown WARNs for several of its Ikinari Steak joints across The Big (rotting) Apple, at least 70 jobs gone by the end of May.   Online food delivery company Instacart issued a shutdown WARN for several locations across The Big (rotting) Apple, about 250 jobs gone by mid-May!  Art Food issued a temporary shutdown WARN for three of its The Cafes at MoMa, at least 121 jobs gone by mid-June due to renovations!

More than 1,300 dairy farmers in New York went out of business from 2007 to 2017

Tops Friendly Markets shutting down a grocery store in Buffalo due to not being able to renew the lease, 57 jobs affected

Hart’s Local Grocers shutdown in Rochester due to crashing sales

NORTH DAKOTA:  State lawmakers change the definition of meat!?

After 50 years White House Cafeteria shutdown to focus on catering only

After 35 years the Polar King in Jamestown shutdown, the owners saying “Over the years….missed out on so many weddings, birthdays, funerals…..We haven’t gone on a vacation in 20 years.” 

OHIO: China Dynasty shutting down after 32 years because the old owner doesn’t want to play the lease renewal game anymore

Even upscale steakhouse Boi Na Braza shutdown due to not being able to afford the lease

LaScola Italian Grill shutdown after 12 years

IGA suddenly shutdown a grocery store in Saint Paris, the mayor blames it on low-volume sales, yet also admits that most of the stores in Saint Paris are ‘low volume’

IGA shutdown a 37 years old grocery store in Willard 

Schwebel’s shutting down a bakery in Solon, 2-hundred jobs gone!

OKLAHOMA:   Allen’s Coney shutting down after 35 years due to needing to find a new affordable location

Wheat, canola planted acres are down

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at Oklahoma Youth Expo

J-M Farms haz-mat leak causes massive fish kill in Tar Creek, pays $24-thousand fine, actual clean-up costs much higher

OREGON:  Another record year for hemp

U.S. FDA begins on-farm inspections

Legislative attempt to end ‘right to farm’ for dairies

PENNSYLVANIA: Lanternfly quarantine zone expanded

Online food delivery service Maplebear-Instacart issued shutdown WARN for several locations, 56 jobs gone by mid-May.

after 15 years Keystone Homebrew Supply shutdown a location in Bethlehem due to increasing competition, both online and off-line

After 27 years restaurant Katana shutdown

Grocery Outlet Bargain Market shutdown, no reason given 

ShopRite suddenly shutdown a 30 years old grocery store blaming it on the city’s beverage tax, saying “We lost a lot of customers”, warning “once this area closes, it will become a food desert.”  

PUERTO RICO:  Productos La Aguadillana Recalls Breaded Chicken Products Due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination

RHODE ISLAND:  $270-thousand in taxpayer funded grants for food businesses

After 18 years The Red Fez shutdown due to the building being sold and the end of the “historic parking lot district”

SOUTH CAROLINA:  After more than 12 years ‘dog-friendly’ Parson Jack’s Cafe shutdown due to rising rent and cost of labor 

Despite an increase in sales of CBD products, it’s actually illegal 

Drought declared

SOUTH DAKOTA: The five years farm economy decline continues

TENNESSEE:  EHV-1 spreads to Tennessee horses

Beetles threaten tree industry

Walmart shutting down its Neighborhood Market in Morristown, 77 jobs gone in April

after 58 years Bill Martin Foods shutdown

After four years Deezie’s Hot Chicken shutdown to focus on food truck ops

Shoney’s shutdown a 38 years old Knoxville restaurant due to the rent being jacked-up

TEXAS:  Texas Fails To ‘Get The Lead Out’ Of Drinking Water

After 40 years Cenare Italian Restaurant shutting down due to skyrocketing rent costs and increasingly tough competition

Jesse’s Taqueria #2 on East Villa Maria Road in Bryan suddenly shutdown

After only a year and a half Angus Burgers shutdown its Wichita Falls location without warning

 In El Paso, Border Patrol personnel gave out taxpayer funded food and water to illegal immigrants who surrendered.

UTAH: Even god couldn’t stop Even Stevens sandwich chain from going chapter 11 bankrupt busted

State Department of Agriculture and Food issues warning over EHV-1

VERMONT:  After more than four decades iconic Bently’s Restaurant shutdown due to not being able to pay the new lease

Working Lands Enterprise Initiative gives 823-thousand tax-dollars to Agriculture and Forestry businesses 

New fees for hemp growers

VIRGINIA:  Younger farmers dealing with increased stress

Dairy farms in decline, 5-hundred Grade-A permits issued in March 2019, compared to 30 years ago when 12-thousand such permits were issued!

Strawberry Street Cafe shutdown after more than 40 years to make room for a “new concept”  

Dog-n-Burger Grille shutdown (with a name like Dog-n-Burger I’m not surprised, but the ‘dog’ referred to hot dogs, not actual dogs)

Omaha Steaks suddenly shutdown its grocery center in Short Pump

WASHINGTON: Washington Beef recalls Ground Beef Products due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination

State senator implies farms are using slave labor under her proposed law, said she’s surprised by the amount of push-back she got

Washington DC:  USDA gives 49 states and three territories, 66-million tax dollars for pest detection and surveillance.

Despite trade war with China, USDA predicts increased income for farmers, economists say whoa 

U.S. & EU heading for a food fight

WISCONSIN:  After almost 44 years Alt n’ Bach’s Town Tap shutdown

Governor wants taxpayers to fund dairy and hemp farms

Report on fungicide reveals the ‘experts’ who make the chemicals don’t actually know how it works!

WYOMING:  Popular Coffee Depot shutdown

University of Wyoming declares there are too many heritage apple trees in the state!

Industrial hemp farming now legal under state law

U.S. FOOD CRISIS, February 2019: “LONG HOURS, EMPLOYEE TURNOVER, EQUIPMENT FAILURES, WAGE HIKES”

Technology

Time to see the ‘Doc’

Video

These USAF pics of Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Doc’ were taken at the Wings over Whitman Air & Space Show, in Missouri, 14JUN2019.  You didn’t have to worry about that new fangled stall software grounding all those Boeing airliners today.

Flight engineer station.

You know what kind of grin that is!

Video, B-29 Doc taxis-in, Whiteman, 09JUN2019:

Video from June 2017, McConnell AFB, Kansas, B-29 take-off, co-piloted by Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbets the Fourth, grandson of the pilot who flew the Enola Gay:

Official video report, after 60 years B-29 Doc comes back from the dead:

Restoration efforts, 2014.

B-29 NAVIGATOR: “WOULD I EVEN BE ALIVE TO EAT THE SANDWICH I SAVED?”

Idaho

Idaho’s Bridge to Nowhere?

Image

“…already aware that our property taxes are among the highest in Idaho, I am increasingly wary of the wisdom of Northgate.”

27 July 2019 (02:51 UTC-07 Tango 06) 05 Mordad 1398/24 Dhu l-Qa’da 1440/25 Xin-Wei 4717

Bannock County-City of Chubbuck-City of Pocatello, Idaho, are home to numerous taxpayer sapping ‘white elephant’ projects, from Hoku to the latest Siphon Road-Interstate 15 connector (bridge to nowhere)/Northgate District.

Realize that Siphon Road only exists in Chubbuck, and doesn’t extend to Interstate 15, which means Chubbuck tax-fee payers are paying for the road’s extension to I-15.  (Massive taxpayer funded development in Chubbuck involves construction of up to 1,200 homes)

(Chubbuck plans to create an additional three taxpayer funded parks)

The tax-fee payers of Pocatello are paying for the annexation of farmland to the north of the northeast side of the city, and will also be paying for the creation of a Northgate District, as well as a road that will connect to the Pocatello side of I-15.  (Pocatello imposes  Northgate Tax Incremental Financing district on cash strapped residents)

(Pocatello taxpayers extorted for $750-thousand for Northgate roads project)

(Pocatello councilman partnering with developer to build Northgate retirement community)

State tax-fee payers are funding the I-15 to Siphon Road connection bridge (to nowhere?).

(State investigators says Pocatello’s water plan for Northgate falls short)

The following pics were taken 14JUL2019:

“Hoku and now Northgate are ample evidence for the proposition that few elected local officials have any facility for investigation, professional planning or even seeing the future for what it is.”

Storm clouds forming over yet another White Elephant for taxpayers?

All that farmland going to be torn up to build homes for…nobody?

Looking south along I-15, from the Pocatello side of where the Siphon Road-I-15 connector bridge is being built.

Looking towards Chubbuck, the Sun is already setting on the Bridge to Nowhere.

Chubbuck spent tax dollars putting in an intersection where Siphon Road ended, it’s now overgrown with weeds and you can hear the pedestrian crossing signals beeping in the wind.

This is the new part of Siphon Road, in Chubbuck, which still doesn’t go anywhere. The Road Closed sign has been run-over numerous times.

“He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see….

…….Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody”-The Beatles, Nowhere Man

Bannock County scams: 609 hearings later, Bannock County is left with 2,188 unheard property assessment appeals on morning of deadline

State Attorney General’s Office investigating work of former Bannock County contracted property appraiser

Local appraiser files breach of contract lawsuit against Bannock County

Water-gate, 2019: The city of Pocatello has reached a $4.5 million settlement to a class-action lawsuit for assessing illegal fees on its water, sewer and sanitation services from 2005 into Fiscal Year 2014.

Chubbuck 2017: NO MORE XMAS LIGHTS? THE TRUTH ABOUT GENTRIFICATION

Bannock County, Chubbuck & Pocatello shenanigans, June 2016: Governor declares economy has “RISEN FROM THE ASHES”

School District 25 also screws over local taxpayers: Pocatello High renovations Raises Questions About Public Input from taxpayers

yet again school district embroiled in a controversy involving a hungry student seeking food

school cafeteria worker who says she was fired for giving a hungry student a free lunch was previously convicted of theft charges in 2013.

In March of 1969 Chris Murphy was called to the office of Mr. Evans, the vice-principal of Highland High School in Pocatello, and told to get his hair cut; Murphy refused and was suspended. The district was sued.

PaveGate 2015: POCATELLO TAXPAYERS ASKED TO CLEAN UP THEIR OWN STREETS, WHILE PAYING MORE TAXES!

Promises of jobs, July 2015:  Pocatello administrators have revealed their hyped up deal to bring a major employer to Pocatello Regional Airport is dead.

Main stream news reports on the never ending taxpayer sucking White Elephant called Hoku;

East Idaho News, 2018: “There was no action taken on the Hoku property. They entered into an executive session where they discussed a number of different things and unfortunately as much as I wish I could, I cannot speak about or respond to anything, disclose anything that happened in the executive session.”-Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad

Idaho State Journal, 2018: Two years later, lease with Indian company amounts to nothing for abandoned Hoku 

New York Times, 2013: “So what if the company wanted breaks and concessions? The decision by the city [Pocatello] to buy the land and lease it back almost free seemed like a bargain at $1.4 million…”

Read the history of the Hoku saga starting with this report (the Blind Bat News reports go back to 2010):

 IDAHO’S FAILED HOKU LEADS TO 1ST CHINESE COMPANY TO DEFAULT ON LOAN PAYMENTS

In this report, which chronicles the destruction of iconic Green T, the mayor of Chubbuck boasts it’s “…the beginning of some real good things coming in.”: POPEYES QUIETLY SHUTS DOWN FOUR IDAHO RESTAURANTS!

IDAHO’S DOCUMENTED ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION FOR 2017: “CLOSED INDEFINITELY”

Hoku-Gate, PaveGate now Amy’s-Gate!  It’s been revealed that Bannock County administrators were under investigation by the Idaho Tax Commission over massive local tax breaks given to California based frozen veggie food maker Amy’s Kitchen.

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: EAST IDAHOANS OBLIVIOUS TO SHUTDOWN OF THEIR ONLY POSTAL PROCESSING CENTER!

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: IDAHO POLITICIANS GIVE AWAY MORE THAN $1-MILLION IN IDAHO TAXES, TO FRANCE!

EXCEPTIONAL FAILED STATE: IDAHO POLITICIANS GIVE AWAY TENS OF MILLIONS TO COMPANIES THAT SHUT DOWN!

Technology

Vehicle I-D: The real Avengers

Video

“I think short-range air defense is coming back really strong. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest factors here in the European region because it’s very mobile.”-Staff Sergeant Joseph White, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery

Video report of anti-aircraft training in Poland, June 2019, C Battery 1st Battalion 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment:

With the return to ‘Cold War’ mentality (now known as Near Peer Threats), many ‘force-on-force’ weapon systems are making a come-back.  The Avenger ShoRAD (Short Range Air Defense) system fires a short-range Stinger surface-to-air missile that can be mounted on top of a HMMWV (pronounced humvee), or carried and fired by a soldier.

Video of 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Avenger ops in Bulgaria, as part of NATO anti-Russia wargames, June 2019:

HMMWV Avenger off-loads from a Canadian C-17.

HMMWV Avenger in Korea (south), October 2018.

GREAT RENEGER: TEXAS ARMOR DEPLOYS TO POLAND, PROOF WORLD WAR 3 IS NEAR

WORLD WAR 3: I-C-T, USAF version of Army’s TOTAL FORCE WARFARE

Kit Bashing

Retired USN craftsman recalls days of being paid to build giant model planes!

Image

Visitors to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum might not realize what looks like giant almost six feet long plastic-looking models of an A-6 Intruder and an F-14 Tomcat, are made out of Sugar-Pine wood (with a fiberglass coating), like the old fashioned way model kits used to be made.

This will end up being an A-6 Intruder.

The man who made them, not so way back in 1993, is William Corbell.

This will end up being an F-14 Tomcat.

Corbell was lucky enough to go to work at the the now decommissioned Naval Aviation Depot Norfolk (NADEP), as a wood crafter in 1980.   He was commissioned to build the model A-6 and F-14, but continued helping to repair real aircraft at the same time: “Basically, if it was something that couldn’t be fixed at the squadron; they sent it to us.”

Told you!

When Corbell visited his models in January 2019, he revealed he had placed a time capsule inside the F-14.  It contains a leave request that he hopes someone in the distant future would humorously approve. The models were transferred to different locations before finally finding a home at the Naval Museum in 2008.

The photos come from William Corbell’s collection.

MODEL KIT EC-130J GETS SPECIAL HANDLING BY NATIONAL GUARD!

U.S.

1942 Ford firetruck returns to service with the USAF!

Video

In March 2019, after years of restoration by a dedicated retired Airman, a 1942 Ford firetruck was returned to service at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.

The truck was one of the first two firetrucks to be assigned at Seymour Johnson Field when the base opened in 1942.

2016 CHUBBUCK DAYS MASS BAPTISM BY FIRE….TRUCK!

REVELL 1937 FORD PICKUP OR WHY MODEL ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE WRONG!

11 AUGUST 2012: BUSIEST CHUBBUCK DAYS EVER! DOGS, CARS, FIRE TRUCKS

Technology

Vehicle I-D: M4 Sherman, WW2 to Iran-Iraq War

Video

March 1981, my father W. L. Hutchins checking out the Sherman in front of the Ely, Nevada, VFW Post.

The M4 Sherman is the iconic U.S. tank from World War 2.  It was also used after WW2 by many countries across the world.  There are many variants, and to make things more difficult for kit bashers there were many field modifications.

1-116th Cav, 1-148th FA, Pocatello, Idaho. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.

Video report 03NOV2021, Museum Support Center–Anniston Army Depot is about to attempt to restore a recovered sunken ‘DD’ Sherman from Operation Overlord June 1944:

U.S. Army Central, Sumter, South Carolina, welcomes the arrival of a M4A3(76)W HVSS Sherman tank, 15JUL2021. U.S. Army photo by Michael Clauss.

It was originally on display on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Amber Cobena.

In December 2020, the U.S. Army’s Army Maneuver Center of Excellence used examples of WW2 Sherman tanks to demonstrate the ingenuity/inventiveness of U.S. military personnel.

October 2020 promotional video, the National Army Museum’s Cobra King Sherman:

July 2020, volunteers with the Selfridge Military Air Museum take a restored Sherman for a spin, before parking it for its new ‘gate guard’ duty. Michigan Air National Guard photo By Munnaf H. Joarder.

Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 07MAY2020. The tank memorializes the Harrodsburg Tankers, which were captured by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War Two. Kentucky Army National Guard photo by First Lieutenant Cody Stagner.

Reenactment of Battle of the Bulge, 14DEC2019, Belgium.
U.S. Army photo by Corporal Kevin Payne.

Pennsylvania ‘gate guard’, 05NOV2019. Pennsylvania Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Bryan Hoover.

Texas Military Forces Museum Sherman takes part in a reenactment, 13APR2019. Texas Army National Guard photo by Specialist Tom Lamb.

Chièvres Air Base, Belgium, 11SEP2018. U.S. Army photo by Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie.

Video of ‘IN THE MOOD’ gate guard being moved from Belgium to Germany for restoration, 09JUL2019:

See more about IN THE MOOD: PAINTING & DECALING A 1:1 SCALE M4 SHERMAN

D-Day reenactors June 2019, Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Ryan Rayno.

U.S. military video by Staff Sergeant Draeke Layman, Sherman Tanks in Mons, Belgium, 2019:

M4A1 Battle of the Bulge commemorations in Belgium, December 2018. U.S. Army photo by Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie.

Sainte Mere Eglise, 04JUN2017. USA photo by First Lieutenant Victoria Goldfedib.

This tank looks ‘crody’ because it was salvaged from the sea off United Kingdom, in 1984. It’s now part of commemorations for Operation Tiger. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Timothy R. Smithers.

Pennsylvania National Guard ‘living’ memorial, February 2016. Pennsylvania Army National Guard photo by Private First Class Hannah Baker.

December 2015, the town of Clervaux, Luxembourg, dedicates a Sherman tank memorial to a little known part of the Battle of the Bulge:

New York National Guard personnel spent 22 months renovating this Sherman. Put on display in Saratoga Springs, September 2015. New York Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Major Corine Lombardo.

Restored Sherman taking part in D-Day celebrations in France, June 2015. USA photo by Sergeant Austin Berner.

Sherman loaded for transport to the Fort Polk Museum, Louisiana, 12SEP2012.

This April 2011 photo shows three versions of the M4 Sherman, taking part in a Texas Military Forces World War Two reenactment on Camp Mabry. Texas Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Josiah Pugh.

A Sherman tank war memorial in Cassino, Italy. Texas Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Daniel Griego, March 2010.

Silent U.S. Army film, dated 23APR1945, Sherman tanks enter the city of Leipzig, Germany.  Combat action, civilians wounded, civilians welcome U.S. troops, German officer surrenders:

New York Army National Guard M4A3 Sherman, Fort Drum, during the 1950s.

An Easy Eight Sherman in Kumchun area, Korea, October 1950.

Believe it or not, this is a 70 years old Iraqi Sherman! It was ‘appropriated’ by U.S. Army forces and ‘repatriated’ to the U.S. towards the end of 2011. The pic was taken on Camp Virginia, Kuwait, as it awaited ship-out.

Iranian M36B1 Jackson version of the Sherman, used against Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. Captured by Iraq and put on display, only to be ‘captured’ by U.S. forces and supposedly ‘repatriated’ to the United States.

A U.S. Marine checks-out a stripped Sherman in Beirut, Lebanon, April 1983.

Photograph from World War Two, 03JUN1944. The Sherman in the foreground has the rounded cast hull, while the Sherman behind it has the welded hull.

USMC vet Kenny White checks out a Marine Sherman gate guard at Twentynine Palms, California, December 2014. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Medina Ayala-Lo.

In Virginia, reenactors playing Marines fighting the Japanese stand aside for an approaching Sherman, August 2013. USMC photo by Corporal Paris Capers.

My grandfather, O.G. Hutchins, on his newly arrived USMC Sherman, sometime before shipping out against the Japanese.

My grandfather O.G. Hutchins, tank commander in the USMC during World War Two. Note the snow tracks used as sand tracks in the Pacific Theater (also indicative of some 75mm gunned Shermans, that is not saying they were the only Shermans that used them, obviously not). Also, notice the final-drive cover is different from the M4 in the above photo. He’s smiling because prior to getting Shermans his USMC unit was using tiny Stuart tanks (note how tall he is, even in the Sherman he had trouble ‘buttoning up’).

My grandfather’s old helmet. O.G. ‘Hutch’ Hutchins.

See my grandfather’s 1st Marine Division unit citations for actions in World War Two and Korea in LAST RIDE FOR 1ST, 2ND & 4TH TANK.

It has become dry and brittle due to decades of improper storage on my father’s property in the Mojave Desert of Southern California.

The hardened leather helmets were called ‘football helmets’ because they were directly based on the old style American football helmet.

Photo by Richard C. Ferguson, September or October 1950. Inchon, Korea, Easy Eight ‘Candy Ass’ decided to take a swim after off-loading from LST. It appears there’s only one cable (attached to front tow hook) keeping Candy Ass from going under.

U.S. Marine Corps photo, dated October 1950. It’s not Korea, it’s a pass-in-review of Shermans and F7F Tigercats at Cherry Point, North Carolina.

Argentinian Shermans waiting for new homes, or the scrapper.

Argentine hybrid-hull Sherman with French 105mm gun in what looks like a Firefly turret, and powered by a diesel motor.

Chile used Israeli M51 Super Shermans as live-fire range targets.

Chilean M60, a M4A4 Sherman with Israeli designed 60mm high velocity gun.

I can’t remember where this photo was taken (Fort Irwin?), sometime mid-late 1990s.  Me in front of a Sherman based Recovery Vehicle.

IDAHO VEHICLE I-D:  1-148 FIELD ARTILLERY GATE GUARDS

Technology

Super Guppy be old, but NASA still uses it!

Video

According to press release there were only four Super Guppies made, only one is still being used by NASA.

On 11JUL2019, NASA Super Guppy 914 made a fuel stop at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas:

The following pics are from February 2019, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina:

The following pics are from May 2018, El Paso International Airport: 

Official video explainer of Super Guppy eating a Tyndall AFB, Florida, T-38 in March 2017:

The following pics are from November 2012, March Air Reserve Base in California: 

What’s it like to fly on a Super Guppy?  Here’s a five minute long video to find out:

The following pics are from June 2012, Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington:

Time lapse video of load-up at Houston, Texas:

 

Boeing 377SGT Super Guppy, May 1976, swallowing the X-24 and HL-10 lifting bodies at Edwards AFB (Dryden), California:

A Guppy before it got upgraded to Super status with turbo-prop engines, Edwards AFB (Dryden), October 1962: 

MODEL KIT EC-130J GETS SPECIAL HANDLING BY NATIONAL GUARD!

WILD FIRES 2019: DC-10, IDAHO’S 911

 

U.S.

All hell breaks loose in Wisconsin, operation Patriot North is underway!

Video

Video, Nebraska National Guard UH-72 Lakota joins the fun:

Food insecurity, unemployment, failed national and local governments, and non-stop natural disasters leading to race riots and civil war.  It’s July 2019 and Wisconsin is ground zero for Patriot North 2019 DomOps (Domestic Operations).

New Hampshire Air National Guard medic treats a ‘person’ wounded by a ‘zombie’ at Camp Douglas.

Apparently various National Guard focused  ‘patriot’ operations are not called patriot because they’re trying to be patriotic, the ‘patriot’ exercises are a directive of the Patriot Act signed into law after the 9-11 attacks.

Official video explaining The Burn Pit:

Starting the third week of July, Air and Army National Guard units from across the United States converged upon Volk Field and Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, for a massive domestic ‘natural-or-man-made’ disaster response exercise.

Video of Texas National Guard C-130H landing on dirt:

More than 7-hundred federal and local government employees, civilian volunteers and National Guard personnel from more than 20 states are taking part in the inter-agency operation, in preparation for catastrophic events.

Video, various National Guard C-130H Hercules rolling into Wisconsin, off-loading personnel, rescue dogs and equipment:

Patriot South 2019 was already held, in Georgia, back in March.  Watch this official promo video and be afraid of what your government is expecting:

June 2019: ARKANSAS HIT BY UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE, USAF SCRAMBLED!

Tornado prep, USAF style: TORNADO & FLOOD FACTS, ACCORDING TO THE USAF, HOW TO PREP!

Kit Bashing

Model kit EC-130J gets special handling by National Guard!

Video

A real 193rd Special Operations Wing EC-130J Commando Solo, October 2020. Air National Guard photo by Munnaf Joarder.

In April 2019, Pennsylvania’s 193rd Special Operations Wing’s Fabrication Shop recently was given the opportunity to repaint the EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft model outside the wing HQ building.

Video of repairs to model that has been on display since 2006:

Kit Bashing:

USAF photo by Airman First Class Thomas Charlton.

WORLD’S LARGEST C-141B STARLIFTER MODEL?