Greeting from Denmark :-)

[Panzer_peter]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Greeting from Denmark

Thanks All Great so many of you popped in this thread to say Hi

 

[Sarge]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Greeting from Denmark

Welcome Peter!
It’s good to have someone Danish on this list. One of my good buddies in the military was a Dane, Mogens Kjaer, God rest his soul. I buried him in Germany many years ago.
On a happier note, we used to convoy up to Denmark every year for a little party the Danes threw, it was called Oksboel. The Danes were always funny, kind and polite. They treated us very well and many of the older ones would bring up World War 2 and buy us a drink. Even though they were thanking our grandfathers, nobody turned down a free beer. Everything was happy until the day I was sitting on the flight line with a two Danish pilots, watching the F16’s blast off into the sunset. One of the pilots was a stunning tall blonde. She got up and walked towards her aircraft.
At this point, it is important to note that although I was in the US military, I still had a strong British accent.
Ahhh…. I said to him, “why is it that every Danish girl I’ve seen is so beautiful?”
It was a rhetorical question and a compliment, no answer was required.
He turned and looked at me. “There is a very good reason for that”, he said.
“Oh?” I bit, “What’s the reason?”
He explained; “Every time a baby girl is born in Denmark, we look to see if she is beautiful, if she is, we give her back to the mother to raise”
“What if she’s not beautiful?” I asked.
“Well” he said, “Then we throw her into the North Sea”
“WHAT!!!” I gasped, “you can’t be serious!”
“Yes” he said, “half of the ugly ones drown”
By now, he had me totally, “What about the other half?”
“Oh”, he said, “the ones who can swim make it to England!”

 

[JeepMan]

Yes, for us here on the eastern side of the US it would be very difficult to take a piece of armor to the local K-Mart, (department store) for example. Than like someone else says, the cost of moving a piece is very expensive as well as required road permits.

 

[Panzer_peter]

Sarge, I love the joke I was stationed in Oksbøl With my leo Great little Camp ! Tell me more about Mogens Kjaer ? what happed to him ??

Jeepman, I se what you mean ! thankfully Denmark is a small country, where you nearly can go from end to the other, without fuelling a Mk 2/3 Ferrett 4.5

 

[Panzer_peter]

Here are some pic from the army.

I will post some of mt leo when i find them

 

[Sarge]

Mogens Kjaer.
Tell you a little bit more about him, huh?
Okay. I met SSgt Mogens Kjaer in 1978 on a mountaintop in Germany called Pruem. He was my first boss in the USAF and still the best one I had. He was fair. I cannot say that about too many people. He had a very unusual gift, a photographic memory. I know that a lot of people claim to have a photographic memory, but most of them are not for real. One lazy afternoon, he demonstrated it to us. We wrote 100 three figure numbers on a blackboard and he turned around and looked at them for 10 seconds. Then he turned back around again. He recited them forwards and backwards. Then we asked him questions, such as ‘what is the second number from the right, third row down?’ No hesitation at all, he would tell us the number. It was not a parlour trick. He was also the Technical Order manager. Our weapons system was so complicated; the books filled a normal room. If we were seeking the function of a particular circuit board, SSgt Kjaer could not only tell us which of the 900 books contained the circuit diagram, but also the page.
I had a lot of very good memories with Mo, he had an absolutely bizarre sense of humour. His worst joke was when we were working on something and anybody asked him if he was finished. He would always shout “No! I’m Danish!”
One morning he didn’t show up for work. It was very unusual, he was always punctual, never sick nor late. His girlfriend found him at home, very ill. She took him to the hospital where he died 24 hours later. He was completely eaten through with cancer, but never told anyone, not even the docs. We buried him a week later in the German graveyard in Pruem.

 

[Panzer_peter]

Hmm, Hvil i fred Mogens ! "rest in peace"

How did he get to be in the USAF ??

 

[M813rc]

Hi Peter, and welcome!
When it comes to armour, cost, maintenance and transportability are three factors (armour tends to be quite expensive here, more than in Europe). One other factor is temperature. I am rebuilding (painfully slowly) an armoured car, and in the Texas sun it is a bit of an oven inside. I put a thermometer in there the other day; it reads up to 130 degrees, but the mercury was well above the top mark! Apart from being very uncomfortable, temperatures like that are a hazard to your health if you don't drink enough water.
Cheers,
Rory

 

[Panzer_peter]

Hi Rory

Could i se some pics of the armoured car ???

 

[M813rc]

Here you go-
I don't know exactly what it is. It is built on a Dodge chassis and I am told it is an early '60s prototype for convoy escorts in Vietnam, but never went into production. True? Who knows.... I have found no record of it anywhere. I did find drawings that look very similar labeled "Chrysler armoured car" in a book from 1966, maybe this is it.
I found it in a junkyard, and it appears to have been modified by previous owners. I just love the Walmart headlights and the chrome drivers side mirror, those were the first things I took off! The colour scheme is obviously faked. But it is an interesting vehicle, and will look much better when I have fixed it up.
Cheers,
Rory

 

[Panzer_peter]

It is SWEET

You gotta love it !!

 

[Sarge]

Peter, the way Mogens got to be in the USAF? His mother was American, his father Danish. I had something similar myself. My mother was Native American (Cherokee) and my father was Irish. I was born and raised in England and because Dad moved around I got to live in nice places, like Abu Dhabi. They had about 10 kids and we never thought anything was unusual in the way my mother looked or talked. Of course not, we spent most of our lives with her. Then one day, home on leave from the British Forces, I asked Mum about her background. She let slip that I was also an American from birth, not just British. I managed to get an early out from the British military and caught the train to London to get a US passport. 24 hours later I was on a jet to the USA. I landed in Washington DC with $4.19 in my pocket and a backpack with half a dozen pairs of socks. That was February 25th 1975. Because it was snowing hard and very cold, I starting hitching South and West. I was homeless for about seven months. The next 32 years flew by. I could write several books about my adventures during those 32 years. But I won't. I spent 25 years in the military, pulling 8 overseas tours. I was never stationed in the US, so sometimes it is a culture shock even today.
Now I'm living the dream!

 

[Sarge]

FINALLY! Rory posted pictures of the Dog on SS!!
Having crawled into, out of, on top of and underneath 'The Dog', truth is, it's a superb vehicle and the photo's don't do it justice. He has great plans for it....but whoops.... I've said enough.

 

[DDoyle]

Not to hijack Peter's excellent thread, but if Rory can provide more info about the "dog" - I'll see what I can find out about it.

Regards,
David

 

[M813rc]

Thanks David. If anyone would know something about this vehicle, I figure you are a good bet! I'll send you what details I have.

By the way, it wasn't explained earlier, but the nickname "The Dog" came from the name "Dog of War" under the Saudi palm tree painted on either side when I got it. The palm tree and name are now gone, but the nickname is probably permanent. It is in line with the names my kids gave my other vehicles, the Unimog is (not surprisingly) the Mog, the M813 is the Hog.
Cheers,
Rory

 

[DDoyle]

Rory's armored car

looks rather like an armored version of this, doesn't it? I'll see if I can find a better match, the more info you can give (specs, dated components) the better info we can get.

 

[M813rc]

It does indeed look rather like that. The tires appear to be Humvee on modified M37 style rims.
I am at work now, but when I get home I will dig out the paperwork and send you numbers and such.

 

[Panzer_peter]

Rory

The Dog, the Mog and the Hog Sounds great too me !!

 

[Panzer_peter]

Peter, the way Mogens got to be in the USAF? His mother was American, his father Danish. I had something similar myself. My mother was Native American (Cherokee) and my father was Irish. I was born and raised in England and because Dad moved around I got to live in nice places, like Abu Dhabi. They had about 10 kids and we never thought anything was unusual in the way my mother looked or talked. Of course not, we spent most of our lives with her. Then one day, home on leave from the British Forces, I asked Mum about her background. She let slip that I was also an American from birth, not just British. I managed to get an early out from the British military and caught the train to London to get a US passport. 24 hours later I was on a jet to the USA. I landed in Washington DC with $4.19 in my pocket and a backpack with half a dozen pairs of socks. That was February 25th 1975. Because it was snowing hard and very cold, I starting hitching South and West. I was homeless for about seven months. The next 32 years flew by. I could write several books about my adventures during those 32 years. But I won't. I spent 25 years in the military, pulling 8 overseas tours. I was never stationed in the US, so sometimes it is a culture shock even today.
Now I'm living the dream!

I wish you would write some books !! I would definitely buy and read them

Sounds like quite a ride

 

[M813rc]

Having spent many an evening hearing John's stories, I can say they would indeed make a fine book!

David, I tried to PM you some details on the Dog last night, but got no confirmation that it went through. Did you get any of it?

Cheers,
Rory