Blackshoe

foreign coins and bills that sat around the house for 9 years! finally found a good use for them. oh, last weekend one of my kids picked the pencil out of a cache. I didn't have the heart to make her leave it. ha ha (there was another one in there. whew!) SVT + GPS = fast cache

The military is unique in how it "entrusts" people at a young age with (in my case) nuclear reactors, high explosives, fully automatic weapons, the lives of others, etc. As far as actual possession...On several occasions it was my duty to courier missiles and 5-inch gun rounds in a small boat between Seal Beach and Long Beach. The missiles can go about 1.3 mil depending on "payload". SVT + GPS = fast cache

quote:Originally posted by The BeeGees:Me 43 My knees 143 Wife 36 Favorite Tshirt 23 Kids 6, 6, 1 another set of twins!!!! geocacher = strong swimmers sorry, ladies. I'm married. ha ha SVT + GPS = fast cache

My kids wouldn't go without the toys and trinkets. And getting to see their faces light up like Christmas morning every weekend is huge for me. Keep leaving toys!! SVT + GPS = fast cache

Since foreign cash is my signiture item, you're welcome to move to KS and follow my logs and scoop up all the cash I leave behind! Or join the Navy and see the world. I swear when I brought back all that cash from overseas I had no idea what I'd end up doing with it.... SVT + GPS = fast cache

A "blackshoe" used to be anybody in the Navy that isn't an aviator, who all wear brown shoes. The real men, who drive warships into harms way and shoot the big guns and real missiles, adopted the "blackshoe" nickname as Surface Warriors. Just as a coincidence, my last name is the German for "shoe", and my favorite color is black, the cars have all been black, the hat is black, and of course, the shoes are black. SVT + GPS = fast cache

I only got into it as something to do with the kids. But I can already tell that when they get bored with it, I'll be a solo cacher. SVT + GPS = fast cache

quote:Originally posted by seadog16yrs:I've been in the Navy for 16 years. My caching buddies are my 4.5 year old triplet daughters and an 18 month old daughter. My wife 38, does come with us once in a while. that's funny. I was 13 years in the Navy. My caching buddies are my 7yo twins and a 5yo. My wife 35, does come with us once in a while. hehe I think we must be twin brothers of different mothers! SVT + GPS = fast cache

Me and the Mrs. are 35. Amber and Ashleigh are 7 1/2 going on 15, and Jonnie just turned 5. They've never heard of "geocaching". They think we're treasure hunting of course! SVT + GPS = fast cache

Short version on page 1. What follows is something I wrote when I was getting out in '99. It's a tad lengthy, but I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did living it... A TRUE NAVY ADVENTURE It is a job and an adventure. I’ll leave out the “job” part and just describe the adventure. First of all, in 13 years of service I got my first choice for every change of duty assignment. Other sacrifices have to be made for this to happen, but it can be done. I traveled around the world, visiting Yokosuka, Pusan, Pohang, Hong Kong and Kowloon, Singapore, Olongapo City, Manama, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Esperence, Adelaide and Sydney. Stateside, I was stationed in seven different cities in Florida, Connecticut, California and Missouri. I visited 43 of the 50 states. At one time, I enjoyed the administrative adventure of living in Massachusetts, working in Connecticut, carrying a Missouri drivers’ license, driving a vehicle with Florida tags and making payments on it to a bank in Texas. While serving as an enlisted sailor and later as an officer, I experienced a great variety of military activities, good and bad. I operated a nuclear power plant, piloted a jet aircraft and raced a Navy sailboat in a regatta. I have ridden in or driven all manner of small boats and amphibious vehicles, a hovercraft, two submarines, three aircraft carriers, and four different ships. With eight others, I survived a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico on a crippled 24-foot Navy sailing yacht. Only the LT and I were functional though, because the other seven were bathing in their own puke below decks. I was only seasick once in all of that time, and that was on the hovercraft! I was also contaminated with radioactive bilge water and sprayed with shrapnel from exploding ordnance. I nearly froze to death in the mountains of South Korea and the hills of Louisiana in January. I nearly cooked to death in the high deserts of California and Arizona. When Mount Pinatubo erupted in the summer of ’91, I was on one of the ships that sprinted to the Philippines to evacuate our people from Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay Naval Station. One of my favorite duties was being the Physical Security Officer on a “special weapons” capable warship, training and leading armed reaction forces to protect against terrorist attack while in port. With that came the additional duty of leading the armed boarding team used to enforce UN sanctions in the Persian Gulf. One of these actions was an unprecedented night boarding only yards from Iraqi waters. On another, I had the pleasure of conducting an intelligence gathering “interview” of an Iraqi ship captain while my men searched his holds for contraband. While assigned to a Marine Corps ANGLICO unit in California, I earned my gold jump wings by voluntarily and dramatically exiting perfectly good aircraft in flight, mostly at night, out of six different kinds of helicopters and airplanes. And I don’t care how many sport freefall jumps you have. Until you have gone “knees to the breeze” at only 800 feet and 120 mph, in total darkness, carrying 100 pounds of gear and an automatic weapon, you are still a “dirty, nasty leg”. While operating with those Marines, I personally directed combined arms support from seven different Naval Gunfire platforms, Army and Marine Corps artillery, Navy Tomcats and Hornets, Marine Corps Harriers, Hornets, Hueys and Cobras, Air Force Falcons, Warthogs and Spectre gunships, and Army Apaches. I am a qualified expert in pistol and rifle marksmanship to Navy standards, but more importantly to Marine Corps standards. I have personally operated the Beretta 9mm and Colt .45 pistols, M-14 and M-16 rifles, Remington and Mossberg 12 gauge shotguns, M-60 and M-249G machine guns, Browning .50 cal machine gun, the 25mm Bushmaster chain gun, M-79 40mm grenade launcher and the main gun of an M-60 main battle tank. I also trained with and operated four different models of laser designators for precision-guided munitions. Without ever being credited with assignment to a “joint tour”, I still managed to serve directly with American Marines, soldiers, SEALs, airmen and coast guardsmen, and South Korean soldiers, sailors and marines. It was my distinct honor to have served with them all. I will gladly swap stories for the rest of my life. No other service, or civilian life, could have provided me a more unique and interesting adventure. SVT + GPS = fast cache

13 years in the Navy. Enlisted Nuclear trained Electrician 86-88, made EM2 before earning Navy ROTC scholarship. In college from 88-92, so missed GW1. Surface Warfare Officer, Tomahawk shooter, Boarding Officer, Gunnery Officer on Antietam for 3 years. Eighteen months with ANGLICO Marines, jumping out of anything that flies and blowing things up with combined arms. Got out in '99 before they chained me to a desk. Absolutely no regrets. My screen name "Blackshoe" refers to my status as a Surface ship driver. Navy aviators wear brown shoes and call everybody else a blackshoe or just a "shoe". Because I am also an Expert Naval Parachutist, and Airborne troops refer to everybody else as "legs", you may consider me a "shoe", but not a "leg". ha ha SVT + GPS = fast cache

Can't get the dang sawed-off to fit in the tupperware! Anybody got a link to the tupperware web site so I can special order? SVT + GPS = fast cache

This hobby has so many different elements that it can be enjoyed by the whole family for different reasons. We've only found 5 or 6 caches so far, but the way the kids' faces light up when the lid comes off is the reason I do it. I've had 6 Christmas mornings in the last 3 weeks. My yellow etrex that I got at Wal-Mart has found every one of them with no probs. Not even using a map. They love it so far, so I do too. When they get bored, we ride bikes. When they get tired, we fly the kite. When they want to "hunt treasure", we geocache! Peace through Victory!

Geocaching is a family thing for me. I won't be taking my kids anywhere that I think I might need a firearm. That being said, I will carry if I want to carry. All laws/categories aside, the difference between me and the manimals is intent. If you think you're in more danger when the good guys are carrying too, you are an idiot. And yeah, I've been around guns from a young age, and qualified expert on everything I picked up in 13 years of service. I never shot or killed anything I wasn't aiming at. [This message was edited by Blackshoe on March 24, 2003 at 09:49 AM.]

You must be making a living as a Professional Geocacher. 50 in a month! If you add in driving time to hiking time and research time, how could you possibly make it to work??? You are me hero now, by the way. I'm not worthy. Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

2nd find today. Kids dig it. My wife even went. She still thinks it was an excuse to get a gadget. Have to keep letting her navigate I guess. hehe Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

. What planet are you from? I have NEVER had a smoker ask permission to give me lung cancer. They just assume that I want it. They're even worse then telemarketers always assuming that dinnertime is the best time to sell aluminum siding. you probably sit down next to a dozen smokers a day that don't light up. you can hate telemarketers though. Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

Yep. School night. And I also have to watch the Darlington race. I'm definitely enthusiastic, but not yet obsessed! Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

The Blackshoe Clan is on the scoreboard! Kids had a blast. We're going after another one today. Nice hobby you have here. Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

Hey you can't beat a hobby where the kids get to treasure hunt and swap toys, and Dad gets a new gadget! woo hoo! Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

The yellow one. No other name on it or the manual. No cords, connectors or cases. Not even a lanyard! (I was all about keeping the entry costs low, so got it at Wal-Mart.) Been messing with it and reading the manual. Gonna work fine I think. Thanks for the welcome! Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!

New hobby for the Blackshoe Clan this year. The kids are all spun up to go treasure hunting. Got my etrex yesterday and our first cache hunt will be this weekend. Just wanted to say hey. I'll be lurking until I have a question that somebody else hasn't asked! Blackshoe Clan is fixin' to cache in!