Found whilst putting together a package of photos for some old friends from Germany...
That's me driving Charlie-Three-Four, rolling back into Christiansen Barracks (Bindlach, FRG), after six weeks at our border camp, circa 1985...
... and this one is a One-Alpha patrol out of Camp Gates posing for a group portrait on the Czech border after radioing-in a series of FRAGREP reports during a goofy encounter with Czech border guards, circa 1986... We were so very proud of our cleverness...
... and yes, that's actually me, looking frighteningly young and unmarked by life...
I keep looking at these photos, all faded and grainy, as if they contain some kind of clue to something. But they don't.
Here's the thing, though: This is what feeling old looks like. Because there's no resemblance between this guy and me. Not anymore.
Those pics have all kinds of clues for me. You are that guy. The same way all of us carry what we used to be. Who we were doesn't disappear as life adds to us. Layers bleed and melt and mix into each other so that we aren't sure where one begins and another ends, but it's the same stuff. Good, bad, ugly ... kinda hot.
Posted by: Janet | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 10:25
"This is what feeling old looks like. Because there's no resemblance between this guy and me. Not anymore."
Nuts.
*I* can sure recognize similarities between that guy and this one. Looks like Janet sees some too.
Posted by: DeweyS | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 11:18
Out of curiosity, what is a "FRAGREP"?
Posted by: DeweyS | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 11:18
re: FRAGREP. I'm going to go find my notes on all the old border terms and publish them. There isn't a listing I can find via search. We had to memorize page after page after page of definitions verbatim, and if you didn't pass the border exam before every deployment, you stayed in garrison.
And sorry about the compliment fishing. I didn't mean to. It was just very late and it's a strange feeling to see yourself and not recognize yourself.
Posted by: Daniel | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 13:29
Last weekend at my 50th high school reunion, I passed around a few photo taken of me since graduation. I wanted to show what I had been doing in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. Me in Vegas, me and Jack Webb, me as Lord Ashley Cooper, etc.
100% admired the photos/100% said "oh, that's YOU?"
Those old f*rts!
Posted by: Chucker | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 14:38
re: FRAGREP
Fragmentary Report. Many units had defined reports with specific lines of information in their Standing Operating Procedures (SOP). Sometimes also called a SPOTREP (SPOT Report) or SITREP (Situation Report).
I wish I had met that Dan Conover. I'm glad I met this one, but it would have been an honor to start a friendship then.
Posted by: Tim | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 20:13
I recognize both Dan's also and am proud to call them my son....then AND now...glad Janet and Dew did also....but the growing old stuff, well, it happens and you guys have a LONG way to go on that one! Wait until the person in that mirror truly does NOT look like any person you know except your grandmother! (heavens, THAT one will be a horror story!)
I too have been to a 50th reunion and looked at a lot of photos of folks then and now and along the way....it truly IS a shock to the system.... NOT recognizing most folks you knew well in your youth when you meet them 50 years later in a real experience....AND they don't recognize you either! Oh, well....just enjoy being who you are at each level of this layered life..... that's about all we can do I guess....I personally am just glad that in this age folks really do get to have multiple lives as they grow and change....my dad didn't many options and his dad had none.... those folks were really pretty stuck in who they could and would be all their lives from the time they were about 16 until they died ... At least the kids coming along NOW will HAVE those options and CAN change "lives" as they grow and change...The new Dan and the old Dan have had those options as well in many ways and will continue to have them as changes bring new layers and levels to the future....I look forward to loving the NEXT new Dan! Mom
Posted by: Joyce Sasser | Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 22:19
I recognize both Dan's also and am proud to call them my son....then AND now...glad Janet and Dew did also....but the growing old stuff, well, it happens and you guys have a LONG way to go on that one! Wait until the person in that mirror truly does NOT look like any person you know except your grandmother! (heavens, THAT one will be a horror story!)
I too have been to a 50th reunion and looked at a lot of photos of folks then and now and along the way....it truly IS a shock to the system.... NOT recognizing most folks you knew well in your youth when you meet them 50 years later in a real experience....AND they don't recognize you either! Oh, well....just enjoy being who you are at each level of this layered life..... that's about all we can do I guess....I personally am just glad that in this age folks really do get to have multiple lives as they grow and change....my dad didn't many options and his dad had none.... those folks were really pretty stuck in who they could and would be all their lives from the time they were about 16 until they died ... At least the kids coming along NOW will HAVE those options and CAN change "lives" as they grow and change...The new Dan and the old Dan have had those options as well in many ways and will continue to have them as changes bring new layers and levels to the future....I look forward to loving the NEXT new Dan! Mom
Posted by: Joyce Sasser | Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 22:21
Not sure how often you check this page or if you get a message when a new comment is posted. It looks like it’s been a long time since anyone posted any comments (13 October 2007). Anyway I was doing research, looking for any info about Camp Gates and the 2d ACR. Did a Yahoo search for images, saw a photo that looked mid 80’s, went to the link found ME! Needless to say kind of scared the crap out of me. I remember most of the guys on that patrol. Front row; don’t remember his name but I remember that he was a scout, next is you (not wearing your BCG’s,), second row again don’t remember his name but he was a scout, me (do you remember me?), Sgt Perez, a scout, and Franklin (remember the balloon story?) By the way saw your video on measuring road distance on a map. Where did you learn that?
Posted by: jim | Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 23:51
Hey there, Staff Sergeant Jim Steele, commander of the "Caress of Steele," supreme border smart-ass and one of the best tankers I ever met.
The guy in front is Ralph, which wasn't his real name. He's the guy who used to sneak around the barracks in a ninja outfit. He later ate plutonium. The tall guy in back next to you is Stan Kane (sp?), a born scout from Tennessee and a member of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Mike Franklin changed his name to Mike Allen (we had another Mike Allen at the time -- remember"Private Quimbley?") and he's an officer in the federal prison system. Used to be the jailer to a bunch of celebrity inmates at the federal supermax prison. Still has the best stories. He comes down to visit every now and again and it's a big time.
What the hell are you up to? And you can tell me at dan@danconover.com.
Posted by: Dan | Monday, January 25, 2010 at 09:54