Dedication to 514th...TACSAT

Welcome to my small tribute to my old unit, 514th Signal Company, part of 50th Signal Battalion, 35th Signal Brigade out of Ft. Bragg, NC.

The company consisted of three platoons, Headquarters (which was 3/4 TacSat), Tropo, and TacSat. I was in TacSat, and as a platoon we made a noticable effort to avoid the other companies in the battalion/brigade, as well as the Tropo platoon.. Because we are a lot smarter than the them. Because we are 31S.

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UPDATE
25JUN04

For those of us old timers that were in 514th, with 1SG Freddie Robertson (the one with the old gold LeBaron, with the statue of Iron Mike as the hood ornament) we knew our mascot to be the Mongrel. And we also knew our motto was "Make it Happen". But who would have thought that a concrete bunker in Osan Air Force Base in Korea would have the same thing plastered on it? I took this picture while I was 'visiting' Korea in April of 2004.

Once again, I apologize to Mr. Allison for not uploading pictures he sent me well over three months ago.

For those of you that don't know.. 514th Signal Company was a high, high, high speed ultra airborne company. This means we jumped out of planes. The people that were in our company that weren't airborne qualified we put on "Chute detail" which really meant that we would try to drop our kevlar helmets (ballistic helmets) on them from the sky while they gathered up the previous jumpers' parachutes. Here are a few pictures of some of us with balls enough to jump out of a not-so-perfectly-good-airplane.

Apparently a panorama was attempted.. and didn't come out half bad.. This is a lot of us struggling to stay standing as we hobble over to a C-141 so that we can jump out of it. Of course, since this is the right portion of the panorama attempt the same caption applies to this one. Good times. This is Arturo Fernandez.. one of the craziest people I've ever met. He once ate a 12oz steak raw because he didn't want to wait for his turn on the grill. One time he hit me with a Freeman's car. That hurt.

Once again, this concludes this update. This may be the last one unless somebody sends me some more pictures... And hopefully I wont be so distracted or lazy when that happens again.

If enough of you 514th guys show up, I'll make a special section just for us. Because I love you guys.

UPDATE
03MAR03

Well, I apologize to all who sent me pictures, for taking so long to put them up. For some reason I've been especially lazy over the last few weeks. It's been three months since the first set came in from Sears (for some reason he scanned them at about a million DPI and they were extremely high resolution, especially for a disposable camera type quality picture.. It filled up my 10 Meg mailbox with five pictures). I have a few more from Giggleman, and one from SGT (SSG?) Gray.

I have decided to include names in with this set. If you don't want your name posted, let me know.

Here we see a bunch of older members having lunch at what appears to be Ruby Tuesdays. What a bunch of great guys these are... Starting from the left (and moving clockwise) I recognize SPC Sloan, SGT Pavey, SPC Freeman (and wife), and SPC Quarrels. The rest I have no idea who they are... Picture contributed by Sears.

Another picture taken at Ruby Tuesday's. There's Freeman and (ex)wife again, and in the background is SPC Fernandez, Good Martin, and SPC Kaufman. Also contributed by Sears

Again, at Ruby Tuesday's Lt Vanwy, and SFC Greene (never met him personally) enjoying a liquid lunch. Sears

This is a very good picture of Demorse, playing the acoustic in the barracks.
Contributed by Giggleman SPC Demorse, SPC Baldwin, and SPC Hicklin play dominoes.. probably at a party to another unit they're op-con to.
Contributed by Giggleman

Now for some random thumbnails that aren't in proportion to each other

Somehow Goldsmith always managed to smile, and we all made fun of him for it. This is SSG Angle talking with SSG Pesz about how hard it is trying to get us to work. A random field picture. Probably the same tent that Goldsmith was smiling in.

This is Taunton and Manniko, both looking scared because they are in TacSat as 31R's, and also because they are about to jump out of a plane. Excellent group shot of Miller, Giggleman, Fall, SGT Magege, some Tropo guy, and some queer in the background that thinks he's cool. Miller giving advice on how to eat dirt in the field across from our motor pool

Martin's house in the Mid-East "Before" picture. And here's the after picture. That's a true redneck, folks. Here's the civilian setup that is costing the army too much money.

A picture of some new guy that's deployed with Martin. SSG Gray, chillin in the desert (as Flewelling would say) Sales (probably SFC by now) asking "What's up, dude?"

Here is Anderson, Bell, and SGT Selesnick preparing for some good ole PMCS. I think this is self explanatory After a long month's work of eating MRE's and digging foxholes and setting up cammo, sometimes the sky gives you a treat to look at.

Well, kiddies... This looks like it for this update. Look below to see something you may have missed before. Many thanks goes to Sears, Giggleman, Martin, and SSG Gray for contributing the above pictures. Good luck if you are directly involved in the War on Terrorism^TM, and we hope you arrive back safely.

UPDATE-12OCT02

I have ALREADY departed 514th... Almost a year ago! I don't exactly miss it either... I get $1000 a month in BAH, I live in my own apartment.. I cook my own food (what a concept!). I wear civilian clothes to work. I get to travel to many, many places, getting TDY pay the whole time. My last settlement was almost $600, for spending two weeks in Wyoming.. I get treated like an adult, basically. Anyway, I recently obtained some new pictures, and here they are...

Good afternoon everybody. I (oh so regretfully) am leaving 514th Tropo company to go work at another unit. Considering the nature of my future unit I will miss 514th every minute of every aguishing hour of every dreadful day.

So these are some pictures of everybody that was there about the time I left. Not everybody is here (Especially Demo....freaking always in the field...bastard. Hopefully I can get a pic of him today or tomorrow before he leaves for the field again). There will soon be thumbnail links to all pictures...opening in a new window even.

I am trying to do something funky with these new pics, hoping to conserve webspace and effort :P. If they look small, try maximizing your browser. If they still are too small, you should be able to click on it, and it will open in a new window, and you wont have to wait for the new pic to load...

Always smiling, this guy motivates troops by filling up ice water coolers with his saliva. Partying like it's 1999! Apparently some nerve agent got in this guy's suit...

Another face I haven't seen in years... The only two people who showed up for formation..

Clyde... Probably the most charismatic person I've ever met.. And I'm not being sarcastic either.. Really, I'm not! The guy on the right instructs the guy on the left how to be gay so that they can get out of the Army

It gets cold sometimes in Ft. Bragg... Our old Platoon sergeant in the background.. Good thing he's wearing a beret, otherwise the lens flare would have ruined the picture...

When you are in the field long enough, you get tired of MREs, and want some REAL meat.. He says it's coffee.. But we know it has Kahlua in it.
Twas a sad day in the Army, when he tried to reinlist, but couldn't because of body fat, even though he scores 290 and above on his PT tests...

Well, that's the end of the new pics.. Thank you Lewsgirl for sending them to me!
Until next time kiddies...

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Apparently a panorama was attempted.. and didn't come out half bad.. This is a lot of us struggling to stay standing as we hobble over to a C-141 so that we can jump out of it.	Of course, since this is the right portion of the panorama attempt the same caption applies to this one. Good times.	This is Arturo Fernandez.. one of the craziest people I've ever met. He once ate a 12oz steak raw because he didn't want to wait for his turn on the grill. One time he hit me with a Freeman's car. That hurt.


Somehow Goldsmith always managed to smile, and we all made fun of him for it.	This is SSG Angle talking with SSG Pesz about how hard it is trying to get us to work.	A random field picture. Probably the same tent that Goldsmith was smiling in.

This is Taunton and Manniko, both looking scared because they are in TacSat as 31R's, and also because they are about to jump out of a plane.	Excellent group shot of Miller, Giggleman, Fall, SGT Magege, some Tropo guy, and some queer in the background that thinks he's cool.	Miller giving advice on how to eat dirt in the field across from our motor pool

Martin's house in the Mid-East "Before" picture.	And here's the after picture. That's a true redneck, folks.	Here's the civilian setup that is costing the army too much money.

A picture of some new guy that's deployed with Martin.	SSG Gray, chillin in the desert (as Flewelling would say)	Sales (probably SFC by now) asking "What's up, dude?"

Here is Anderson, Bell, and SGT Selesnick preparing for some good ole PMCS.	I think this is self explanatory	After a long month's work of eating MRE's and digging foxholes and setting up cammo, sometimes the sky gives you a treat to look at.