2013 - Time to write again--TFB, Canada and more!

 Greetings everyone, welcome back to 1 Year In The Forest, my interactive blog journal documenting my 2013 experience.  It's been quite a while since I last wrote in this blog (almost a year) and as most writers will say, "you write when you can and think about writing all the rest of the time."  Effectively, writers blocks always arrive at the wrong time.  Factor in life, travels, and general laziness and you'll get my reasons for being tardy on my writing.  So sit back and enjoy this refresh in the blog as I went through a growth-spurt of ideas while vacationing in Canada earlier this month.  By design, I was out in the wilderness or up on a mountain when the ideas came, so I tried to cram as much of them into my 1 megabyte memory chip embedded into my brain.  Fortunately for me, I no longer have Task Force Blackjack to gobble my time and my energy as you'll hear about my divorce from a good clan after being married to them for over a year and a half.  At the end of this post, you'll ultimately endure my rambling on about the next direction for this blog as I swear I had it all figured out two weeks ago on Ha Ling Peak above Canmore, Alberta, one of hardest hit areas in Canada last week during unprecedented floods for that area since human settlement.

Eagle Scout (Jeremy) and myself in Banff, Alberta, Canada

  Most of you that actually read my blog entries might remember a friend from my online gaming community named Eagle Scout, AKA Jeremy.  Well Jeremy and his family were vacationing in Alberta, Canada and asked if we'd be in the area, so we made time to get to see old friends from Canmore and Banff and it worked out that we spend the day in Banff with Jeremy, his wife, daughter, and his brother and his girlfriend for an awesome day.  Jeremy did well considering he was fighting a cold or allergies as well as altitude sickness.  He lives at sea level in St. John, New Brunswick.

  Our families took the Sulfur Mountain Gondola up the mountain to the scenic perch above the town of Banff.  After a few photo ops on the mountain, we headed to Banff Avenue Brewing http://www.banffavebrewingco.ca/ for a great beer and a good lunch.  Then we finished off the afternoon with Ice Cream and shopping as we said goodbye and parted ways as they were heading north to Lake Louise and the Cline River areas.  We headed south as we were staying in Canmore with Friends Charla and Sean, awesome friends we met during the Banff Mountain Film Festival world tour many years ago.

One of the Bears of Southern Alberta

  Driving to Canmore is as beautiful as it gets in the great Canadian Rockies, but when we got to Canmore, I immediately told Kandy that I cold live there.  The town is in a valley by the Bow River totally surrounded by 8,000 to 10,000 foot mountains.  The town is laced with hiking and biking trails as well as minor marshes and waterways.  Even with the expense of living there, a special quality of life beckons the outdoor enthusiast to migrate to the area as thousands of Eastern Canadians have done before.  Even our friends moved there 14 years ago from Ontario.  The drive to and around Alberta exposed us to awesome views of mountains, waterfalls, and wildlife, including bears, dear, elk, moose, wolves, eagles, hawks, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep.  The hospitality was warm and the water was cold there, truly a mountain community with tremendous heart.  Such a close nit community would be tested in the week after we left as flooding never seen in that part of Canada would arrive within days of our departure.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/appendicitis-turns-short-stay-into-long-ordeal-in-flooded-canmore-1.1338021

  When we were in Canmore for a week, we enjoyed Grizzly Paw Brewing, hikes along the Bow River, and the summit of Ha Ling Peak...but in all my travels on foot around town, I often wondered if the town ever flooded, especially with the mighty Bow flowing through the city.  But the now famous floods that arrived just days after our departure didn't come from the Bow, but mainly from the Cougar Creek area, southeast of town and on the other side of Trans-Canada Highway 1, opposite of the main part of town.  Still, with most of the devastation in that area, even the city center and our friends home had flooded streets.  The highway to Calgary (south) and to Banff (north) was closed, so basically, Canmore residents were stuck to experience the flooding in near horror.  Our hearts go out to those stranded and we finally reached our friends a few days after the news broke to find that they are alright and only have property affected by the deluge.

  The mayhem in Canmore will pass as our friends told us, and countless news reports where the residents of this area were interviews attests to the hearty and positive spirit of these robust people.  That's the west, and everyone there resounded in reinforced assurance that they will rebuild, recover and move forward.

  Speaking of moving forward, I decided last month that I'd had enough of the fun over at Task Force Blackjack.  Don't get me wrong, TFB or Task Force 21 is one of the finest online military game-sim communities on the web.  Fact is, It's one of the best run, military coordinated units I've ever had the privilege be a member of, and that's the truth.  Even my buddy Eagle Scout from our visit in Banff joined TFB after playing ArmA2 Combined Operations with several other units online.  We valued the professionalism, respect and camaraderie there, but the personalities and gaps in leadership brewed a condition of instabilities that lead to me and several others needing to walk away. That's how I saw it.

 I joined TFB in October of 2011 and within 24 minutes of being a member, I applied to the Gryphon Aviation Company.  A couple of months later, I joined Gryphon to help Lusky01 wrestle some quality issues back into compliance.  I soon learned that my leadership experience from the USAF and my private pilot skills were forefront in some of the TFB leaders bent on excellence in this premier online military gaming unit.  However, the principle founder of TFB felt threatened by my interaction with the group, and maybe rightly so, since I challenged him on his caustic demeanor and the inappropriate way he dealt with teammates within the unit.  Here's a guy that helped develop the TFB Core Values, yet he was unable to abide by published rules of conduct and common decency.  Again, don't get me wrong, the majority of TFB leaders are top-notch, experienced, seasoned and proven leaders with everyone's welfare in mind.  I'd have to say that I remained in TFB as long as I did because of Attridge, Cornelius, and Shock, as well as few others.  But when I saw this one guy do what he did, I simply couldn't help but wave the BS Flag!

  Needless to say, he didn't like anyone calling him out on discipline or professional behavior.  Granted, he was seriously injured during the Iraq/Afghanistan war, there is no excuse for maltreatment of teammates in any capacity.  Further complicating maters, several members with less than honorable intentions were allowed to impose influence over logical and prudent mission managers simply because they were personal buddies with the founder and main gorilla in charge of the unit.  For my part, I simply assumed that everyone was a valued member of TFB and that we built this team together.

  But, the nature of online video gaming is pretty much like kids playing in a sandbox.  If the kid that owns the sandbox doesn't like how you play with his toys, you're kicked out of the box.  The fact is that I called them on leadership, this individual's behavior, and the status of others trying to affect my visions within Gryphon Company.  In my err, I'd have to say I actually saw TFB and Gryphon as a real military unit with all the honor and professionalism endowed in such a unit.  And just like any organization, there should be expected the normal rifts and gripes that come with personal interactions.  It was time to go!

The picture says it all!!

   Soooooooooooo, with all the drama of TFB and the detrimental floods of Canmore, I leave you with a wall mural in the beautiful city now assaulted by high water and torrential rains.  The picture says it all, "Do More, Play More, Live More."  Just as I told my buddies from elk camp last year, take time to watch the sunset.  Life is too short to dwell in the piddle of things.  My time with Task Force Blackjack was worth it, I made some friends (and some enemies) and learned some lessons along the way.  As for Canmore, it's been less than a week since the rain started falling, and we're waiting to see what happens to the area as I plan to go there again, maybe early to help restore the area, if not just to bring my tourism dollars that sustain this region.  I encourage everyone to visit this area sometime or at least get out into nature...where real inspiration comes from.

DW