Merry Christmas from the Forest....One Week Left in the Year.

 
Wow, it's hard to believe that 2011--and 1 Year in the Forest--is almost over.  This year has been remarkable, and experience I will remember forever and something I'm proud to have accomplished.  After giving up alcohol for a year and blogging about it, where do I go from here?  One thing is for sure, I've decided to keep 1yearintheforest alive.  But what to write about?

A few months ago, someone asked me what I was going to do after my year was up.  I jokingly said that I was going to stay drunk for a year and blog about that.  But obviously this was in the mild sense of humor.  Although my year is not up, I feel great for the experience both physically and spiritually.  One thing I still want to do is to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and I might do that before the year is up.  If not, I will attend a meeting in 2012.  As far as 1yearintheforest.blogspot.com is concerned, I think my next year is going to be about sugar.  Not just sugar alone, but processed confectionery treats sold in the public arena.  At home, we make healthy snacks with ingredients, and I might just share some of those recipes in the coming year.

So, what has 2011 done to me?  Well first off, I learned much about myself and how I deal with depression.  I've already known how I deal with stress, but the after affects of stress, and it's manifestations, have alluded me in the buzz of the 'comfortably numb' effects of two quality microbrews.  Alcohol is insidious in this way and sometimes, you can't see the forest because of all the trees.  Looking back, I've always had a conscious awareness of alcohol avoidance when something major is stressing me out.  Back on New Year's Eve, 1992, I discovered that my ex-wife was having an affair while I was deployed to Korea for a year.  My buddies and I were all set to head out for drinks and celebrating the coming of 1993 when all of a sudden, I wasn't in the mood to drink, or be around people.  All I wanted to do was to go home and deal with the situation.  I've always had that reaction to "sobering" events like that, never to run away--always diving in to fix the situation.

Speaking of "Fixing" this year has also helped me not feel the need to fix things, run things, be in charge of things, Etc., and all that!  Yes, Don, the OCD guy has scaled back my projected-proactivity toward others and it's very nice not having to save the world all the time.

Another mark of 2011, and all the changes that have occurred, is that I've had to let go of some relationships that weren't in the best interest of either parties.  A few years back, I started on a learning quest about the benefits of surrendering one's ego.  There are many books on the subject, a few by Eckhart Tolle, and after reading his works on the ego and humanity, The Power of Now and A New Earth, I have a new live view on my own egotistic motivations in the world.  It's amazing when you realize that some of your passions, motivations, and endeavors were ego motivated.  Some of you may not have this situation, and some of you may not be able to recognize it yet, but there have been a lot of things in my life that I did out of desire, but later I learned that my ego was motivating me to be so.  For readers, I highly recommend Tolle's Stillness Speaks as it was my favorite read in his series.  This book flows like poetry, liken to the proverbs of the bible.


One example of this is my passion for aviation.  I've always wanted to fly, even from the young age of five or six when I'd dream of wearing swim flippers and I could jump up into the air, kicking my legs for liftoff.  I joined the US Air Force partly due to a lack of jobs in Michigan in the 1980s, but also because of all the military branches, I'd love the aviation side most of all.  I think my internal passion drove me to become a pilot, along with encouragement from other aviators, but I realized that sometimes the label of "pilot" or "aircraft owner" sometimes dominated my need to present myself.  Safely, I can confess this, and I'm not concerned how others feel about this, or what comments come from those of you that respond to my blog.  Your recommendations, suggestions, or feelings are welcome, have little impact on my life, and are your opinions--you're very welcome to those opinions.

So in the coming week, I'm co-hosting a New Year's Eve party at my buddy Michael's house.  BBQ, Beer, Wine, and music to go with the fellowship and festivities.  Everyone is welcome to come...just RSVP via my email listed a the top of my blog statement or phone me on my cell.  Look for more on the end of 2011 soon.

Happy holidays!

Don

What happens at Elk Camp...Shows up in this Blog!

As far as elk camps go, ours is no different.  There's a bunch of men who gather for 10 days, not only to hunt, but to exercise that primeval need to bond with other males of their species.  Some of the generalizations of all elk camps are present; the booze, the girly magazines, guns and knives, etc,.  Just imagine a Spike TV program series with a little bit of censorship about every 20 minutes and you'll get the idea.

The Wapiti Warriors is a unique bunch of guys.  Nearly all of us have a background in the military and most of us served 20 years or more, retiring with honors and a few extra pounds around the mid section.  I'm in that category although I've come to realize that I don't fit into this group any longer.  Along with changes in my life, and by recognizing differences in others (some I may have overlooked in the past), I've come to understand that this is "their group" not mine.  So it is with 2011, I move on from the Wapiti Warriors to keep the peace within the ranks.

My tour in the Wapiti warriors began in 1994, the year I shot my first white-tail buck.  I had hunted as early as 14 or 15 years old in South Carolina, and then in Michigan in the 1980s, and when I began hunting and climbing with my buddy Harv in 1991, I began a relationship that would lead to my first buck, first successful summit of Mt. Rainier, and Harv would become best man in my wedding with Kandy.  Most of the Wapiti Warriors were at my wedding in 1996, and we have a long and fruitful history.  But some people change, and some do not.

I hunted this Elk Camp in 1995 and 1996 before shipping off to Iceland in 1997.  Through a series of reassignments in the US Air Force, it would be 2002 before I would rejoin the WW, and even that was a spur of the moment decision.  I just looked forward to being with the guys again and enjoying a good beer in the outdoors.  In the period from 2002 to 2011, I actively hunted two of those years and I missed last year.  The decision to miss 2010 was due to a combination of factors; Kandy's vacation time, Makenna's needs, and mainly because I wanted to take a break and see if I really missed being there with the WW.

Now everyone has their own slant on life, but my perception of the WW is that each member of the WW is a remarkable individual who's character takes on a different entity when mixed into the group dynamics at Elk Camp.  For example, I don't hunt that much because I live out of state, and the rate to put in for the basic elk tag, the special draws, and the effort to push each day isn't a priority for me...I come to help set up, make camp comfortable, contribute propane, shelters, potable water, and physical labor needed when firewood must be split and dead elk need hauling.  If I were a WA resident, I'd keep my hunting points up, put in for draws each year and join into the daily ritual of early mornings and late nights watching for the perfect shot.  But I'm totally satisfied going for a day-hike to see Mount Rainier across the canyon, catch a beautiful sunrise with a cup of hot, black, dark, stark, thick coffee, and stacking firewood and tying knots are fun...maybe it satisfies my OCD tendencies.

Some people change, and some don't; perhaps there's a basic resistance to change, as well as a natural fear of people who are different than you.  I've made some decisions about how I eat based of of scientific evidence and through personal trials that have left me feeling healthier and happy.  Alcohol is only one of them, but food choices I've taken should be accepted as it's my body and my decision.  Some of the WW must be threatened by that because a few have disappointed me with their attitudes, opinions and resistance to my food choices.  At no time have I suggested they change or eat like me...but the fact that I don't eat Eggs and bacon everyday should be a natural thing to expect, not a reason to feel threatened by a petty difference between people.  I should mention that not all of the WW feel this way toward me, and I appreciate those who accept my primarily vegetarian-mostly organic food choices.  I didn't pick this lifestyle to threaten you, it just makes me feel better.

I'd have to say, many people accept the USDA as an independent agency that has the welfare of the American Public's health in mine, but it should be known that the USDA is basically funded by the lobbyist from the beef and corn interests in America.  Often, you've heard me talk about what I refer to as "The Real-World Matrix" and the USDA could be considered a part of that.  Perhaps there's a conspiracy with the USDA and the major health corporations to keep American's on a diet that keeps them in need of healthcare so those corporations can continue to get rich while we enter a second decade of the obesity epidemic.  But what do I know?  I do know that everyone accepted my decision to give up alcohol for a year and since this blog is about that subject, perhaps I should write a little about drinking at Elk Camp....WW Style.

This year at elk camp, there were eight people drinking, I was the ninth and only non-drinker there.  Our WW leader surveyed the boxes of wine and tallied nearly 50 liters of wine, excluding the countless cases and 18-packs of beer, and the undisclosed numbers of bottles of hard alcohol floating from cooler, to tent to behind the wine boxes.  Variety was abundant and we surely had enough alcohol to pickle every hunter within a 20-mile radius for sure!  For some, the day consisted of returning from the morning hunt around 10 am to 11 am and cracking into a beer or glass of boxed wine.  This, accompanied by coffee and breakfast of eggs and bacon, usually followed with more beer or wine until the evening hunt, which over the last few years have led to coming in after dark to enjoy a night of beer, wine, and hot-toddy's.  Some of the hunters have cow tags and are waiting five days to hunt, so their day begins at liquid brunch and by sunset and dinner time, a few are sloshed beyond the point of decent manor and respectful treatment.  Which leads me to the main reason I don't feel a part of this camp any longer.

Our camp has one individual who considers himself the leader by virtue of age and number of years hunting in this area.  None of us is in the military any longer, but this guy must feel he still is, as I, and a few others have challenged his behavior to end up on his shit list.  This has happened at the annual fishing trip in Alaska a few years ago, and that individual (the guy in trouble with the boss) had to lick his wounds and get back in line because being in the group was more important than being respected as a friend.  When someone sees you as merely a subordinate, there's only a line of one-way respect anticipated.  That's when I lost respect for the leader entirely.  I was basically banned from Elk Camp this year because I denied an order to refill the leader's wine glass when it was dictated, not asked, of me.  When you ask someone to please get you something, you acknowledge your respect and appreciation of that act of help and assistance.  But when you bark off orders in short, drunken gruff, you simple diminish respect up and down the chain of command.  Now there are times in war when commanders and squad leaders don't have time to say please and thanks, but we're not at war in the WW...unless some of us are in their mind.

I'm not the first WW member to challenge the leaders manors and disrespectful behavior, but I am the first to admit that my membership in the WW isn't worth it.  Over the years, maybe because I wasn't hunting actively, the leader perceived me as having a lack of worth to him or the group, so his reaction was to try and make me his errand boy or servant to wait on his every need.  When someone respects themselves to take a year off of drinking, change the ways they eat, and ad a regular exercise effort in their life, one's self-worth rises and when you realize your value as a human being, your tolerance for abuse by others declines greatly.  It's a good thing I've always been proud to be different than everyone else, and I'm happy with my life and the healthy changes I've made lately.  Without this, perhaps I'd be worried about being cast out by a tyrannical leader who pickles himself from noon until fall-over time.  My advice to him is within all things important at Elk Camp, do take time to enjoy the sunsets, observe the wind in the trees and listen to the water flow.  Ye find more peace in this natural things then in the spirits within a cardboard vessel.

Yes, There Are Bears In The Forest....But That's Ok!

As Autumn approaches, I realize that I'm "Fall"ing behind in my blog entries.  Fact is, I've never been on time with my blog postings and I resolved myself to not write unless I felt inspired or motivated to publish my thoughts in this forum.  This "take life as it comes at you" approach is never so natural to me as it is when I spend time alone in the actual forest.  Thus was the situation during my Olympic National Park trip in July, and recently during my North Cascades hike in August.

 

 

Looking North from North Cascades NP

After Makenna started full-time preschool in July, I decided to try and get out once a month for a mid-week four day backpacking excursion in order to spend some quality me-time in the wilderness.  I need this from time to time, not only for therapy for my Adult ADD, but also it helps me recover from the general noises, congestion, and mundane experiences of civilized life.  For me, nature re-calibrates my psyche and brings me back to a level where other people can tolerate me.  People who frequent natural areas might understand what I'm talking about, but either way, it will be alright.

I left on a Monday morning and drove through Seattle for a pleasant experience on I-5.  Traffic was good, and I ventured onto Highway 20 (the North Cascades Highway) and visited the town of Concrete, WA.  Pressing on to the Park Visitor's Center, I arranged for my wilderness back-country permit, and left the trail head sometime after four PM.  The sun had already set over the mountains when I left and I realized that I would arrive at my first camp near dark, so I ate dinner at the car and brushed my teeth.

Hiking the first three miles, I arrived at Neve Camp and set up alone and enjoy a blissful sleep next to the Thunder River.  Prior to departing the visitor's center, I asked if bear-proof food containers where required, and the policy will mandate them next year.  For 2011, the requirement is to properly store food in such a container or suspend it overhead appropriately.  Neve Camp had no prepositioned food poles and since it was almost dark when I arrived, I decided that it would be fine to sleep with my food.  Besides, I didn't see any track or sign of bears on the way up, and bear activity seemed low at this elevation so late in the year.

The night was uneventful and I had a great breakfast with coffee in the morning.  Mosquitoes were not present and the weather was great.  I packed everything up dry, and after one last check to leave no trace, I donned my backpack and headed up the path to the main trail.  Feeling a presence, I looked up and made eye contact with a bear at about 40 yards away.  I stood there for a second and knowing my black bears from my brown bears, I stomped my foot, clapped my hands and shouted "go away bear" as this is a good technique to thwart off black bears that are intimidated by backpackers standing 6-feet plus with huge loads on their backs.  However, this is not necessarily a good procedure for dealing with a mother bear and her cub.

The bear staring me down at this moment didn't move initially, but after my attempt at scaring the bear off, I heard a noise and noticed baby-bear bolting up a lodgepole pine tree, reaching an altitude of 20 feet.  Momma-bear then retreated aback a few feet behind a couple of trees and resumed her foraging for food.  Meanwhile, I understood that I needed to give these bears their space and I backed down to the camp area, keeping the bears visible off in the distance.  From momma-bear's behavior, I gathered that she was used to people in the park and since I hadn't startled her in her personal space (about 25 yards) and wasn't threatening her cub, she granted me the audience and went about her feeding without incident.

Often when I'm mountaineering or climbing, I tell my friends that the most common injury in this sometimes-hazardous sport is sunburn.  The same is true about hiking in bear-country, except for mosquitoes are more aggressive than bears at biting me.  This was exactly the case when I hiked up that day to Fourth of July Pass.  Due to the late snow melt and mosquito hatching, August was the new July (like 40 is the new 30) and stopping for more than a few moments invited biting flies and hungry female mosquitoes to your blood supply.  Occasionally, a slight breeze will come up and fend of the bugs for me, but most of my afternoon and evening was spent in the tent reading.  By morning, the insects took a break and I was able to have breakfast and break camp without attack.

As for the rest of my trip, the views from down low weren't too revealing, and I'd decided that the biting insects weren't my desire for the next few days, so I decided to head back down and discover more areas of the Pacific Northwest.  I drove east on Highway 20 through Twisp and Winthrop, and then down to Lake Chelan.  Hot and dry best describes this part of the drive.  90+ degrees and definitely in contrast to the Western Cascades and alpine meadows from the first two days.

After stopping in Wenachee to visit an online gaming buddy, I decided to go to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness just west of Leavenworth, WA.  However, a wildfire just outside of Leavenworth and poor air quality provided the perfect excuse to get a hotel room and take a shower.  The cable TV and comfortable bed weren't bad either.  Next morning, I drove south, stopping at Starbucks in Union Gap, WA and back to home by 2 PM.  Trip over, lots of driving and great adventure, although I'm still searching for the 2011 journey that leaves me unaware of civilization and the hustle and bustle of city life.

More later,

Don

I Will Never Forget September 11, 2001 - In Rememberance of those we lost and the ones we love!

Almost everyone alive today remembers where they were on the morning of September 11th, 2001, the day four commercial airliners were hijacked and used as weapons of terror against the citizens of the United States.  Psychologist have offered many suggestions about why we remember stressful situations with clarity and detail.  The common theory is that we do so as to remember so we don't suffer from the traumatic situation in the future...example: Caveman Bob sees Caveman Jerry attacked by the saber-tooth tiger while hiking alone.  Bob learns from that example and avoids hiking alone in the cat's territory.

But the events of 9/11 may never teach us to avoid the situation that got our nation attacked, nor will it prevent such harm in the future.  Perhaps the greatest impact of our memory of that day is to never forget those we lost, and just maybe, we should use it to appreciate those we still have with us.  I mean the things many of us take for granted each day.

The morning of September 11th, 2001 wasn't a routine morning for me in any sense of the word Routine.  Kandy and I awoken early as I was to fly commercial from Sacramento to Raleigh-Durham in order to pickup my then, 13-year-old daughter Danielle who was coming to live with us.  I wouldn't see Danielle until a week later due to the situation unfolding in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania.

Everything seemed normal that sunny Sacramento Valley morning.  The 40-minute drive to the airport was pleasant and Kandy dropped me at the departure curb, kissing me goodbye like she would see me again at the end of the day.  I checked in, got a coffee, and preceded to my gate to quickly board my flight as everything was right on time.  Kandy departed the airport and drove to work in Roseville, CA, just 25 minutes away.

Occupancy was sparse in my aircraft bound for Houston, then on to Raleigh-Durham, and my seat assignment took me all the way back to the rear of the plane.  Sitting down in the isle seat as I said "hi" to the young college student next to the window two in my row.  We chit chatted for a bit, just stuff about the weather, flying, I really don't remember.  Due to take off at 6:05AM Pacific, our Captain came across the intercom to inform us that the FAA issued a Traffic Delay due to something going on in the east, "probably other delays" he announced.  Josie, the girl in my row, and I continued to make small talk as we assumed that we'd spend the next three and a half hours together, we'd might as well enjoy each others' company.  But then our captain would give us news that would set up the memory of events for me that day.

Meanwhile, as Kandy was driving on the highway, unaware of anything happening in New York or DC, my airplane Captain came across on the intercom again to say that there has been an accident in New York and that one of the World Trade Towers had be struck by an airplane.  That's when Josie and I looked at each other and thought, this isn't going to be a normal day.

Josie was from Texas, a College Student in the Dallas area who was in California for her friend's wedding.  Her friends had dropped her at the airport early that morning in order to begin driving for their honeymoon.  Josie had no other contacts in the area and her parents didn't even know that she was away from school for the weekend wedding near San Francisco.  Before I would learn all of this, our Captain would come across once more to say that the US was under attack and that we would need to take all of our stuff, pickup up our baggage and that our flight was cancelled.

During this time in our lives, Kandy and I only needed one cell phone.  Kandy carried it and we mostly used it for traveling.  I had it with me this day and I immediately called Kandy's office line to leave her a message that I was still at the airport and needed to be picked up.  Kandy arrived at work a few moments later to find everyone there in the conference room watching the images on television that would be played and replayed all around the world.  Someone at work asked, "where's Don?"  "He's on a plane headed for North Carolina" Kandy replied.  Then she would get my voicemail on her office line and she called me immediately on the cell line.

By this time, Josie and I were gathering with others in the terminal where every television in the airport was tuned to a newscast showing the airplanes hitting the twin towers.  Neither tower had collapsed yet, and I could see that Josie was getting nervous about what was going on.  Here was a 21 or 22 year-old-girl with no family in the immediate area, and our freedom and security was being eroded before our very eyes.  I waited until she put down her cell phone and I asked if she was okay.  She said that she couldn't reach anyone and I immediately offered to let her come to our house until we could get her home to Texas.

I phoned Delta Airlines to get an instant credit on my Visa card so that I could drive to North Carolina to pick-up my daughter.  The circumstances around Danielle's decision to come live with us where extraordinary at minimum.  About a month earlier, Danielle came to visit us in California and she never shared her mother's problems with us openly, although we detected something was wrong back east.  The truth to the matter is that her Step-dad had already moved out, her mother was drunk all day, and Danielle was basically going to school sparsely while trying to be an adult and taking care of her mother and six-year-old sister.  Her call to us on September 3rd, 2001 was her first reach out to us to get help...to basically get out of the situation she was in with her mother.  Without hesitation, Kandy and I said yes.

A sunflower in our backyard at Beale AFB, CA.

 Flash backward almost 10 years earlier to 1992-1993 when I was on a one year remote-tour in South Korea and Danielle's mother (my then wife) was drinking, partying, and basically acting like Tonya Harding and Cacey Anthony all wrapped up in one person.  Oh, add the wicked witch of the west from The Wizard of Oz and you'll get an excellent example of what she was like.  My resolve back in 1993 was to save my marriage, keep the family together, and recover, but it eventually became a matter of trying to secure Danielle's safety as a then 5-year-old daughter.  But that story is an entire book of it's own.

Back to September 11th: Kandy would arrive to take Josie and I home, I was immediately recalled to alert status as I was approaching my 20th year in the US Air Force.  Josie's boyfriend was an Army Reserve soldier stationed at Fort Lewis and she was worried about him.  She watched every DVD we owned at the time, as well as CNN and other news casts.  It would be Friday, maybe Saturday before we could get her out on a flight to Texas.  We kept in touch with Josie for a few years, and then through moves and email changes, we lost contact.  We will never forget her and I'm sure she remembers us to this day.

To wrap things up, I made it out to North Carolina, picked up Danielle in Charleston, SC and with a big help from my Dad and Step-mom, Danielle made it safely to our home in California.  Her mother on the other hand, was arrested for disorderly conduct and pepper-sprayed while we were attempting to gather Danielle's belongings.  Danielle was a lucky military dependent child (Military Brat).  She was able to start 8th grade, and finish four years of High School at the same place with all her friends she'd make in the coming months after her move to California.  This is seldom seen in children of military members as we move around quite a bit.

June 7, 2006 - The Day Danielle Graduated from High School

I on the other hand, had applied to retire, had my papers suspended due to the wars to follow 9/11, and was able to reapply after "Stop-Loss" was canceled in 2002.  I retired (honorably of course) on December 1st, 2002 after 20+ years of active duty service.  Kandy and Danielle were present, and through the customary practice of military retirement, the spouse receives a Certificate of Appreciate for his or her sacrifice over the years of service.  This occasion was extra special because Danielle received yellow roses, a symbol of hope and waiting for someone to return from war.  Kind of like the yellow ribbon around the tree.  I fought many battles during my military career, some of them I lost.  I thought one was my custody battle for Danielle in 1993.  We eventually won that one in 2001 when Danielle realized that her life would be better if she came to live with Kandy and I.  Today, she is married, owns a home in Redding, CA and has my first Granddaughter, Rylee to keep her busy.  She is an account representative for SYSCO Foods and is someone I've very proud to call "My Daughter!"

September 19th, 2002, the day of my retirement ceremony.

For me, September 11th will always be a day for remembrance, more so than December 7th, or even my own birthday.  It's a good thing I had younger people back then that needed me.  And it's a good thing I was a service member back then too.  Having a mission, I was able to be brave, not fear the future, and I had others that depended on me.  Much has changed in the past 10 years.  I play more of a support role now.  Kandy and Danielle are the warriors with missions to lead.  For me, Makenna is my new mission, an endeavor equally as important as the military, or any job or career.  I'm very happy for the people in my life.

Makenna - My Fairy Princess!

So what's September 11th mean for you?  Is it just a day of remembering where you were that day?  Or do you only remember the images on the news and the events to follow that auspicious date, 9/11?  For me, September 11th trumps most major events between now and then, as well as those to come.  The person who just cut me off in traffic is not important enough for me to feel anguish or despair over.  The fact that the store doesn't have the item in stock that I had hoped to buy isn't a big deal either.  It doesn't matter what car I drive, or what my title is, or who is listening to me or what ever.  None of that is important enough to override my family and the other special people in my life.  For me, September 11th is a day to reset my priorities, still remember those we lost, and mainly remember those we love.

Kandy & Makenna

Next time you notice the date, and it says September 11, 2012 and beyond, find a special place to sit still and think of what's most important to you.  Love, Peace and Happiness be with you all.

Don

Mountains All Around - North Cascades Highway

ARMA Combined Operations -- Online Gaming and Flight Simulators.

I have always been into computer games.  Even before the days of the internet and home computer software, I had been playing video games since I was about 13 years old.  Perhaps I would have started even earlier had the technology been there, but now my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter can open a browser, log on to pbskids.org and navigate to any of the children's program sites and play games on all of them.

Don "Aviator" Welch, Virtual Fighter Pilot

Most of you know by now that I am Active Duty, Military Retired from the US Air Force.  Although I wasn't a special operator or combat pilot, I worked closely with these individuals in a training capacity and I continued to work with them as a civilian after my service was completed.  I now consider myself a military/historical enthusiast, and although the military get's bad press sometimes in the eyes of the general public, I think our men and women in uniform make great personal sacrifices for the rest of us to maintain our way of life.  Not only do I say this because of my own experience in the Air Force, but because everyday I see how many of us take our freedom and way of living for granted.

Online Friends from Canada and the US (Eagle Scout, Hell Gog, Brockert, and Hippo)

When you deploy with US Forces for 20 years, and you work on over 14 different aircraft weapon systems, you gain an appreciation for the mission.  For me, online gaming allowed me to relive that mission while forming camaraderie with people from around the world.  That's what I like about ARMA II, Combined Operations.  In this simulation, you can be a pilot, a tank commander, a sniper, a special forces team leader, or just about anything you want to be.  In fact, one of my online friends and I enjoy the logistics side of the game where we build equipment bases and deploy convoys to forward operating locations.  It is no wonder that ARMA, or Armed Assault, was developed in the civilian market and was based off of the military training simulation used by the US Army to train its troops on the big picture of theater warfare and logistics.

Rasman Airfield, Takistan -- A foward operating location we developed to launch air operations in the North.

 ARMA is the most recent game I've played on a regular basis--others included many variations of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series simulations as well as those ranging from Intelevision console games of the late 1970s to Commodore 64 PC games in the 1980s, to Tank and Aircraft simulators in the 1990s and even to today's highly interactive game environment using large capacity servers and voice over the internet protocol (VOIP) communications.  Some of my friends even have devices such as Track IR, something that integrates a virtual head movement tracking device to allow you to turn and look within your environment and transfers the images to your mulit-monitor gaming system.

Game Start Up Screen for Jane's USAF

One of my favorite things about the evolution of combat simulations is the ability to customize your interaction with the software.  I started doing this with the Electronic Arts (JANE'S Combat Series) USAF and F/A-18E fighter games.  I was able to insert my data and photos into the files needed to show my information online to others during the game.  This was considered advanced as many of the people playing these simulations could barely keep up with updates and patches needed to keep their software current.

Jane's USAF - My Pilot Record as Don "JUICE" Welch

As you can see, I mainly focused on being a pilot.  But back in the late 1990's, my online friends in the Jane's Combat Simulations world got me to migrate to Ghost Recon by Red Storm Entertainment.  Many of these combat simulations replicated real world past and present conflicts involving US and NATO forces in a myriad of environments from arctic to jungle to the desert.  I wasn't interested at first, but I soon found the teamwork and communication aspects of this type of gaming to be realistic in comparison to my actual military experience.  I specifically remember telling my friends that we would soon be playing video games with multiple combat aspects of gameplay such as ground troop, tank, aircraft, ship, etc, all integrated into one game.  Then, soon, the game makers came out with simulations such as Battlefield 1942 and Modern Warfare.  Although not totally integrated for full in-vehicle realism, these games allowed players to be pilots, ground forces, tank commanders and more from the same personal computer platform with their buddies around the world.  But this would be only the beginning of what ARMA would become, and we wouldn't get there for a little while longer.

Lock-On, Modern Air Combat Startup Splash Screen

F-15C Afterburner Takeoff into the Sunset on Lock-On

About the time I was considering taking my first break from Online Gaming, my Ghost Recon buddies were migrating over to Lock-On, Modern Air Combat.  I entered a hiatus from gaming for about five years from 2004 until 2009.  During this time, I completed a Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautics and a Private Pilot Certificate, not to mention deploying to Saudi Arabia for three months and eventually completing a 20-year career in the "Force."  But, for the small sum of $1, I bought Lock-On on eBay and played alone (not online) for a few months.  By the time I got the simulation, almost everyone had moved on to Falcon 4.0, one of the most realistic F-16 simulations ever.  I worked on F-16s in Korea in 1992-1993, and this game can actually train you to start the engines and operate the F-16 Viper.  I did find a group of enthusiast in Europe that had moved to Lock-On, Flaming Cliffs, but I didn't feel the cost of the additional software was worth it.  So through the encouragement of a friend, I got into Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2.

Screenshot from Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2

 My buddy, Jesse Milich asked me if I'd like to help him finish some challenges on Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2, and I was looking at something to reconnect me with online gaming.  Jesse was a Marine who served about 6 years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  They say, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine!"  For Jesse and I, Modern Warfare projected us into our respective roles with him as a ground pounding jarhead and me as an airborne airman over the battlefield.  We of course swapped positions all the time to see if we could beat the average times set by other gamers and the software developers.  But soon, Jesse and I moved to Battlefield, Bad Company 2, and the game interaction and multiplatform options took us to a new level and we never went back to Modern Warfare.

Battlefield, Bad Company 2 Score Card

Battlefield, Bad Company 2 was a huge leap forward for me.  For the first time, I was able to game with players all over the planet in aircraft, tanks, and jeeps as well as ground forces.  And we had the added benefit of a rank system with rewards and weapons unlocks.  Jesse was busy with work, but I quickly accelerated to unlock all the weapons and reached level 50 in about seven months time.  Almost all of the games had stand-alone campaign games you could do offline and Modern Warfare 2 even had offline 2-player cooperative games, but Bad Company 2 had a decent singleplayer mode as well as an excellent multiplayer theme.  I basically developed a new set of friends through this game and we eventually joined a clan (online military unit) and moved to ARMA II Combined Operations while using TeamSpeak as our communications platform.

ATACAMA Desert Map - Conquest Mode

The the neat thing about Battlefield, Bad Company 2 online gameplay was that it offered multiple styles of gaming from Conquest to Rush modes and many updated theaters of operation.  Unfortunately, like Modern Warfare 2, the games were only offered through designated public servers and players had no control in adapting missions or hosting custom games on private servers.  If you wanted to host a game, you had to purchase space for a dedicated server to run your own clan game.  But enter the world of ARMA!

ARMA Combine Ops Screenshot - USS Kae Sanh at night.

ARMA brings back all the custom abilities of old-style, online gaming as far as modification of missions and equipment, to hosting your own online games either on a server or from your capable home computer.  I often hosted ARMA games for up to 8 players with friends, passworded games only.  Some of best times of my adult life have been doing virtual special operations with my online buddies.  The graphic environment and gameplay is so real, even surreal, that you sometimes forget that it's just a game.  But even this level of involvement, and the hundreds of hours spent on gaming, can be considered an addiction.  I do know that online gaming feeds my ADD needs and helps me get my multiple input needs while also allowing me to relax and focus on a narrow task at the same time.  I liken the focus during gaming to that of yoga or meditation, especially when I am only doing touch-and-go landings in an F-16 fighter.  But still, it can be very addicting.

F-16C Afterburner Takeoff at Sunset - Rasman Airfield, Takistan.

F-16C Taxi at Rasman.

Splash 1 - F-16C shooting down an L-39 Albatross.

As I mentioned before, Falcon 4.0 was probably the most realistic flight sim for the F-16 that I've ever played, but others have had better landing and flight characteristics and not any single game has had all the realistic aspects plugged into one...but ARMA comes close.  It will be interesting to see what ARMA III offers next year in the essence of advancement.  At this point, it's hard to improve upon gameplay unless you get a full-motion, panographic flight simulator like the professional airlines use.  I've flown in those commercial and military simulators where you have pollution and 270-degree field of vision, but nothing compares to the real thing.  I have almost 300 hours in real airplanes, but I will never be able to fly and shoot down a bandit or blow up a terrorist vehicle in real life.  Not unless they develop Somalia Pirate intervention forces, I am destine to be a virtual pilot, second to being a husband and father to my family.  They will always come first!

That's all for now, keep in touch and email me (See my Blog header for my email address) to provide feedback on my blog.  If you haven't already, sign up to follow as I'll be continuing "1 Year in the Forest" beyond 2011 as I find something else to give up for a year in order to make life better.

Cheers,

Don "Aviator" or "Juice" Welch

                         Video: Fallujah Emergency Landing UH-60 Helo

Attached are more photos from ARMA Combined Operations:

Takistan Map Startup Splash Screenshot

2nd Recon Group Startup Splash Screenshot

USS Kae Sanh Daytime Ops - Chenarus Map

35th Fighter Sqadron Jet (my unit in Korea in 1992) Parked at Rasman Airfield, Takistan

F-15E, a Custom Screenshot by an ARMA player on the internet.

Over the hump - Past the Half-Way Point!

July 1st came and went.  It was a Friday, Payday, and I remember that it was very, very warm for our area.  The summer weather has been late in coming to Portland, Oregon, and I'm not complaining.  The days that reach 80 degrees Fahrenheit are nice, but the days at 72 are even nicer.

One of the things I hadn't thought to much about when I decided last year to enter in this an annual quest of giving up alcohol for one year was all the holidays and celebrations, often toasted with a cheer.  Whatever the occasion or depending on the drink (Beer, Wine, Margarita or Liquor-Spiced Cider) I would look forward to the social event as an opportunity to enjoy a good drink.  Saint Patrick's Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Birthday, and Fourth of July have all passed, and we really didn't do anything special for those days as most of our friends were off celebrating, many with alcohol.  I don't mind missing this year's parties, the chance to benefit and learn from my experience is far more rewarding then enjoying a drink of alcohol.  And the time away from drinking has allowed me to reconsider my relationships with alcohol, and the friends that come with it.

I don't see my regular drinking buddies on Friday afternoon at Bridgeport, not to mention the many staff-members I became friends with over the years.  McMenamin's Edgefield is still a big part of my life, but it's coffee, breakfast, reading and writing for me there.  One of my favorite birthday destinations is Full Sail Ales in Hood River, Oregon.  Of course I'd have an elk-burger with fries and needless to say, Kandy could smell the grease and garlic coming out of my pores that night and a day later.  That's one of the things we don't notice as much as the foods kinda came with the drinks.  Instead, the Non-Alcoholic beers and wines are infrequent, but more often we are drinking fresh juice made from or Brevelle Juicer.

Last night, we saw a good documentary on Netflix called, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" about a guy from Australia who decided he'd had enough with being sick and fat, and he set off on a 60-day fast with nothing but water and fresh juices from fruits and vegetables.  He came to the United States for this test because of all the fast foods and noticeably overweight people in our nation.  I'd have to say, this was one of the best health related documentaries, liken to "Super-Size Me" with Morgan Spurlock, but I found this recent film very motivating with an excellent positive feel to it.  This film starts my recommendation list that will soon become a regular part of my blog along with books as well.

Speaking of reading, I've already mentioned "The Gift of Adult ADD" by Lara Honos-Webb, PH.D.  Along with the essence of relationship and self-help, I'd also like to recommend "Getting The Love You Want" by Harville Hendrix, PH. D. (no Relationship to the other PH.D.) as good reading for anyone trying to understand the science and evolution behind partner relationships.  I can't attest to it improving your relationship with your partner, but it will surely explain why we feel certain ways and where the unsatisfied or unmet needs of one or both members in the relationship.

On a business side, I found "Success on the Step" the story of Kenmore Air very enjoyable and I'm now reading "Remember the Magic" the story of Horizon Air.  I enjoy these accounts of aviation business entrepreneurs and their challenges and successes endured over the course of setting up their businesses.  On my nightstand are two other books in waiting; "The Sustainability Revolution" and "Trekking Patagonia, A Hiking Guide."  Kandy and I were planning to go to Patagonia the year Makenna was born, and although we had to delay our trip, I'm sure we'll put it back on the schedule for too long.

Finally, I did something last week that I'd not done in quite a few years.  With the role of stay-at-home dad and homemaker--not to mention breaking my leg and being mobility-challenged for almost a year--I hadn't really gotten out to the wilderness with any real quality time with nature since our Wonderland Trail hike in 2006.  On Tuesday, July 5th, I drove to Olympic National Park to discover all the high places in the park were still covered with six to eight feet of snow.  The weather was nice with freezing levels slated for around 6,000 feet, but since I'd never been to this area before, I was unsure of what to do for a four-day wilderness experience.  But studying the park map for a short while, I found a solution that would work out perfect.

The Hoh Rainforest lies on the West side of Olympic National Park.  Continuing my drive westward on Highway 101, I drove around to the river road entrance and hiked three miles to Mt. Tom Creek camp for my first night.  There I met, Jay and his wife Ursala along with their five year old son, Max.  We had the entire area to ourselves and enjoyed a blissful setting of swift-running creek water and about an hour before sunset, a huge herd of about 60 elk crossed the river west of us and hung out on the north bank of the river about 100 yards from our campsites.  I was able to sneak down through the willows and low washouts to a point about 20 yards from the herd where I snapped a few photos before one elk spooked off, taking the rest with them.  This was the first time I'd seen so many young calves and head so many cow calls for the little ones.

The next morning, after stepping on my camera case and cracking my LCD, I packed up and heading eight miles up to Lewis Meadows Camp at just under 11 miles on the trail.  This trail goes for about 16 miles inland before climbing up to the Blue Glacier and the summit of Mount Olympus.  I passed many hikers along the route to my next camp and one hiker told me to press through Lewis Meadows to the river bar on the other side where I would find great beach camps with fire rings and lots of logs for firewood and exploring.  But when I got to the river's edge, I found only two forested campsites and decided to explore downstream where I found a secluded campsite with good water but not too noisy with the sound of rushing water.  By virtue of having the entire area to myself, it became the best nudist colony I'd ever created.  The temperatures were warm for this area and the sun felt great.  I had to be careful to not stay in the sun too long, especial the white private parts that rarely see the light of day outside the home.

WARNING, The Following Photos May Contain Images Unsuitable for Couch Potatoes.

Never-the-less, I explored the river, found the original campsites upstream of me, and filtered drinking water, all in the nude.  This was refreshing as sun-bathing is great for hiking trips where showering isn't available, and plunging into glacial snow melt waters is very uncomfortable.  I used a bandana to rinse, wring, and bathe my body on the shore of the Hoh river, and it was good.

That night, low fog moved into the valley and it was very dark with no stars or moon light in the forest, although it was very quiet all night long.  I enjoyed this area, but felt lonely for conversation, so the next morning I headed back down trail to Five-Mile Island Camp where my new friends from Maine were going to be camping.  On the way, I stopped at the Olympus Ranger Station and had lunch and rested my pack legs and back.

I saw lots of wildlife on the trip, but no bears.  On my last day, while hiking the five miles out on this somewhat easy trail, I observed three cow-elk just a few yards off the trail.  The seemed to not care that I was passing more then 20 feet from them as they kept eating as I walked by after snapping a few photos.

Just after this spot, I came across two separate Ptarmigan hens with a brood of chicks under their wings.  The hen was "buckl, buck bucking" like a chicken and the chicks were "cheep, cheep, cheeping" like little ones, so I decided to join in on the conversations.  First I "bucked" up to mother hen to see how her day was going, and she was obviously frustrated from chick rearing as she got upset as soon as I imitated the chicks.  I started "cheeping" with my whistle lips and the hen immediately fanned out her tail, spread her wings to look bigger and she started hissing at me like a cat.  I noticed if I stopped, she stopped and moved on, but when I started "Cheeping" again, she started again, but this time, she fluttered airborne and flew just pass my head as a warning to stop eating her babies.  I hope I didn't break any wildlife laws, but it was neat interacted with nature on such a personal level.

This entire trip was refreshing, something I'd almost forgotten was part of my rebooting process, I'd done on a regular basis before full-time parenthood took priority.  As my little one gets bigger, and my relationship with my spouse mends, I plan to enjoy the wilderness experience again, as early as this fall.  We're planning a trip to Mount Rainier National Park where we plan to camp for three nights at Sunrise Camp, about a mile from the parking lot.  From there, we will take long day-trips into the higher country for huckleberries and alpine vistas as well as the occasional wildlife sighting.  But that's all for now.

Keep on trekking,

Don

Approaching the Half-Way Point!

Greetings everyone, it's late June and summer is here.  Although it doesn't feel like it sometimes around where I live, I see in the news that much of the US is in a heatwave.  My summer weather in the Pacific-Northwest is just fine with me; cool mornings, low clouds burning off by noon, and warm (effective) sunshine washing on my arms and face.  I love where I live.

My big news for this post is that I've sort-of-kinda started drinking again...but it's not what you think.  Last weekend, Kandy, Makenna, and I went out for Father's Day and we stopped at Zupan's Market to get some ingredients for Kandy's wonderful homemade, stone-cooked pizza at home.  She always makes the best food and is truly a gourmet when it comes to trying new things.  And thinking of new things, I decided to look for some swaggering alternatives to beer and wine, as I used to enjoy them with Kandy's excellent pizza...yum!

So, while at Zupan's, I inquired with the wine guy about non-alcoholic wines and he was very helpful in pointing out that they only had two, a white and a sparkling white.  Now one would have to have Kandy's pizza over the past 15 years to understand that almost any red varietal wine perfectly pares with her first-class, exquisitely prepared perfection of roundness and taste.  Not to mention that I'm a huge , full-bodied, bold red lover, and a huge fan of Kandy's pizza.

Thanks to Zupan's, and the makers of Guinness beer, we purchased a six-pack of Kaliber, a non-alcoholic beer with full body and unique taste.  Kandy said it was kind of like drinking a soda.  The idea of non-alcoholic (N/A) beer and wine hit me like a light-bulb moment from out of the blue.  Then I thought, why didn't i think of that before.  Perhaps it might have been because O'doul's and all the other available N/A beers really sucked, not to mention that it took a ton of it to get you buzzed--just kidding!

Once the N/A beer option sunk in my sober mind, I started asking, "hey, what about top rated, N/A wines?"  Let's take a look at what Google says about N/A wine ratings.  So searching the internet turned out to be easier than finding good N/A wines at your local supermarket, although, Fred Meyer had a 'fre' Merlot, 2010 (I guess you don't have to let grape juice age or breathe for that matter) and I got it to try.  It was like drinking the Merlot Grape version of Welches (no relationship, thank you) and not overly sweet, yet, well, hum, "Grapey."

No post would be complete without a mention of how supportive my friends and family have been in this year-long journey.  Kandy knows that drinking at home isn't a temptation for me, and she could easily open a bottle of red anytime she liked, but we both know that she wouldn't drink it all and the bottle would go bad after a few days.  Thus, our wine collection is aging well in the hall closet , insulated at around 60-65 degrees F.  "There are a few 2007 and 2008 reds that are going to taste quite nice on January 1st," I said to Kandy.

The other night, as we've been trying to do in these fine, SUMMERISH evenings, we attempted to drive to the top of Larch Mountain for a picnic dinner, just the three of us.  However, the gate to the top was still closed from winter and we settled for a roadside picnic at the Women's Forum overlook near Crown Point in the Gorge.  It was a good affair and now I know about N/A wines that we can chill for the occasion as needed.

How does drinking N/A beverages make me feel?  Well, the other day, my fish lady at Fred Meyer said, "isn't that kind of cheating?"  I professed that the drink had less than 1% of 1% of alcohol in it and that I felt it was okay to drink.  Then it made me think of why people drink and how many of them would stop drinking if alcohol was removed from their beverages.  I'm sure the real addicts of alcohol would either enter recovery or simply find another vice to focus as their addiction source.  I know when I stopped drinking last year, I started playing video games more often to pass the time, to vegg-out, and escape.

The brain is a complicated organ, yet it simply works with chemicals and electricity to function.  The nature of humanness is to be happy, and some of us need certain stimulants to get by.  I don't think I needed Alcohol to function at any point in my life, but it sure seemed like I might have a problem at times.  For sure, when things got stressful for me, the last thing I thought about was drinking.  To me, drinking was  social, fun activity to be shared with happy people, not a way to drown out my problems and to feel better.  My journey in this forest for one year is about discovering the real me, outside of the influence of alcohol.  I owe it to myself to experience this time to reveal an inner character I had always hoped would emerge from the micro-brew lover, full-bodied red connoisseur that resided in my 205 lb full scale body suit that surrounds my spirit, or the essence of the real me.  And so far, I'm liking what I see.

Until next time, cheers (N/A that is).

Don

Looking Back - Why am I here?

With the close of May and Summer's approach, I'm pausing to think about things, and I'm asking myself questions.  "Why am I here, what am I doing, and what would cause me to take on an endeavor such as this one."  Equally important, why would I even think of writing about this, sharing it with the world?"

Well, first about the reason for sharing--that's basically my nature.  I love to talk, write, interact with others.  But I really considered documenting this in a blog as a way to be held accountable.  The temptation of alcohol has never been a problem.  But, I have thought of how easy it would be to give up this year quest if I didn't know someone (you) were reading and following my journey.  Even with this in mind, I still question other motives for all of this.

As I've mentioned before, I have thought of giving up alcohol many times in the past to see how I feel.  Sometimes feeling low, sometimes having no energy, feeling aches and pains in the morning, and generally affecting my health, I felt alcohol could have been a causal factor in many of my conditions that caused concern in the first place.  I know it impacted my health, but I now realize that the low energy and ho-hum feelings were in part due to alcohol, brain chemistry and general conditioning of my emotions.  Being a creature of habit, I trained myself to be depressed, and alcohol has this ability to make you feel temporarily happy, but then the side effects drop you from the splendid feelings you experienced for a moment or two.  What you are left with is a desire to drink to feel good, only to be left deeper and deeper in a pit.  But for five full months now, I've been able to clearly think about these issues without being left in the pit.

Sure, I've felt ho-hum and low at times in the past year, but I've not found myself in the pit.  Without alcohol, I can handle the depression and move through it to a positive result, instead of recycling it over and over again.  On another note, I guess I'd have to admit that I became someone I wasn't comfortable being.  And I wanted my family and friends to see a different person that wasn't affected by the "Pit Effect" but habits are hard to break.  I still have conditioned ways of dealing with stress and my demeanor still is my nature.  But I don't think I'm a bad person, just inconsiderate sometimes.

I think mostly about my wife, Kandy.  Although I'm sure Makenna and Danielle, my daughters were affected by my reactions to stress in the 3 and 23 years that I've known them, but Kandy seems to be in the middle of the intense receiving of the "Don Pit Effect" most of the time.  And many times in the past seven years, she has wanted to leave because of the stress.  Still she stays, only to ride the roller coaster of feelings that many couples experience when one or both have difficulty expressing their challenges with, well, just life.

Now, for those of you without problems, without relationship issues, or substance abuse problems, I'm sorry to expose this to you.  When your life is perfect, and everything is peachy like on the set of television's Friends you don't know about these problems and are usually put-off by such exposure to situations like this.  But I realize that perfect people (or families, or relationships) are few and far between.

In my personal case, I almost didn't marry Kandy.  I felt at age 32 (me) and age 21 (her) that I already had too much baggage to subject her to, and she being so young, going from mom's house to our house, that she had her whole life ahead of her.  Four times I considered dropping out of the marriage, and probably as many times after the wedding, I too wanted to push Kandy away, especially during my stressful situations in my job in the military.  I guess I was lucky that Kandy was in love with me at times when I wasn't very loving to her.  Now the tables are turned, and Kandy is now questioning her love for me.

This is something that has been reoccurring every couple of years for the past seven years or so.  It's important to note that we've been married 15 years in June.  That's a long time for most marriages to even survive.  Maybe most couples take for granted the first few anniversaries and I think we were no exception.  It's evident in the fact that I've kept almost all the anniversary greetings from Kandy over the past few years, during the seven-year time of challenge.  These messages are probably more important to me because I know that Kandy cared about us during times of struggle, not just the good times too.

At 10 years, Kandy wrote this in a blank-inside card:

                                                                   2006
                                                                   10 Years!

     "For all the past adventures, support in my career and learning to understand my moods and "issues"...
Thank you!"
There's many more adventures to be had & I'm sure, more learning"

Happy Anniversary
               Love,
                   Kandy

Even as our 15th anniversary passes in a little less than a month, the outlook for success never is assured.  And even with seven years of challenges and struggle, we still have time at the 14-year mark to recognize the "Great Memories" and to say "Thanks for Everything."  (Kandy's words last year in June)

I guess when I considered not marrying Kandy in 1996, I was afraid of the challenges we'd face in the future.  Shortly after that, from 1997 to 1999, I pushed away, and she stayed there with me.  I didn't leave, and we grew to travel for adventures, have a gorgeous baby girl, and build a life many people observe as "fortunate." And I mostly feel fortunate.

I guess I'd have to say I'm fortunate to have Kandy, and Makenna, and Danielle in my life.  All three are people who almost didn't happen to me.  My relationship with Danielle's mother seriously affect my relationship with this first daughter.  And had I backed out of marriage to Kandy or separated from her before 2007, Makenna (or Kandy) wouldn't be the biggest things in my life.  The thought of losing any of this is something I consider to never have to experience.  It would be more than taking food or water away, but simply the air I need to breathe.

I love you Kandy,

Don