Thank You George Carlin

Since the tribute to George is on PBS this evening, I thought I would share a story.

Left unsaid in my brief retelling of the early days of my military career were the tales of the 15 days of summer camp thougthfully provided members. Summer camp as a young adult is no more welcome than it is at 9. Got to go to some wonderful places though.

Summers in Jefferson Barracks tend to be hot and humid. With that in mind, our tour guide tended to arrange our summer vacations in cooler, less humid locales, but not always. Wisconsin was one of his favorites, but rarely Camp McCoy.

Camp McCoy is an Army post in southwestern Wisconsin used primarily by Reserve and National Guard units for training. Its a great place to drive tanks, and shoot noisy guns, catch poison ivy and generally have a great time.

Being Air Force we were not particularly welcome at McCoy, so we usually stayed away. Our camp of choice was neighboring Volk Field in truly gorgeous Toma. Toma is about two hours west of Milwaukee which is just far enough away for a couple of young blades to spend a weekend away from camp.

In July '72 my buddy Chris and I heard about Milwaukee Summerfest, went AWOL for the weekend, and decided to take in Woky. Saturday evening, a couple of brats, a few cans of Miller under our belts and who should appear on stage, none other than George Carlin.

Yes, it was the night the police arrested and hauled him off stage, for saying those 7 words, and we were there.

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I spent all year wondering how I tour guide would top that the next summer. He did!

Summer camp '73 the entire convoy was arrested. For driving our military truck convoy down the Natchez Trace, on our way to Biloxi. All thanks to AAA Triptiks.

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