For vacation this year, my family and I decided to visit my LRRP Ranger buddies on the east coast. We flew to South Carolina, checked into our hotel at Myrtle Beach and, the next day rented a car and drove to Fayetteville, North Carolina to visit with Ranger John "Gunner" Starnes and his family. There we settled in and barbecued on the new grill Gunner had made in his backyard. Our wives, Mary and Shirley, did what the ladies enjoy best (shop, of course). At right: Jess, Shirley and me at John & Mary Starnes' house.

My son Jessie, Gunner, and I went to see a heavy equipment parachute drop at Fort Bragg's Normandy Drop Zone. We shopped at the many military stores and went to the Raeford Sports Parachute Club to see the free-fall parachutists jump. Gunner and I jumped there a few years back. Jessie was impressed with the accuracy of the jumpers.

Photo at right is Gunner, on far right, and me " a few years back."

John and I stopped over at the 75th Ranger Regiment Association secretary's house (Ranger Roy Boatman) and talked war stories almost all afternoon. After three days, the Starnes and my family trekked to Virginia to see Ranger Ben "Sparrow" Thomas and his family. We ate and reminisced about our time in Vietnam as LRRPs and Rangers. We drank beer, played pool, and grilled steak (Ben is a pretty good cook!).

While talking, Gunner mentioned waterborne training we attenede in the Americal Recondo School Course (ARSC). Both Ben and I could remember that part of the training. Gunner made it clear we did perform Rubber Boat training and the company had RB-7s and RB-15s. All three of us attended ARSC together in June or July 1968 along with Dick Roth, Baby Huey, Larry Mosley and others. At right, Recondo School Waterborne Training: 1968 July  ECo (LRP)/51st INF (ABN)

Ben's wife, Donna, is a wonderfully humorous lady and let us in on how she met Ben: the tall, handsome Ranger she had to claim before the other women moved in on him. We want to thank them for their warm Virginia hospitality.

After another three days we continued our journey to Tennessee to spend time with the Watts family. PFC Brad Watts is one of our Rangers killed in action (KIA). He died on a patrol while in the unit; he was on my team. Mrs. Watts, Brad's mother, talked of her son's life before the army. She and Brad's brother are wonderful people.

We made it back to John's home and rested. We spent the next day touring the 82nd Airborne and Special Forces Museums as well as "Home of the Airborne and Special Operation Forces" Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Far Left: Ft. Bragg, NC HQS US Army Special Forces Command standing by 75th Ranger Rgt Assoc Monument stone & statue

Upper right, HQ US Army 1st Special Operations Forces Command, Ft. Bragg, NC.

Lower right, HQ 1 SOFC, FBNC 75th Ranger Infantry LRRP-LRP-Ranger Memorial stone with E51 Beret.

We made it back to John's home and rested. We spent the next day touring the 82nd Airborne and Special Forces Museums as well as "Home of the Airborne and Special Operation Forces" Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

North Carolina just about has it all. We could have gone trout fishing in the mountains or scuba diving at Carolina beach. It is a great place to visit. We drove to the beach and body surfed on Sunday afternoon. The beach was not crowded and we could have just stayed there for a week.

Gunner, Jessie and I caught many good waves and could average 25 to 30 foot rides. That last day we took Mary and John out to dinner and we ate till we couldn't eat no "mo." We left for Myrtle Beach Monday morning and from there flew back to Denver and finally back home to Bailey. We want to thank all of our friends for their hospitality.

At right: Steve Franklin, John Starnes, Shirley Franklin, Mary Starnes at Ben Thomas' house.

		John Starnes, Ben Thomas, Steve Franklin August 7, 1999		On the back deck at the Starnes' house

Bubbles