I think I was insulated at the range today.

[troj]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to work with people who are about the same age as my oldest son....and one of them has three kids already!

 

[Missionary]

Greetings
Light bulbs... Yep our overhead fixtures used to have just one screwed in for us but company got the full treatment. Now.. well the whole bank is used every night to 9 pm if we make it that long. I thank God daily for extending to me another day. Registered with SS a week ago. Plan A has anew tag along.
Mike in Peru

 

[catskinner]

My army buddy started drawing social security a couple of years ago. I was kidding him about being over the hill. He said I'd rather be over the hill than under the hill.

 

[Bret4207]

Bret, wasn't a slam on cops. Just that the older I get the younger everybody else looks.

I didn't take it that way. It just rang so true...

 

[Bret4207]

I'm at that point that older people still look old although I am starting to see more youngsters.
Bret, isn't it amazing how the young guns at almost any job are full of themselves until they come up against a new problem. I love that opportunity to tell them we have been dealing with that for decades.
We all were essentially the same at that age and were all smart enough to learn from the old guys.

Yupper! Ya know, I like the NCIS TV program. Every now and again the main hero des something old school that throws all the young bucks for a loop, like knowing how to run an old fashioned mimeograph machine or using a 3x5 card file rolodex system to perform an "search" for information or using a manual type writer. Things like that just make me smile. I still had carbon copy investigation and arrest reports in my briefcase 10 years after we started using computers. Came in handy a few times when the power was out!

 

[KHornet]

With ya all the way on this Bret!!

 

[smokeywolf]

Last time I worked patrol, we had 2 radios and a scanner in the unit. The portable that hung on the left side of my Sam Browne did not have a separate mike that clipped to the epaulet on my uniform shirt. I have to wonder if the youngsters in uniform today would know how to perform their duties without a laptop in the unit. My laptop was a radio, the notebook in my shirt pocket and the aluminum clipboard that sat on my posse box.

 

[Bret4207]

Last time I worked patrol, we had 2 radios and a scanner in the unit. The portable that hung on the left side of my Sam Browne did not have a separate mike that clipped to the epaulet on my uniform shirt. I have to wonder if the youngsters in uniform today would know how to perform their duties without a laptop in the unit. My laptop was a radio, the notebook in my shirt pocket and the aluminum clipboard that sat on my posse box.

I rarely carried a radio. One more thing to catch on stuff at the worst possible moment. These days the kiddies have to have a radio right there every single second or they get the hives. Of course I came on when you had to park the car under the parking lot light at the local super market to hit the tower when you signed on duty. Had a chase one night that covered over 40 miles and could never raise a soul from 2 Troops, a Sheriffs Office or a local PD. The kids today couldn't work like that, officer safety and whatnot. Of course they can't grasp that the public notices when they are chatting away on a cell phone or texting while driving, failing to signal or any number of other things they'd nab Joe Sixpack for. Drives me nuts.

You had an aluminum clip board?!! You social climber you!

ETA- the only time the car radio would really reach out and hit a tower was when you accidentally keyed it when you were singing along with some song from 1972 on the AM radio or bad mouthing a supervisor! It never failed.

 

[RBHarter]

I knew 1 of the NHPs when they got the new clean burn equipped 360 Dodge Diplomats. Out here they had to run those 6 ft whips and 30 watt boosters having patrols on old high ways with 80 miles between towns . Anyway I guess there was a chassis quirk of some sort and if the radio booster wasn't in exactly the right place when the Mike was keyed and the booster was on it would shut the car down . There's relay towers on every ridge top now but then it was 40 watt Motorola .....

 

[smokeywolf]

At the risk of being called for off topic - thread drift.

Had a partner who liked to play jokes on drunks.

Came across a car parked on the shoulder of a back road one night; probably about 3AM. Driver had pulled over, put it in park and passed out; engine still running. Empty pint bottle on the seat next to him. My partner starts running in place next to the driver's door, banging on the window and yelling, "STOP THE CAR, STOP THE CAR". Driver jerks his head up and starts frantically mashing on the brake pedal.
Called the guy's wife to come get him. We figured that would be punishment enough.
Still have to laugh at that one.

 

[Bret4207]

I can remember making an appointment to meet up with a county deputy on the phone. As the time approached and I got close to the meeting spot I started trying to get him on inter-agency. I kept calling until I was within sight of the meeting spot, maybe 3/4 mile away. That's when he could finally hear me. I never put much faith in the radio after that.

Another neat thing, since the thread is drifting nicely, was the way the antenna connection on the actual radio that was in the truck would vibrate loose. Usually that happened when the Capt or some cranky Zone Sgt was trying to get you for something vitally important, like a miscounted number of cans of shoe polish at the station or maybe to check on the status of the soap dispenser or some other life and death type of thing. Of course with the antenna disconnected you never knew anything until you went to call in a plate or sign out at a diner or something. You'd realize something was wrong, start to panic a bit, race to trunk and tighten the connection and suddenly the radio would start working again. By then everyone and their brother in scanner land had heard them calling for you for 45 minutes and had called Troop to let them know you'd just driven by their house looking fat, dumb and happy. This information would be relayed to the Zonie that already had an ulcer named after you and when you finally did talk to him it was made very clear that you wouldn't be getting any Christmas cards from him this century.

I hated that radio.

 

[Rally Hess]

I had two young MP's in my squad at Ft.Hood that started shift one evening. They tossed the mic on the seat and one threw his ticket book against it and keyed the mic, while they were commenting on what they would like to do to our traffic section officer ( a female). One of them was particularly interested in part of her anatomy, which he voiced in no uncertain terms. Ofcourse it was recorded and brought to her attention the following day. They were pulled off shift for two weeks and had some really educational details. LOL Tape was over 6 minutes long. In their defense, she was a good looking women.

 

[Bret4207]

One of our Communication Specialists (sat the desk in front of radio) was known for her dedication to the game show "Jeopardy". When it as on, you were lucky if she'd answer the radio. (Yeah, I know. But she was also known for being the top Zone Sgts mistress so she got away with a lot.) One evening all of my Zone and it's scanner land was treated to several minutes of "Jeopardy" with this lady in the background swearing at the contestants the weren't getting the right answer. The you heard the phone ring and her answer...she says, "No it's not"...and then dead air. Someone much kinder than most obviously called to let her know her mike was on. Of course she never got in trouble at all. Equal rights.....

 

[KHornet]

Strange how that works Bret. but am sure that most all of us have some Equal Right's issues that burned our butts like a 3 foot candle, know I have had a few!