Dave and Joy's youngest son, Skye, has made a career out of his service in the U.S. Army. Skye, with his wife Victoria, and their three daughters Keelin, Carys, and Elise, have moved together with each new posting. After Skye's commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant he was trained in the communications field. He has served many positions as a Comm Officer. The last assignment was at the Pentagon.
This spring Skye was promoted to full Colonel. With this promotion came a new assignment. On July 19, 2019, Col. Duncan will take over as Garrison Commander at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington. Anne and I are proud of the career paths that all of our nephew's have taken. This nephew's relocation to the west coast created an opportunity to stock up the RV and to make a drive to Fort Lewis for the change of command ceremonies.
The drive to JBLM from Medford is 406 miles. We decided to make the journey in two days. Day one will take us to the Ilani Casino Resort, which is at I-5 Exit 16, just north of Vancouver, WA. Day two will be a relatively short drive to American Lake Family Campground at Fort Lewis. Joy has reserved site 209 for our RV for the 15th to the 22nd.
Our drive from Medford began this morning, July 14th, at 0900hrs. Dave and Joy were leaving their home in Emmett, ID, at about the same time. We were traveling exclusively on I-5. They were finding best routes to their first stop at a state park in Yakama, WA. Dave called to report in from their state park site. They will have 5-6 hours of drive ahead of them tomorrow. For us, Ilani Casino is 90 miles south of Fort Lewis.
The Ilani Casino Resort is located on the Cowlitz Indian Tribe reservation. The reservation was established in 2010. It is 152 acres and it is located near Ridgefield, WA. The Cowlitz people actively traded with other tribes and later with European Americans. In 1906 the tribe began formal political relations with the United States. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected board of tribal council members.
Ilani, pronounced "Alana", is a Cowlitz word which means "sing". Historically, the tribe has had a song for everything that is important to its members. Ilani is a memory of the songs the tribe has sung throughout the centuries in its long journey to today. The casino opened in the spring of 2017. It is seen as a long sought for means of stabilizing the tribe's economic base.
The casino complex covers 368,000 square feet. Featured is a 100,000 square foot gaming floor. The floor has 2,560 slot machines and 80 gaming tables. There are two dedicated event spaces. The 2,500 seat space will be used to feature nationally recognized performers. The smaller, 350 seat entertainment lounge is used for more intimate and more regular performances. The grounds has several large parking areas and one graveled truck and RV one-night parking lot. The lots are serviced by casino courtesy shuttles. Neither Anne nor I have ever seen more fully occupied parking lots. The main floor of the casino is mind blowingly huge, and it was being used to its near maximum.
The Hook & Lure Restaurant is one of four dining spots within the casino. This is a non-buffet diner and seafood was primary on the menu. Anne and I both had fish tacos. She chose grilled rockfish, and I picked battered cod. This was an excellent choice.
With dinner over it was time to test the gaming floor. We wove our way around rows of slot machines until we opened up at the craps tables. Many casinos we have visited have no craps tables. Some have at least one, and maybe two. I counted five craps tables in the Ilani Casino and all of them were working. It was 1930hrs. We agreed to meet at the craps tables in one hour.
I watched Anne disappear back into the maze of slot machines. I found a spot at the end of the nearest table where I watched the play. I am reluctant to put out any significant amount for gaming. Yes. You can walk away with surprising sums, but most often it gets siphoned from your spot at the table to the piles in front of the dealer.
I finally caved in and put a $100 bill on the table. The table man returned a stack of $5 chips. The table minimum bet was five dollars. The maximum bet was five hundred. At craps, if you are not the roller, then you do not have to place a bet on either the Pass or the Don't Pass line. You can place bets anywhere else on the table once a point has been established. The roller, however, must place a minimum bet on either the Pass or the Don't Pass lines. This is his commitment to his rolling.
If the roller places a wager on the Pass line, then when the point number he rolled comes up again he will get an equal payout. However, if a seven is rolled before the point number comes up again, then he will lose his Pass line wager. The opposite happens if the roller wagered a bet on the Don't Pass line. In this bet, the money is lost if the point number comes up before a seven is rolled. If a seven is rolled first, then the Don't Pass line wins.
A craps roll is a 7, 11, 2, 3, or a 12. These numbers are critical when tossing the dice on the come out roll. If a 7 or 11 is tossed, then the Pass line bettor's get paid and the Don't Pass bettor's lose. The opposite happens if a 2 or a 3 is rolled before a come out point number is set. If a 12 is rolled before the point number, then normally the Pass line bet loses and it is a push for the Don't Pass.
Most craps players will place a bet on the Pass line. This is positive thinking. They want to win when the point number is rolled again. However, there are three ways to lose with the first toss of the dice. If I am rolling, I will place a minimum bet on each of the Pass and Don't Pass lines. With the come out toss I may lose on one, but I will win on the other. The same thing happens when the point number or a seven is rolled. As a roller my loss risk with this type of betting is only if a 12 is rolled. True. I also have no chance of winning on either.
After the seven the most frequent numbers rolled are the six and the eight. Whether I am rolling, or not, I will place a bet on the six and on the eight. Each bet costs six dollars and each time one is rolled it pays seven. Now. The odds are that a seven will be rolled most frequently, however, I believe that betting on the six and the eight will permit you the longest use of your bank roll.
I made it through the hour and I still had $20 of the original bank roll. I left with Anne, feeling bad about my loss. I did enjoy the excitement. However, I think I prefer the use of my IPad for playing casino games.
The rain began around 0400hrs. I got up and adjusted the driver's side slideout so water would run downhill and away from the RV. On the passenger side I extended the side awning so that it covered the exposed wall's roof. I closed the ceiling hatches and went back to bed. It was a few minutes past 8 o'clock when I re-emerged.
Anne prepared an egg burrito breakfast. We had watermelon pieces and cottage cheese on the side. With plenty of time to spare, we started a crossword puzzle. We were finally finished with our morning and ready to leave the Ilani lot by 10 o'clock.
North bound traffic on I-5 was congested. I set the cruise control to a little over 55 mph and I stayed in the right hand lane. We were an hour from the JBLM exit 120 when Anne received a text from Joy. Joy advised that we needed to check into the Visitor Center when we exited to the right off of the freeway. Dave and Joy were waiting in their pickup at the visitor center. Dave saw us approaching and he guided us into the parking lot and to a safe spot to park our behemoth.
At the visitor center we needed to obtain a personal pass so that we could access facilities on the post. The driver's license was required to be presented to the Army clerk behind the window. He took a photo of each of us and gave us a personalized sheet of paper which needed to be carried while on the joint base.
In-processing to JBLM was done. Now we just needed to unhook the car and maneuver the bus out of the parking lot. Once again, Dave guided me as I backed around. I then awaited his lead to the American Lake Family Campground. We drove under the freeway and we were guided to a secure gate checkin. Three guards were on duty at the check point. Their job was to review your personal access authorization paper, and to compare the paper's information with that on your driver's license. Now. We were all cleared to be on the post.
We followed Dave's lead to our campsite, # 209. He had led us into a dense jungle. We arrived at site 209 after maneuvering around nearly impassable corners. Our site had ample space and getting into it only required nosing first into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the linking roadway. With Dave's guidance, I backed onto a wonderfully level slab of pavement. We had power, water, sewage, and cable TV hookups provided. The jungle surrounded us and left us unable to see any of our neighbors. Anne and Joy prepared BLT sandwiches for lunch. We arranged to meet them at their site, # 302, at around 1630hours. We were then going to head to Skye and Victoria's new digs for dinner. Finding our way to and from will be interesting.
With the aid of GPS Dave found his way to Skye and Victoria's new home. The three story brick residence was built circa 1923. Victoria and the girls welcomed us after we found a space to park at the rear of the home. They have received all of their shipments from their Virginia home and boxes have been sorted into their proper rooms. The home appears to have ample room for the family of five. The next few weeks will be spent unboxing and getting squared away.
Skye arrived home shortly after five o'clock. He had walked the five minutes from his office and he said that he felt the warmth of the afternoon. He, Dave and I spent several minutes visiting and talking about projects which Skye could have us do during the day. The home has a basement level garage. Skye will be using the garage to store his Mustang. He also wants to have a workspace to do wood working projects. The garage can serve both duties well, and there is room left over to store the six familly bicycles.
There was a pause in the workshop design ideas when it was discovered the home had no ales. Skye drove us a few blocks to one of the post's many small shopping marts. We selected some ale and some bottles of hard apple cider. Now we could go back to work. On the drive back to the house, Skye gave Dave and me a short orientation tour of the post. During the drive, Skye explained what his new posting, as Garrison Commander, was all about.
Although Fort Lewis and Air Force Base McChord are physically seperate they are linked together by a shared bridge, called Unity Bridge. Once one is granted access to either location, they have free access to travel between the two bases. There are several different Army and Air Force operational command functions staffed on the two bases. The running of those operations is completely done by individual commanders. The man power and specialized hardware and military equipment used by those operations is completely the responsibility of the individual commanders. However, the buildings, stores, warehouses, schools, roads and everything on the joint bases needed and used to support the existence of these commands, on the two bases, is the responsibility of the Garrison Commander.
Col Duncan drew a parallel of his job with that of a Mayor of a city with a population of over 50,000. All aspects of the daily life of the city need to happen as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. Skye has a large staff which keeps him appraised of needs on the bases. He will be able to coordinate the flow of tasking to achieve goals specific to the needs of the commands on the two bases.
Every new home needs a man-cave. The Duncan home at 2340 Bitar Avenue, JBLM, WA, is no exception. And, the man-cave needs to have order and space for creations. Skye is a natural when it comes to order. His garage has four rolling tool chests. Each drawer of each chest has a computer printed lable which identifies the contents. This is a good start.
Dave and I spent the morning at the Lowe's store in nearby Lakewood. We were there to shop for materials to build a couple of needed accessaries for the cave. Skye has six bicycles to store in the garage. The bikes can be suspended from one of the walls. This will require a bit of timber and some J-hooks. Also, now that the bikes will be out of the way, Skye will need a space which can be dedicated to wood working and general caveman tinkering.
The garage has a 2 foot recess on the outer wall. This will be a perfect place to install a 2' x 8' work bench. The recess has power nearby and two small windows which will add brightness to any new creations. The request was in for the bench to have a full shelf on which larger tools could be stored. By the end of business day on Tuesday, Dave and I had the bench built, installed and stocked.
Wednesday was a late sleep-in day. The morning weather was heavy overcast and it had predictions of rain. Dave and Joy came to the RV around 10 o'clock. Joy was going to ride with Anne to get their nails done. I rode with Dave to Skye and Victoria's home to continue helping with things that needed done.
My first task was to build a wall rack which could hang at least four of the six bicycles. I pulled a couple of old conduit holders from the inner garage wall. These holders were no longer being used and they would leave perfect spots to suspend the bike rack from. I lagged two vertical 1x3 pieces of timber in place of the old conduit holders. Across the lower ends of these stubs I screwed on an 8 foot 2x4, which now hung parallel with the floor and about 6' above it. I screwed J-hooks into the 2x4 at two foot intervals. The front wheels of the bicycles are suspended from the J-hooks and the rear wheels rest against the lower part of the wall. It seemed quite amazing how hanging the bikes cleared so much floor space in the garage. Naturally, it would. But the bikes are still there, just out of the way.
The next busy thing to take on was the erection of a 10' x 12' canvas topped lawn shelter. This was a kit which came in a long and heavy box. Unpacking one of these kit packages in always a scary thing. There are a million pieces, and none of them initially make any sense to the project at hand. Tucked inside a zip-locked bag containing the "hardware kit" is the instruction booklet. The booklet, combining drawings and a few words, leads you step by step through the assembly of the shelter. I managed to put together all of the sub-assemblies before taking a lunch break. The next phase of the project will require two people. Dave and I worked together as we lifted assemblies off of the ground and screwed them together vertically. We called a stop when the misting weather began to turn into rain. We had reached a point when it was now going to take four people to lift and carry the assembly to its final location on the back lawn. Two of the girls would help, as soon as the rain stopped.
The supports for the canvas were the next things to piece together and secure to the top of the pillared form. It took us two tries to get the orientation of the frames correct. When we discovered the correct direction everything fit perfectly. The final thing to do with the shelter was to stretch the canvas over the top frame. How to approach getting the canvas onto the top took us some time to consider. Dave put together a plan, we followed the plan, and everything got covered perfectly.
Joy's sister, Gayl, and her husband, Harlan, had come to the base and they were joining us for the evening and for dinner. The ladies decided that it would be a nice treat to eat dinner under the new outdoor cover. It would be warm enough, and if it showered we would be protected. This turned out to be a very delightful way to enjoy our sliced ham dinner. Jason, a neighbor, and friend of Skye's was batching it and he joined us for dinner. With Harlan, the historian, and Skye and Jason being Army War College graduates, the conversation was peaked with the history of mankind's conflicts.
Thursday is a light day of puttering at the new Duncan home. Skye had set aside curtain rods for each of the bedrooms. The first room to do was the guest bedroom. Todd, June and the kids would be staying in this room during their short visit for the Command Ceremony on Friday. There was also a set of blackout curtains to hang. This was the easiest room.
The twin's rooms were tough. The girls had moved into their rooms already but nothing had found its way to a drawer or a closet. Watch where you step, and move that aside. Ok, those look good. Let's take a break.
We sat down for a few minutes before taking on the last curtain project of the day. Yesterday we completed the construction of the lawn shelter. Today we needed to hang the side curtains on the shelter's roof railing. I had a long enough reach to be able to connect the plastic snap-rings through the curtain loops and over the rail. Dave used a step stool. I think he had the easiest job, requiring no tip toe stretching. As we were finishing, Victoria was coming home from a grocery run.
The pavilion began to fill shortly after 1600hrs. Guests included: Joy's sisters, Gayl and Lynne and their husbands, Harlan and Gary. Lynne and Gary's eldest daughter, Emily, came with her family. Skye's brother, Todd, his wife, June, and their two children were also able to make the trip. Of course, Skye, Victoria and the three girls completed the attendees.
Anne and Joy were kept busy setting out the many dishes of salads and sundries for the feast. Dave had prepared fires in three barbeques. He and I were kept busy turning hotdogs and sausages. While adults visited, the kids were entertained at the nearby swings, slides, and play center. For our additional entertainment, the U.S. Army was conducting troop extraction exercises from one of the sandy beaches on the lake.
A large helicopter, the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, would swoop in low over our heads and very gracefully and precisely land nose-in on the small section of exposed beach. While it sat idling, two or three rubber boats raced to the beach. Each boat unloaded six or more soldiers. The soldiers then boarded the Black Hawk. Those who were too many to fit directly in the cargo hold sat at the hold's edge, with their legs dangling outside the craft.
The powerful Sikorsky's turbo engine screamed louder and the aircraft slowly rose away from the sand. It hovered a few feet above the beach and then it backed over the edge of the lake. As it backed it began to rise and turn toward us. A curtain of water rose from the lake's surface and tried to meet with the swirling blades as the copter climbed toward the neighboring tree tops. The engine was thunderous as it crossed the sky above the pavilion. This extraction exercise was repeated several times during the afternoon.
Friday morning we had to be at the parking spot on Ligget Ave by 0930hrs. The formal change of command ceremony was to begin at 1000 sharp. We were assigned VIP parking and we were the first
car in the line. As the crowd grew larger we emerged from the car to mingle. Each of us had a seat
assigned to us under the canvas covered seating section. All of yesterday's picnic families were already at their chairs. As Dave and I were standing near the chairs, a retired General approached
and introduced himself. We visited for a few minutes. He was very thankful that so many of the new Garrison Commander's family and friends made the trip to be here for him.
On the field, beside the military band, were the flag bearers. Next to the Red, White and Blue was the Joint Base flag. On each side of the flag bearers was a soldier carrying a rifle at arms. Next to the flags was a large number of soldiers and airmen who together represented Fort Lewis and Air Force Base McChord. The largest group on the parade field were civilians who represented the over 3,000 strong workforce of non-military personnel on JBLM.
Next was the actual change of command procedure. For this formality the two colonels, together with the host, marched out to the flags. At the flags the host commanded the Joint Base Flag bearer to present the flag to Col Lucas. She in turn presented the flag to Col Duncan. He then passed the flag back to the flag bearer. The passing of the JBLM flag from one commander to the other represented the change of command. The three then marched back to the staging area. The host introduced the outgoing commander, Colonel Nicole Lucas. Col Lucas presented a few highlights of her two years in command. She passed on her gratitude to her staff and to the commanders she had worked with.
Next to speak was the incoming commander. Skye did an excellent job of introducing himself and he did so with attention to eye contact and body language. His speech was the briefest of the three. He had told us that it would be kept short with intention.
With the new Garrison Commander's speech finished it was time to conclude the ceremony. This was done by the band playing the U.S. Air Force song, followed by the U.S. Army song. The attendees had copies of the lyrics to each song on the handout they received when they were being seated. Everyone was standing and everyone was singing. The formality of the proceedings then dropped and there was a lot of mass mingling and hand shaking.
Many walked to the chapel after the ceremony. At the chapel the new commander and his family were greeting well wishers at a reception. Hors d'oeuvres, coffee, and soft drinks were offered to all who came. It was an honor to watch Skye and Victoria being welcomed to JBLM. It was fun to see the three girls each shaking the hands of all who passed through the reception line. When the line ended the girls came to the table with their plates of snacks. One of the twins picked up a snap pea from her plate, took a bite, and then exclaimed that she had not washed her hands.
Friday afternoon, Skye and Victoria arranged four cars to carry all who wanted to have a quick car tour around the two bases. Each car had a walkie talkie so that Skye and Victoria could visit
with everyone about featured spots along the route. Neither base has any short cuts and we found ourselves doing U-turns a couple of times. The highlight of the trip was at a stop which overlooked the runway at McChord. Here we got out on the lawn and watched a couple of Navy planes do repeated right-down-wind touch and goes. Skye had the opportunity to explain to the group what the aircraft were doing. He also shared stories of some of his experiences doing sky diving training. Victoria was also in there with good explanations to a few of the questions.Dinner this evening was picnic leftovers. There was lots of it, and it was well received. When the refrigerator ran short of ale, Victoria drove to the Express Shop and came home with a couple of new six packs. Following the meal Skye invited the men to join him in a visit with a cigar. Gary had purchased a box of Nicaraguan Avo Syncro Toro Tubos and he shared one with each of us. As we puffed, we heard stories of more youthful times in the military and some of the troubles a few had found themselves in. We spoke some of cigars and of the do nothing commitment one found himself in once the cigar was lit. This was a very enjoyable way to end a busy and sight filled day.
Anne, Dave, Joy and I said our goodnights and left the lawn party at 2030hrs. Earlier Victoria had had the girls circle the cul-de-sac and pass out notes inviting the neighbors to visit. New guests were beginning to arrive.
Saturday morning Anne and I visited the home at 2340 Bitar Avenue for the final time. We had committed to Anne's cousin, Christina, that we would stop for a visit with she and her husband, David. This had been a very special partial family reunion. We will both carry away close memories of the time we got to share.
Skye has had a very full career in the U.S. Army. It is anticipated that the tour of duty at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will be his final posting. He and Victoria are looking forward to building a retirement home for their family on the Clan Duncan property in Emmett, Idaho.
