On Sun, 25 Mar 2018 10:02:58 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/25/2018 9:34 AM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 23:10:54 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 18:18:03 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 17:25:11 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2018 14:31:07 -0400, John H.
wrote:

Can't get on a military installation any more
without that, unless you're willing to go through a bunch of crap.

Times certainly changed. I used to just get waived through the gate at
Andrews and I shot skeet there so much that nobody ever asked who I
was. We used to give the "puller" a buck a round but I think the range
was free. (Bring your own ammo). I think you could get it at the PX
but I would have needed an ID there.

Things have changed since 9/11. I don't know of any 'open posts' anymore. Ft. Belvoir didn't even
man the gates, except for the main gate. Now they're all manned and the ID card is scanned. Many
days they'll have a 100% ID check and everyone's ID gets checked. There must be at least one
military ID in the car.

The last military base we were on is in California.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/Liggett%20sign.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/M551%20Tank.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/Target%20Tank.jpg

They did an ID check and ran us on the computer, took about 5 minutes.
This is up a mountain on a dirt road from Big Sur off the Pac Coast
highway.
It is a pretty cool drive but at the top of the hill you hit the back
gate of an army base. They do let you drive through tho.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/...the%20hill.jpg


When working with the CA National Guard at Camp Roberts, just north of Paso Robles, we'd go to Ft.
HL to get cigs, etc, at the PX. Back then cigs were a good deal at the PX or Commissary.



When my wife and I were in Italy cigarettes were $2.50 a carton at the
base exchange however we were rationed to a limited number a month.
On the ship they were $1.50 a carton once we were underway. Neither of
us smoked back then and I'd buy all the cartons of Marlboro's allowed
per month and store them at our apartment. Once a month an Italian
"salesman" would visit all the Americans' apartments, carrying a huge
suitcase and buy all the cartons for $5.00/carton to be sold on the
Italian black market. We made enough profit to pay for our apartment
every month.

Now I can admit it. :-)



Way up into the 70s cigarettes were only $3-4 a carton in North
Carolina. I used to always load up in Kenley on my way through for my
smoker friends in Florida and Maryland. By the 80s they were getting
up in the $4.50 range but still a good deal.
In the ship, at sea, they were $1.50
I think the tobacco companies gave them away at below cost to the
military to drum up future sales. I was one of the few who got out
without the habit. I can smoke a cigarette to be social and not want
another one. I finally stopped that when I figured out you do not need
to be smoking to be in the smoking pit with your buddies. I preferred
smoking cigars then and I kept 1 or 2 in the cleaning kit holder in
the stock of my M1 in boot camp. It is hard to carry a cigar in your
pocket without crushing it and that was perfect. Nobody said a thing
about it. I was smoking those grocery store cigars at the time.
Then I was in a bar in New York and some people started making fun of
me, telling me that was not a cigar. I found the premium cigars and
never looked back but the price limited my consumption. Now I seldom
even partake in one of those and I hold out for something special.