DIME - WHORE

And this is no shit!, In 2003/2004 I was doing logistics work for a youth wilderness program operating in the Big Bend Texas National park area.

I came across a job announcement from a company I will call “Dime-whore”. The job was to work as an armed security officer in the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar.

I figured what the heck and filled out the application, attached my resume along with the other requested documents and sent it to the recruiter.

It wasn’t more than 10 minutes before the recruiter called me on my company issued cell phone and began to give me his spiel about the job.

After a few minutes of listening to this recruiter I told him to mail me the recruitment packet and I would get it back to him as soon as I completed all of it. Thus began my 1^st encounter an extremely annoying recruiter .

This guy called me several times a day, every day until I completed all of the papers. I figured then and there that the Job was either a really bad one ,and he didn’t want to loose a sucker Orrrrr….. I was highly qualified and my services were needed – the former proved to be true.

What I did like was the free travel to Qatar and the speed in which this company got me in country.The very next day after completing my papers, I was at the Tucson, Arizona airport for first leg of my journey to Qatar.

The trip took me to Atlanta, Frankfurt Germany, Bahrain, and then Qatar. I was told that a representative of the company would be there to meet upon arrival but, of course that didn’t happen. Taking that information to Heart, I foolishly did not write down any number or names etc. The only name I had was the one of the company I would be working for.

After 17 hours in the back of an airplane and 2 or 3 plastic meals, I wasn’t in the mood for too many problems, and my bullshitameter was pegged. After about an hour of sitting around waiting for a company representative to arrive I happened to hear a guy speaking American English so I asked him if he knew the number to the “Dime-whore” people on the U.S. Army base. As luck would have it he did and gave them a call. I thanked the man for his help and sat down to wait for the rep to show up.

After another hour or so I saw a guy approaching holding a sign upside down that said “Dime-whore”, I had to chuckle at this moron who just happened to look like a cross between Humpty Dumpty and Clem Kadiddlehopper. But, I was relieved to finally see someone so I could at least go to my apartment to get some sleep.  I stuck out my hand and introduced myself and all this A-hole could say was “Grab your shit”, “Let’s go”.

And so began my association with most likely the worst employer I have ever had in my life. This job was filled with the largest bunch of neurotics, misfits and losers (my self included) I had ever seen in one place.

This Job seemed to be a dumping ground for X army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Air Force PJ’s , Rangers etc. Oh, and SWAT team members. And just about everyone I spoke with had an advanced degree from a university. I was a miracle to have that many highly qualified people in one spot!

In actuality, aside from a few guys with legit qualifications, most of the  people working there were non combat arms types like cooks, secretaries and truck drivers. There was also a smattering of correctional officers and former policemen. I noticed that a lot of the Police officers who worked there had been fired from or asked to resign from their jobs in the states. We even had one guy that got his experience from being a Wal-Mart security guard!

Out of the hundreds of guys that cycled through that job I only met maybe 10 that were what I would call “Normal”. Those guys headed out to better jobs with other military contracting companies is a very short time.

I completed my 1 year contract with this company but it was a difficult because there always seems to be guys and gals around who love to make things more difficult then they need to be.

During my “Training” I was issued 3 sets of uniforms, a Kevlar helmet with no head band or chin strap. A gas mask with no filters, a pistol belt with a broken buckle, a broken right handed pistol holster (I’m left handed), 2 ammo pouches with no buckles and a bullet proof vest with no trauma plates,  And the most uncomfortable pair of boots I have ever worn.

Later on I purchased my own equipment and boots out of pocket.

The training consisted mostly of standing around on the various posts listening to the guys who had been there for a while complain about the job. One thing though, we did get to qualify with the M16A2 rifle and do a familiarization fire on the M2 50 cal machine gun.And prior to deployment, I had to quality with a 9mm pistol on a police standards course.

In due time, I was assigned to the main gate of the base. Personally, I think it was because I could speak complete sentences and didn’t use several colorful metaphors in trying to describe something.

On the gate I met 4 interesting guys with whom I enjoyed working. One of the guys, Jon martin, had traveled all over the world for free doing military contracts. We ended up sharing an apartment together. He was a good roomie and usually had a few lovely ladies hanging around.

Another guy was Lee Head AKA “the pimp of Doha” this rascal had more ladies in the year I was there then Kareem Abdul Jabar claimed to have had in his basketball career. Lee was from Florida if I remember correctly, and was a former county deputy and army vet. Lee had some great stories from his days as a cop in the sunshine state.

Then there was Roger Her from North Carolina, he was a good guy out building a resume to be a military contractor. I admire the fact that he never made any claims about being anything like a SWAT cop, army ranger or navy seal ,commando, CIA. or gung ho guy.

What impressed me is that as shitty as this job was, Roger did it every day in a dedicated professional manner. And later on he went to K9 handler’s school then worked in Iraq as a dog handler for 2 or 3 years.

And finally the Old vet Jimmy Reser. He had vast experience with armies all over the world and was the best K9 handler I have ever met or had the privilege to work with. Jimmy is an expert horse/mule handler, hunter and mountain man. He also liked to smoke Cuban cigars as much as I do.

I loved working with these guys and a few others, but the majority were pretty worthless.

After working on the main gate for a while in the heat, humidity and blazing sun I began to look around for other options.

While on the Bus coming into work I noticed some M2 machine gun positions with the guys manning them sitting around in the shade. I asked about them and was surprised to hear that most people didn’t like to man those positions or work in the guard towers due to boredom. Hell Bells! I’m an introvert and it sounded perfect to me.

What I hated most about working the gates was the forced interaction with folks coming on and off base. But worst of all was interacting with my fellow employees aside from the ones I mentioned.

In a tower or on a gun I could sit there in relative peace and quiet unless some A-hole came by to test my knowledge of the post orders and weapons etc., which was pretty common. I never understood those guys that have to make things more difficult then they need to be.

It was my practice to avoid talking to or hanging out with 90+% of the guys I worked with. The recruiters who hired there characters must have went to every halfway house and bus station in the USA looking for people. Most were severe alcoholics and chain smokers and were usually broke all of the time due to spending all of their per dium and pay on booze, hookers and smokes.

Qatar itself was a tiny shit hole of a country. Like all Middle Eastern countries it is not a pleasant place to live due to the rules and laws of Islam where everything is “Haram”. Now, I’m all for religious freedom and freedom of choice but Islam does not allow for any lateral movement. I love pork products, booze and ladies. If you are Muslim it is Haram – forbidden. And if you are not Muslim it is still Haram.

I can’t live under that yoke. Besides, anyplace where it is forbidden to hold hands with or kiss a lady in public is not my kind of place.

I believe and many of my friends believe that the Middle East was (and still is to me) a real shit hole place to live. Less than 60 years ago those folks were living in tents in the desert now they are enjoying the good life due to oil which foreigners helped them find, when the oil runs out they will be back to living in tents again.

Anyway, back to “Dime-whore”, I worked there for a year mostly on the M2 positions or in the towers. I got lucky and made friends with the project manager who happened to be from Arizona. The PM hooked me up with a sweet gig at the Primary ammo supply point about 40 miles from the base. Aside from the drive to and from work it was a great place to work. It is a case of simple demographics – fewer people, fewer problems.

PSP was peopled by older guys, most were retired army or USMC and were not into the drama associated with the younger crowd. If I had not gone to PSP I would have not returned from my vacation.

In Qatar, I worked 7 months straight before I had a day off, then I went on vacation. In fact my 2 weeks of vacation, and the 10 scheduled days off I had in a year, were my only free time in Qatar.

After returning from my vacation in Nepal, I was sitting on my front porch smoking a Cuban cigar in the apartment complex where a lot of us lived, when I saw this piratical looking character walking around. I was tempted to call security but noticed he looked like an American…..

Turns out he was indeed American – from Minnesota of all places! I struck up a conversation with him because he had an intelligent looking face. His name was Jeff Olson and as I was to learn later, one of the most piratical, scallywag, intelligent rascals I ever ran into.

Jeff had something like 10 years in the USAF security field, worked as an EMT , rode horses, loved guns, travel and survival stuff. My kinda guy!

After a few months of working at the PSP, I was offered a position as the force protection equipment tech, or FPET/ DYN4, this job was to take care of all the electronic equipment used in the security of the base – easy peasy. I worked as the FPET for the remainder of my time in Qatar, I decided not to renew my contract even with this easy job. There were too many Army senior officers that really got on my nerves and also too many “Dime – whore” officers that were equally annoying.

Living and working in Qatar as a military contractor was a good experience for me, I learned that the contractor world is too full of self-important types for me, and I also learned that I do not care to work in that environment . I’ll stick to the outdoors where the people I know are real and not trying to impress me with bullshit.

Col Tomahawk – see you on the trail!

 

Home Made Chewing tobacco

The other day I was walking around the Carbon Market in Cebu city PI and found a bunch of vendors selling Hands (leaves) of Tobacco.

The sight and smell of the tobacco took me back about a million years to my family farm in Illinois, My older brother and I would grow our own tobacco and hang it in the barn to cure then make our own chew or smokes from that.

While in High school I read the book "King Rat" by James Clavell. The book is about POW's in Changee prison in Singapore during WW2. In the book There was a paragraph or two on how they local Malay folks processed tobacco the raw tobacco into chew and smoke for themselves.

I decided to try it out myself all those years ago and discovered that the process turns out a decent tobacco for smoking and chewing.

Anyway, my process is pretty similar ; I purchased several hands of tobacco and make myself some chew like I did all those years ago in Illinois. Obtain some decent tobacco leaves, remove stems, cut the tobacco into bite sized pieces (i used a scissors), soak it for a while in green tea to remove some of the nicotine, squeeze out the tea and let it dry a bit, place the semi dry tobacco into a cast iron skillet, add a liberal amount of sugar (i used palm sugar), then slowly dry out the tobacco and melt the sugar over a low flame, constantly stirring to tobacco to keep it from burning.

Once the sugar has melted and has coated the tobacco well, let it cool for bit, then enjoy the chew. I am not a smoker but my brother use to smoke the tobacco we processed this way from his home made pipe (maple bowl, willow stem).

Just thought you guys and Gals might get a kick out of this process and maybe try it for yourselves.

tomahawk - scouts out!

THAI STYLE JUNGLE KNIVES

 

 THAI STYLE JUNGLE KNIVES

Over the past few years in Thailand, and the Philippines I have been enjoying camping and foraging with my many friends. In fact Yesterday was spent fishing and foraging for snails and wild edibles in the woods. My friends know quite a bit about the local wild edibles so I tend to listen and learn from them.

In the evening, we cooked the fish ,snails and mushrooms that we collected in the woods ,we feasted on those goodies ,along with the ever present sticky rice.

A few years ago, A lady friend and me  headed to the small town of Laopaksai, in Thailand. In that town, I met a local blacksmith and tool maker named Saijung Kaipo. His forge was set up next to his house. I really liked his simple forge and the simplistic way his show was set up,such as the old tractor tire he uses for a water trough, primitive bellows etc. I noticed that Saijung Kaipo, uses a lot of scrap metal, leaf springs etc. for his knives and tools.

Saijung can make several different sizes and styles of knives but ,what I like the most are his hand forged Axe and Hatched heads. These heads remind me of some of the hand forged tomahawk heads I have seen in the USA.

These Knives and Axe/hatchet heads have a nice heft , some of the knives come with tubular handles and others with wood. One thing that I have noticed in Thailand (at least in this area) is that they don't seem to use a sheath for their jungle knives like you see in the Philippines or Malaysia. I have seen some knife sheaths here made from a heated and flattened piece of PVC pipe tho, pretty cool and efficient.

Over a period of a few months, I hung out with saijung, learning his style of knife making. He even showed me how to make an Axe head, it was a bit tough to do, but we managed to get it done using his simple tools. I have studied blacksmithing in Arizona, Minnesota, the Philippines and Now Thailand.

I like learning these skills from true experts in their fields, using simple techniques, tools and age old skills. It feels good to have this skill set in my bag of wilderness tricks.

See you on the trail!

Col Tomahawk

The trout Lily

 Trout Lily -

(Erythronium americanum) I first heard about this plant when I was just a kid read the book "My side of the mountain" by Gene George. I was just out in the woods walking around looking for signs of Morel Mushrooms AKA

Morchella. it is getting to be about that time of year when both plants are coming up. Theses 2 combined with Ramps AKA wild leeks are a great combo in a springtime feed. Added to beef or wild meat they form a delightful meal.

After searching a south facing slope for Morels and finding nothing I turned my attention to the Trout lilys. I harvested a few bulbs and will add them to my evening coleslaw mix

Please feel free to check out the information I have posted for your convenience.

https://www.auburn.edu/~deancar/wfnotes/troutliy.htm

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

In rich moist woods in early March, a tiny lily only six to ten inches tall can be found in the Piedmont and mountainous regions of Alabama. This beautiful member of the Lily Family has many common names, including Trout Lily, and Dog-tooth Violet.
The Trout Lily is pollinated by ants, and after a seed is planted, it will take up to seven years to make a mature plant. Only plants that have two leaves will flower.
The mature plant has two mottled basal leaves, and a small lily nodding from the top of a leafless stem (scape). The lily is yellow, with three sepals and three petals (six tepals). The sepals are yellow on the inside and purplish brown on the back. The petals are entirely yellow. The lily opens each morning and closes each night, but during the middle of a bright day the tepals open so far that they are all curved backwards (reflexed).The plant grows from a deep rootstock or corm which is three to five inches underground, and it often spreads from offshoots of this corm, thus creating colonies of trout lilies. They grow best in a deciduous woodland environment where they receive filtered light in the spring. They prefer a humus rich soil.

Kentucky colonels

Just for the education of IGNORANT morons like Mykel Pierce AKA "Mykel Hawke" and his zombie followers. Here is a bit of information you might get someone to read for you.

Yet, Mr. Hawke chooses to disrespect me, the Kentucky Colonels assn, and my gofund me efforts. I post a GFM campaign yearly but Normally pay for the ticket myself . I journey to Asia where I do yearly volunteer work with Kids in Cambodia and Myanmar.

And moreover, for the record. There is no mention of me being a Kentucky Colonel on my go fund me campaign. You can check it out for yourself via the link provided.

https://www.gofundme.com/ticket-fund-to-se-asia

The Kentucky Colonels is a voluntary philanthropic organization. Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the governor and the secretary of state to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's commission, by issuance of letters patent.

http://kycolonels.org/

Colonel Tomahawk

"Left for Dead" by Rickey Megee

I recently picked up a copy of this book. The synopsis looks pretty good. Im looking forward to reading the entire book.


Here is a short review; - Author unknown

"An extraordinary true story of abduction and survival, told vividly and with candour. Both shocking and inspiring, Left for Dead in the Outback is the gripping tale of how one man endured a terrible ordeal and lived to tell the tale. A real-life boy s own adventure which will appeal to anyone with an interest in inspirational tales of endurance in the face of terrible odds. No shoes, no vehicle, no food, no water and no idea. I d always been one of those blokes who ragged on people who found themselves lost in the desert. Now I was one of those people. It was hard, desolate country for a man all alone in bare feet. Nevertheless, I started to walk. And walk. The more I walked, I figured, the less distance I d have to travel to get found. It was faulty logic, but it was the best I could come up with. In April 2006 the news broke of an amazing feat of survival by a white man in one of the most inhospitable areas of Australia. Ricky Megee was found sheltering by a dam on a remote cattle property in the Northern Territory. After being abducted on the Buntine Highway, drugged, then left for dead, Ricky had walked for ten days in bare feet through unforgiving terrain in blistering heat. Stumbling upon a dam, he set up camp there and survived for almost three months on leeches, grasshoppers, frogs and plants, losing 60 kg in the process. In Left for Dead in the Outback, Ricky Megree gives a full and frank account of his abduction and survival, for the first time since his extraordinary rescue. Vividly told, its a gripping yet inspiring story of how one man endures a terrible ordeal and lives to tell the tale."

American Loser survival "Experts"

This is simply my opinion, not fact; based on personal experience and information obtained through the internet, TV and social media, oh! and the freedom of information act

Did you ever notice how petty and juvenile acting the American survival "experts" are? Not so with the Canadian, UK, Kiwi, or Aussie guys. Someone did point out to me that Les and Ray mears have made comments about other survival guys.

However, Only the Americans are back stabbing shit stirrers. None of them has ever packed a bag and flew 1/2 way around the world on a 1 way ticket, then survived or lived on their own. Each of these "experts" has either had the support of a production company or the military, or both. One individual I had the displeasure of working with on a TV series had NO outdoor skills or experience at all. His claim to wilderness fame was that he was an Green Beret and liked archery. He admitted that he had never been camping or spent a night alone in the outdoors. Yet, Discovery and the production company billed him as an "expert" in survival.

I have unlimited respect for the men of special forces, but Being a Ranger, Sniper, Green Beret, Navy SEAL, USAF pararescue, etc. does NOT automatically make you a survival expert.

 I loosely followed the online hatchet job perpetuated by Mykel Pierce AKA "Mykel hawke" against Joe Teti, it appears to me someone is jealous of the other and just wants to see them fired. I also read about the accusations by hawke/Pierce and others that teti threatened them and made false claims about his military contractor experience etc. It still  seems pretty juvenile to me, Im sure it was his narcissistic attitude that got him fired from Discovery. Yet, Hawke/pierce had the nerve to make a comment to me about how I should respect other veterans, what a hypocrite.

 Again Teti appears in the saga of Cody Lundin, the bare foot Hippy survival "expert" on  the show "Dual Survival". Teti appears to me another huge a-hole narcissist and would have been difficult to work with. I applaud both Matt and Cody for being able to work with him. Me? I would have drove and ice pick through his skull on the 1st day.

 I remember when Cody wore shoes and carried a green river knife. His barefoot idea came about from another BOSS instructor who went by the colorful moniker of "Earthworm". I seriously doubt that Cody had ever seen or even heard of a Mora knife until Mors Kohanski introduced them to the American bushcraft scene at the 1990 Rabbit stick Rendezvous.

In a phone conversation with Matt Graham several months before Cody was fired from Discovery for his tantrum with Teti. Matt told me (in october) that he was replacing Cody on "dual" in the next few months. Then, in January ( i think it was) I heard Cody was "Fired". Hmmm, it strikes me that the shit runs deep with Discovery channel.

Then there is Dave Cantebury, the most annoying "expert" of all. I can remember him on all the forums a few years ago asking people how to make bow & drill fires, then whamo! the next thing you know he is a survival "expert" on TV. He also made claims of being an Army Ranger His exact quote was;
“As an Ex Army Ranger,Survival Instructor,and Extreme Hunter I expect alot from my gear. It is for that reason that the gear advertised for sale on this site has all been tested by myself and my son in a variety of extreme conditions. When your life depends on what little you carry-Buy from Wilderness Outfitters. We appreciate your business.”. It has been proven that He is NOT a Ranger,  he is guilty of stolen valor and stealing other people intellectual property and claiming them as his own original ideas....petty, juvenile, and bush league. And, he apparently stupid if he thought that he could make false claims about being a ranger in the internet age. Someone - Most likely a Ranger, would call you out on it.

I am amazed but not surprised to see idiotic people following all of the a fore mentioned A-holes, and continue to believe that they are Wilderness survival "experts".

Personally, Id love to see a TV show featuring all of the knucklehead American survival "experts" fired from Dick-scovery channel. Might as well throw in Bear grills and terry schappert too for comic relief. Put them all on an Island with no connections to a production crew or social media. I seriously doubt any of them could make it past 3 days.

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk

(UPDATE) - Apparently  Hawke has taken umbridge to my post. He thinks that his name being mentioned 3 times in a 7 line paragraph, Posted on an unpopular blog is - in his words- a "Smear campaign".The only one "smearing" anything is him. According to various sources on the internet he is sending notes and emails to people stating this. For someone who is trying to keep a low profile and at the very least some semblance of decency, he is doing his very best to spread the word about nothing.....his saga about teti is old news. As stated in the opening line of this post - I am simply voicing my opinion, it is not fact. If the afore mentioned individual considers this to be a "Smear campaign" he is a bigger ego maniac then previously assumed.

I had nothing against Hawke personally , I was , - as I stated - simply voicing my own opinion. Hawk on the other hand is vastly different. He talks about stating facts etc. but continues to send messages and texts to people via FB and other media slamming me as a "Pan handler" for my Go fund me campaign. Talk about a guy whose is very disrespectful and knows NOTHING about the facts in regard to me. Hypocrite Hawke can eat a bowl of dicks;

More crazy psycho babble from Hero Mykel Hawke - dude is definately out there; Dude is going to a lot of effort for nothing. Contacting the "FOIA Folks" for what? I think this jackass actually believes Im claiming to be a real colonel or something. Jokes on him, what is the old addage? when you assume you make an ass out of - u and - me.

Removing posts? Lying about military records to make money off people? Hmmm, I think mr. Hawke needs to calm dowm and as he likes to say "Get the facts" before he once again make a public ass out of himself

Via Facebook;

Ken Lunn i'm not saying that... yet. is spoke to all the stolen valor folks today, and we agree, it looks and smells wrong. so, we put in the FOIA requests today. it takes 4-8 weeks to get them back. if he's legit, awesome kudos and i will post his praise, cause that's how i am, even to folks who are jerks to me. but if he's lyin', then i think there will be some sadness coming to his world. i don't know him, never said or did anything to him. he chose to beat on me, and hey, i am cool with that too. but when he beats on me about teti, then he shames three dead men, the victims of teti's wrongs and the special forces community as well as me and my family, and all my claims are true, documented, published, posted and proven true by both friend and foe. so, for him to attack on that front, opened the door for a real combat vet and special forces officer to check some facts. i hear tell, he took my photo off his wrongful attack blog and he's already taken this money begging request off line, too. no matter, i document stuff legal and proper and already have the legal proof. my aim is true and my purpose truth. if someone is lying about their military records and using those lies to ask money from the public, that is indeed, stolen valor, fact of law. as a duty to my country and people, i will not abide that on my watch. i truly hope colonel thomas d. moore is what he says because i take no pride in fighting fellow americans. the fact that he has started removing posts, implies he already knows he's wrong. the irony is, moore made a post about americans back stabbing americans and then he goes and does exactly that? kinds seems like hypocracy to me.... just saying. y'all believe whatever ya' like. i do highly recommend folks check facts before you decide what to believe. in this modern era, there seems to be more liars that truth tellers, sad to say. but the truth is out there... ask mulder... peace ! 🙂

(UPDATE 3/24/17)

" moore made a post about americans back stabbing americans and then he goes and does exactly that?" Well that may be Myke, but I dont claim to be a survival expert or TV celeb, and I an certainly not in the public eye. I know you seem to have a hard time assimilating information so, let me spell it out for you - my personal opinion in the above post is about so called TV survival "experts"......learn to read .

Cambium harvest and tinder bundles.

 Recently I had to fell a dead standing tulip poplar - Liriodendron tulipifera - This afforded me the opportunity to harvest the cambium which I turned into tinder bundles for fire making. I always try to carry a few in my fire making kit just in case. This harvest will yield about 40-45 bundles.

See you on the trail!

Tomahawk