Fuzzilicious Thinking: Carroll Lex LeFon: The Goodbye (and it was good)

I wasn't able to make it to Lex's fairwell but Beth did an excellent job of telling it, thank you.

Fuzzilicious Thinking: Carroll Lex LeFon: The Goodbye (and it was good): i

How to do a mass text list or mailing list on an Android Phone

I just came back from a trip to Key West and I set up a mass text list for the 68 enlisted people that were out there with me.  I haven’t heard of anyone else doing it and it worked pretty good so I'm going to share it here.  I used this method to send out the phone numbers of our daily duty drivers, pass info on and since I was the Det LPO, I needed everyone's phone number in case there was a problem or someone wasn't where they were supposed to be.  This saved hours of time and we were able to change plans on a moments notice, almost like we had modern communication equipment! 

This works if you have an Android Phone (maybe Blackberry too, not sure about iPhones since I don't own one).  If you have an Android phone, you also have a Gmail account, I’ll put it together is steps.

This method is if you plan on putting the phone numbers in by hand (which I did)

11,         Go to Gmail.

22.       Click on the Gmail button on the top left hand of the screen.

33.       It will bring down a pull down menu, click “Contacts”

44.       If the contact isn’t a contact yet, you need to add them as a contact by clicking “New Contact”.

55.       After they are added, open up their contact card, click on the little crowd of people under the search bar that says “groups” when you put the curser over it and click “Create new” and call it what you will.

66.       Add names like that by opening up the contact you want on that list, clicking on the group icon, and clicking on the group.

77.       To send out mass txt’s by that method, open Messaging on your phone

88.       Click New Message, then Group and scroll down to the group you want

99.       Click on the names of the people you want to send messages to after you’re done, click Add.

110.   Type a message and send it

111.   MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED TEXTING PLAN OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!

112.   If you need to send something to all of the same people, just type anther message to them on the same string, you don’t have to click on the individual names again.

There is another method which theoretically should work that I’m going to try next time if I have all of the numbers on an excel file, I’ll export a group into an Outlook CSV, open that file and change all of the information to the numbers on the excel and Import it back into Gmail.

Remembering Captain Carroll “Neptunus Lex” LeFon USN (Ret.) 1960-2012

Back in 2004, when I started this thing called Doc in the Box, there were only a few Navy bloggers, Scott of Lt. Smash, Cdr Salamander, Chapomatic and Kevin of Primary Main Objective.  Lex was the guy who had lived all of the Top Gun stories, he was the aviator’s aviator and even better, told those stories on his blog Neptunus Lex.  Later, when I finally met him in person and found out that he was a Navy Captain and probably the most senior military blogger (side not to civilians, a Navy Captain is an O-6, squadrons are commanded by O-5’s mostly and on any given large base, there might be 3 to 6 Captains.  One in charge of the base, one for each carrier air group, maybe one at a hospital.  I’m currently attached to the largest squadron in the Navy and my CO is a Commander or an O-5, pretty big deal) and he was at my house for a blogger get together and I was definitely the kid at the adult table.  Unlike most of us cyber nerds, he was bigger than that large online persona that he assumed.  Over the years, I had met up with him at milblog conferences, dinners and once at a change of command which I didn’t recognize him at first in a suit.  Without fail, he always had a crowd of people around him and he was telling a story.  That guy burned with inner charisma and people hushed to hear what he had to say.  I admit, I had a bit of hero worship. 

But one on one, he was just a good guy with whom I’ve broke bread, he’s eaten my curry and bar-b-q chicken and we’ve turned up a cold one or three.  He was that way to everyone and if you search his name across the blogosphere, there are hundreds of people who are saying the same thing.  Lex was a giant among us and a true warrior poet.

I found out last night that he was involved in crash at NAS Fallon working as a contractor flying an Israeli F-21 Kfir by way of an underground Facebook message string of everybody who has ever been involved in military blogging, it blew up my phone.  I’ve never seen anything or imagined anything like it, seeing how many people this guy touched in his 51 years.  I say it with a heavy heart, you are missed, fair winds and following seas brother.  Through us, your friends and readers, you will not be forgotten and your memory will live on.


Story on the Navy Times

The best write up about Iraq I've seen lately

I Miss Iraq, I Miss My Gun, I Miss My War this guy knows what he's talking about.

I've had days and weeks where I miss the weight of the armor on my shoulders, a weapon on my hip and sweet sound of a round being chambered. Unlike this guy, I can be blithe in reality about most of my trips except for those moments that still are burned behind my eyelids that I have trouble putting into words. Life in war wasn't the stasis of base life, it was a state of being beyond the wire, being shot at by someone who wanted to kill you and you doing the same thing back.

Taking care of the bride

The lovely bride is under the weather with a head cold which I've been treating with sudafed, tylenol, cold compresses, warm liquids and TLC.  Tonight she was lying about complaining about sinus pain and head ache so... I introduced her to the move I losely call the Afrin head bang.  I had her lay on her back with her head hanging upside down and spray it in her nose.  She yelled and I held her down for a second while her feet kicked and she said, "You're trying to kill me!"  Five minutes later, my head feels better!  Disclaimer on Afrin, don't use it more then 3 days.

Climbing Corona Del Mar's Green Burrito 1993

I used to climb back in the day when I was skinny, this one day, I wasn't really planning on going to the beach but somehow ended up there without the right shoes and saw some folk trying one of my favorite routes. It's not about how strong you are nor the gear that you have, it's about the skill or talent that you have inside.

Marvel Phoenix Time Lapse Tattoo Finish

I've been a fan of Marvel's Jean Grey as Phoenix since I was a little kid and used to have dreams of bursting into flame and flying away.  Those went away after catching myself on fire for real a couple of times but the thoughts still linger.  My wife surprised me last year with an appointment with Meghan Ortez of 92 Proof Tattoo in Lemoore to check out my idea for a Phoenix and we decided on a plan of attack.  After finishing up my first 7 and a half hour session I thought, that would look pretty cool on time lapse and below is the finished product of what I came up with.  20 hours total, 12 of those hours condensed in the video below to Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge" which I think fits. Thanks Meghan for the great work and the bride for starting it off and running the camera.

And this is how it turned out

California Marines We're Unforgettable

This was my old squadron HMM-764, I'm glad someone took over the picture and video taking after I left, good job guys!

Phoenix Tattoo

My third tattoo in time lapse, this was my second sitting and I made a video of it.  The artist is Meghan Ortez, shop 92 Proof Tattoo in Lemoore CA and the amazing camera girl is my bride.

Book Review of Robert McCammon's: The Five

First off, Robert McCammon is my favorite author bar none and I consider Boy's Life one of the best works laid out in the English language.  But that and the review below are both personal opinions, I wrote the below for Audible.com

"This story flows like a river"

With every word of this book, Robert McCammon builds an elaborate web that goes across the American southwest, an epic and yet still a personnel battle between good and evil, makes you question your decisions and lays the groundwork and the reasoning behind deeds done later. The heroes of this book are hugely flawed, and the villains even after doing horrible crimes, aren't beyond redemption. The book is magic but it's not quite a fantasy, there are magical elements. It's the magic of what lies under our perceptions and the movers that are behind the scene. 


The book takes place from the viewpoints of the band members, their manager and a damaged Veteran of the Iraq war who was at the point of suicide at the beginning of the book and see's a music video that the band made protesting the war and it touched him.... but not in a good way.

Like most of McCammon's work, at the end of the day, you'll leave after grieving, laughing with joy, shivering in the shadows, saying, "Oh no!" and falling in love with the characters and feeling hope for the next day.  Good job Sir!

Key West

Back in Key West, groggy first day on the ground, I would like to say its from partying hard but we just got in late last night due to flight delays from the Lemoore fog that filled the cetral valley like milk in a cup.  A midnight trip to Dennys of which in hindsight, sleep would have done me more good.

On the medical side of the house, so far so good.  Hopefully I'll get a pole in the water tomorrow.  The bride missed this trip, she has her final for her Masters degree in a couple of days.  Yawn!  Even a bad day in Key West is better then a good day in Lemoore! 

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

Where Soldiers Come From

"From a snowy, small town in northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends who join the National Guard after graduating from high school. As it chronicles the young men’s transformation from restless teenagers to soldiers looking for roadside bombs to 23-year-old combat veterans trying to start their lives again, the film offers an intimate look at the young Americans who fight our wars, the families and towns they come from — and the way one faraway conflict changes everything. A co-production of Quincy Hill Films and ITVS in association with American Documentary | POV, with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (90 minutes)" 

Watch Where Soldiers Come From - Trailer on PBS. See more from POV.

Veteran's Day # 8 for DITB

Have you gone out and hugged a Veteran today?  This year might being a close to the Iraq conflict and a general wind down.  Military budgets are also slimming down, peacetime doesn't need as many mouths to feed and boots on the other side of the world and as any period of history can show you, this is never a smooth transition.  In this time of cuts, there are still many people who are supporting the Vet.

Knott's Berry Farm Veterans Day Tribute, 1st through the 24th of November is free for the military person and a guest, each extra person is 17 bucks.

Here's a list of 195 military discounts which I'll put on my sidebar later

Stores & Services Offering Military Discounts

www.bradsdeals.com/military

Blackhawk ride around NAS Lemoore

My department does the flight physicals for the local National Guard folks up in Fresno, as a gesture of good will, they called us on Friday and asked if we would like a ride.  So I gathered the people who were able and up we went, here's a video.  Thanks guys, we had a great time!