I want to thank all of you...
for making me aware of this deal and then helping me make the transaction happen.
I just came back from a sunset flag retirement ceremony hosted by the military base and the Boy Scouts. As the Assistant District Commissioner, I was proud of the Scouts and how the ceremony went. It was very nice indeed.
Memorial Days are difficult for me anyway. I tend to remember many of my friends who paid the ultimate price during their military careers, many not in battle, but in training accidents. I was a Marine Corps pilot that saw several friends that did not make it out of serious mechanical, weather, or situational problems. The new Harrier jet took several in the early 1980s. I too had some close calls, so I often wonder why I was lucky, and they, and their families were not. I landed one A4 Skyhawk on a civilian field with oil pressure light and rising exhaust gas temperature, to find out later that there was not a drop of oil left in the case and any further delay in my decisions to land would have resulted in a total engine failure and ejection. Then there was the time I was on a maintenance check flight and just happened to have a back seater (not usual), when after running the hydraulic control disconnect, I had a simultaneous runaway trim, and we able to muscle the aircraft to the ground, which I would not have been able to do alone. I shook for several hours after that one. But I was lucky, always brought the aircraft back to the deck. Always got ordnance on target. Always knew which way was up in socked in weather.
However, on this Memorial Day the camaraderie displayed by my online friends at North Carolina Woodworker was fantastic. PChristy posts this wonderful deal on a Hawk scroll saw. In fact, this is a saw that I have been drooling over for several years. I have been looking for one for a while. Eight years ago, I wanted a Hawk, but settled for a less pricey model, that the wife would approve.
Then when one was available, it was being sold by seller needing immediate cash, and would not wait until I could return to the USA from overseas duty. Yet, once again, TracyP steps up, and living only a few miles from the seller, has the ability to accept my PayPal payment, and arrange a pickup.
The loyalty, teamwork, and dedication to fellow woodworkers is amazing. The North Carolina Woodworker works as good as any military unit I have ever been in. All of you deserve a thank-you and a pat on the back for a job well done.
I salute you,
Guy Belleman
Chemistry & physics Teacher, Department of Defense Schools
Assistant District Commissioner, Far East Council, BSA
Major USMC(retired)
