Sometimes both sides are right and both sides are wrong

When there are things to do and people to see on a repeat basis, the day that these activities are to to take place seems to roll around so quickly, the week seems to have only three days. So it is with Tuesdays.

The Old Men of the Mountain met Tuesday, the first day of November, at the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg. Wasn’t yesterday Tuesday? The day pops up much faster than a Thursday.

In a previous column, an OF mentioned the Army Air Corps. Another OF said it should have been the Army Air Force.

This information sent this scribe to the net to check it out. Like anything with government involvement, it became very convoluted. The OFs were each half right.

It was the United States Army Air Corps. from 1926 to 1941.* (That asterisk is where the confusion lies.)  The Air Corps was discontinued on March 9, 1942 but in paperwork only it continued to exist as a branch of the Army (similar to the infantry, quartermaster, or artillery) until the reorganization act of 1947.

It took two years to complete the transfer of all military and civilian personnel to the Department of Defense and be called just the Air Force. So it became the USAF on June 22, 1949.

The semantics of this type of information is what makes discussions and arguments go on forever, both sides using their points and refusing to budge. As said, both are right, and both are wrong.

However, the patch was changed from the three-bladed propeller, to the wings and star in March 1942, which would help the argument of the U.S. Air Force being used while it was still a division of the Army until 1949. During the limbo period of 1942 to 1949, it was called the USAAF: United States Army Air Force. And, in 1949, the “Army” was dropped. Now you know the rest of the story.

Figuring inflation

The OFs tried to compute the price of inflation and what many items cost today. Many OFs mentioned what they paid for their first homes in the early forties and middle fifties and what the same house would go for today.

The OFs also included vehicles, and some items of clothing. Then, of course, there was the price of having a baby in the late forties, and early fifties and what it costs today. Within this topic, education and medicine were mentioned.

To the OFs, the current price of many products and services seems to far exceed the rate of inflation. Somehow we need a good reporter in the paper to scope this out and write an article in simple terms that the OFs can understand. Along with this, it was suggested large jumps in pay could be justified.

Growing up with bullies

The OFs took on the subject of bullying. Many of the OFs (this scribe included) said they had to contend with bullies and it was part of growing up,

And, as far as the conversation went, the OFs dealt with it, some with help and some by themselves. Only a few had to deal with gang bullying of a sort that was hard.

Is this something that has really gotten out of hand and with the advent of the internet a more serious threat? The OFs did not have to deal with that.

They met the bullying head on; if it was the physical kind, it would be similar to Ralphie in “A Christmas Story.” The mental type is a harder battle to win; the OFs thought this was the type you really needed help on.

The OFs also thought many of those who were bullied turned out better later on in life because of the experience than the one doing the bullying. The OFs could not remember anyone with physical or mental handicaps being bullied, but as one OF said: Back then, they were mostly in institutions and not out in harm’s way.

One OF said that the OFs had to remember we were in small schools, with small classes, and anyone who started out bullying only had to do it a couple of times and they were well taken care of and wouldn’t even think of continuing on with the practice.

Sharing fears

Along with this was another topic which came up later but is related because it is a problem the OFs deal with and work their way through — phobias.

The OFs talked about some of the phobias they have like claustrophobia, and acrophobia, and whatever name they attach to the phobia of bridges.

One OF mentioned that, when he drives over a bridge, his hands grip the wheel so tight that, if he were much stronger, he would crush the steering wheel. The OF said he looks straight ahead and is sure he does not blink. Some bridges he even slows down a bit before starting across.

Fear of flying was another one, and an OF said that this was more common than people think. Another OF added that he hates closed-in, tight places and thought that this might add to the fear of flying; it is not the flying but being closed in that the OF said was his problem.

All these OFs, though scared silly, did fly, and did drive over bridges. The OFs also talked about their fear (and this scribe began to get the feeling it was more a dislike than actual fear) of snakes, bats, and spiders. On the Hill, these critters are a part of the landscape and most who live there learned to cope with them.

Those OFs who made it to the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg and ate well even though they had to drive off a bridge to get there were: Robie Osterman, Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Chuck Aelesio, Richard Frank, Bill Lichliter, Roger Shafer (who is going to be playing and singing at Mrs. K’s on the 17th of this month), Harold Guest, John Rossmann, Jack Norray (who again brought flags for the Duanesburg Diner), Wayne Gaul, Mace Porter, Glenn Patterson, Otis Lawyer, Mark Traver, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Elwood Vanderbilt, Richard Vanderbilt, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Henry Whipple, Harold Grippen, and me.