radiochaser

1 minute ago, Expatthailover said:

Usual rednecks out and about I see.

After a busy night burning crosses and books they take to social media 

Have you ever met anyone in the klan?   I have.

I used to live in Louisiana as a child.  I remember them talking about wanting to kill the black (not the word they used) loving republicans.  

That makes me think that the cross burning rednecks were democrats!

3 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

130 kmh is around 80 mph, not that fast, but taking the average driving environment in this blessed country, the fear and subsequent adrenaline rush can make it feel somewhat faster.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Yes.  It is only 117.33 feet per second.  

Not fast at all.

10 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

It could have been more fun if you had had a couple of girls with you.

Or even one!  

Totally off topic.

This reminds me of the fun I used to have with night hikes in California.  

Just me, my map, a compass and an altimeter.  Hiking miles into the mountains, or onto military bases.  

Go in at night.  Just hang out and have a lazy day.  Then hike back out the next night.  

46 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Pentagon Papers.

 

Interesting, what little that I have skimmed over in the last few minutes.  I did not know that the Pentagon Papers were available for reading and is not what I had imagined them to be.  

So far, after looking at the index and and some of the pdf documents that I opened, it appears to be more of a historical report of the U.S. involvement with Vietnam, rather than a report of illegal and immoral activities of the U.S. government.   It also stops, it would appear, in the year 1967.  Still, it looks to be interesting reading.  

I will see if I can track some of what is reported in the, "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force", to other, partially declassified material that I have downloaded from the Internet.   I will even post the link of the underacted report to groups of people that were there (some who may have already read this report), at least from 1960 and onwards, working in Signals Intelligence and Electronic Intelligence gathering activities, in Vietnam.  Similar to what I participated in from the late part of 1970 through to early 1973.  

As to illegal and immoral activities.  You should have seen the reports the VC and NVA sent to their headquarters in Hanoi, of the terroristic activities they committed against the South Vietnamese people. 

I do not recall seeing the release of any reports, by the U.S. news media, or the U.S. government about the physical, emotional, and psychological cruelty the VC and NVA committed.  Acts similar to those of some of the other  communist regimens of the world. 

2 minutes ago, sungod said:

He wouldn't have been the navigator by any chance?

Could be.  I don't know.  He said he was one of the rescue force.  

But he was positive that the helicopter flew from Taiwan and not Thailand!

If he had said it was Thailand. I would have asked where in Thailand. 

I don't remember if I asked what unit he was in.  

57 minutes ago, bendejo said:

 

Thanks, that cracked me up.

 

We get so many former Green Berets, SAS, CIA etc among the expats who are obviously lying it's a bit of a shock to come across someone who actually is.

I was taking classes in California around 1983 and I had a classmate in a few of them who claimed to be an ex-Seal: aside from being unconvincing he was obviously too young.  I never called him on it, waiting for him to encounter a real vet and seeing him get a proper ass-whooping.

 

I met a guy in Santa Cruz, California.  Told me he was a Vietnam vet.  While talking to him, he told me that he was with an Army unit that flew, in a Huey Helicopter, from Taiwan to Vietnam to rescue some POW's.  I said, "you mean you flew from Thailand". 

No, he said, from Taiwan.  I asked, "do you mean you flew, in a Huey, from the island of Taiwan to Vietnam, rescued POW's, and flew back to Taiwan with them.  Yep, he says.  Where did your helicopter refuel at, I asked.  He said they flew round trip from Taiwan on the fuel in their tanks that were filled at Taiwan!   I just walked away!

At most, a Huey has a 200 Nautical mile range, one way, and maybe less that that, depending on the particular helicopter, the pilots flying skills, the weather, and the take off weight.  

Taiwan is around 1,800 nautical miles, round trip, from Vietnam.  Maybe more, maybe less, depending on where you left from in Taiwan and went to in Vietnam.  Let's not consider the fact, that there were MIG 15's in Vietnam, capable of shooting down a Huey!

Arial View of the 7th RRFS.
The tunnel should be from the white building on the right of the circular array, to the round building in the middle of the array.  

That array is 355 meters plus or minus a few meters. 

11 minutes ago, nong38 said:

It was so secret even the General did not know about it and as for Udon Thani where on earth can that be?

What was so secret that the general did not know about it?

Do you mean the 7th RRFS?

If so, that could be true.  If the General did not have a security clearance high enough and a need to know, then he might know about the 7th RRFS, but he probably would not know what was done there!.  

And if you mean, where on Earth is the 7th RRFS / Radar Station.  Use google earth.

 17°17'33.21", 102°52'5.04"

This is not in Udon Thani, it is at Nong Sung (sp?), Thailand, about 15-17 K. from Udon. 

3 minutes ago, bendejo said:

 

Thanks, that cracked me up.

 

We get so many former Green Berets, SAS, CIA etc among the expats who are obviously lying it's a bit of a shock to come across someone who actually is.

I was taking classes in California around 1983 and I had a classmate in a few of them who claimed to be an ex-Seal: aside from being unconvincing he was obviously too young.  I never called him on it, waiting for him to encounter a real vet and seeing him get a proper ass-whooping.

 

Some of the guys that worked at the 7th, actually became Special Forces qualified.   Other guys went from their MOS school to become Special Forces qualified.  

When I was in a Detachment of the Company I was assigned to in Vietnam, my last Det. Commander was Special Forces qualified.  

James replaced Jim as Det Commander.  Both were SSg's but Jim was a ... screwed up Sargent. 

James was pulled from a MAC-SOG Unit that was working in Laos at the time.  

I had the smarts to be one, but I did not believe that I could be a member of Special Forces.  The closest that I came to that was in California, when a Special Forces Reserve unit wanted me to join.  I was a qualified radio morse operator with almost 2 years experience in Vietnam.   

I would not have been in the field with the Special Forces units, I would have been a communications specialist at the Net Control Station back a base.  

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

what 1966 through 1973? What decade are you living in Tonto?
 

I am living in the current decade, 2010-2019.

I worked at the 7th in 1972-1973 and at the RTAFB with the aviation unit that was attached to the 7th. 

The aviation unit had an office that was in the CIA run Air Continental Airlines hanger.  

And my Cherokee name is,  Radio Chaser, Kemosabe!   ?  That is also a hint of what I did for more than 30 years. 

Oh, and look at my avatar.

I do not know if there were or were not any secret CIA torture bases in Thailand.  I do know, the CIA were not operating one at Ramasun Station.  

The CIA did work out of the Royal Thai Air Force Base in Udon.  They had a hanger on the base and I saw tall, blond haired pilots getting into and flying airplanes and helicopters from there.  Must have been members of the Laotian Air Force though. 

Yes, there is a tunnel on the, now, Thai military base outside of Udon Thani.  That tunnel went from the Operations building to the center building of the FLR/9 antenna array.  Its purpose was for the many cables and wiring connecting  the two buildings.  

Yes, there was secret stuff going on there.  But the correct terminology would be, there was classified work going on at Ramasun Station. 

If there were any CIA interrogations that occurred at Ramsun Station, then it was done while the Thai Army had control of the base.  I know the Thai Army has occupied the place since 1988, when I first returned to visit Thailand.  

P.S. The 7th RRFS was never a radar base!

P.P.S.  There was and still is a radar base on the mountain at Chiang Mai and another one somewhere in the north east part of Thailand, I think, within a 50 kilometer radius of Udon Thani.

My thoughts on the Australian news story.  B.S. 

On my iphone "App Store", I found the app with what appears to be downloads in a primary language for both the lite and the paid version.  
 

However, the app did open in the Thai language.  As happydays mentioned, tap the three lines in the left corner.  

The steps I went through for the English version:

1. Tap the three lines in upper left corner

2.  Tap the long Thai word on the top left

3. A dialog window opens with the Thai word for Thai (yeah I know) choice on top and the primary language on bottom

4. Tap your primary (at least for English version) language choice, look for check mark to the right

5. Tap "OK"

6.  Screen returns to menu list in your primary (at least for the English version) language

7.  Work through the menu choices to see how it works.  

I found the speaker audio on my iphone 5s, for this app, to be have a very low audio volume.  I plugged in my earphones and it was even lower with them.  

I am not sure if the very low volume is due to my iphone 5s, or a bug in the app. 

2 minutes ago, BB1958 said:

What does 55555555 mean? 

A string of the number "5", in the Thai language, would  be pronounced, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Both Thai's and foreigners use the number "5" to represent laughter, rather than typing ha, ha, ha ... or LOL. 

2 hours ago, DavisH said:

Some pick up accents quickly and keep them. Some pick it up and lose ith quickly (when returning from overseas). I would say only 1% or less of Thais who have studied only in Thailand will develop a natural native speaker accent of some description. Iven my wife studied for her PhD in Australia for a number of years and talks to me daily for the last 20 years still speaks with some accent. Thais need to get over it - accent isn't importance - clear speech and fluency are important. 

Clear and understandable speech.  That would be nice. 

My Thai niece went to Washington State, USA for a year of English as a second language.  She stayed with my American niece in her apartment.  I expected good things with her English language.  

How ever.  She hung out with her new friends, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and two or three other nationalities.  All, who were in my Thai nieces English as a second language class.  They all spoke some English and were attending the ESL class at a University. 

But, they all spoke English with each other, after class and all reinforced their bad English with each other, so my good expectations were not realized. 

4 hours ago, Media1 said:

Only in Thailand 

You have never been in a Pentecostal church on Sunday, have you?

Grandma made me go to that church, because it was so close to the house.  She did not want me to walk the 1.25 miles to the Baptist church I preferred to go to.  

Not that I wanted to go to church.  Just that I preferred the Baptist over the Pentecostal  church after the first time she sent me there!

17 hours ago, 55Jay said:

You should have asked them what PART of America they wanted you to sound like, specifically.  Or England for that matter.  Then enjoy the dumb looks on their faces. 

 

Glad you are glad about leaving.  Good luck. 

I met a young lady at Chulalongkorn University when I was attending Thai language classes.  

After speaking in English with her for a few minutes, I was unable to place her southern (United States) accent, so I asked her.  Where in the southern part of the U.S.  did you grow up in.  

She told me that she was Thai and had never been outside of Thailand.  But you have an accent from one of the southern states of the United States, I exclamed.  She responded, I got that from my English language teacher here at Chula.   He is from the south but I forget which state.  

Her American English was flawless and she sounded just like an American when she spoke.  

As a matter of fact, her English was better than some people that have never been outside of the United States.  

Years ago, a university in Florida, USA, did a study involving pet house cats that were outdoors during most of the daylight hours of a day, some sleeping in the owners home overnight, but not always.    These owners fed their cats daily.  

The universities study lasted one year.  With permission from the cat's owner, university students would follow the cat during it's time outdoors.  The students noted where the cats went and what the cats ate and what the cats killed.  During the year, some of the cats died, the article did not state how.  If I remember, about half the cats survived to the end of the year long study.  

The people who thought they owned some of the cats, were surprised to find other people in their neighborhood, also thought they were the cats owners and those people were feeding the cats on a daily basis as well.  Three or four cats had three people that thought a cat was their cat.    

What the university study found about the cats hunting habits was surprising.   In the one year study, the cats killed an average of 1,800 animals.  Some of the kills were eaten, most were left to rot!

These were supposed to be house cats. 

As one person implied, feral cats kill a lot of wildlife in their roaming area.  Probably a lot more than house cats kill. 

21 hours ago, 55Jay said:

Have you ever been robbed at gunpoint or otherwise threatened directly with a firearm in the US?  Edit: Or here in Thailand?

At knife point, by a 12 year old kid.  

A drunk 12 year old kid!

I gave him my money too!

On 6/25/2018 at 1:16 PM, 55Jay said:

Heard that one before.  What a cop out. 

Admit it..... 3.4 million Baht is way past your budget.

 

 

 

Jimminy Cricket!  3.4 million baht?  I just googled the price of a fortuna in Thailand the results were at most,  1.73 million baht!

Did I miss something?

"STARK PARALLELS'

In a dissent she read in the courtroom, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited "stark parallels" with the court's now-discredited 1944 decision that upheld U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two."  i.e., the current supreme court justices, found that the internment was illegal, I would guess.  

I don't understand why the internment of American citizens in U.S. prison camps during WWII has anything to do with this decision.   

The decision to place "Americans" into prison camps, based on their ancestry/race was an illegitimate act, by a democrat president and was supported primarily by supreme court judges that were appointed by the same democrat president that decided to commit those American citizens to the internment camps!  American citizens that committed no criminal act against the United States.

Prohibiting the entry of foreigners into the United States from countries that have a strong presence of terrorists, until that immigrant has been vetted and cleared of being associated with known terrorist groups is a legal privilege of any president of the United States. 

Those immigrants, desiring to move to the United States, are after all, not citizens of the United States and do not have the "right" to enter the United States.  The entry of immigrants into the United States is governed by and granted by the immigration laws of the United States allowing that entry.  

However, again, the interment of "American" citizens based exclusively on their ancestry/race is, in my and other people's opinions, some with much more legal training and education than I, was an illegal act committed against U.S. citizens by a democrat president and supported by democrat supreme court justices!  And that has nothing, that I an currently aware of, to do with requiring extreme scrutiny of those immigrants that desire to enter the United States, if there is a need to do so! 

The internment of American citizens in prison camps during WWII, I believe,  was all done without legal due process!

 

A democrat politician was recorded lamenting that he was retiring, saying Justice Kennedy was easily convinced.  

Slightly off topic and in a different country.  

Some tailgaters really seem to be lacking in intelligence or something similar.  

In the United States, I once watched a tailgater driving about 1 car length behind a large tractor trailer.  For five minutes he was there flashing his lights trying to tell the driver to move over so he could speed off into the night.  (See picture attached for example)

This was on a two lane highway and the tractor trailer was in the passing lane on the left, slowly passing a long line of cars.  

The following vehicle driver may not have been able to read either.  A big sign on the back of the trailer read, "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you."

I haven't driven in Thailand, but I do participate as a passenger.