I met Robert Lee while working in Dallas, Texas. That was well over 25 years ago. In retrospect, it was not that long after I got out of the Army. The Vietnam era was still fresh on our minds. At least to those of us who came of age during that era. Robert claimed to be originally from Shreveport, Louisiana. He says he had a background in textile work before moving to Dallas. I suspect that industry was taking a hit not unlike some industries in my own "Rust Belt" North. So we both gravitated to finding work in the emerging parks and recreation industry that was burgeoning in the North Texas area. The growing season was almost year-round and the population was booming as well. I guess that's part of what brought both of us to that part of the county. The late 1970s was a time of near economic depression in parts of America. North Texas was an exception. 

    The park and recreation, landscape industry was full of characters. Robert had a knack for sniffing them out and reflecting his wit off of them. Here is some of Robert Lee's stuff to live by: 

    If you where a bit of a toad of a person you where a "spool-mouth," I suspect a reference back to the textile industry.

    If you sought the romantic favors of a co-worker you would eventually be pulled aside by Robert and warned, "don't put your manhood in your pay check." 

    "It is a sorry man that does not learn at least one thing a day." And, segueing off that, "each person, even the sorry ones, have something to offer and it is up to you to find it." 

    My favorite creed to live by from Robert, "never make people just hate to see you coming." 

    Robert always insisted a person needs to be aware of the world around them - "one must be self aware." He maintained you need to be empathetic with other people around you. "You may be joking in the lunch room about stupid kids and the guy at the end of the table may have just lost a child to cancer or some other disease recently." Apparently both scenarios applied to Robert. He had both been a jokester unaware of another's plight, and then later he himself lost a child to illness. 

    Robert would often quote the social mantra, "Your work is a portrait of yourself." I suspect this too came out of his textile years. 

    And finally, when Robert Lee would leave, he would often say, "I'll be back in a bit with my tap measure because I'm going to be doing some check'n and level'n around here.

    There are also three Robert Lee stories out of dozens that bear retelling: 

    This little gem of an experience with Robert I documented in my posting Fourteenth Job of Bob - Part III. -- Some times I would help our play ground repair crew. That crew usually consisted of one guy named Robert Lee in a utility truck. He was a thin man in his late 30s. I would eventually become good friends with Ol' Robert. Everyone seemed intimidated by Robert. Perhaps it spoke to one reason he worked alone. That and they always stole his helpers. Robert had a Bible in the truck glove box. If you mentioned it he would always speak a holy word or two and then change the subject. One day I became overwhelmed by the mysterious Bible and opened it up while Robert had stepped away from the truck. Inside was a hollowed-out nook amongst the pages. Inside the nook, well..., inside I found a pack of condoms. "Come home to Jesus," Robert said and winked as he stepped up to the window and looked down at the open Bible in my lap. --

    Robert often told the story of his first wife who he frequently argued with. When he got his draft notice in 1967 the whole family was crying. The military draft was in full swing in 1967 as the war in Vietnam and the Cold War in Europe was putting troop levels at an all time high in both parts of the world. A lot of military draftees were ending up in Vietnam. His wife, his in laws, his mother, and even his kids were crying as he tells it. So he went down to the draft board and then to the physical exam. And low and behold he had a bad bone in his foot. He never got drafted because of that bad foot. But, that did not help his marital situation and the arguments with his wife got worse. One night she hit him with a pan as he tried to get in the window after she locked him out. Finally, one night she shot him. Every time he told the story he pointed to where the bullet was still lodged. He would always end the story with, "Damn, Bob. I should have went to 'Nam' after all. I would have been better off over there in a war zone."

    Robert Lee once came to my defense on mid-afternoon at work when an 18 year old co-worker said in a snotty, condescending tone, "you smell like alcohol." You may or may not remember there was a time in America when people might indulge in a beer or Margarita with lunch occasionally. Often co-workers would go together. God forbid sometimes the boss would buy. Now days, in the murky world of political-correctness, fun-removal police, and just a general timbre of a "no-fun," "can't-do-that" society, a lot of things are not done any more. This new guy was on the cusp of the generation that was schooled in the new social order that began to emerge in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. In general, this crop of socially engineered kids and their once "free-society" now "order-obsessed" Baby Boom parents are bound and determined to eliminate everything they perceive as bad out of our lives - tobacco, alcohol, fast food, perceived dangerous activities, playground equipment, and god knows what else. Their legacy continues to haunt us to this day as one social activity after another falls prey to their relentless pursuit of boring paradise. But I digress. Anyway, Robert intervened in a micro-second to the rude comment and said to the young Utopian, "fool, if you worked in this crazy place for 20 years like we have had to do you would smell like alcohol by mid-afternoon too." The young social-conduct warrior's spirit was crushed in an instant. 

    Here's to you Robert, I hope you are well and ok. 

                         Stupid pop culture, media-complex, distraction-from-reality story

    I see the main stream pundits are still up to their old tricks more than ever while I was gone to Iraq. So, I am thinking, each day I should continue to jot down the stupidest news story that is foist upon us by the big-media-complex as a distraction from the reality that has become America. So here we go - welcome to today's "Stupid Pop Culture, Media-complex, Distraction-from-reality Story." 

    While the war in Iraq languishes on; the dollar collapses; gas prices prevent us shlubs from having a night out; and, Washington apparently continues to be run by lunatics.  I would like to qualify that last humble observation - this article is running across the nation and world - "Bush: Iraq is turning to Normal". After having been to Iraq twice myself and possibly returning for a third and fourth visit, it is incumbent upon you as a reader to raise up and read between the lines as to why this message by President Bush makes me take a pause and begs a second glance. Now there is some real God damned news! 

                                            Wisconsin military service person of the week

    Marine Staff Sergeant Chad J. Simon, 32 of Monona died on August 4, 2005 while under hospice care in Madison, Wisconsin. His death was caused from wounds he received nine months earlier in an explosion during combat in Babil Province, Iraq, on November 8, 2004. Staff Sergeant Simon was with the Madison-based Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. Three of the other area soldiers - Lance Corporal Shane K. O'Donnell, 24, of De Forest; Lance Corporal Branden Ramey, 22, of Belvidere, Illinois; and, Corporal Robert Warns II, of Waukesha - died shortly after the attack. While in Iraq, the unit was stationed in Babil province, 30 miles south of Baghdad. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Simon is survived by his wife, Regina; 6-year-old son, Dylan; parents, Jerry Simon of Cuba City and Carol Parham of Bradenton, Florida; and, a sister, Stacy Simon of Bradenton, Florida. Chad enlisted in the reserves a few months before he graduated from Madison's La Follette High School in 1990. Staff Sergeant Simon had earned the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal three times; the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal; and, for his November, 2004 wounds, the Purple Heart Medal. Simon's unit was called to duty in June 2004 and sent to Iraq in September 2004. Staff Sergeant Chad Simon was the 44th Wisconsin soldier to die in Iraq since the spring of 2003. 

   4,004 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

   487 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

   308 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

   290 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

   29,451 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

   1,898 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

   87 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

   10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

   127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

   15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; and, icasualties.org.