AMERICAN HEROES AIR SHOW & TEXAS MILITARY FORCES MUSEUM
OPEN HOUSE (CAMP MABRY, AUSTIN, TX) – 27 APRIL 2014
As you drive down the Mopac
Expressway, you’ll pass the active military base called Camp Mabry. I’ve seen a sign for the Texas Military
Forces Museum,
but was never able to find it because I thought it was next to the base (not
located on it). Once I figured that out,
I finally was able to stop over there circa 2011 on one of my staycation days
(this was before I’d purchased my
digital camera). The only pictures I had
were the few I took on my dinosaur phone.
I did spend a couple hours there and absorbed all the exhibits. I’d been considering a return trip to serve
as an entry for this blog, perhaps as part of a new version of “Be A Tourist In
Your Own City.”
I learned there was the American
Heroes Air Show and Texas Military Forces Open House happening the weekend of
26-27th April. Since I was
volunteering with Austin Planetarium all Saturday, thus I’d only be able to get
over on the second day. I pulled into Camp Mabry
right at 10am (when it was set to begin), and had a different welcoming
experience I did than the previous visit there.
The first time was an MP telling me the directions to the Texas Military
Forces Museum,
and not to deviate from the directions on where to park for it. This time there were many enlisted personnel
directing traffic to fields designated as parking lots, and there were a lot of
warm smiles. After driving Argent across
the grass to park, I commented to a soldier that this was the first time I’d
taken my car “off-road.”
When I first entered I’d been
given a map of the area, which had a schedule of events. That was folded into my back pocket and never
came out the entire day I have to admit, because I found so many things to
do. Not only was the air show going on,
but the Museum was open, and there would be some side events to mark Earth Day
and Arbor Day (which had happened the previous week).
I headed towards the parade
grounds, which was where the vendor tents were set up. I spoke to the local Boy Scout troop about an
opportunity of being an “inspector” which checks on the condition of the
various troops in an area. Sounded pretty
interesting. I also spoke to some one
from Grand Canyon University (with campuses in Phoenix
and Austin)
about career opportunities. Okay, it’s a
Christian-based school, so not what I’d normally be checking out, but as this
point I’ll take anyone’s money that’ll pay me well. I also entered a raffle to win a
three-wheeled vehicle known as the “T-Rex.”
As I filled out the card, I asked the college-aged volunteer if I win
could I have the T-Rex that ate the lawyer in Jurassic Park. The blank look on her face, and the chuckles
from her peers, showed that she had no idea what reference I was making. Come on, the movie’s not that old. >grin<
Another vendor I stopped at was
K9 Mastery. I was more than happy to
give money towards dog training, and even purchased one of their shirts. I made sure to pet the dogs there, and let
them rub all over me, so I’d come home with foreign dog smell on me (to make
Stoop jealous). During the day I stopped
back there a number of times to make another “donation” in exchange for a
bottle of water. When a bottle was
pulled from the cooler, whichever dog was closest would proceed to lick off all
the condensation. They’d also lick my
arms and neck, as I’m sure my salt sweat tasted nice.
Following the path of the parade
field, it brought me to where some helicopters were parked. It was really nice to look inside the
Blackhawk or climb aboard the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, the jewel of
this (to me) was the AH-1 Apache. I’ve
liked that copter ever since Skywolf showed up piloting one in the 1980s series
Airboy. The Apache was the only one visitors couldn’t
go in, probably because it’s not designed to have “passengers.” Taking my picture next to it would have to be
enough.
Circling around the parade
field, closest to razor-wire fence separating the base from Mopac, there’s some
Saber jets permanently mounted. Parked
near them were some Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), mobile rocket launchers,
and a couple Humvees. One was opened so
I could crawl inside and stand behind the top-mounted gun. The soldier taking my picture told me to
“look mean.” I think I ended up looking
insane. The person assigned to the top
position doesn’t have to stand all the time, as I noticed there’s a small sling
(or hammock) to sit on. I’m sure the
Humvee was an older, decommissioned model, but the instrument panel looked like
that of a vehicle from the late 1960s.
Perhaps the interior is designed that way because that simplistic
straight-forward instrument panel is hardier than the modern electronic-based
instrument cluster of the vehicles I’m used to seeing in.
There were so many things there
just from the heavy equipment, I would’ve like to take a picture of each
(complete with informational sign if available). That would’ve been nice companion to any of
my role-playing game manuals. This one
particular rocket launcher caught my attention as it had the Punisher skull on
it. I took a picture of it with my phone
and texted it to Henry because I knew he’d appreciate it.
After I’d come nearly full
circle around the parade field, I found a display of early 20th
Century small arms, including a Vickers mounted submachine gun. Some of the other rifles there showed how
efficiently these were produced (stamped metal, minimum of parts). When you’re in war-time production, you go
for functionality over aesthetics.
Knowing this whole event would
only go on until 4pm, I wanted to make sure I was able to spend some time in Texas Military
Forces Museum,
so I started heading that way. As I’d
already been in there once (and spent a lot of time reading the informational
cards on the displays), I figured I’d just be able to get some specific shots
to highlights the exhibits. Working my
way in that direction, I came upon the Natural & Cultural Activities
section (the side events to mark Earth Day and Arbor Day). Where there were any type of coloring books,
I picked them up for Henry’s daughter.
Among the exhibits here was a representative from Austin Zoo who had a
baby kangaroo (a “joey”) that children could see…
…A “Guess the Animal Print”
game, some information about invasive species and tree-ring counting put on by Texas A&M
Forest Service…
…And a display on cave
paintings. There was a large white sheet
of paper where visitors could draw their own painting (using the available
markers). I’ve always been the casual
artist, so I made a particular doodle on the sheet of a something I like, plus
a variation of one of my characters. I
always sign my work, and if I’m doing it “anonymously” I use a stylized form of
the “anarchy” symbol. As you can see, I
wove in my “guerrilla marketing” tactic too, as I drew the logo for Austin
Planetarium. I wonder if anyone will
realize the “14” as part of the signature represents “2014,” not the age of the
artist.
Across the way from there I met
a nice lady who had information about old Camp Bowie,
some earthen fire pits of the Hill Country, and a hidden ancient winery. Laura was very nice, and had a lot of good
information. She was very interested in
what I was doing with Austin Planetarium, although with her living in San Antonio made it
difficult to come to the regular meetings.
I still gave her my card (with my contact info on it), as I hoped she’d
be reach out to me when she’d be in the area next. I like ladies who have archeological and
scientific interests.
Nearby were a some long plastic
bins filled with sand, so represent what it was like to be on an archeological
dig. There were small shovels and some
shifters, and among the “buried treasure” which could be uncovered were pottery
shards and animal bone fragments. The
man running this, Bill, said you could learn a lot about a culture by not only
what is buried, but how deep it’s buried.
I’ve pretty well versed in this field, so we had more of a peer-to-peer
conversation than him being instructor.
I still had fun playing in the sandbox.
Bill got a good laugh when I said digging for items here reminded me of
looking for “buried treasure” in the cat box.
Leaving that area, I could see
(and mostly hear) the demonstration of the helicopters and land vehicles taking
pot shots at each other. The sound level
was low, so not to equal of what it would normally be in an actual combat
situation. This action was taking place
over on the Parade Field.
I had stopped at some of the
smaller displays were soldiers had various rifles setting out for the public to
examine. Since there’d be tons of
civilians present at this event, all the magazines had been removed from the
weapons for safety reasons. There were
some infantry rifles there, but I mostly looked at the .50 calibers. Yes, they aren’t designed to be held, much
less fired, in the manner I’m holding it (no matter what you might see in the
movies). That’s why there’s a tripod on the
front. And where I’m holding the barrel
would get hot extremely quick. This was
just simply to get a feel for the weight of the weapon.
Mostly I checked out the sniper
rifles, in order to see how things were viewed by the scope. Having a bright red arrow was much easier to
sight in your target than simple black cross-hairs. The soldier explained that while there’s
still a lot of technology to enhance them (like figuring range, wind speed,
etc.), they’re still taught how to do without it first. Like how the basics are still the
foundation. One of the sniper rifles I
was shown (which I don’t call the specific name of) had a real interesting way
it would be cleaned. A bolt would be
removed to unlock the stock, which was on a hinge to swing away. That would allow the action to be removed (in
a single piece), and then a long rod is used to clean the powder residue and
other gunk from inside the barrel. Just
the thought to make the rifle care easy was just as interesting to me the use
of the weapons.
Next to that was a display on
WW2-era paratrooper gear. The folding
stocks on those rifles were probably what gave the idea of the sniper rifle
mentioned above. One thing which was
interesting was the amount of equipment the WW2 paratrooper got rid off once
they landed. They wore a life-vest in
case their transport plane went down, or their chute dropped them in a lake,
but it was quite unnecessary once on the ground, so that was the first item
discarded.
The second item was one which
made sense once you thought about it, but probably wasn’t in the forefront of
most people’s minds. Gas mask. WW2 soldiers were still being issued gas
masks, but Germany
didn’t use gas as a weapon like they did in the prior conflict. (Yes, you can morbidly say the Germans were
using the gas in “other ways” then.)
Also, at least early on in WW2, the gear carried by the U.S. soldier
was mostly tan (not olive drab), because the government was using up what was
left over from WW1 first. Just a little
tidbit there.
After a quick photo opportunity
with a “General Purpose” vehicle (aka “Jeep”), I found a small display of
artifacts which had come from the Iraq War.
It had an officer’s uniform from the Republican Guard, and some of the
specialty branch pins (artillery, infantry, armor, quartermaster, etc.). The branch pins were displayed next to U.S. branch
pins to show that many of the designs were similar. Another little interesting tidbit. On display also was some of the pre-Saddam
era money (which is no longer in circulation, as there’s been new
designs). The designs there were just as
intricate as any other country’s currency (in order to make forging difficult).
There was also the notorious
“deck of cards” of the Iraqi leadership, with Saddam being the Ace of
Spades. The soldier I spoke with said
this was done so during recreation times, playing cards would help allow them
to learn and memorize their targets. I
did note it was probably interesting to play “Crazy Eights” or “Go Fish” with
this deck.
By then I’d made my way to the
actual Texas Military Forces
Museum. While this has information about the role Texas units played in
various conflicts, there’s a whole focus on the 36th Infantry Division. There were dioramas showing some of the major
actions, as well as rare film footage.
The WW1 section was small, but it did detail the 36th’s
support role in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during October 1918. While that was the longest and bloodiest of
the war, it was also one of the last battles fought before the Armistice.
The information about the 36th
Infantry Division’s role in WW2 had many more exhibits. There were details about their role in the
Battle of Salerno in September 1943 (as part of Operation Avalanche, which was
the Allied invasion of Italy), the “Lost Battalion” trapped behind German lines
in October 1944 (which ultimately rescued by a force of Japanese-Americans),
and those captured soldiers who slaved to build the Burma-Thailand Railroad
(also know as the “Death Railroad”). There
were other artifacts from that conflict too, including Rommel’s hat, and an
Imperial Japanese katana. As I’d read
this detailed information on my previous visit, I breezed through this, as I
wanted to be able to see other events on the base today.
I did find a new section, which
had been a storage area the last time I was here. This now had two partitions, one dedicated to
the specific Civil War battles which happened in Texas,
or which Texas
regiments were engaged in. The other
portion dealt with the roles the Texas National Guard have played. The Civil War area especially was chocked
full of information which could take all day just to read through. Well, here’s a reason to come back, and a
testament as to why you should keep coming back to visit places you’ve been
before, because you never know what new things you’ll discover. One of the more interesting displays to me
was a piece of the Berlin Wall, as I vividly recall when this symbol of the
Cold War came down.
Inside the main portion of the
Texas Military Forces museum were various vehicles which have seen service,
including some captured enemy ones.
Outside in an area known as “Artillery Row” is where many tanks and
other larger vehicles are on display.
Some of these had been moved (perhaps to other locations on the base for
the weekend’s activities). Again I’d
examined these in greater detail on my previous visit, so I looked quickly at
them, because I heard the sounds of the WW2 re-enactment taking place on the
other side of the camp. Many soldiers
were driving around on golf carts to serve as transportation for visitors
today, and I quickly hitched a ride down to the “large pond area.”
As the demonstration was already
in progress, the stands were already filled with spectators. I stood on the hill overlooking the area to
try to get a better view, but having some binoculars handy would’ve been
nice. The camera battery was dying (and
I wanted it to last the rest of the day), otherwise I would’ve used that. The re-enactment was showing some U.S.
troops working their way up a hill to storm a bunker, and then working on
taking out some German armor.
While they were firing blank
rounds, the sounds were accurately simulated.
Gun shots are loud. The sound
rolled across the pond, and echoed off the hill behind us. And a breeze brought the smell of gun powder
over to the spectators. The whole
re-enactment lasted about a half-hour, and of course ended with an American
victory. While only a skirmish, this was
enough to show what watching actual combat was like. I did overhear one parent saying to their
young child that this is what war was like, and it wasn’t like his video
game. I wondered what the people who
lived nearby the base thought of this, but then considered this is stuff they
must hear pretty regularly.
I headed back up the hill
towards the parade field to make one more pass of the vendors to see if there
was anything I missed. There was only
about an hour left of the event, and this had been time well spent. I’d seen much more today than I expected to,
and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I
scratched the surface on some things, and missed some other events. There was a parachute display and a Civil War
weapons demonstration which also happened today. These were listed on the program schedule
which hadn’t emerged from my back pocket since when I first arrived. I feel I’d covered this pretty well.
I learned that the helicopters
were going to be lifting off, I headed back that way. Ground crew were keeping the crowd a safe
distance back, but people still kept trying to step forward. Pay attention to the professionals who are
there for your safety. We were at least
over two tractor-trailer lengths away.
We could hear the whine of the engine as the Apache warmed up, and it
got steadily louder until the point the turbines began to spin. The pre-flight check still took a few
moments, but we could tell when it time to lift-off. The wind rush generated by the pining rotor
blades was forceful, and it hadn’t even left the ground yet.
Once the Apache began to ascend,
the intensity dramatically increased.
Some had to step back because of the pressure generated, and others had
their hats blown off. Since the camera
battery had died, I used the phone to try to take a movie of it. Between the wind, no “anti-shake” feature,
and my common muscle spasms, it came more like a “shaky cam” video than I
intended. It was also hard to separate
what was the sound of the rotors and the force of the wind on the footage. The Apache went down the length of the parade
field, swung around, and then flew back over where we were. That was a pretty wild experience!
A few moments later, the CH-47
began its take-off procedure. Once that
had left the area the Blackhawk departed as well. Each of those also had some wind rush, but no
where near the intensity generated by the Apache.
This was a great experience, and
the weather today was perfect for it. It
wasn’t too hot, and a nice breeze helped keep the humidity at bay. Events like this might be only listed as a
paragraph under the “events calendar” in the local paper, or posted on some
flyer in a random location. I heard
about this via word-of-mouth, and it was a great tip. I had a lot of fun. You never know what interesting things you
might encounter, so it’s always a great to get out and try new things.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Burma-Thailand
Railroad: http://www.hellfirepass.com/historical_facts_hellfire_pass.html
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