Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on January 15, 2025, 09:35:47 AM
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A topic in remembrance of our members who have passed on. This thread will remain open for those who wish to share memories and anecdotes about our departed friends. APS rules will be strictly enforced in this thread.
"Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names." - Unknown
Our departed friends - may they Rest in Peace:
Arfingreebly
Art Eatman
Doggy Daddy
Grandpa Shooter
Grizzly Atoms
HSO
JFH
Leatherneck
MonkeyLeg
RoadKingLarry
SADShooter
Scout26
Standing Wolf
Stetson
Tallpine
Thor
Va Skidmark
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I thought I might kick off "memories/anecdotes".
The only one of the deceased that I met in person was Scout. Sadly, when we were on "Operation Godfather", scattering Monkeyleg's ashes in Moab. Scout and Charby actually did all the planning and picked up Monkeyleg's ashes - I just showed up from the other direction. Scout was a crackup to hang with, and was actually already terminally ill during Operation Godfather. I remember that his hotel room was stacked with boxes of IV fluid that he had to take daily that he had Fedexed to the hotel ahead of time, just so that he could be there to spread the ashes. He was stationed in Germany for a while, so we enjoyed talking about German beer and food a lot. =)
Though I never met Monkeyleg, it was an honor to be there at the spreading of his ashes. My understanding is that some of the ashes were also spread in Sicily by Lennyjoe. I don't know if anything was ever left at Trijicon HQ (If you know, you know). :laugh:
This (Dead Horse Canyon) is where we spread his ashes:
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1738/42570304051_7f1ebf1a85_b.jpg)
I also, though I never met him IRL, exchanged a few, I can't remember if they were PMs or emails, with Leatherneck back when I had just started doing drone stuff in military airspace. He was kind of a bigwig at the Office of Director, Operational Test and Evaluation at either the Pentagon, or Pentagon adjacent, and shared some helpful documentation with me. He was a pretty modest guy. For those that don't know, he was a test pilot. I recall him mentioning bailing out of a prototype Osprey like he was talking about "I just came back from getting milk at the grocery store". What he never talked about that I know of, and that I didn't learn until I read his obituary, is that he flew over 400 combat missions in Vietnam.
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I met Scout a couple of times. We attended an NRA convention together many years ago, and I happened to be in town for his dad's funeral so I stopped by for that as well. After the convention we went to a restaurant that was owned by one of his childhood friends. We had lots of interesting conversation.
I never met Monkeyleg but spoke to him on the phone and over email plenty when I was helping him out with his website. Several times I came home to unexpected thank you gifts from him.
The rest of the guys were people I spent a lot of time with on forums, but never interacted with elsewhere. I still miss them. When I was using my tractor to clear snow from the driveway this year I couldn't help but think of RKL who loved to post the picture of him clearing snow with his tractor.
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VA Skidmark/Paul H. I met in VA when we were both with the VCDL and both worked the gun shows, went to the capital on Lobby Day and to several protests/meetups. Paul and I got along great and tried to work the tables together. One time I mentioned wanting to get a Concealed Cary Vest and Paul brought me a STACK of them and said "Here!" He was just that kind of guy. It saddened me greatly to learn of his passing.
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I only ever met Leatherneck in person. He lived near Mt. Vernon and was selling some .32-20 ammo that I wanted for my first S&W.
Really, really nice guy.
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I didn’t know about Grandpa Shooter or grislyatoms
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I met Stetson (Eric Ford) in person once. We'd had several conversations about Detroit and its history, and he wanted a tour. He came to town on a freezing January day, and we met at my favorite restaurant in Greektown. We then hopped in my truck and spent several hours touring the city, from Belle Isle to the Motown Museum, several historical buildings, the Heidelberg Project, and through some neighborhoods that some say you'd be crazy to go anywhere near, but he wanted to see it all for himself. We had lost touch for a while when I heard of his passing. Seemed like a really nice gentleman just doing his best for his daughter despite his numerous health issues.