#Fort Polk

[freetheshit-outofyou]

Most folks hated the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, I was right at home being from Nevada. I really hated Joint Maneuver Training Center Fort Chaffee and Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. FUCKING CHIGERS (Berry Bugs) WOULD EAT YOU TO THE BONE.

[autotrails]

American Auto Trail-Nolan Trace Byway (Burr Ferry to Leesville LA)

American Auto Trail-Nolan Trace Byway (Burr Ferry to Leesville LA) https://youtu.be/Y_nzq3m5UvU The American auto trail explores what is now referred to as the Nolan Trace Byway, between the Sabine River and Burr Ferry to Leesville, Louisiana.

[archinform]

Crossroads Room, Dearborn Station, Chicago

A lost Fred Harvey Restaurant in Chicago, designed by Samuel A. Marx, with murals by Edgar Miller

Fred Harvey Crossroads Room, Dearborn Station, Chicago, c. 1940, architect Samuel A. Marx. Source: Chicago Historical Society

I only learned about this long-gone but exceptional moderne restaurant interior a couple of days ago, while perusing a lengthy post on the Forgotten Chicago site.

Another mostly forgotten Art Deco landmark is seen above by noted Chicago architect and art collector Samuel Marx for the Fred Harvey Crossroads Restaurant at Dearborn Station. Perhaps best known locally for the original incarnation of the legendary Pump Room at the Ambassador East Hotel (now PUBLIC Chicago) in 1938, this Marx commission included a restaurant seating 102, a 50-seat cocktail lounge, and a 31-person lunchroom. Edgar Miller, Chicago’s great and recently rediscovered artist, was commissioned for the murals that commemorated both old Chicago and the southwestern routes served by the Santa Fe Railroad. Patrick Steffes, Chicago’s Million Vacant Lots, and Other Recent Research Finds, Forgotten Chicago, May 31, 2014

Dearborn Station. Designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, the station opened in 1885 at 47 West Polk Street, Chicago. Source: Dearborn Homes website

An earlier Fred Harvey Restaurant in Dearborn Station, 1899

Cover and contents page of Architectural Record, Vol. 88 No. 1, July 1940. PDF of entire issue is available from Architectural Record Archives here.

The scans below are from pp. 40-43 of this issue:

Text of the article:

Description on back of postcard

Another view of the restaurant. Source: Chicago History Museum

A view of the bar. Source: Chicago History Museum

The Crossroads Room featured curving walls in each of its three rooms, chrome fixtures with indirect lighting, and a serpentine bar. Marx specially designed all the furniture. He used a wide-ranging color scheme throughout the project, including "brilliant green, reddish brown, deep chocolate brown, pigskin, Indian red, black, and white," colors that were seen in much of Santa Fe's advertising through the years. Other distinctive decorating touches included Indian and roadrunner motifs and rather bizarre round neo-Baroque wall cases containing what appear from photographs to be cactus sculptures. These unique features would no doubt have reminded patrons of the exotic destinations of the Santa Fe Railroad in the American Southwest. Although Fred Harvey was best known for promoting travel to the West and Southwest, the new spaces were also full of depictions of the history and early life of Chicago. For the 183-seat Crossroads restaurant, Miller created a large wall mural depicting early nineteenth-century pioneer life in Chicago, including a cntral rendering of Indians, fur traders, and Fort Dearborn. For the 50-seat cocktail lounge, adjacent to the main entrance, Miller illustrated early Chicago settlers along with various livestock.... Patrick Steffes, "Crossroads Room," in Robert Brueggman, editor, Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America. Chicago Art Deco Society, 2018, pp. 313-315.

Enlarged view of floor plan, from p. 41 illustration above

Crossroads Room menu, Saturday, January 14, 1950 (ebay)

Crossroads Room, matchbook cover (ebay)

Anemo-Light advertisement; this type of anemostat indirect lighting was used in the Crossroads Room.

Portrait of architect Samuel Marx at his desk in his office in Chicago, Illinois, February 15, 1941. Source: Chicago History Museum

Art Institute of Chicago, works by Samuel A. Marx

Sources:

Andrew Raimist, Architectural Ruminations

Robert Brueggman, editor, Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America. Chicago Art Deco Society, 2018.

Chicago History Museum, images of buildings designed by Samuel a. Marx

Liz O'Brien, Ultramodern: Samuel Marx, Architect, Designer, Art Collector. Pointed Leaf Press, 2012

Old Chicago Station Gets New Restaurant, Architectural Record, Vol. 88 No. 1, July 1940, pp. 40-43

The Pump Room, Architectural Forum, July 1940, pp. 21-24

Samuel Abraham Marx, Wikipedia

Samuel A. Marx in the Art Institute of Chicago collections

Patrick Steffes, Chicago’s Million Vacant Lots, and Other Recent Research Finds, Forgotten Chicago, May 31, 2014

[presleypictures]

The white V-neck jumpsuit style was worn on stage a total of 15 times, making its debut in Las Vegas in December, 1975. It was worn for six shows for that engagement alone.

It was on-hand for an emergency change during Elvis' New Year's Eve show in Pontiac, Michigan in 1975-76 after the rainfall suit didn't survive Polk Salad Annie.

It was worn for the final time in Fort Worth, Texas on the 3rd of June, 1976.

[copperbadge]

I get up from the sofa for ONE MINUTE...

[ID: A photograph of my sofa, with a pillow up against the arm and a rumpled blue blanket on the cushions. Dearborn the tortie is curled up in the blue blanket, her legs tucked under one of the folds, while Polk the tabby is lying pressed up against the pillow, in a little fort formed by the pillow, couch cushions, and edge of the blanket. Both are looking at the camera with expressions of contemplative innocence, the little brats.]

[lboogie1906]

General Larry R. Ellis (born June 30, 1946) served as a general in the US military. He was the highest-ranking officer of African ancestry in the Army as of his retirement and was the fourth Black individual to become a four-star general. He was born in Cambridge, Maryland, and attended Morgan State University, where he earned a BS. On February 5, 1969, he became a second lieutenant.

He received his MS in Physical Education from Indiana University. He had an extensive military education, including Infantry Officer Basic courses at Fort Benning, and Infantry Officer Advanced courses. He attended the Armed Forces Staff College and the United States Army War College.

He was stationed in several countries including South Vietnam and South Korea. In Germany, his command assignments were the 1st Armored Division and Brigade Commander, 3rd Infantry Division. His command assignments in the US were Battalion Commander, 5th Infantry Division at Fort Polk, and 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He was assigned to the Multinational Division (North) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the Assistant Division Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea and the Company Commander of the 101st Airborne Division in South Vietnam.

The second black General to hold the position, he was the Commanding General of the Army Forces Command. He coordinated the deployment of over 500,000 soldiers, as well as the shipment of more than a million tons of equipment. He received many military awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, NATO Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal. He received an Honorary Master of Strategic Studies from the Army War College, an Honorary Doctor of Law from Morgan State University, and the NAACP National Service Award.

He was the CEO and founder of Ellis Services & Solutions Enterprises. He has served on the Board of Directors of SRA, Armed Forces Benefit Association, UNITECH, as well as DHB Industries, Inc. He became the president and CEO of DHB Industries, Inc.

He is married to Jean Williams. They have two daughters. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[walkingthroughthisworld]

There were a few hiccups, said Staff Sgt. Paul G. Vanderlugt, 687th Engineer Company, 46th Eng Bn. "We had a couple of contingency plans in place and everything worked out with no safety incidents," he said. This was a chance for different units from 1st MEB to work as one, said Vanderlugt. "Soldiers in 88th BSB and the 46th got together and everything went like a well-oiled machine because of our training," said Vanderlugt. 

The Fort Polk Museum plans to restore and maintain the Sherman tank and place it on display. "Anytime you can bring back and preserve some of the history of the U.S. Army, its always a great thing," said Vanderlugt. "This was also a great opportunity to work with the community of Many, La., and surrounding areas of Fort Polk," said Frederick.

(via Sherman tank donated to Fort Polk Museum | Article | The United States Army)

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Tigerland (2000, Joel Schumacher)

27/03/2024

Tigerland is a 2000 film by Joel Schumacher.

In September 1971 a group of recruits undergo training before being sent to Vietnam. The training consists of a perfect simulation of what the boys will face in war, and takes place first at Fort Polk and then in Tigerland, a Louisiana swamp very similar to the Vietnamese environment. Among all the recruits, the Rebel Roland Bozz stands out, allergic to the rules, who does not hide his anti-patriotic attitude at all.

Shot on a very low budget and with a handheld camera and in 16mm format. The actors did not have at their disposal make-up artists, hairdressers or any of the luxuries that actors are normally accustomed to. Filming lasted 38 days, from February to March 2000 in Florida.

[freetheshit-outofyou]

I lived all over the South when I was in the Army, did Basic and Advanced School in Fort McClellan Alabama, went to Fort Bragg North Carolina, worked a Customs Detail at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point North Carolina for 2 months, went Fort Jackson South Carolina, Joint Maneuver Training Center (FCJMTC) Fort Chaffee Arkansas, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk Louisianan, and just a couple months at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida for Hurricane Andrew. I leaned a great many things about the South that no book could teach me, one of those things was just how FUCKING CRAZY folks in the south get when a storm is coming in. I mean every time a storm comes in it's like half the population forgot one just came in 2 months earlier. This was brought up yesterday seeing folks at the Walmart here in Upstate Nevada buying up shit like the apocalypse was coming. We are 697.39 miles (1,120.73 km) from Baja California and folks up here are acting like they are in Mobile Alabama or Gulfport Louisianan. They are doing the same dumb shit I saw folks at the H.E.B. in Texas doing, carts full up with milk, bread, and beer. I mean what the fuck are you going to do with 12 gallons of milk when the power goes out? I'm not knockings on the South, I loved living there, for the most part. No, I'm knockings on those folks who "storm horde" every time a breeze blew in off the water. I'd like to say all those folks were "transplants" from some other state but they fact is most of them were just doing what their Ma' and Pa' did and how their Grandma and Grandpa did. The dumpsters and trash cans would wreak of spoiled milk for months after a big storm knocked out the power for a week. This ones for folks who have never experienced a true Southern Hurricane party, GO! Help your neighbors board up their windows, sandbag their foundations, move livestock and cook off all that stuff that will spoil when the lights go out. You will never see a group of people working together for the same ends and flipping the bird to the storm at the same time any place else. The South loves a good storm party.

Side Note: I will never call US military bases and forts by any of the new names, guess its the old guy in me coming through.

[elvis1970s]

The white 'V-Neck' jumpsuit style was worn onstage a total of 15 times, making its debut in Las Vegas in December 1975. It was worn for six shows in that engagement alone.

It was on-hand for an emergency change during Elvis' massive show in Pontiac, Michigan, on New Year's Eve 1975-76, after the rainfall suit didn't survive Polk Salad Annie.

It was worn for the final time in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 3rd, 1976.

(stats thanks to www.elvisconcerts.com)

@deke-rivers-1957 How do you and the besties see this one? :)

In this brief audio clip, Elvis talks about the Pontiac show, his wardrobe malfunction, and the moment he found out there was actually more than one verse in Auld Lang Syne..

[devoted-to-colin-farrell]

A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, the last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.

Everything changed for Colin Farrell after Tigerland (2000) which landed him critical acclaim.

“When Tigerland came out, and the film was pretty well received and I got some decent notices, it kind of all went ape s*** after that. It went mad,” Colin Farrell told Yahoo Entertainment.

[j-r-macready]

Fort Polk.

[military1st]

US Soldiers participating in the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) lane during the Army Best Medic Competition at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Photo by Joseph Kumzak (2023).

[swede1952]

Traffic Stopper.

I took a mini trip out to Alligator Lake on Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk). I took a few pretty decent pictures, mostly turtles. On the way home I came across this eastern meadow lark (Sturnella magna) sitting on a road sign near an intersection, singing. I pulled my car over blocking the right lane of a side road. I took the first photos through my windshield incase the bird flew off when I opened my door. But the bird didn't seem all that skittish and there were actually two of them. I took a bunch of pics.

"The Eastern Meadowlark is not in the lark family (Alaudidae)—it’s a member of the blackbird family (Icteridae), which also includes cowbirds and orioles." - allaboutbirds.org