FORT SILL, Okla. -- I was overwhelmed by the number of responses from my inaugural column.
First, thank you for being so kind and welcoming. I suppose many of you can remember what it was like moving to a new place and you have truly outdone yourselves in making me feel welcome.
Thank you also for all the suggestions. I have an ever-growing list at my desk as people call and message on Facebook with their suggestions. I will most certainly have to visit this supposed "tar pit" as well as try this infamous "Meers burger" (whatever that is). Please keep your suggestions coming. I look forward to trying them all out or as many as I can possibly get done.
At our last duty station I was seemingly harassed by the installation museum manager to visit his exhibits. In truth I should have stopped at the museum when I first arrived, but since I didn't his requests were short of an annoyance to me. My poor attitude made it hard to enjoy the effort he put into reminding others of the importance of the past.
I didn't want to make the same mistake here.
I arrived May 12 at 8:50 a.m. at the Army Field Artillery Museum to ensure I would be the first to enter for the day. I wasn't. Chris Luther, a volunteer at the museum and a retired sergeant major, opened the door for me and invited me to join with a group of advanced individual training Soldiers who were already on tour.
Luther explained the importance of Fort Sill to me. How it was the innovators of artillery since the 1930s and how it has made the artillery in the United States the best in the world since World War II. I learned how Fort Sill was the site for research and development of artillery and how it is still pivotal in the bigger scope of warfare.
As we followed the tour to each exhibit, I was introduced to Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillery (or as I was told, "the patron saint of things that go boom and fiery death"), learned a little bit about our own history and saw the evolution of artillery.
I was surprised to learn there are more than one museum on Fort Sill (so I'll have to check those out as well) and pleased to discover many of the artifacts displayed were restored in a workshop behind the museum. As the oldest child of an engineer who had no sons, I learned quite a bit about carpentry so I was anxious to take a peek behind the curtain.
Zane Mohler, exhibit specialist, welcomed me when I arrived and allowed me to watch as pieces of a 1902 5-inch siege gun were being restored. As we watched paint being applied, Mohler said they try to restore the pieces to their original state including color.
"It's important to preserve the object otherwise it will deteriorate and go away," he said. "That's what a museum is all about."
You may be like me and interested in using your skills to help restore some pieces of history yourself. If so, Mohler said you can contact the museum and talk to the director. Based on your skills, whether wood working or metal working, they may have need for you.
If you'd rather just see and experience the past and not create it, there are outreach programs including cannon drills, and World War II and Civil War programs you can attend.
Well it looks like the rain is going to keep me from playing polo once again, but luckily you all have given me some alternate options. What is your favorite part of Southwest Oklahoma culture that I need to experience?
Give me a call at 580-442-2920 or send me a message, look for Fort Sill Cannoneer on Facebook.
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