27 Sep 2022 - Lunch with Leo Kreifels

 27 Sep

This morning we drove about 30 miles SW to Lincoln NE to the home of Chief Master Sergeant (ret) Leo Kreifels (pictured above) and his spouse Phyllis.  As I explained last night, Leo and I go back literally decades.  We both served as Chiefs in communications maintenance at our Air National Guard bases - Leo in Lincoln and me in Des Moines.  I had not seen Leo in many years but when we were in Comm, we exchanged phone calls and emails very regularly. And that was not just Leo and I, that was Comm Chiefs from all over the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  Unlike many areas of the civilian sector, Leo and I were not in competition with each other, we were on the same team.  We would readily and willingly share ideas, share best practices, share equipment, sometimes even share personnel, and do anything we could to help each other and our units. Periodically we would travel to each other's units to see how they operated  and Leo and I did that many times. We were what I call "comrades" as we all served in the military but over the decades we became close friends, and we have these comrades/friends from coast to coast.  I am very happily retired after serving many years, but I truly miss all these great warriors with whom I served!

So we arrived at Leo's house and were greeted by Leo and his spouse Phyllis.  We talked and talked - lots of time to make up you know!  I deployed across the pond in 2006-2007 and Leo deployed in 2006 also, and we talked about experiences and leadership challenges deployed.  About an hour later we headed out to lunch and the discussions continued LOL.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Don & Millies not far from Leo's house.  

After lunch we headed back to Leo's house and the conversations continued!!  It was so great to get caught up on what Leo and Phyllis had been doing and we vowed to stay in touch. 

We headed back to the campground and passed the lighthouse I mentioned last night, so we grabbed a picture. 

This is located at a campground just down the road from where we are camping.  It is a privately owned recreation area developed around an artificial lake in Sarpy County.  The site was opened in 1924 and in 1939 a 100-foot lighthouse was added to it.  It looks like there used to be maybe a concession stand or something underneath the lighthouse, but it is closed up now.  Anyway, it is pretty neat looking along side the road.  

That is about it for today.  We did work the inventory a bit more.  We also grilled the remaining meat that was in the fridge while we had the grill out, then I cleaned it up and stowed it for the season.  Cubs vs Phillies tonight at Wrigley.  Tomorrow's plan is undecided but tomorrow night we have dinner plans with our great friends Rusty and Lynn Rosenbaum not far from here, then Thursday we head for home.