The Western State Cavalry Project

[Anonymous]

 

Distinguished Western Governors & US Senators, Vet-Center Team Leaders, Western State Wardens & All Friends of the Western State Cavalry Project, notably

David Wardale, Chief of Design, 5AT Locomotive Project, England
Thomas Blasingame, Locomotive Designer, Boise, Idaho
Harry Valentine, Locomotive Designer, Canada
Gilbert Gillette, Railroad Administrator
Col. Patricia Horoho, Director, Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington DC
Ms. Sally Spencer, BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program
Michael Antal, Charcoal Production Specialist, Hawaii
Michael Lurvey, Charcoal Production Specialist, Hawaii
Dwight Beranek, Railroad Designer, Army Corps of Engineers
Bobby Muller, Veterans For America
Dr. C.P. Peterson, Chancellor, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mayor of Ft. Collins, Doug Hutchinson
Mayor of Cheyenne, Jack R. Spiker
Mayor of Laramie, Klaus Hanson
Mayor of Casper, Ms. Kate Sarosy
Mayor of Sheridan, Dave Kinskey
Mayor of Billings, Ron Tussing
Mayor of Bozeman, Jeff Krauss
Mayor of Butte, Paul Babb
Mayor of Idaho Falls, Jared D. Fuhrman
Mayor of Pocatello, Roger W. Chase
Mayor of Logan, Randy Watts
Mayor of Ogden, Matthew R. Godfrey
Mayor of Salt Lake City, Rocky Anderson
Mayor of Provo, Lewis K. Billings
& Mayor of Boise, David H. Bieter

Dear Friends

Known commonly as the "GI Bill", "The Servicemen's Readjustment Act" includes a little known "Chapter 31" that might be the key to putting "The Western State Cavalry" & its three affilliates, "The Western State Equestrian Corps", "The Great Western Railway" & "The Idaho Locomotive & Rail Works" on their feet...

"Chapter 31 is a Vocational Rehabilitation program for service-disabled veterans who require further education to attain suitable and stable employment. This program may provide vocational and other training services and assistance including tutorial assistance, tuition, books, fees, supplies, handling charges, licensing fees and equipment and other training materials necessary."

"Service Disabled" for post 9/11 veterans may well include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD...something widely accepted by the establishment of 207 Vet Centers around the country, to deal specifically with it. The Vet Centers, which operate under HIPAA privacy rules are dedicated mental health facilities...& here, speaking as one who, until recently, had spent eighteen years around the mental health game, one has to be careful.

PTSD, while it can exhibit many of the symptoms of mental illness, in my opinion, is simply a nervous disorder that can be overcome through work, aspirin & time...the same as with a sprained ankle. Mental illness, by contrast is a disease, not unlike cancer or diabetes whose treatment invariably includes prescription medicine. This presciption medicine, from my observation, while it may keep the police away from the door, tends to make the patient a life-long dependent, a premature geezer...& then there's alway that funny smell.

Veterans suffering from PTSD should be careful to observe "McMurphy's Law"...namely "Never volunteer to be a mental patient"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_Ratched

Hi, Colonel! (:

I would call on Congress, under "Chapter 31" of the GI Bill to appropriate the sum of six billion dollars for the establishment of the aforementioned institutions...two billion for the Western State Cavalry & Equestrian Corps, two billion for the Great Western Railway & two billion for Idaho Locomotive & Rail. In the former two, the VA would team up with the Western State Governor's Association based in Denver...in the latter two with the Army Corps of Engineers.

144 Western State Cavalry Camps, each employing 60 Cavalrymen & 400 Inmate Infantryment would be dedicated to implementing a Western Wildfire Code which states "On any 200 yard by 200 yard roadside square, the number of woody stems shall not exceed 200". The by-product of Cavalry operations would be railroad ties & charcoal.

Horses ridden by the Cavalrymen would be tamed from BLM mustang stock by the Western State Equestrian Corps consisting of one hundred cowgirl-veterans based at the HQ, "Ponderosa North" located in the Flathead River Valley just outside Kalispell, Montana. Mules used for draft work would be bred by the Corps from BLM stock.

The Great Western Railway, named after the legendary line that operated in the West Country of England between 1835 & 1948 would be the money-making exponent of the Western State Cavalry. It would be a double-track line running from Ft. Collins, Colorado to Provo, Utah by way of Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, Sheridan, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Logan, Ogden (the HQ) & Salt Lake City.

Like the original English line, this GWR would operate steam locomotives, but fueled, fueled, in this case, by the charcoal produced by the Western State Cavalry. The seven to eight million ties needed for the rails would also be produced by the Western State Cavalry.

The locomotives, coaches & rails would be manufactured by "The Idaho Locmotive & Rail Works" located in Boise a city with a locomotive-building tradition.

Altogether, then, the Veterans Administration would be in charge of personnel for all four enterprises. With the Western State Cavalry & Equestrian Corps the VA would be teamed up with the Western Governors Association based in Denver. It is the Governors, in this case, that would employ the Inmate Infantry from the population of able-bodied, minimum-security State prisoners who have less than two years remaining on their sentences.

The VA would team up with the Army Corps of Engineers in the constuction & operation of the Great Western Railway & the construction & operation of Idaho Locomotive & Rail. The Corps of Engineers would be responsible for the engineering & the VA, again, for the personnel.

Altogether, the Four Enterprises should hire around 20,000 post-9/11 veterans & anywhere from between 40,000 to 60,000 Inmate Infantrymen.

In the last posting I made some mistakes in listing the Distinguished Mayors & their Cities, for which I am sorry.
I have added Logan & Laramie to the list of stops on the Great Western Railway. Omitting Logan was simply an oversight. The reason I omitted Laramie was my concern about running a line west of the Bighorn Mountains...but now I am all right with it.

In my next e-mail I shall describe how the Four Enterprises might offer 30 freshman credit hours that might be transferrable...enabling the Cavarlyman, Equestrian or Railway Worker to leave after a year rated as an "SWM"...a "Sophomore With Money"

Regards, David Yuhas, Boulder, Colorado

p.s. The following are excellent illustrations of the 5AT ("Advanced Technology") which I would like to see retrofitted for charcoal combustion. I don't care for the pyschodelic paint jobs, but there will be plenty of time to talk about that.

http://www.5at.co.uk/5ATpictures.shtml