OK, I think I’ve received enough inputs on the subject of what will and will not sell in support of Valour-IT. NZ Bear has graciously supplied webspace here for the actual auction, but here’s some photos (click the pics for larger) and the rules of engagement:
First, one size 42R flight suit, worn in combat, well-laundered. Unkawill opens the bid at $50.00
Second, one size 40R flight suit, worn in combat, well-laundered. Emroidered rank insignia (commander) sewn in.
Third, one HGU-55P helmet, size small (it’s not mine), well-worn, with O2 mask shell (cracked, unserviceable) and visor (good condition). Reflective tape decoration from VFA-192, the Golden Dragons, forward deployed in Atsugi, Japan. Not suitable for use as a motorcycle helmet by any means, but would make an interesting conversation piece.
Fourth, ball caps. ROE: One each USS Ronald Reagan ball cap and USS George HW Bush ball cap, with or without scrambled eggs based on the winning bidder’s preference. Anyone matching the winning bid will get his or her own up until the point wherein your correspondent (who’s a bit stretched right now truth be told, SoCal real estate taxes being what they are, and has anyway already done his bit) feels the pinch of buying all those ball caps. By the way, I can promise swift delivery on the RRR caps, but while I’m sure I can in time get my grubby mits on the GHWB ball caps, I have not yet heard from my man in Newport News. Might just take a while.
Fifth, one signed and printed copy of Rhythms, complete with two new epilogue chapters. Taking everything under consideration, and very grateful for the advice I’ve been given, I’m going the low-end/Kinko’s route for this version. I have in my head the lunatic notion that the rest of it might be worth hurling into the public maelstrom, just for curiousity’s sake, once it’s a bit more fully fleshed out. Self-publishing reduces the value of any theoretical rights a correspondent informs me through another channel. If it does get published the winning bidder can say that he knew the man back when, and if it doesn’t, then it was all for a good cause, wasn’t it?
So pony up if it do ya fine, and never give up the ship. Keep in mind that it’s a good cause you’re supporting and ourselves not much more than 1/3rd of the way home, sadly trailing them sojers and only 6 more days (and a bit) before Veteran’s Day, and imagine the disgrace it’d be to the service.
And if you’re not interested in bidding on any of the things on offer here, you might as well throw another fin in the jar just for the goodness that’s in it. The side bar link on the right stands at your service.
Wow! Thanks so much for putting these things up for auction, Lex. I’m sure they’re going to be a great boost to the fundraiser.
Man oh man, if I wasn’t unemployed and had a cent to my name, I’d be all over that Rhythms item… *wipes tear*
Team Navy Auction…
Neptunus Lex has come through for Team Navy with some great items to auction:…
Sir,
I can’t compete with “Bstrawse” for the “Rhythms” book. But it looks like a cap will go for about sixty bucks. I’d like to contribute the amount of my bid for Rhythms ($110) to “buy” a cap (Reagan sans eggs) but don’t want to screw up the Laffer curve by actually bidding that much.
Is that okay with your rules?
Thing is, the deadline for the auctions almost coincide with the end of the Valour-IT drive (end of Veterans Day).
Sorry– confused dumb guy I am. (Just ask Jon Carry.)
Gee. That lightweight Airfarce helmet looks 500% better’n that heavy double-visored fleet issued job I used to wear. I still remember the pain of pre-form fit, too!
Got any 44long leather jackets sans all those top-ten patches up for auction?
B2
Who would ruin a leather flight jacket with patches? Some things have to stay just as they are.
Now I did ponder putting up my lightweight nomex flight jacket for auction. That one – apart from the VFA patches you’d be bound to tear off – did have quite a few Top 10 patches (as well as three Top Hook patches – I was on a tear there for a while in Japan). But something told me that, as mildly excessive as it all seems now, I might actually want that jacket when I’m your age
!