sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you, I think. lol
Story Market Day
- Thread starter ComCamGuy
- Start date
steamroller
Contributing Member
Thank you, looking forward to part 2.
Ditto!! I check back often to see if you have blessed us with a new episode. Your thought into the characters, action , and strategy is fantastic to someone like myself who has never had to deal with it.
You mentioned cleaning up the original. How about adding chapter breaks. Will we be able to see the final version when it is complete? I would love to get a copy.
Thanks for writing.
You mentioned cleaning up the original. How about adding chapter breaks. Will we be able to see the final version when it is complete? I would love to get a copy.
Thanks for writing.
I also check everyday. I have come to think of this as an “ahhhh” moment. Gets my mind going and also provides an outlet for relaxation. Thank you so much! And thank your wife also. After all, two minds ARE better than one! Can’t wait for Part Two to begin! Oh, but a request: please put a link to this part if you start another thread. I really don’t see the need to start a new thread at this point, but you’re the one who will KNOW!
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Upon recommendation and much prodding by many individuals, I am looking at this becoming a book, even if just for Kindle or one of the other self-publishing platforms. Using the common calculation formatte of 300 words per page in novel formatte, I am at around 580 pages, plus part two to come. It will take a bit to get the first part fully massaged and edited/refined, but no significant elements will change. The story won't be different, just a bit smoother and glitches and continuity errors will be corrected. Once its ready, this will be the first place to know. As I go through looking for errors and tweaks, I have reread the comments and feedback from all of you. It's what helps me keep doing four to six entries a week.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
I don't intend to start a new thread. I figure to pick up right here with part two so no one gets lost who are following with links and alerts
An impressive debut which easily surpasses most "gun porn" PAW stories. Exquisite character development in people we have come to love--foibles and all. Near-unique medical slant to entire TEOTWAWKI genre. This deserves far greater recognition than some mere "Kindle Unlimited" which pays you $0.30/reader!
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
I have yet to do the research on publishing platforms. First I have to get the story in shape. Its still rough
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
K, MAYBE it is a bit ragged BUT I've found typos etc in Ludlum & Clancy publications so don't be too hard on yourself. If the actual language gets wonky, there are enough grammar Nazi's on any board to correct your course direction. As far as the story goes, there are more than a few actual 'boots-on-the-ground' types lurking here about to call BS and in a hurry too.
The approach is good, there's enough action (and realistic action, I might add) to satisfy pretty much anyone. Like the best PAW stuff I've read, there are bits of good information embedded in the story so, some education PLUS some entertainment = Winning Combo!
Thanks for sharing
G
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Thank you very much. Most of the time I get to be in the “boots-on-the-ground” category with, between combat and humanitarian, 10 down range deployments in a few different places. If I jack something up, I need to know, so I can get it right or make sure if I’m deviating it’s on purpose.
steamroller
Contributing Member
Many thanks for a great story !
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Yeah I can make out some of those ribbons but the angle is little skewed & I don't have the tools to clean it up BUT I can make out enough to know you know where the pointy end goes
Sportsman
Veteran Member
A day without "Market Day" is, well, not quite as interesting. Your writing doesn't really fit into the PAW genre I've been reading. It's more real-world, more detailed and filled with personal thoughts and real combat medic and experienced warrior insights. It's probably a result of your writing skills merged with your real world history. Whatever the reason, it will make a quality book or three.
I'm patiently waiting for Monday's continuation. And I will also be purchasing the book when it's in print (or kindle).
Thank you.
I'm patiently waiting for Monday's continuation. And I will also be purchasing the book when it's in print (or kindle).
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The Earthquake was felt miles inland. One of the things that failed was many different communications systems. With communications out, it shrank the world. Doug spent most of the day traveling up to the peak where the park’s radio repeater was. It was a newfangled computer driven unit. It wasn’t working, and would take someone with a lot more knowledge and some equipment to fix it. The quake had toppled it and things were smashed. He had tried to raise the base camp right after the quake, with no reply. His mobile wouldn’t connect to the repeater. He knew the cell phone would get nowhere out here. It never could. He tried his satellite phone. He could call out but the ranger station was not picking up. The only way he could connect would be if he could call someone else’s satellite phone. Unfortunately, the other park personnel with them were not picking up.
The National Park Service has a variety of types of Park Rangers. There is the type most people see in the ranger stations who talk about the park, hand out pamphlets and assign campsites. These people also do a lot more, like the interpretative tours and programs, wildlife management and most types of operations. There are also the Park Rangers who you might encounter in the depths of the park. They are usually seasonal employees who do most of the backcountry operations, check remote parts of the park for everything, help campers, perform search and rescue, and usually make the park work. They live deep in the park in temporary yurts and campsites
The other park rangers are law enforcement. They also perform most of the other functions in the park like the other rangers. These are the ones you see armed in the park. Many times, they are the ones encountered driving around the main parts of the park. There are some Law Enforcement Backcountry Rangers. They are the ones usually leading search and rescue operations, patrolling the backwoods for problems and supervising the other Backcountry Rangers, at least here in this park.
There used to be nine full time Backcountry Rangers (LE) here at the park. Budget cuts and manpower hiring freezes had culled the numbers down to three. During the tourist season, each one supervised a crew of seasonal backcountry staff. After the season is over, it’s only the three of them patrolling the backcountry. Each had a place within their areas to live for weeks at a time. Right now, only one was occupied.
Doug’s two other Backcountry Rangers were not deep in the woods. They had just last week finished closing down and clearing out the remote campsites of the seasonal employees whose jobs had closed out for the winter. One of them was working in the front office nursing a badly sprained knee. The other had flown down to San Diego to visit his mother having surgery.
He spent the rest of the day going all the way down to the main park center to report the problem. While he was there, his boss filled him in on the other events like the extent of the earthquake and tsunami. And here Doug always worried about earthquakes when he was working Yellowstone. He checked in with his father by phone, making sure everything was good. His boss told him he was it for the entire backcountry and he needed him to do patrols to find any damage to the bridges and trails. He also warned Doug there were still four groups of campers registered as being out there for about a week. Doug loaded up the leftover supplies from the snack bar and made the long trek back to his cabin deep in the forest. He had a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and needed to get ready.
The National Park Service has a variety of types of Park Rangers. There is the type most people see in the ranger stations who talk about the park, hand out pamphlets and assign campsites. These people also do a lot more, like the interpretative tours and programs, wildlife management and most types of operations. There are also the Park Rangers who you might encounter in the depths of the park. They are usually seasonal employees who do most of the backcountry operations, check remote parts of the park for everything, help campers, perform search and rescue, and usually make the park work. They live deep in the park in temporary yurts and campsites
The other park rangers are law enforcement. They also perform most of the other functions in the park like the other rangers. These are the ones you see armed in the park. Many times, they are the ones encountered driving around the main parts of the park. There are some Law Enforcement Backcountry Rangers. They are the ones usually leading search and rescue operations, patrolling the backwoods for problems and supervising the other Backcountry Rangers, at least here in this park.
There used to be nine full time Backcountry Rangers (LE) here at the park. Budget cuts and manpower hiring freezes had culled the numbers down to three. During the tourist season, each one supervised a crew of seasonal backcountry staff. After the season is over, it’s only the three of them patrolling the backcountry. Each had a place within their areas to live for weeks at a time. Right now, only one was occupied.
Doug’s two other Backcountry Rangers were not deep in the woods. They had just last week finished closing down and clearing out the remote campsites of the seasonal employees whose jobs had closed out for the winter. One of them was working in the front office nursing a badly sprained knee. The other had flown down to San Diego to visit his mother having surgery.
He spent the rest of the day going all the way down to the main park center to report the problem. While he was there, his boss filled him in on the other events like the extent of the earthquake and tsunami. And here Doug always worried about earthquakes when he was working Yellowstone. He checked in with his father by phone, making sure everything was good. His boss told him he was it for the entire backcountry and he needed him to do patrols to find any damage to the bridges and trails. He also warned Doug there were still four groups of campers registered as being out there for about a week. Doug loaded up the leftover supplies from the snack bar and made the long trek back to his cabin deep in the forest. He had a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and needed to get ready.
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Nature_Lover
Wait! What?
Freebirde yes. It is Monday. Just look up there 
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Doug was happy when he reached the cabin that had been his home these last several years. It was an old stone cabin updated by the CCC many long years ago to serve as a remote ranger station. It was made to accommodate three to five rangers operating out of it at a time. Later, with the downsizing and mission changes, it was neglected. Once the permanent Backcountry Rangers dwindled to three, the official support for three full time remote living stations was discontinued. Each of the three were supposed to be able to support three Rangers, so two were dropped off the books. The one Doug was living in was one of the dropped. The current Station Chief was supporting the three locations by some squirrely subterfuge. One was an old school Fire Lookout Tower with living quarters in it. This was great in the warm months and freezing in the winter. There was also five flights of stairs to get up there. With Tracy twisting her knee, the boss had moved her to main camp until her knee was better. Besides, she wouldn’t be hiking the backwoods for six to eight weeks anyway. The one backcountry station still funded was the one Garret was using. It was a log structure at the edge of a high meadow. The reason it was the chosen to be officially maintained was the stone picnic pad that was converted to a helicopter landing pad.
Doug was happy his boss was letting him stay in the cabin full time. It was a win-win for sure. He didn’t have to pay rent or drive a crap ton of miles each day to get to work, and the boss had a LE Ranger almost always in the backcountry. During the winter months, Tracy didn’t stay in the tower much, preferring to commute from base camp. Garret split his time about forty percent staying in the cabin and sixty back in the main camp. There were always spare cabins in the main camp once they went on winter manning. Doug was the hold out. He tried to avoid the main camp as much as possible.
Doug’s current boss had been briefed by the retiring park superintendent when he took over about Doug and the rest of the staff. He called Doug a throwback to the Rangers from a bygone age. Technically he was law enforcement, and heaven help anyone who forced him to act like it. Doug got there as the junior LE Backcountry Ranger over ten years ago, and learned as much as he could from the old salts that help create the LE Backcountry program here, including his father. Now Doug knew more about the backcountry here than any other Ranger on staff. The Superintendent summed him up with ‘great in a crisis, keep him away from administration.’
The Stone Cottage had a timeless nature to it that Doug liked and was working hard to keep. There was a common room with a kitchen, a dining table with four chairs and a sitting area in front of the fireplace. Down a hall to the back were what once were four bedrooms and a simple bathroom. The back two bedrooms were still set up that way, but the front two were converted to food and supplies storage in one and search and rescue gear in the other. As long as you didn’t look at all the nylon packs and ropes in the rescue gear room, this place would pass for being anywhere from fifty to a hundred years ago. The oil lamps were still on the walls and over the table. The kitchen counter still had a pump handle and spigot for the well in addition to the faucets. The twelve volt lights were hidden and fed from the battery stack in the vehicle shed and fed by some solar panels.
This was the place Doug felt most at home indoors. It was his refuge after the divorce, it was the place he refound his calm, it was where everything made sense. He hung his gear up on the pegs by the door as he came in. He knew he had to get the gear ready for tomorrow. The other campers had to be checked on, the trails and bridges needed inspected, and the other two stations should be checked as well. He wished Garret hadn’t gone to San Diego, but his mother was having surgery and needed him there. He started thinking of the big circle he would have to drive to hit both stations and the other campsites on his list. He knew he would have to get an early start. He would unload the supplies first thing in the morning before he left. No reason to drag all that stuff around. He could use the extra room to pick up stuff from the campers if they needed to leave right away. He figured to recommend that to them anyway.
Going towards the bedroom, he looked over at the other bedroom in the cabin. He had cleaned it out last week. He still needed to talk to his boss about his daughter staying with him out here. She was a natural in the woods. Maybe he could sell it as an overwinter unpaid volunteer learning the ropes of Backcountry Ranger. Part of him tried not to gloat when she said she was determined to live out here with him and not go back to her mother’s. For now, she was staying at his dad’s place helping him out. He really needed to square it with his boss, not that his boss would be out to the cabin to check up on him anytime soon. The last time he was here was the only time he was here, back when he was getting his initial orientation to the remote parts of the park. Moments after crawling into bed, he was asleep.
Doug was happy his boss was letting him stay in the cabin full time. It was a win-win for sure. He didn’t have to pay rent or drive a crap ton of miles each day to get to work, and the boss had a LE Ranger almost always in the backcountry. During the winter months, Tracy didn’t stay in the tower much, preferring to commute from base camp. Garret split his time about forty percent staying in the cabin and sixty back in the main camp. There were always spare cabins in the main camp once they went on winter manning. Doug was the hold out. He tried to avoid the main camp as much as possible.
Doug’s current boss had been briefed by the retiring park superintendent when he took over about Doug and the rest of the staff. He called Doug a throwback to the Rangers from a bygone age. Technically he was law enforcement, and heaven help anyone who forced him to act like it. Doug got there as the junior LE Backcountry Ranger over ten years ago, and learned as much as he could from the old salts that help create the LE Backcountry program here, including his father. Now Doug knew more about the backcountry here than any other Ranger on staff. The Superintendent summed him up with ‘great in a crisis, keep him away from administration.’
The Stone Cottage had a timeless nature to it that Doug liked and was working hard to keep. There was a common room with a kitchen, a dining table with four chairs and a sitting area in front of the fireplace. Down a hall to the back were what once were four bedrooms and a simple bathroom. The back two bedrooms were still set up that way, but the front two were converted to food and supplies storage in one and search and rescue gear in the other. As long as you didn’t look at all the nylon packs and ropes in the rescue gear room, this place would pass for being anywhere from fifty to a hundred years ago. The oil lamps were still on the walls and over the table. The kitchen counter still had a pump handle and spigot for the well in addition to the faucets. The twelve volt lights were hidden and fed from the battery stack in the vehicle shed and fed by some solar panels.
This was the place Doug felt most at home indoors. It was his refuge after the divorce, it was the place he refound his calm, it was where everything made sense. He hung his gear up on the pegs by the door as he came in. He knew he had to get the gear ready for tomorrow. The other campers had to be checked on, the trails and bridges needed inspected, and the other two stations should be checked as well. He wished Garret hadn’t gone to San Diego, but his mother was having surgery and needed him there. He started thinking of the big circle he would have to drive to hit both stations and the other campsites on his list. He knew he would have to get an early start. He would unload the supplies first thing in the morning before he left. No reason to drag all that stuff around. He could use the extra room to pick up stuff from the campers if they needed to leave right away. He figured to recommend that to them anyway.
Going towards the bedroom, he looked over at the other bedroom in the cabin. He had cleaned it out last week. He still needed to talk to his boss about his daughter staying with him out here. She was a natural in the woods. Maybe he could sell it as an overwinter unpaid volunteer learning the ropes of Backcountry Ranger. Part of him tried not to gloat when she said she was determined to live out here with him and not go back to her mother’s. For now, she was staying at his dad’s place helping him out. He really needed to square it with his boss, not that his boss would be out to the cabin to check up on him anytime soon. The last time he was here was the only time he was here, back when he was getting his initial orientation to the remote parts of the park. Moments after crawling into bed, he was asleep.
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Grouchy Granny
Deceased
Wonderful! You nailed the NPS (National Park Service) dead on. I didn't work for them, but knew plenty who did and what games they could play.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Good, the NPS is a little outside my envelope comparatively. I know some, and research more, but your conformation helps.
Grouchy Granny
Deceased
They really liked screwing their employees with substandard housing and charging market rates for it.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you, nice.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Oh, just like the military!