About

Older Then, Younger Now

~ with apologies to Dylan

Once a career soldier, I am now retired and living in Virginia.  I grew up in Birmingham Alabama, the middle son of a railroad man and a country girl.

I joined the Army at twenty-three, serving twenty-four years, from Private to Sergeant Major.

I was mostly in the 82nd Airborne, with three tours in Izmir Turkey, a tour in the British Parachute Regiment, and taught ROTC at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).  I am a graduate of Class 47 of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. 

After the Army, I was the Corps and Institute Sergeant Major at VMI for seventeen years.  I stayed too long, becoming a tired old man there.

I married a beautiful Birmingham girl.  She and I have settled in Virginia to be close to our children and grandkids.

A New Azimuth

After 41 years, I took my uniform off and promised myself that I would never put it back on.  I haven't.  I don't use my rank anymore and I will not answer to it.

Unlike my Army and VMI days, I have plenty of free time.  I invest this in family, travel, and hobbies.  It is a better way of life.  In the first few months, I took a trip to the Keys and visited every battlefield close to Charlottesville.  I star-gazed, bird-watched, and hiked almost every park in the area.

I've slowed down a lot.  Now, I'm the founding member of the One Thing a Day Club.  I accomplish one thing on my to-do list, each day.  I do something that I want to do each week.  Big things are once a month.

Days find me walking the trails around my house (I've done enough running), visiting one of the many parks in the area, or scouring a local battlefield.  I'm constantly taking photos.  I spend cold and rainy days in the War Room writing (I've suffered enough of those), working on this page, adjusting photos, or reading in my chair.  I'm still a voracious reader.  I sometimes spend evenings out back with my telescope.  My family research has become more and more fruitful.

What's in a Name?

The name for my site comes from my first experiments with the internet.  Looking for a suitable AOL screen name and email address, I tried every iteration of my name, all of which were taken.  I noticed that a few of my army buddies added "505," our regiment, to the end of their name.  AOL accepted it, so I became "neel505@AOL.com."  When I moved to Yahoo and built my first site on Geocities, I kept the moniker, becoming neel505@yahoo.com.  When Geocities closed, I moved my site from place to place, settling on Google because I could keep it online for $12/year.  I kept the name.

Me and Google

I'm an Android user, hence, I do everything with Google products.  I organize my schedule on Calendar. I've gone paperless with Keep, Tasks, News, Maps, Wallet, Contacts, and Gmail.  I use Docs and Photos like two free 5-gigabyte cloud services.  I text with Messages.  I video chat with Meet.  I made my site with Sites and parked it at Domains.

I use Windows computers (Anne and Miriam) and a Pixel phone (Dorcus).  "Anne, Dorcus, and Miriam."  Get it?

Symbols

My stylized N represents my family name, Neel, and my Regiment, The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. This N is also a stylized Delta and Victor, the Roman numerals for five-hundred and five.

My winged panther comes from my unit crest, but that panther belongs to everyone in our regiment.  This one is mine.  Well, kind of.  I'm no graphic artist.  I borrowed a leaping panther and some Pegasus wings from the web, combined them, and colored them black with Photoshop.

Neel in a Nutshell


I'm the middle Kid, the rogue of the family.  My brothers were studious, well-behaved, and educated at a liberal arts college - Tools.  I'm not the smartest of the three, just the best-looking.  OK.  Who am I kidding?  I'm smarter than those two guys, as well.


I double space between sentences, do not think "disrespect" is a verb, and conjugate Plead as "plead, pled, pled."  I use Army Rank and Time.  I love commas and put them anywhere and everywhere.  My spelling sucks.


I call my friends Mates.  I use the term Cheers to say goodbye, good luck, thank you and Let's Drink.  I speak just enough Turkish to get where I'm going, order food, and get myself in trouble.


I have an inner need to impress people with my intelligence.  If you ask me a question, you'll get an extended, exhaustive answer, with historical context.


I detest politics and politicians and haven't liked a president since Ron Reagan.


My musical tastes are stuck in the '60s and early '70s.  I hate the friggin Beatles.  I love Springsteen's old songs about cars, girls, and growing up, those he made before becoming a wimp.  To me, Dan Fogelberg is the Poet of Our Time.


I believe there has never been a god or supreme being.  If you want to delude yourself, that's fine with me, so long as you do not attempt to impose your superstitious taboos upon me or step on my toes.  Don't think you can convert me; you will only run away, crying.  True Story.


I'm a patriotic and proud American Southerner, and an armed Life Member of the NRA.  My heroes are Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.  Deal With It!


Pleased to Meet Ya,


John