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   Wearing night vision glasses, crew member Ben Farney pulls night duty in the machine gun bunker. Greenspoon appears and accidentally trips a wire. Alarms go off and suddenly they're hit with a blinding spotlight. Friend or foe? Ben stays cool, but Jimmy's first thought is to cover the "home front." It gets tough out there in the trenches.

 

Ben Farney

 

   On occasion, Ben would get on a roll telling you about something, anything, and the potential was always there for it to turn into an elaborate, detailed podium of an explanation with tons of genius. I once told him I was expecting him to pull out a chart on the subject. As time went on, these moments developed into a full-blown persona. "Ben. You're doing a chart again." Then it got shortened to "He's chartin'" with the variable ... "Chart Man." He even got into it HIMSELF! With the greatest of mock seriousness, he'd pretend to reach up behind him and pull down a wall chart, like a drill sergeant or professor might do, and then smack an invisible pointer against it, making a whip sound with his mouth for emphasis. Wonderful, bullshit routines. Ridiculously funny as hell. Aykroyd and Belushi would love it.

   Ben worked with us as stage manager and monitor mixer for a number of years. He was already a crew member when I returned to the group in 1991. He may have been there since 1988, and continued with us until 1996. We were very close and were a strong team together. Ben and Carson Price represented our group with a lot of heart, a lot of drive and a lot of tough sincerity that made being friends with them a great thing. Devoted crewmen.

   Ben was also a drum tech and tuned the drums frequently. Yes, he played drums with an attitude, too. He possesses a wonderful sense of humor that will keep you in stitches. Does a hell of a mock imitation of Johhny Mathis that is damn good (i.e. "Chances Are," "Misty," and the ever popular, "You can kiss my ass and call me Charlie." (Just kidding)

   My good friend Ben Farney,"Chart Man" and/or "Overhead Ben." He's a Kansas City man who's heavy on beef when ordering dinner. His standard response when asked "How'd you like your steak cooked?", was .... "Cut off it's horns, wipe it's ass and bring it to me."             (I think that means RARE)

 

 

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KUNSAN SPORTS

 

Sports? Well, kinda. They did have a nine hole golf course right on the base that most of us played a few rounds on, and a gymnasium that was available to us. Here's Cory applying his God given talents. It's too late for the golf shot, but I suppose with a stretch of the imagination, the basketball shot could've still had a chance. (NOT)

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Yes, yes ... he hit the ball. Digitally, I just couldn't resist.

Cory and Carson

 

We spent 3 days there, played music for the soldiers at Kunsan and it felt good, but it was time to leave. Below: Danny sitting in the Wolf Pack waiting room, while our C-141 transport plane was on it's way. He couldn't help but choke back a smile when he saw what was on television.

 

 

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