Finding Your Azimuth

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
--Kodachrome, Paul Simon

It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken
--Sonnet 116, Shakespeare

He goes out at night with his big boots on
None of his friends know right from wrong
--Re-Humanize Yourself, The Police
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While Ranging through South Georgia on the way to Ft. Benning, and old friend popped up out of nowhere -- the Cusseta radio towers. There are two of them now. In 1968 there was only one.

All infantrymen know these towers because they are generally in the SE corner of Ft. Benning. Most of our training was to the west Jamestown Road, a dirt road in those days. The instructors always told us to look for the towers if we got mis-oriented, shoot an azimuth on them, and go to the Jamestown Road where somebody would be there to pick us up.

It was always very simple, and no one got left behind.

In addition to the joys of training, Ranger also enjoyed shooting pictures. They always told the truth, didn't they? This week, we hear Kodachrome is become a relic, banished to the dustbin of photographic history. Will our true colors ever be the same?

Once we left Ft. Benning, things were never that easy again.