Gary Hall
04-23-06, 04:08 PM
Ladies and Marines: How dumb can we be? I'm reminded of a time in Dallas sometime during 1953 when Jack Carson came to town to star in a stage play in Margo Jones' then Theater 53. I was accompanied by my then soon to be beautiful wife. A memorable and contemporary line in the play by Mr. Carson was: "Whoever heard of a policeman stealing anything in Texas?" Since that time I have worked 47 years on drilling rigs. During 1973 - 74 I was working in the Arabian Gulf for ARAMCO on the drill ship Leo M. Clark, for the then big money of $60/day. One day as we were nearing the depth of one of the producing reservoirs I was standing by the shale shaker watching as the drill cuttings surfaced when the drill foreman Wilbur Kervin walked by and asked me what I was up to. I told Wilber I wanted to see what the pay zone looked like, I was holding 2 handsfull of it. As I looked at the abundance and remembering the paucity of most of the then US pay zones (5 - 10') I without thinking asked Wilber how thick the pay zone was. I recall his face went blank momentarily and he replied: "I don't know, we've never been able to drill all the way through it." Go back and review the Oil Industry journals and you will find that during the 1950's and 1960's US oil prices were $2 - $3 per bbl and that the published cost of ARAMCO's producing 1 bbl. of crude was $.05 (that's a nickel per bbl). Saudi Arabia is one of the least difficult oil fields in the world to work in, you have to work hard at getting into drilling trouble. The Saudi oilfields were discovered by the Americans in 1938. (See the ARAMCO HANDBOOK in any library. At that time, in sight from where I was, was the then recently completed Berri #5 well, producing through 9 5/8" casing (that's casing used as tubing), to the loading docks at Ras Tanura. Later on about 1983 - 84 I was working for the Israeli's in their Negev Desert, near Biblical Beersheb, where Hagar had the time of her travail, and the Lord comforted her, making her many promises. Gasoline at that time was $4.00 US per gallon (in Israel) and not many could afford it. Everywhere you rode, there were multitudes of Israeli hitchhikers and it was accepted that as many as possible would be given a ride. Most of the hitch hikers were wearing Israeli Army uniforms, many were female and nearly all were carrying loaded US M-16's. As we suddenly approached a young and beautiful Israeli female soldier hitch hiking, we slammed on the brakes for her. As she smilingly got in the vehicle, the loaded M-16 came in bbl first, as casually as if it were her purse. I thought at the time and will always remember that if only US gun protestors (Ann Richards in particular), could have seen that. As we rode on and talked it seems like I must have fallen in love with her and asked her if I could take her home (to the US). She smiled and turned me down replying: "No goyim, you've got too many self inflicted unnecessary problems in your country, I'll just tough it out here in Israel". Alas, I only wanted my children and grandchildren to see her, and another people and lifestyle. The other day I saw an obese Lee Raymond in the Dallas Morning News. He reminded me of my Grandfather Tom Rusk's hogs at the trough at feeding time. Grand Dad Rusk never learned to install trough dividers in an attempt to minimize hog behavior, which can get out of control. I agree fully with Bill O'reilly in that oil co's (and in particular Exxon) are gouging the public and I have never had an Exxon credit card. But I draw solice in that the Lord says he is in charge and is running this show. Have at it Lord, I am convinced you alone know what is going on here. Kindest regards people. Gary Hall, Tyler, TX