If you have read some of my most recent posts, you know that I have been writing about my experiences after leaving the Logistics Executive Development Course at Fort Lee, Virginia. Well, I graduated from the Logistics Executive Development Course in due course, and my family and I headed for Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Thus, I am left the Logistics Executive Development Course and Fort Lee, Virginia, behind. If you want to know more about those subjects, you will just have to go back and revisit the posts on those subjects. If you have been reading my most recent posts about my adventures after moving to Arizona, you found out what happened when I initially signed in at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. I subsequently revealed to you that I had been assigned to the Joint Interoperability Test Center (JITC) at Fort Huachuca. JITC is a subordinate command of the Defense Information Systems Agency. You may have read about an interesting situation with a temporary guard. In that same post, I also talked about securing housing for my family. That secured post housing and how spiders rained from the ceilings. Oh yeah. That was quite entertaining. Not. I then switched gears to talk about some of my volunteer work on Fort Huachuca. Oh yeah. That was quite fun and interesting too. I was volunteered by my unit to be a tax officer to help soldiers and their families prepare their taxes. Yay. I discussed how I helped my Master Gunnery Sergeant and his dependapotamus spouse prepare their personal income taxes. I talked about where my quarters were located on Fort Huachuca and how I was introduced to the local chapter of the Hash House Harriers. I talked about an incident that happened soon after I assumed my tour of duty at the Joint Interoperability Test Center (JITC) at Fort Huachuca. This particular incident occurred one Monday morning soon after I arrived at work. For more on that particular incident and my first NCOIC, Master Gunnery Sergeant Orr, please visit that post. In still another of my most recent posts, I wrote about my efforts to secure a farewell award for my NCOIC, Master Gunnery Sergeant Orr. I wrote in that post that there would be two farewell posts about Master Gunnery Sergeant Orr. Well, since the first post was about his farewell award, obviously, my most recent post had to be about his actual farewell and his plans after life in the military. In a recent post, I talked about a strange spectacle that I beheld as I arrived for work one morning. However, in my most recent posts, I shifted gears and talked about a couple natural phenomena that occur at Fort Huachuca during the summer months. I talked about the wind in one and I talked about the phenomenon for which the Huachuca Mountains and Fort Huachuca are named in the other. Previously, I mentioned that the summer thunderstorms that gave the Huachuca Mountains their name are loosely referred to as monsoons. Which led into my talk about said summer weather phenomenon and a somewhat dubious hash house Harriers run. Then, in my most recent post, I talked about how my son received his hash name. Today, I am going to talk about another local Southern Arizona phenomenon. However, this particular phenomenon is man-made and it primarily exists only in the southeastern corner of Arizona down around Sierra Vista, Bisbee, and Tombstone. Note that I mentioned Tombstone. Tombstone is just sixteen short miles away from Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. I didn’t really notice the phenomenon when I first moved to Arizona and Fort Huachuca. But it became abundantly clear after I took my family to visit Tombstone in May 1993. Practically every male living in the town of Tombstone sported a handlebar mustache similar to the flowing snowplow-like handlebar mustache that Wyatt Earp himself wore. Descriptions and pictures depict Wyatt Earp’s handlebar mustache stretching far past his mouth and down into his chin. Men who don’t sport a mustache as elaborate as that of Wyatt Earp tend to emulate the handlebar mustache worn by Doc Holliday. I first noticed that trend or phenomenon for all of the males playing cowboy roles in the old Tombstone Gunfight show reenactment skits that are performed for tourists. Then I noticed the phenomenon also stretched to men that weren’t involved in Tombstone Gunfight show reenactment skits. For example, quite a few of the contractors working at Fort Huachuca sported similar mustaches. Why? Were they trying to be Wyatt Earp wannabes? I had no idea. Were they trying to get a side hustle as roleplaying actors as the cowboys in the Tombstone Gunfight show reenactment skits? Again, I had no idea. Cuz I had no idea how much contractors made back then. Thus, I had no idea whether they needed the extra money. And really, did they get enough of playing cowboys and shit when they were kids? I mean, seriously. My brothers and I as well as all of the neighborhood kids went through a phase or two where we played cowboys when we were kids. We also went through other phases where we played notorious bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly, but I’m not talking about that shit. I’m talking about handlebar mustaches and why there is such a high preponderance of handlebar mustaches in the southeastern corner of Arizona. I could never quite figure that out. It wasn’t long after that trip to Tombstone that I had to choose a dentist. Naturally, my first and only choice was Doctor Simpson. His Hash name was “Homer” for rather obvious reasons. But I noticed the very first time that I met him that he sported a Wyatt Earp-like handlebar mustache. Thus, I just had to ask him about that mustache the first time I went to visit him for a dentist appointment. I asked him why he had the mustache. I thought maybe he was just trying to be a Wyatt Earp wannabe. But no, no. It turned out that he had actually played the role of Wyatt Earp for eight years in the Tombstone Gunfight show reenactment skits. I was surprised to learn that. Okay. So he had a legitimate reason for sporting such a mustache. But what was everybody else’s excuse? I suspect that they thought such mustaches just looked good and made them look tough and cool like Wyatt Earp. I seriously doubted that it made their gun skills any better though. I cannot say that there is any solid research to back up anything that I have written here. However, if you ever visit the southeastern corner of Arizona down around Tombstone, Bisbee, and Sierra Vista, I suspect you will notice that same phenomenon. I am sure that the men who have adopted the Wyatt Earp-like handlebar mustache look have not experienced any exercises in futility because of their facial hair choices.
by 
by 