"Richard" was actually our cousin Rob, who has since died... He was a Navy Seal, and was at a summer vacation with a bunch of us at Lake Melissa in Minnesota. He was getting ready to deploy to the Gulf War I adventure and wasnt too thrilled, to put it mildly, about the whole thing. He maybe said ten words in my hearing the whole time we were there. He was an underwater demolition specialist, and was probably, though we really have no way of knowing, involved in the mining of the Gulf. I used China Lake because of the weapons testing facility they have there, and because it felt good to sing. The vendors selling streamers were preparing for a 4th of July parade somewhere.

Hope that clears it up somewhat.