We used aluminum tubing for rocket bodies and made the nose cone out of sheet aluminum. Fins were slid into notches as the tail and the melted propellant (technically known as "caramel candy") was carefully poured around a wooden vane centered in the rocket body. To finish we pressed another cone into the nearly-full end of the rocket. Firing was done by a 6-volt lantern battery.

The stories about burning the "waste" in Antarctica reminds me of the one my late friend Bob told me about Vietnam: the half barrels were pulled out the back of the latrines, doused in diesel fuel, and set alight. This was not a job for either the faint-hearted! One day someone opened the door below where the First Sergeant of calmly contemplating the news of the day, tossed on some diesel and threw a match -- without removing the half-barrel, of course. The flames of the burning latrine gave new meaning to the term "toasted buns."