36 years…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
So I’m on my search for a .22 rifle for next weekend, and I’m at my local gun store wandering the aisles, and trying to figure out what I want to do…

I notice a couple of older gents (well, MY age, alright…) and they are also circling the place too.  I realize one of them is watching me, and I keep thinking I’ve ‘seen’ him before somewhere…

I finally ‘think’ I’ve placed him, so I walk up behind he and his friend and say, “Flight, Radar, do you have ANY idea where you’re going?”

He snaps around, looks at me, and says, “Dammit, I ‘THOUGHT’ that was you! I was waiting to hear you say something to somebody!”  We shook hands and ended up pounding each other on the back, and probably had the gun store folks wondering what in hell was going on!!!

He was one of my pilots 36 years ago, out in WESTPAC back in the day.  He’s also retired and still consulting to ‘various’ organizations, the ‘little ones’ are now grown, married and he’s a 5 time grandpa!

We spent about 20 minutes just going back and forth on folks we’d served with and who was where, and what they were doing.  And then he brought up ‘the flight’…

We were deployed to Misawa AB, Japan on a 6 month deployment.
In August of 1976, two Americans had been killed at the DMZ in Korea during a tree cutting, so all the American forces were on higher alert, and we were pretty much restricted to the base…

September 20, 1976 was a routine patrol flight, up around the North end of Hokkaido, chasing bad guy submaines… “Gene” was the PPC, and we were minding our own business; sitting on a sonobuoy pattern and basically boring holes in the air, when a rather ‘interesting’ radio call came in to ‘warn’ us of a possibility a MIG-25 headed our way…

Truly a WTF moment…  Since we were well outside USSR airspace, minding our own business, etc…  Flight decided to descend, figuring we’d be below the cloud deck and we didn’t think they would try to shoot us down. 

We finished the mission and RTB’ed, only to find out a MIG-25 had landed at Hakodate airport not long after we’d received our little message…  Track reconstruction and later interviews with LT Victor Belenko confirmed he had,  in fact, probably passed within 5nm of us, and was at or below our altitude!!!

We never saw him, and he apparently never saw us…

Of course that racheted up the tension as the Japanese refused to give the MIG back for something like 60 days, and allowed US intelligence folks to basically dis-assemble the airplane (If I remember right, they finally gave it back to the USSR in 30+ crates).  There were all kinds of threats made against American flyers, and the Soviets said they were going to capture a US crew as ‘hostages’, etc…

Made for a rather ‘interesting’ rest of the deployment, and pretty much screwed us out of any good deals (like the Osan trips), and pretty much kept us flying our asses off… sigh…

His friend is a retired Marine Col, and he was just shaking his head, and commented he’d been III MEF at the same time and he was on alert to ‘go’, if things got any worse.

We both had to do other things, but we exchanged phone numbers, and I’m sure we’ll be having a drink and or dinner pretty soon!

36 years… Damn how time flies… 

Appleseed…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
.45 ACP+P talked me into attending an Appleseed next weekend, so I’m wondering if anybody else in the local area wants to join me in embarrassing themselves???

Seriously, training is always good, and I’m looking forward to the chance to get some good trigger time.  .45 ACP said they will have loaner rifles available, and the more the merrier…

W,W,W,W- Appleseed, shooty goodness, 17-18 Mar, Mechanicsville, VA (just outside Richmond)  Info HERE!

Now I’ve got to go to the range this weekend and re-sight my Garand(s) and look around for a .22 to buy that will work (not even going to try it with a lever action)…

10-22, or ???

USN KA-3B vs. Russian Trawler AGI…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
One more round of us vs. them… From a friend who was on the Bonnie Dick when this happened… Frito was a Phantom RIO and loved the guys that flew Texaco…

The Russian “Trawlers” (NATO designation: AGI for Auxiliary General Intelligence) with what looked like one thousand “fishing” antennas plied the Gulf of Tonkin on a daily basis… needless to say, it was a cat-and-mouse game to see what havoc they could expend towards our two carriers operating there 24 hours a day.

Since the U.S. government had proclaimed the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin three miles off the coast of North Vietnam and Hinan Island, People’s Republic of China, to be international waters, American ships in the Gulf were bound to obey the international rules of the road for ocean navigation.

This meant that if the Russian ship maneuvered herself into the path of an aircraft carrier where she had the right of way, the carrier had to give way even if she was engaged in launching or recovering aircraft.

The navigation officer was constantly trying to maneuver the ship so that the trawler wouldn’t be able to get in position to abuse the rules of the road and gain the right of way.

Sometimes he was successful in sucking the trawler out of position, but the room available for the ship to maneuver was limited by our on-station requirements, and sometimes the trawler was successful interrupting our flight operations.

The pilots of the air wing were strictly forbidden to take any action against the Russian ship, but one day CDR John Wunche, the commanding officer of the heavy tanker KA-3B detachment, had finally had enough of the Russians’ antics.

John Wunche was a big man with bright red hair and a flaming red handlebar mustache. He was a frustrated fighter pilot whom fate and the Bureau of Naval Personnel had put into the cockpit of a former heavy bomber now employed as a carrier-based tanker.


CDR Wunche flew the tanker like a fighter and frequently delighted the tactical pilots by rolling the “Whale,” as we all called the KA-3B tanker, on completion of a tanker mission. Consequently, John’s nickname was “the Red Baron.”

On 21 July 1967 he proved just how appropriate that name was.

The “Bonnie Dick” had nearly completed a recovery. The Russian trawler had been steaming at full speed to try to cut across our bow, and the bridge watch had been keeping a wary eye on the intruder. For a while it looked as if the Russian would be too late and we would finish the recovery before having to give way to the trawler.But a couple of untimely bolters extended the recovery and the “Bonnie Dick” had to back down and change course to comply with the rules…

The LSO hit the wave-off lights when the “Whale” was just a few yards from the ramp. John crammed on full power and sucked up the speed brakes for the go-around. The “Bonnie Dick” began a sharp right turn to pass behind the Russian, causing the ship to list steeply, and there, dead ahead of John, was the Russian trawler.

He couldn’t resist. He leveled the “Whale” about a hundred feet off the water and roared across the mast of the Trawler with all fuel dumps open like a crop duster spraying a field of boll weevils.

The Russian disappeared in a heavy white cloud of jet fuel spray, then reemerged with JP-4 jet fuel glistening from her superstructure and running lip-full in the scuppers. The Russian trawler immediately lost power as the ship’s crew frantically tried to shut down anything that might generate a spark and ignite the fuel.

She was rolling dead in the water in the Bon Homme Richard’s wake, her crew breaking out fire hoses to wash down the fuel, and the “Bonnie Dick” steamed out of sight, completing the recovery of the Whale. 

Needless to say, the Red Baron was an instant hero to the entire ship’s company.

Worth the read…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Got this one from ASM over at Random Acts of Patriotism, go follow the links and read one hellva story…
There’s a relatively new blog out there called She’s a Garand Girl which is a great title and the idea that she’s joined the blogging world as a Garand owner and shooter brings me a smile.
She didn’t hesitate at the start, trying to find her voice or making a Hello World entry, she jumped in with a series of posts. A very hard series covering an event of sustained violence in which she, young and unarmed (except for a very fine pickup truck), prevailed. The latest post covers the aftermath. I don’t know if she will share more of the story, although I hope she does. There’s more to tell if we’re going to get the rest of the way from then to now.
She has put up a sort of cover letter post with links to the story posts in order.Every one of us needs to read this series. She is sharing events from a very private place and she deserves to be heard and supported. Because if things ever go south and it’s just me and the tools at hand, I hope I do as well as Garand Gal did.

Random Travel #682…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
A couple of pics from the hotel…




They do belt AND suspenders security, guards (running mirrors under cars and looking in trunks etc.), fences (with pointy spikes), and state of the art video systems…

And the Souk…  Restaurants, etc. in this one little area, and there are 5-6 of these spread around the city.  Some that we are NOT welcome in, and the cops will actually stop cars with caucasians and tell them to turn around and leave an area… Sorry for the lousy spots, the wind causes dirt to stick to the windows and they can’t keep em clean…

Thai, Italian and Mexican are popular restaurants. Last night we went to the Movenpick (big Swiss Hotel chain) for the seafood buffet.  Absolutely unbelievable!  Fresh fish, shrimp, etc. cooked to your liking a variety of ways, various other dishes (seafood related), Sushi (freshly prepared), and a desert bar with probably 30 items, with wine for $51 US; and it was all you can eat!!!  


Needless to say, I shot my diet right square in the ass last night… sigh 


Interestingly, most of the hotel ’employees’ are contract workers, with Philippine, Indian, and Asians representing the majority. The ‘managers’ are all Bahraini, Saudi, etc.  Apparently, most of the contracts are one year contracts, so if you don’t perform, you don’t keep the job, so service is excellent pretty much everywhere.


And there is DEFINITELY a double standard in this part of the world. Two instances, one was in the lobby, where there is no smoking, and a ‘royal’ (wearing a keffiyeh with a gold rope) lit up in the middle of the lobby and not a word was said…  He stubbed his cigarette out with his shoe, and someone was right there to pick up the butt.

Second, driving in this morning, again a ‘royal’ driving an Aston Martin comes up in the right turn lane, honks, bulls his way into traffic, then cuts across 3 lanes to turn LEFT!  Bahraini police at the corner did NOTHING… sigh…


Oh yeah, and one last picture- The ‘spare’ palace…
They keep it fully staffed, lights, A/C etc. just in case a visiting Sheik or King shows up on short notice (or maybe long notice, I don’t know)…


And in the background is the financial district with the ‘sail’ building. It’s one of the central buildings for the financial district and home to a bunch of banks, investment firms etc.  


Oh yeah, one last thing… Beef Bacon is ‘different’, to put it mildly…

Are we there YET???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Another day, another airplane… sigh…



Are we there yet??? Nope, Kuwait and a wait…


And somebody REALLY screwed up the reservations, cause we are in a 5 star hotel!!!  Damn!



And this isn’t even one of the high dollar rooms. They apparently start at $2000/night and go up from there!


Sure beats the hell outta where I was the last three weeks…

The Island…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

A little humor for your Friday! 🙂

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman
2 French men and 1 French woman
2 German men and 1 German woman
2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman
2 Bulgarian men and 1 Bulgarian woman
2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman
2 Chinese men and 1 Chinese woman
2 American men and 1 American woman
2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman
2 English men and 1 English woman


One month later on the same island in the middle of nowhere, the following things have occurred:

One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a ménage-à-trois.

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of alternating visits with the German woman.

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning and cooking for them.

The two Bulgarian men took one long look at the endless ocean, another long look at the Bulgarian woman, and started swimming.

The two Japanese men have faxed Tokyo and are awaiting instructions.

The two Chinese men have set up a pharmacy, a liquor store, a restaurant and a laundry, and have got the woman pregnant in order to supply employees for their stores.

The two American men are contemplating suicide because the American woman keeps complaining about her body, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything they can do, the necessity of fulfilment, the equal division of household chores, how sand and palm trees make her look fat, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her nicer than they do, how her relationship with her mother is improving and how at least the taxes are low and it isn’t raining.

The two Irish men have divided the island into North and South and have set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in the picture because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whisky but they’re satisfied because at least the English aren’t having any fun.

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

Eastbound and down…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
By the time you read this, I’ll be somewhere over the Pacific, heading for the barn…


And for those who questioned coffee by Coke, here’s the machine!





And I have a rule of one good meal a det, and we finally got that last night, at one of my favorite places in WESTPAC.


For you old WESTPAC hands, two pics that ‘should’ tell you where we ate! 🙂



And here are a couple of pics of a real rickshaw from Hong Kong and yes they really were licensed!!!



And no, it wasn’t in the restaurant back in the day…


And one last hint for you old farts…



Yes, that IS the ceiling, and yes those are mostly dollar bills…  The ‘deal’ was if you could stick your dollar in the x ring, your meal was free! Never was able to to that one… sigh…


And the answer is-


Sam’s Anchor Inn!  


Great Teppanyaki restaurant, steaks/seafood and all the trimmings, including some just flat butt ugly ‘souvenir’ glasses.  And it cost a ‘bit’ more than the $4-5 that it used to, but it was still a great meal, and a good way to unwind after the time on the road.  


Those opening pics are the stairs and entry way, literally covered with 30+ years of business cards from all over the world.  If I dug back far enough (assuming I could remember where we stuck it), we’d find a Dragon Zap stuck up on the ceiling.


And say a prayer for all those who are in the grip/path of the storms that are moving across the country right now.  They need our help.

Military Aviator Heaven…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

For all my aviator friends…

You sort of had to have been there to understand all of this…

It is the best it could ever be.
 
Everybody’s a lieutenant, except God. He’s a General or Admiral (as the mood strikes Him!)
You only come to work when you’re going to fly.You fly three times a day, if you wish, except on Friday.
You never run out of fuel
You never run out of ammo.
Your missions are one hour long (or longer if you desire) and no briefings are ever required.
Sorties are air-to-air or air-to-ground, your choice.
You shoot the gun on every mission.
There are no check rides.
It is always VFR, and there are never any ATC delays.
You can fly out of the MOA and down to 10 feet AGL, if you want.
There are no ‘over G’s.’ 
The airplanes never break. Never any Fatals…. I mean….. you’re already there!
There are never any duty officer assignments.
You always fly overhead landing patterns with initial approach at 20 feet, then break left.
You can go cross-country anytime you desire… the further the better.
There are no ORI/UEIs.
There are no flight surgeons.
There are no Staff Jobs. 
There are no additional duties.
Friday Happy Hour is mandatory. ‘Happy Hour’ begins at 1400 hours and lasts until 0200+ hours.
The bartenders are all big bosomed and friendly.
Beer is free, but whiskey costs a nickel.
The bar serves only Chivas Regal, Jack Daniels and Beefeaters… plus 500 kinds of beer.
Country and Western music is free on the jukebox.
You never lose your room key and your buddies never leave you stranded.
The sun always shines, and you can put your hat in your pants pocket.
Flight Suits are allowed in the O Club at all times.
The BX always has every item you ask for, most being free.
There are never any crosswind landings, and the runways are always dry.
Control tower flybys for wheels-up checks can be made at 600 kts.
There are never any noise complaints.
Full afterburner climbs over your house are encouraged. 
Fitness reports always contain the statement, ‘Outstanding Officer.’
Functions requiring mess dress never occur.
All air traffic controllers are friendly and always provide priority handling.
‘ACE’ status is conferred upon all Aviators entering Heaven.
And… You Never Have To Grow Up!

h/t JP, Frito, and Cliffy