Remember…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
WTC   AA11   UA175   Pentagon   AA77   Shanksville   UA93



Budweiser just replayed this commercial for the second time ever, and at the end added the words “We did not forget”…  Class act…  

Upsides…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Traveling a lot has many bad points and a ‘few’ good points…


Two high points of the last trip were getting to meet Navy One, and getting a decent lunch out of the deal 🙂 We talked about the Navy, our respective career patterns, and the ‘joys’ of blogging… Truly a nice guy, and worth the read- And yes, he’s as nuts as he appears to be on his blog…LOL


The other high point was actually caused by the power outage in SOCAL Thursday night.  I was privileged to be able to spend an hour or so with some veterans of the 6th Bomb Group (or 6th Bombardment Group) depending on who you were talking to.  One of many links can be found HERE.  These ol’ boys and their wives were in San Diego for a reunion and being ‘typical’ aviators, knew there would be free booze… 🙂


As I posted, the Hilton did an outstanding job of putting on a free spread for us, and I had plopped down in the lounge with a retired Marine Gunny when four of these gents wandered in, took one look at the food (I do remember hearing the ‘rabbit food’ comment) and making a beeline for the bar.  We were at the far back table, and these guys wandered over and asked if they could sit, so we got up to move, but they waved us back down.  


We both commented on their ‘crew’ hats, and started chatting with them.  When they found out we were both veterans, the ‘sea’ stories…er, wait a minute, what does the Army call sea stori… oh never mind…


They talked about flying off Saipan and Tinian, and how touchy the birds were.  I mentioned I had met Dutch Vankirk when I picked up a book on the 509th and Col. Tibbets at the ‘military’ opening of Udvar Hazy at Dulles.  I mentioned I was amazed by the 750 miles plus from Saipan to Iwo basically in ground effect due to the overweight airplanes and the Gunny mentioned that his dad had fought on Iwo.  After that they really opened up to us, and told even more stories. 


Two that stand out- The first is that last year the had some old WWII airplanes available for ‘viewing’ and one of their number was going to get a flight in a T-6 Texan.  It seems there was some hate and discontent (at least with these four) over the guy that got the short straw (e.g. he cheated somehow)…  About this time the ‘guilty’ party (all 5’5″ and maybe 120 lbs) showed up at the table!  We made room and the story continued; the ‘instructor’ pilot was 81 years old, and “Jack” was 88!!!  So the guy telling the story says something to the effect of, “We watched the takeoff, and they start climbing out, and then the start playing. We figured he was giving Jack a show, and about 10 minutes later they come in and land, and it’s a PERFECT greaser!!!  So we walk over, and they are laughing and the ‘instructor’ is asking Jack how to make landings like that!”  


At this point Jack, with an urchin like grin (if an 89 year old can look like an urchin) says, “Hell, it’s like a bicycle, it just took me a coupla minutes to remember things, and I had over 500 hours in the back seat of those damn things as an instructor, and I always COULD land it better from the back seat.”


One of the others pipes up, but you hadn’t flow in 28 years, and Jack comes back with a comment about how ‘certain’ things are easy to remember, and they all busted out laughing…


The second-  To a man, they are totally disgusted with the current ‘revisionist’ history being put out there about WWII and their actions, as most of these guys also did tours in ETO, before coming to B-29s and WESTPAC.  They all said what they did was right, and they were there to WIN a war, minimize US losses and they had all seen/heard about the Japanese atrocities, and knew what they were doing was a critical piece to that effort.  They talked about their own losses, and how those have been minimized, and again how touchy the B-29 was to fly, especially in hot/heavy conditions, at low altitudes and occasionally high altitude bombing missions… And these guys by a large didn’t have a lot of hours either in the air or in the birds.  Jack said he might have had 1000 hours total, and half of that was as an instructor and he had maybe 120 hours in 29s when he was designated as the A/C.  The consensus was the night mining missions were the ‘worst’, since the crew had to be on their toes the whole time, and the best missions were the POW camp drops (which I’d never even heard of), where they dropped CARE packages on the Japanese POW camps holding prisoners. I truly wish I had brought a tape recorder with me, and had thought to get their names, as those gentlemen and their compatriots are truly the Greatest Generation…  Gentlemen, I can only offer my deepest thanks and appreciation for what you did!!!

This is interesting…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

The ENTIRE county of San Diego just lost power… Cause unknown, but this ain’t good! This from SDGE-

There’s a major power outage in the region. SDG&E crews are working as quickly and safely as possible. We don’t have an estimated restoration time. The power could be out through the night and into tomorrow. The outage has affected street lights. Please drive safely and treat the street lights as a four-way stop. If you have a personal family emergency plan, please activate it now.

1946- still no power apparently the SOCAL grid is down. Kudos to the Hilton Harbor Island, they’ve brought out food, water, cylumes and flashlights! Food, water, ice cream and beer are FREE!!! They are running emerg gen to keep basic stuff up and going out of their way to provide for guests!!!

Posted in WTF

Prostate Cancer…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


It’s real, and it can and does hit close to home…


My ex-FIL has been diagnosed with Prostate cancer, and it is advanced…  ‘Bob’ had been taking care of his wife (who died of Leukemia earlier this year), so hadn’t had a real physical or even been to a doctor in at least two years… 



My youngest, as some of you know, is a Paramedic; she had been ‘supporting’ her Grandpa with his wife, and she finally got him to go to the Doctor.  Needless to say, the diagnosis was NOT good.  He’s going through Chemo now, but the last check-up they found a lump on his spine, so they think it’s metastasized and he’s terminal… 


Folks, we need to step up on this one…  And no you’re not getting a pic of me in a kilt, since I don’t own one…


But go support your favorite gun blogger, or get in on the prizes yourself by putting up links, or feel free to pick one of the links below and donate from here…


Prostate Cancer Foundation   OR   LiveStrong

This is truly a good cause (for us guys), and not one that gets a lot of publicity, nor has a huge organization behind it…

Thanks for your time, and go get checked!  It only hurts for a little while, as long as you make em take the BIG class ring off 🙂

9/11 Memories… I will NEVER Forget, nor will I Forgive…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
We are coming up on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on the United States by four sets of al-Queda hijackers…


These images were burned into our consciousness that day…



American Airlines Flight 11, and United Flight 175 hit the two towers at the WTC.



American Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.


And United Flight 93 (destined for Washington, DC) crashed in Shanksville, PA after fighting between the hijackers and the passengers.


I hear the term “defining moment” thrown around a lot, especially in the last month or so…


Being a ‘bit older, I also remember a few others, President Kennedy being shot in Dallas, Martin Luther King being shot in Memphis, Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon…


On 9/11, I was in my office at the University when I got a call from one of the University pilots who is a retired Marine; he told me to “get to a TV, somebody just hit New York with an airplane!”


I finally found one in a conference room upstairs and turned it on, as it happened it was on CNN…


Others started to wonder in to see why I was ‘violating’ University policy, and the pilot called me back, about that time.  I do remember something to the effect of “a terrible accident has occured” being said on TV about the time the pilot saying this wasn’t an accident, it was an airliner and something bad was going down.  


As we talked, the second airplane hit the second tower, and we agreed about the fact that America was under attack, but at that point we had no idea who had done it…  Anger was the prevalent feeling, and frustration, since there wasn’t anything we could directly do for those folks…


About a half an hour later, I was called into a meeting with law enforcement about securing/protecting facilities and infrastructure; we were interrupted by the announcement that the Pentagon had been hit, and the tone of the meeting changed from what if, to we need to prepare NOW!  I also remember driving back to my office and hearing about Shanksville and UA 93 during that time. We set our emergency response plan into effect, sending folks home and going into a 24 hour response cycle.


I stayed at work, coordinating with various folks, but I noticed a lot of my co-workers were in shock that anyone would attack America, much less why attack us…  I wasn’t shocked, I was PISSED…  


The few of us that were ex-military tended to not say anything after the first couple of arguments, since we had a significantly different perspective. We knew the military had been placed on elevated alert, and folks were either airborne or sitting in cockpits on strip alert…


In the days that followed, I didn’t get a lot of sleep; watched a lot of coverage.  When the list of casualties came out, I found out I’d lost three good friends in the Pentagon, and I wrote to Navy Personnel volunteering for recall to active duty.  Sadly, I wasn’t recalled…


Why did I post these pictures?  Because they are REALITY… Not sugarcoated, apologized for, sanitized talking points, or spun by whomever.  We, the USA were attacked on our home soil by terrorists who are STILL determined to bring America to her knees, since we are the “Great Satan”…  10 years later, the terrorists are still after us…


Where were you, and what was your response???

Nasal Radiators, er… Naval Aviators…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Pretty damn funny, and pretty true too… 

The  Naval Aviator As Seen by Himself:

 

An incredibly  intelligent, tall, handsome, innovative, and highly trained professional killer, idol to countless females, and  Gentleman Adventurer, who wears a star sapphire  ring, carries a hair-trigger .45 automatic in a  specially designed hand-stitched, quick draw holster along with his trusty  pearl-handle survival knife, who is always on time thanks to his ability to obtain immediate transportation and the reliability of  his Rolex watch.

    As Seen by His  Wife:

A disreputable member of the family who comes home once a year  all bruised up, driving a stolen jeep up to the  back door carrying a B-4 bag full of dirty  laundry, wearing a stained flight suit, smelling of stale booze and JP-5 jet fuel, wearing a huge watch, a fake ring, and  that damn ugly beat-up pistol in that stupid  holster, who will three months later go out  the  front door, thankfully for another year.
As  Seen by His Squadron Commander:

A fine specimen of a  drunken, brawling, jeep stealing, woman corrupting liar, with a star sapphire  ring, fantastically accurate Rolex watch, an unauthorized .45 in a non-regulation shoulder holster, and  rusty survival knife.
As  Seen by Fleet Ops:

The embodiment of a  drunken, brawling, jeep stealing, woman corrupting, lying, zipper-suited Sun  God, with a ring, a proscribed 1911 A1 .45 in a  non-regulation shoulder holster, a Rolex watch, who for some  reason carries a survival knife.
As  Seen by the Dept of Defense:

An overpaid,  rule-ignoring, over-ranked tax burden, who is unfortunate totally indispensable simply because he has volunteered to go  anywhere, and do anything, at any time, only so long as he can booze it up,  brawl, steal  jeeps, corrupt women, lie, and wear a star sapphire ring,  Rolex watch, and carry an obsolete hand gun and a survival  knife.
    As  Seen by the Enemy:

The fearless,  terrifying face of death who will fire a missile up your ass, and laugh as you  burn up in you aircraft!   Yep…….that pretty much sums it  up! 


And it wasn’t a Jeep, it was a Ford Staff car… And that issue POS Victory pistol might or might not even fire… Not that I know anything about either of those… 🙂


And Instinct reminded me I’d missed the Maintenance perspective…


As seen by the maintenance crew:

The embodiment of a drunken, brawling, over-paid, jeep stealing, woman corrupting, oxygen huffing, zipper-suited child, with a ring, a 1911 A1 .45 in a non-regulation shoulder holster made by the seat shop, a Rolex watch, who for some reason carries a survival knife and couldn’t fill out a VIDS/MAF to save his soul except to say “I think it’s not working right”.


h/t JP


And go check out Gina Elise at www.pinupsforvets.com, she is doing visits, calendars and other things for our vets and Wounded Warriors… Any support you can throw her way is appreciated… 


h/t Msgt B

NC Blog Shoot Quickie…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
A bunch of good people, shooting a bunch of nice guns, and we blew stuff up 🙂  Jay, we’ll have someone send you what’s left of the helmet 🙂  


Thanks to our hosts Heath and his lovely wife, Newbuis and his lovely wife for cooking, Breda for the BBQ, and all the attendees for sharing their ‘toys’ with others!!!


More later, it was hot, and I’m tired…


But it’s a GOOD tired 🙂  


954 miles, 17.6 mpg, 71.1 mph average and NO TICKETS 🙂  Interestingly enough, police presence was radically different Friday and today…


Friday- No MD cops anywhere, PA one about every 10 miles, Ohio one about every 25 miles


Today, Ohio one about every 25 miles, PA no cops anywhere, MD one about every 10 miles… weird…

Blog Challenge- Kilted to Kick Cancer

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Bend over and spread em…



And get checked for Prostate and Testicular cancers at EVERY physical, especially if you’re an old fart like me…


As I’ve pointed out before, Ambulance Driver has put up a blog challenge for Kilted to Kick Cancer, benefiting either Prostate Cancer Foundation or  LiveStrong supporting testicular cancer research…


The challenge is out there with some pretty nice prizes, but the BEST prize is potential cures for either of the cancers… We (guys) don’t have anything like the Susan G Komen Foundation, so we’ve kinda gotta do this more or less on our own…


So anyway, go support your favorite gun blogger, or get in on the prizes yourself by putting up links, or feel free to pick one of the links below and donate from here…


Prostate Cancer Foundation   OR   LiveStrong

I’d also like to thank those sponsors who’ve ponied up some pretty dang nice prizes… Those can be seen on AD’s blog HERE…  Even if you don’t donate, at least patronize those fine folks who’ve donated the prizes, they are definitely worth supporting!!!

Confiscation? Because we CAN…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This one came over the transom today, and I have to admit I was NOT aware this had even happened…

From the Cleveland Scene Mag…

Cops Confiscate Lakewood Lady’s Arsenal; Motive Pending

Posted by Kyle Swenson

Francesca Rices’ home arsenal including handguns, shotguns, a sniper rifle — plus a Thompson sub-machine gun were confiscated WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE by the Lakewood Police LAST SEPTEMBER!!!


It appears they asked an obliging employee of the complex to open up the apartment without her consent. Once inside, they raided the gun rack, making off with 13 firearms worth around $15,000. The only problem: They had no apparent reason to.

When Rice kindly asked to have her toys returned, the cops acknowledged that the weapons were legally owned. But they refused to return them without a court order. And so Rice has filed suit in Lakewood Municipal Court.

So, basically a year later, and untold $$ later, this lady STILL does not have her weapons back…

And an oh by the way, the lady is a VETERAN!!!
You can read the entire story HERE…


My first question is who told the police what she had? Did the proverbial nosy neighbor make a complaint?  Did a cop on patrol see her taking gun cases in?  

And what happened to the 4th Amendment here?

The takeaway is make SURE your guns are secured, a safe, a lockable cabinet, etc.  Now if you’re one of those ‘loony tunes’ that actually has guns accessible (one in each room), or something crazy like that, I’d make sure they are well concealed (in addition to being readily available).  

For any of you from Cleveland area, have you heard of this, or anything relating to this???  Makes me wonder if I want to actually bring any of my ‘good’ guns to the shoot this weekend… 

Is this one of the first ‘shots’ in the “Federal Families” new regulations, since they can’t legislate gun bans?  Is this a defacto act under the new DHS homegrown terrorist action???

 And what if they want her to produce sales receipts for the guns?  How many of you have guns you have no receipts for? Family guns, private sales???  What do you do then?

Time to take a hard look at how we store our weapons, and maybe relook at house vs. apartment living…  Just sayin…


Aviators…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
An old one, it came around again today, and it’s worth posting… 


This was written before there were any female aviators on active duty, so it’s not PC, but it DOES apply to aviators PERIOD…

Aviators

Once the wings go on, they never come off whether they can be seen or not.
It fuses to the soul through adversity, fear and adrenaline and no one who has ever worn them with pride, integrity and guts can ever sleep through the `call of the wild` that wafts through bedroom windows in the deep of the night.
When a good pilot leaves the `job’ and retires, many are jealous, some are pleased and yet others, who may have already retired, wonder.
We wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.
We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.
We know in the world of flying, there is a fellowship which lasts long after the flight suits are hung up in the back of the closet.
We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life.
We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.
Because we fly, we envy no man on earth.
-Author Unknown


We may have hung up the flight suit, but it’s funny how you really CAN spot aviators in a crowd; much like the bond among those that serve in the military regardless of country, there is an understanding and respect among aviators of all generations…

We are coming up on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I would ask that you remember it by flying your flags on your home, your car; hell, stick one on your office wall…

Lets cover the USA with flags like we did after 9/11, and show the world we have NOT forgotten…