Meh… Still on the Road…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Well, I’m STILL on the road, one more set of meetings tomorrow and back to DC tomorrow night on the red-eye…

Weather was lousy (for Hawaii) today, rained and low clouds all day…

Dropped a couple of folks off at the airport for their flights, and back to the hotel. Decided to go over and grab a buffet at the Hale Koa for dinner. Ended up at a table with three generations of Marines, Gramps (WWII/Korea Vet), Dad (Vietnam Vet), Son (active duty, recovering from wounds taken in Afghanistan). To put it mildly, the conversation was ‘interesting’…

Gramps was on Guadalcanal, survived; injured on Iwo Jima and evacuated…

The dad had on one of the ‘funniest’ T-shirts I’ve seen in years, on the front was the Marine emblem, on the back was…

Home is where you dig it!
Khe Sanh ’68

Turns out the Dad was posted to III MAF at Khe Sanh in Dec 67, and survived the battles in Jan-Mar of 68…

Son was on his third tour downrange, having been in Fallujah, Anbar and now Afghanistan. This time he’d been hit pretty bad so was evac’ed via Landstul. He’s an out patient at Tripler now.

Conversation finally turned to current events, media coverage, and the shootings in Tucson. NONE of these gents were happy with the rhetoric that was/is being spewed by the MSM, and the son commented that “Thankfully, the shooter wasn’t a Veteran, or we’d ALL be in more trouble than we already are”. We all agreed to THAT sentiment!!!

Gramps mumbled something, then said, “Even as bad as it was during WWII and Korea, I’ve NEVER seen this kind of BS in my life. Nobody wants to find out the truth, they just want to throw their BS out there and blame anybody but the real shooter; and Congress just sucks, they don’t get it at all…

The Dad was quiet, then brought up the ‘restraint’ that the MSM was pushing when the Ft. Hood shooting took place about not labeling Hasan as a terrorist, and how none of that was happening this time.

The Son then raised an interesting point, there were 19 shot, but all we’ve really heard about are the Congresswoman, the 9 year old, and the Judge… Who are the REST of the victims???

At that point, we just decided to drop it and went back to listening to Gramps tell sea stories about WWII and Korea (and I’d bet his got pictures to back up most if not all those stories)…

I thanked them for letting me join them, wished the son a quick recovery, and came back to play catch up on email…

Peter (Bayou Renaissance Man) has a good follow up post HERE on the subject…

Damn… just found out I missed the BCS game, but looks like Auburn won 🙂 Yeah SEC 🙂

Well, I’m out of things to say, need to pack, and get some sleep… Be careful out there folks!

Sad Day and Media Stupidity…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Sadly, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot yesterday along with 18 others by 22 year old man ( I will not put his name up and give him any credibility).


Six are dead as of now, and I’d ask for prayers for their families and those who were wounded and their families…

The dead are-

U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63

Gabe Zimmerman, 30, Giffords’ director of community outreach.

Christina Taylor Green, 9

Dorwan Stoddard, 76

Dorothy Morris, 76

Phyllis Schneck, 79

Rep. Giffords is in an induced coma, but apparently the prognosis is good at this time. Credit for saving her and the others lives MUST go to the first responders on site, who did a superb job in what was basically a mass casualty ‘drill’. Police, EMS, Fire and bystanders got the situation under control quickly. Among others a 74 year old retired Col Bill Badger, who was shot in the back of the head, assisted in subduing the perp until police arrived.

UMC Trauma also did an outstanding job of triage, although sadly the 9 year old girl could not be saved.

What pisses me off are the media biases that started up within MINUTES of the initial report of the shooting- He was a left wing wacko, he was a right wing wacko, he was associated with THIS group or THAT group; he was/is a mental patient HOW DID HE GET A GUN, BAN ALL GUNS; to it was a STRAW PURCHASE, yada, yada, yada…

This ‘should’ be a time we are all pulling together for those who were killed and injured, not trying to foist the blame on the ‘other’ side, as the Pima County Sheriff is doing…

Personally, I believe we will, like Cho at VT, find this perp slipped through the system, purchased the gun legally, passed the NICS checks etc…

Probably because he was ‘protected’ by the system, just my guess…

I say stop the rhetoric, wait until the investigations are complete, THEN take a look (without biases) at what went wrong, and look at fixing the issue BEFORE enacting any more laws.

Sadly I fear that will not happen…

Travel is fun???

Posted on by March 6, 2013

For those who think traveling for a living is fun, this is my week thus far…

Last Saturday, at airport at 1000, airplane breaks, get home at 1700, do it all over again Sunday- at airport at 1000, leave at 1245, fly 14 hours, land in Tokyo Monday afternoon (pickup a day and 14 hours out of sync), kill 1 hour getting through customs/immigration/getting luggage, 3 hour bus ride. (20 hour ‘day’)

Tuesday- WIDE awake at 0400, first meeting 0800, last meeting 1730 (14 1/2 hour ‘day’)

Wednesday- Slept in until 0500 WooHoo… First meeting 0800, last meeting 1700 (13 hour ‘day’)

Thursday- Up at 0400 again, 0800 van to a different location (1 1/2 hours), 1 1/2 hour meeting, 1130 van to airport (1 hour), 5 hour wait for flight to Hawaii, 6 hour flight, land at 0645 Thursday morning (got the day back), SSS at the base gym, first meeting at 0900, last meeting 1600 across the island, back and check into hotel at 1800. (31 hour ‘day’)

Friday- Barely awake at 0600, first meeting 0800- last meeting 1600. (11 hour ‘day’)

All I wanna do it GO TO SLEEP and what do I get???

FIREWORKS… right out side my window… sigh…

Saturday- Slept in till 0700, leisurely breakfast, and played golf…

The 12th hole at Ko Olina on Oahu 🙂


Guess I’ll survive… 🙂

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging…

Military News…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Check out this video on the new and improved “Pig”…





New M60-43 Machine gun (.30 Cal). Truly puts the word “machine” in Machine Gun.


Very impressive and this sustained fire only represents half of the advertized capacity of sustained by the manufacturer !!


This is a vast improvement over the one used in Vietnam! I recall a couple of flights as a Helo door gunner and having a box of barrels for each gun and would pull a barrel when it got “lose or wobbly: under just a short duration of sustained fire, chuck it out the door and then quickly insert another barrel to resume action.


Almost 2 minutes of sustained fire, one continuous pull of the trigger… Gotta pity the ammo bearer, now they’ll have to carry even MORE ammo 🙂


THIS WILL KEEP OUR FOLKS ALIVE!!!


In other news, CAPT Owen Honors has been fired as the CO of the USS Enterprise just prior to cruise for ‘conduct unbecoming’… Link HERE


We were discussing this at dinner last night, and there are LOT of questions…


Why now? This video sequence was FOUR years old…


Who did he piss off? Or is this a left handed slap by the DADT advocates?


Who ‘released’ this, and when? Or was this a setup by somebody with a grudge?


I’ve viewed them and I’ve seen worse on TV, but “THAT” is okay because that’s entertainment???


Because of the media circus, this officer has lost his career, and a ship is going in harm’s way with a new CO…


In the military, you look for strong leaders that the troops will rally around, and it appears CAPT Honors was such… The Facebook page (HERE) has been up 2 days and has over 17,000 likes and comments… Including many who had served under CAPT Honors when he was XO of the Enterprise.


Sadly, none of that will do one bit of good… What is our military coming to when they are bowing to civilian ‘complaints’, 4 years later?


It’s not MY Navy anymore… Sometimes I think John Q. Public deserves what they are about to get…


Sigh…

Free Stuff…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

From Ambulance Driver, the whole post is HERE…

It seems fitting that, here on my 4th Blogiversary, I can announce a special deal for my readers, courtesy of the good folks at Kaplan Publishing.

From January 4-10, 2011, Kaplan will offer electronic versions of En Route for free download.

That’s right, FREE electronic versions of my book, downloaded directly to your laptop, netbook, Kindle, Nook, iPad or Sony eReader.

So go to AD’s Blog post and get his book, I’ll guarantee you will enjoy it, as he truly tells it like it is!!!

What it’s really like…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

This is very unnerving, especially if you know what you are watching…

Landing with deck pitching 30 feet, at night, low on fuel. You will never forget viewing this. These two videos below are undoubtedly the best. Turn on your sound. I guarantee this will definitely hold your attention.

These videos show the difference between Naval Aviation and any other kind. These are two outstanding videos about F-18 carrier operations aboard the USS Nimitz during weather that causes a severely pitching deck, which you can see in the videos. It’s more dangerous than most combat missions and the tension in the pilots and crew is very apparent.

Landing videos from the San Diego PBS station…

Carrier – Landing on a Pitching Deck PART 1- HERE

Carrier – Landing on a Pitching Deck PART 2- HERE

Happy New Year…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


I wish everyone the best for 2011…

Now go away, quit bothering me, I’m going back to sleep…

Another Christmas bites the dust…

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Just got back from a semi-peaceful Christmas with the kids and grandson…
And yes, contrary to popular opinion, I DID have a Christmas tree… so there… 🙂
My grandson with the 90 lb Rottweiler that thought I was his personal chew toy/play toy…
Two falls out of three— Ready...


And a pin by the Rott… EVERY TIME 🙂 90lbs of dog vs. 90lbs of boy is NO contest…

And I saw a LOT of this face… Okay… throw the ball/toy/stick… THROW IT… If you don’t throw it, I’m gonna come over there and bite you…

And he’d bring it back, slobbering over my pants and my hand… and if I didn’t pick it up or throw it, he’d ‘lean’ on me… hard enough to move the chair!

Anyhoo… a GOOD time was had by all, way too much food consumed, and plenty of quiet conversation to catch up… I wish each of you a Happy New Year, and hope that 2011 is better for you and yours!!!

I did meet an interesting couple at the airport, he was 94 and she was 92, and they’d been married 63 years; and were still VERY spry!

He saw my Navy bag tag, and his first question was whether the Navy still stood in line for everything, and he laughed when I told him yes, nothing had changed… He was proud of the fact that he’d never had a DC tour, and spent all his years in the Fleet as a “real” sailor.

He went in in 1939 as an E-2 Signalman, retired in 1959 as an O-6 and was a Destroyerman… He was in Task Force 58 during the major battles, under both RADMs Halsey and Mitscher. He later commanded a Destroyer at Inchon in Korea.

I would have loved to sit and get him to talk about those days for the archives, but he and his wife were on their way back to Florida, as he had a tee time Thursday morning with his regular foursome 🙂

I just hope I’m doing HALF that well at that age 🙂

Missing person- BOLO…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

EDIT- as of now the young lady HAS BEEN FOUND! No information on condition or anything else.

From Snigs- a missing young lady. Please be on the lookout for:

25 year old Nicole Taylor. She was last heard from around 8:30 Thursday morning. She is in a dark blue Chevy Silverado (4door) tag- Mississippi DD8893. Today while you’re out and about keep an eye out for this tag or her… and either contact Jennifer Wallace, 706 872 9499, Jim Wallace, 706-466-4680 , or Toni Chambers, her mom, at 706 872 8436 if you have any information!

The rest of the information is HERE on Snigs post…

Two photographic perspectives on History…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Charles Lindbergh’s flight


Win Perkins, a real estate appraiser who specializes in airport properties, has posted on his Web site a video he created of Charles Lindbergh’s famous and risky takeoff in the Spirit of St. Louis .. According to Perkins, this is unlike any other presentation of the takeoff footage. Perkins said he “painstakingly assembled news footage from five cameras that filmed Lindbergh’s takeoff from Roosevelt Field, Long Island ” and “mixed it with enhanced audio from the same newsreel sources.”

This is one of the most interesting videos I’ve seen come over the Internet. When you click HERE, episode #3 comes up ready to play.

I’d suggest you first click on “CONTACT” to the left and select #1, then watch them in order, #1 through #4. I was glued to the screen through all 4.

As an Aviator, I cannot imagine what it took for Lindbergh to overcome the odds against him and accomplish this amazing feat…


31 hours, over 3000 miles, DR navigation all the way… Simply amazing!!!


And HERE is a link to some photos of Davis Monthan from the late 60’s This was a MUCH earlier time, when you could actually get out among the planes and see things.


I do remember going out there in 1971 and scavenging parts off the Navy WV birds (Super Connies) and seeing Gen McArthur’s personal airplane a C-54 with Battan on the nose. We joking called Monthan our spare parts locker…