I never was good at confronting bullies and/or ‘jerks’ directly. But over the years, I developed a manner of dealing with these fools that many of them have yet to recognize. And I think that’s the sweet part of it…
We had an IP at Vance who was a jerk. Certifiably. He was nasty toward the students and sarcastic toward his peers. I think he felt being an instructor pilot was beneath his state in life. For the most part, I just kinda ignored him.
One Fall friday afternoon we all mustered in the 8th Flying Training Squadron (FTS) conference room for our annual mandatory flu shots. “Knumb-nuts” was there also. (Knumb-nuts” is misspelled, but this is my blog….) He was ‘carping’ about having to get the “damned flu shots” in the first place. I always felt it was something that we had to do – so just do it. I think most of the other guys also felt the same way…
Typically we would get our shots around 1500 hrs. (3 PM). The medics then made us hang out for about 20 minutes, then it was off to the bar! This one year, on my way out, I sided up to a medic, and asked, “Say, do you see that Captain over there?” and I pointed to knumb-nuts. The medic nodded, so I continued, “He’s acting a little weirder than normal. I also think he may be a little dizzy.” That’s all it took. They had his ass on a stretcher before I could get to the door. Once confronted, his personality did the rest to convince them that he needed to be taken to the clinic for further observation! Sweet! I have no clue when, or if he ever did show up at the bar… but we all got a great laugh out of it!