I was out in Albuquerque last month and came across this painting.
I must have stared at it for 30 minutes or so, while standing there in the gallery. It just spoke to me; so much symbolism for me.
What I see is a ‘warrior,’ coming home – to the ‘Father.’ It’s as if I have seen Him in spirit, and am drawn to Him even more. I find so much peace in the painting, as if I know there might be salvation for me…
…they find this,
Controversial but Necessary
A recently released Air Force Office of Special Investigations report found that the use of Air Force Academy cadets as confidential informants was a “controversial” but “necessary” investigative tool. The report noted that a “lack of specific training given to agents new” was an area “needing attention.” It added, that “this lack of training and solid knowledge of the cadet wing,” did “put new agents at a decided disadvantage when dealing with cadets.” The issue first came to light after the Colorado Springs Gazette posted an article claiming USAFA recruited cadets to spy on each other. The Gazette article cited several former informants who claimed the program directly contradicted the Academy’s honor code policy. The report acknowledges this “apparent conflict with a cadet CI’s need to possibly lie or deceive people to do his or her CI job” was the “most controversial,” but said the “recognition of a higher good” was the “best possible resolution to this controversy.” Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said she was “pleased with the thorough and extensive review of the OSI confidential information program and concur with the report’s recommendations.” She added that “any future use of cadets as CIs will only occur with my approval and strict oversight.” (See also Academy Snitches.) (USAFA release)
—Amy McCullough
This article was in my morning “staff meeting” (from the Air Force Association.)
Now, I am not an Academy Grad, but I hold the institution in very high esteem. (I applied, but wasn’t “bright enough.” Or, at least I thought so, until I met a few Grads…) Anyway, ever since I read this, this morning, why do they seem to think this program necessary in the first place. Has it come to this? Where we spy on our fellow cadets? Is this the ground work for “political officers” in active duty units? It sure smacks of it, and I think it sucks!
I think PC (political correctness) is destroying the very fiber of the Officer Corps, and the entire military itself. My Air Force is almost hardly recognizable anymore. A friend told me that I wouldn’t last past 0900 on a Monday morning in the Air Force these days. That kinda pissed me off – with what I am seeing I would be out the gate by 0730!
It seems the military has become one “social experiment” after another – and I am sick of it. The Air Force seems to be capitulating to one “special interest group” after another. First wiccans, then gays, muslims and who know what next?
The whole idea of cadets spying on cadets just gives me the creeps. Of course, “I don’t understand,” do I General Johnson? Bicon….
In 1985 I was the Chief of Standardization (Stan/Eval), 12th Flying Training Wing (FTW), Randolph AFB, TX. That Spring the fine folks at HQ ATC decided to have a 2-day “risk assessment” conference at Randolph. Swell. The project officer was Lee N., a T-37 “Tweet” pilot.
The conference was set to begin at 1300 on the first day. That gave everyone time to arrive, shower and change clothes (from their flight suits into their “Ice Cream Suits” (summer Blues)). It also gave me time to fly a local sortie, and not change into anything. Matter of fact, I took a ‘perverse sense of delight’ in being the only one in attendance, in my flight suit! But I diverge…
During the introduction Lee mentioned that one of the greatest T-38 “risks” was the T-38 Final Turn. To make his point, he mentioned that ATC had lost T-38 at Sheppard AFB, TX just that past January. The IP and student were killed in that accident. I distinctly remember sitting there that afternoon, thinking to myself, “You dumb shits; we are losing jets probably because we aren’t teaching T-38 stall and/or sink rate recovery correctly!”
It was a “gut reaction” that turned out to be ever more correct than I realized at the time. And from that point on I transition into an “auto-nod” posture for the remainder of the day – thinking about how I would restructure our T-38 stall/sink rate recovery training, if given the opportunity.
In 1985 you could drive with an “open container” in Texas; you just couldn’t be drunk while driving. Made sense to me, at the time. So, I picked up a ‘2-pack’ of Bud Light on the way out of the base, to “contemplate” how I would restructure T-38 stall/sink rate recovery training on the way home. By the time I got home, I had a fairly decent idea about how to go about it…
The first thing I did when I got “released” from that conference was, I swung by HQ ATC Flight Safety. I had worked in Flight Safety a few years before and had an idea of what I was looking for. I had called ahead and asked Jim Board, the ‘Records Guy,” to pull all the T-38 stall/sink rate accident reports – from when we first began flying T-38s. Jim was a great guy, and had everything ready for me when I showed up.
I soon discovered that since we began flying the T-38 operationally we had destroyed 42 aircraft and killed 39 pilots in stall/sink rate accidents! That just confirmed my earlier “gut feeling.” Then I began to really get into it.
I first constructed a matrix that was very enlightening:
This revealed that the “common denominator” of all these accidents was the throttle setting at the time of the accident: Low. This then, is what lead to the high sink rates and eventual stalls.
I then set about developing a ride that would specifically address T-38 stalls and sink rates. I modeled it after a ride in the T-37 program at the time: the Spin Ride. (In the late 60’s there had been a number of T-37 spin-related accidents, and the solution was a non-graded Tweet sortie that did nothing else other than explored T-37 spins and spin characteristics.) The answer to me was obvious!
As the Chief of Stan/Eval at the time I could get a jet just about any time I wanted to, and as often as I wanted to. So, I began to put together a T-38 stall/sink rate ride profile. In doing this I “picked the brains” of the most experienced T-38 IPs on station. And soon, it all began to come together.
As it was at this time, I was also about to complete my Master’s degree in Management. I asked and was given permission to write my exit paper on ‘The Management of T-38 Stall Training.’ Bewdy! So, in the late summer of 1985 I submitted my paper to Webster’s University, and to HQ Air Training Command.
I received an “A” from Webster’s and a lot of resistance from HQ ATC. The ‘PC Pretty Boys’ – the Staff Queers – weren’t sure of the idea. First of all, it didn’t come from one of “them.” Then the thought of a “non-graded” ride in the T-38 drove them nuts. But on the other side of the ledger, I kept hammering them with, “If our T-38 stall/sink rate recovery training is so great, why are we still killing folks 23 years after we began operationally flying it?” Then I reminded them of the ‘precedence’ with the T-37 Spin Ride. And in the end, I prevailed!
The ride was formalized in the Fall of 1987, and is still being flown. Before I left San Antonio in 1991 I was down in the Auger In one night (the bar that used to be a ‘pilot’s bar, and is now a shoe clerk’s bar) and 1st Lt. T. B. came up to me. He told me, “Sir, you don’t know it, but you saved my life. A few weeks back I was in the final turn with a student and we entered a sink rate. Because of that ride I flew with you, I recognized it right away and executed a recovery.” What more could I ask for than an endorse meant like that?
So you see, on occasion, sarcasm, cynicism and a little beer, can save lives!
When Mom passed I inherited 6 cemetery lots in the Whitehouse Cemetery. My grandfather originally bought them in the mid ’50s. I really have no need for them so I decided to sell them.
For years I have had them up for sale, with no takers. So last summer I decided to take a different approach – why not rent them?
Not everyone was amused – oh well.
And ‘for a while,’ I even had our local funeral director going!
I was out in the shop this morning, assembling new bee hives.
I ‘got into’ bees a couple years ago, at Harry’s urging. Harry was my friend, who died last year. As I was working out in the shop this morning, Harry kept “walking through my mind.” I could hear him laughing at me; I could hear him reinforcing me with a project at hand and I could so many of the stories he shared with me.
Harry Schaller
Just under a year ago Harry was taken to Hospice. I would go down to visit as often as I could – I still had things to learn from him. This morning I remembered the morning I was in the shower, getting ready yo go see him. I remember thinking, “God, he isn’t coming home, is he?” And I immediately put it out of my mind because I wasn’t ready to lose Harry. This morning, while out in the shop working on bee hives, I found myself back in the shower again, once again thinking, “God, he isn’t coming home again, is he?” Only this time I wasn’t able to put it out of my mind. I cried. And I cried hard – I didn’t want to let him go… I still don’t; Harry is my friend.
I suppose I will let him go some day, but not today… not today…
As we get older and we experience the loss of old friends, we begin to realize that maybe we ‘bullet proof’ Pilots won’t live forever, not so bullet proof anymore. We ponder…if I were gone tomorrow did I say what I wanted to my Brothers. The answer was no! Hence, the following few random thoughts.
When people ask me if I miss flying, I always say something like, “Yes! I miss the flying because when you are flying, you are totally focused on the task at hand. It’s like nothing else you will ever do (almost).” But then I always say, “However, I miss the Squadron and the guys even more than I miss the flying.”
Why you might ask? They were a bunch of aggressive, wise ass, cocky, insulting, sarcastic bastards in smelly flight suits who thought a funny thing to do was to fart and see if they could clear a room. They drank too much, they chased women, they flew when they shouldn’t, they laughed too loud and thought they owned the sky, the bar, and generally thought they could do everything better then the next guy. Nothing was funnier than trying to screw with a buddy just to see how pissed off they would get. They flew planes and helos that leaked, that smoked, that broke, that couldn’t turn, that burned fuel too fast, that never had autopilots or radars, and with systems that were archaic next to today’s new generation aircraft. All true!
But a little closer look might show that every guy in the room was sneaky smart and damn competent and brutally handsome! They hated to lose or fail to accomplish the mission and seldom did. They were the laziest guys on the planet until challenged and then they would do anything to win. They would fly with wing tips overlapped at night through the worst weather with only a little red light to hold on to, knowing that their Flight Lead would get them on the ground safely. They would fight in the air knowing the greatest risk and fear was that another fighter would arrive at the same six o’clock at the same time they did. They would fly in harm’s way and act nonchalant as if to challenge the grim reaper.
When we went to another base we were the best Squadron on the base as soon as we landed. Often we were not welcomed back. When we went into an O’Club we owned the bar. We were lucky to have the Best of the Best in the military. We knew it and so did others. We found jobs, lost jobs, got married, got divorced, moved, went broke, got rich, broke something and the only thing you could really count on was if you really needed help, a fellow Pilot would have your back.
I miss the call signs, nicknames, and the stories behind them. I miss getting lit up in an O’Club full of my buddies and watching the incredible, unbelievable things that were happening. I miss the Crew Chiefs saluting as you taxied out of parking. I miss the lighting of the afterburners, if you had them, especially at night. I miss the going straight up and straight down. I miss the cross countries. I miss the dice games at the bar for drinks. I miss listening to BS stories while drinking and laughing till my eyes watered.
I miss three man lifts. I miss naps in the Squadron with a room full of pilots working up new tricks to torment the sleeper. I miss flying upside down in the Grand Canyon and hearing about flying so low boats were blown over. I miss coming into the break hot and looking over and seeing three wingmen tucked in tight ready to make the troops on the ground proud. I miss belches that could be heard in neighboring states. I miss putting on ad hoc Air Shows that might be over someone’s home or farm in far away towns.
Finally I miss hearing DEAD BUG being called out at the bar and seeing and hearing a room of men hit the deck with drinks spilling and chairs being knocked over as they rolled in the beer and kicked their legs in the air, followed closely by a Not Politically Correct Tap Dancing and Singing spectacle that couldn’t help but make you grin and order another round!
I am a lucky guy and have lived a great life! One thing I know is that I was part of a special, really talented bunch of guys doing something dangerous and doing it better than most. Flying the most beautiful, ugly, noisy, solid aircraft ever built. Supported by ground troops committed to making sure we came home again!
Being prepared to fly and fight and die for America. Having a clear mission. Having fun. We box out the bad memories from various operations most of the time but never the hallowed memories of our fallen comrades. We are often amazed at how good war stories never let the truth interfere and they get better with age. We are lucky bastards to be able to walk into a Squadron or a Bar and have men we respect and love shout out our names, our call signs, and know that this is truly where we belong. We are Pilots. We are Few and we are Proud. I am Privileged and Proud to call you Brothers.
Push It Up! & Check SIX!
(Author Unknown)
I woke up a bit congested this morning, so I took a “fed” of some kind – a sudafed, actifed, whatever. Seems to have worked. The “feds” usually do work well with me, if I catch the cold early enough…
Last year I came down with a cold and was out of “feds.” So I got dressed and headed out to Kroger’s. Wasn’t really feeling well, and certainly in no mood for to play “Stump the Dummy” with the pharmacist. So, I left home ‘prepared…’
When I got to the pharmacy counter, the pharmacist asked, “May I help you, Sir?” Instead of answering her, I just handed her the note I prepared:
“Please let Bobby buy some sudafed. He has a bad cold and is not feeling well. He is not a meth cooker; he flunked chemistry his freshman year of college, so he became a pilot.
Thank you,
His Dead Mom”
She wasn’t amused at first, (I was), but she filled my request. As she thought more about it, she began to see my perspective. A 10-year old girl can buy ‘the Morning After Pill,’ but a 64-year old man can’t buy lousy sudafed, without ‘a note from his Mom…’
I stumbled across Waddy Mitchell and Don Edwards here a few years ago and instantly became a ‘fan.’ This piece below, “Commuting,” really grabbed me. It’s not a stretch for me to sit back, close my eyes and find myself walking out to the Jet in the coolness of the early morning.
The ramp is quiet, but soon will be alive. I look over and see Rat, and Lerq, and Marty, Joe, Butch and many others; all carrying their helmet bags as we walk to our assigned jets. Our flight briefing earlier went much the same as what you’ll soon hear here. And I offer that there are many other things you’ll hear in the piece that you’ll be able to relate to – if you have ever walked out to a jet in the early morning as I have…
So, take a moment, sit back and reflect on how very fortunate we were, and are – to have slipped the surly bonds as we did…
(The following was provided by Rat.)
A TRIBUTE TO THE KING
16 August 79: It was a hot, humid, summer morning at an un-named USAF base
in northeast Mississippi. I was a T-38 IP in Eagle Flight. This particular
day marked the second anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley – “The
King”. One year to the day prior, some of the Eagle IPs decided to pay
tribute to “The King” with a memorial flyby of Graceland. It was obviously
a superb idea at the time, the flight went great and so it was more or
less decided it would become an Eagle tradition. Just one small act of
kindness on our part to honor Elvis and brighten the spirit of a nation in
mourning.
There was plenty of Continuation Training (CT) flying available and Eagle
was manned IPs and guest help who really liked flying T-38s. Our scheduler
always ordered jets for our “off half” of the day and so most of us would
come in early or stay late in order to fly CTs. Seems like about 99% of
these were 2-ship and 4-ship. We were very good in all aspects of
formation flying. As we were showing up to fly one of the guys mentioned
it was the second anniversary of Elvis’s death and thus the day for
“Tribute to The King” part dieu. Of course everyone was onboard with that
– even our new Flight Commander who was in day one of his job and the
squadron’s newest 2LT FAIP who had just been assigned to the flight.
Navy Memphis ( Millington NAS ) was one of the places we used for
instrument training .We had a canned profile that allowed us to fly
approaches at the NAS and Memphis International (MEM). Shocking as it may
seem we all knew with MEM on north flow a slight right turn on the
missed approach would take us right down Elvis Presley Blvd and over
Graceland. It was basically part of the regular profile and required no
special coordination. ie. no paper trail or untidy ATC tapes.
We hit the high points of the 4-ship brief , signed out the jets, grabbed
our gear and stepped. The departure was in 2-ship elements, we rejoined and
dropped into the MOA for some wing work followed by more challenging
exercises just to make sure we were tuned up for the real mission.
Following an enroute descent lead checked us in with Memphis Approach and
ask for an ILS low approach and directed the flight into left echelon on
base turn. We configured on the glide-slope and just to make sure we had
the appropriate amount of smash and time for perfect positioning for the
low approach, we “cleaned up” a little early, blew by the tower
evidently looking pretty good because the controller said something to the
effect “Hang 10, that was FANTASTIC!! Can you do it again? Lead replied
“Be glad to – Short Vectors.” Second time around was better than the
first. Repositioned to to fingertip as we made the right turn down Elvis
Presley Blvd headed for Graceland. The flight was ” on a wire” as we
passed overhead. One of the guys has since remarked “I can’t believe we
weren’t on TV !!
Of course we were now 10 feet tall and bullet proof, a little low on fuel
but no real sweat. J ust enough for an enroute descent back into homeplate
for another4-ship approach followed by a closed full stop. Lead called
“VFR entry – request straight in for 4.” The RSU Controller was another
Eagle Flight IP on his first unsupervised tour after checking out as a
controller. Of course he said “Approved.” Turning final we reformed into
left echelon and configured on the VASI glide-slope. Again, we cleaned up
a little early so we could properly manage our energy – which was copious
– and flew a very nice echelon low pass down the runway followed by
burner pitchups to closed downwind for full stops, formed back up at the
turnoff and taxied back to parking in formation.
GREAT FLIGHT with one miscalculation. The Commander’s picture
window had a very nice view of the approach end through about mid-field if
we were on north flow. He happened to be looking out that window pondering
the state of his kingdom as we performed our arrival show. A 4-ship
echelon low approach was not something he saw everyday.
Goes without saying we were eminently pleased with ourselves when
walked into the “chute shop.” As we were stowing our gear there was a
VERY LOUD voice – “GENTLEMEN – VIETNAM IS DEAD!!!! Sounded a lot like
the SQ CC. Sure enough it was, and he did not seem to share in our sense of
aerial accomplishment.
As far as I know the only guys invited by the CC to a “fireside chat” were
the RSU Controller, the newly minted 2LT FAIP and our brand new flight
commander. He entered a plea and rolled over on the rest of us with a
full soul cleansing catharsis. The CC shunned the rest of us for about a
month and that was the extent of it. Somebody else suffered a heinous
lapse in judgement and the “The First Law of Thermodynamics” came into
play i.e., ‘If the heat is on somebody else, it is off of you.’ Nobody was
fired but there was not a “Tribute to the King,” part three.
Just for clarification it seems ATC at that time was undergoing a period
of “enlightenment.” AFM 51-38 wasn’t much more than a pamphlet and if it
didn’t expressly prohibit something it was generally OK to do it as long
as it wasn’t completely stupid. I don’t remember anything about this
flight that was out of line – just slightly expanded the mundane
day-to-day operations.
It was fun. Commander probably just wishes he had been with us.
