Wings, Go Figure
You would think that I tire of experiencing and writing
about my metaphorical Strings of Historical Experience. As you can see, I do not.
When it has nothing to do with motorcycles, RC Aircraft or
fishing I am not fond of running errands all over this wonderful little
town. But it is a beautiful day and one
may be ecstatic about the future by just breathing in and out. So, breathing in and out, I walk into my
primary healthcare physicians office to make an appointment for my annual
physical. I am only 74, what could go
wrong?
As I close the door to the office, my gaze fell on a
gentleman that I could have sworn I had seen or met before. The plasma string does its job and starts
spinning around in the abyss while I converse with the person behind the desk
and finally set a mutual date for the exam.
I now have one of my favorite chores of the day that must be
done without moving from my current position.
I start with the right wallet and discover what I am looking for is not
in that wallet. I now go for the left
wallet and in there, I find a place to put my oversized SSN and VA cards into a
secure but visible location.
I know before I turnaround that I am going to speak to man
in the chair and see if we have anything in common. I walk over toward him and he stands before I
reach his outstretched hand. This boy is
one of us, some how I know, but not really.
I tell the gent that his face is very familiar but I can not
put a name or place to his face. I sit
down across from him and he seems warm and friendly. We touch on the regular places,
times and conditions but find no commonality.
I don't believe it for a minute.
Then, out of the blue he blurts out Semper Fi. My God its another Marine in sheep's
clothing. We do the obligatory, when did
you go in and when did you get out fairly quickly and I tell him my experiences
with 232 and he immediately gets a wry
smile on his face.
If you have ever written a Fitness Report you will
understand just how hard it is to say something unique about an individual when
you are writing 20 or more reports. I am
anticipating some comment that I will remember when I have to write his
report. This is one hell of a long way
from "Hey how are you?" to working on a mythical FitRep. My new brother says nothing and just stares
at me. Nothing is forthcoming and I give my new friend by best WHAT! The
stories now flow unrestricted. He recounted
several tails of 232 when she was his sister squadron at Kaneohe Bay, HI flying
F-8's I hope my passion for this bad ass
looking aircraft was not completely obvious.
I lowered my eyes to think about his memory and they fell on a joyous
sight. This Marine fighter pilot was the
only man, other than my best friend Dick Ward who had a set of Naval Aviator
wings bent and cut to make a finger ring for nothing more than pride of
accomplishment. He must have had the
wings for a long time because back in the day, we used to polish the wings
often and with vigor to flatten out the vertical lines on the shield bisecting
a fouled anchor. The object, of course,
is to find ways to be slightly different from all the other pilots and look
salty. I told him he was the only guy
other than Dick I knew who had a set of wings on his finger and he replied that
I was only the second guy he knew who had wings cut and bent.
I find it sort of disappointing that the US Navy spends
about $1.5M @ in 1966 dollars to train a Naval Aviator so adding a set of wings
for wear on your uniform and another set of wings to wear on a finger does not
seem excessive. They could make it
optional and have the Aviator pay a part of the cost of the ring. It's a little bit like being a ring knocker
without any BS or BA or date. Just a
plain set of Aviator Wings. Way cool.
We talked for awhile about the Corps and what was happening
to a group that for over two hundred years had done the bidding of the nation
and lived up to its motto, "Always Faithful". That loyalty had, for over two hundred years,
been abused, slandered, made to do without except an order to do even more with
less and seldom shielded the soldiers of the sea from the greed and avarice of
the politics of the DC elite and their one and only loyalty toward
reelection. It must take a special kind
of character to intentionally make a decision that will enrich you personally
and at the same time cause financial, physical and/or mental anguish for
millions, many whom voted for you. They
are able to do this because they can spin a story of corruption or greed or avarice,
take you pick, just to get reelected.
Do you sleep well? If
so, WHY! Because there is soooooo much
money in DC, most of it from taxpayers, it can be used to gain access to the
inner sanctum's of the decision making process. Decisions made in the halls of
the offices of the Senate and the House are as likely to be compacts with the
devil as not. The reader may have a
different view, but if you get the opportunity have a one on one with one of
these guys, you will not be surprised at the shallowness of their personalities. They have reasons: They are in and out of meetings, hearings,
speech making on the floor, TV, Radio and Twitter deadlines, selling their
souls to get the money to run again for this ungodly and, according to most
polls, the lowest rated profession in all of America . Why?
Two reasons. One, they can make a
fortune while in office and two, in less than a week on the job, they will have
become addicted to the power, the perks and the privileges of the office.
This may be the most powerful of addictions on the
planet. There are few acts, natural and
unnatural they won't perform, lies they won't tell, stories they won't spin but
most of all the screwing they will give to the American taxpayer just to get reelected.
I met a stranger today who turned out to be one of the
better representations of a Band of Brothers who. strangely, like most of us,
is, if not pissed to the max, is incredibly disappointed with all of the
"leadership" that goes missing every minute of every day. I find myself speaking of four star officers
who may have, at one time, been combat leaders of the very best quality, would
crawl over razor wire to take care of their troops, insured that all of worth
were rewarded in kind and saw to care and feeding of the stressed families at
home. Now, in terms that are as odious
to write as they are to read they have become, just to stay alive in the DC
political arena, cowards and weaklings who will not stand up for the fighting
force in which, at some time in the past, he served as a military commander, a
motivator, steadfast in combat, loyal to those who work until they can give no
more and those who are killed and maimed in a war that these same four stars
are now responsible for executing. The
civilians take the training money and these so called Joint Chiefs of Staff
wring their hands and huddle in fear of a non-combatant, pencil necked geek who
expects loyalty up the chain but has no thoughts of loyalty down the
chain. These five see their fighting
forces dwindling to third world capability and do nothing. They see men with whom they serve and served being driven from the
service, relieved of command without cause, speak truthfully of conditions but
speak in way that is not in alignment with current policies. They see all this and do nothing. Not one resignation in protest to policies
and ROE that puts Airmen, Soldiers, Marines and Sailors in harms way and denies
them the tools and rules to kick ass and win a military victory from a rag tag
7th century bunch of uneducated yet fearsome individuals. While knowing that a permanent or long term ground
victory is almost out of the question, these same four stars allow their troops
to be rotated and rotated and rotated until they have burned the fire from
their hearts, lost wives and children to the frequent and long separations and
with a criminal, my opinion, sense of apathy toward our combat veterans
abrogated their last vestige of military discipline and loyalty from all who, by
law, must follow the orders from those who now lack the moral authority to
participate any further in their current positions and rank. As if to partially make up for past failures,
they should all stand up in front of every MSM TV camera and resign in mass and
tell their story of the last seven years of waging war under the current
administration. It is the very least
they can do.
All I really wanted to do was tell you about the ring on the
finger of a fellow Marine combat pilot.
Gus
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