What started out as a blog to keep family & friends updated on our adventure in Busan, Korea continues on as we find ourselves at our next US Navy assignment in Memphis, Tennessee. From South Korea to just the plain old south, the adventure continues...
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here's a flashback from the summer of 1996. That's me and Matt "Joose" Tobler in Dublin, Ireland. As if being in Ireland while aboard the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY wasn't good enough, Joose and I were incredibly fortunate to have been chosen to do the airshow at Dublin International Airport. Airshows are the best. We got to fly our mighty S-3B Viking into Dublin proper. My guess is that's the first Viking to ever touch ground in Ireland. A couple of other squadronmates got to do another airshow at the same time at the airport in Shannon, Ireland. Before the airshow even started, the Airwing did a big flyover of the city. I forget exactly how many jets were in the flyover but it was a bunch.
That port call in Ireland was one of the best weeks of my entire Navy career. We expected the people to be friendly and they didn't disappoint in the least. The entire country was super excited about the Kennedy's visit. There was even a nationwide lottery held for tickets to visit the ship. Word got out that some of the Irish citizens that won these tickets were selling them for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. And all the ticket got you was a tour aboard the aircraft carrier. I think it was the first time that an aircraft carrier had ever visited Ireland.
The airshow hosts were fantastic. They treated us to special events on a daily basis. I remember visiting castles, seeing the US Ambassador to Ireland and other big wigs, sipping Guinness in taverns that were built in the 1500s, and having some incredible seven course meals. They bought a brand new fleet of vehicles just to support the aircrew. Making some new friends was one of the best parts of the whole experience. I'm hoping to get back to Ireland one day. We shall see.
When it's time for some well deserved rest and relaxation, sailors love to hang out in their civilian clothes while on liberty. So there was some moaning among the JFK crew when the Commanding Officer of the ship put out the guidance that sailors going on liberty ashore had to be dressed in their summer whites. That moaning came to a screeching halt though after the first day of liberty. For that blessed crew of the great ship JOHN F. KENNEDY, led by CAPT "Fast" Eddie Fahey, and those under the charge of CAG "Condo" Capalbo of Carrier Airwing Eight, in that specific moment in time, in that magical wonderland known as Dublin, clad in those dashing summer whites, this epic port call would be the closest any of us would come to being rock stars.
If you had on your summer whites, you couldn't pay for a beer. People were asking for your autograph. You were kissing babies. It was insane. A good buddy of mine described the experience as being trapped in a prison full of hot chicks with a handful of pardons. And unlike those mere mortals that had to return to the ship as liberty expired at midnight (or later depending on your rank), Joose and I had no such boundaries because of our lofty airshow status. No Cinderella carriage turning into a pumpkin for us. For the record, Joose and I were, and still are, very happily married men. No funny business for us.
If I had some foresight, I would've predicted this internet/blogging thing and taken more pictures. Carol just reminded me that the reason I only have this one picture to show from the Ireland trip is because I was so incredibly busy picking out the perfect gift for her. Of course she told me this while doubled over in laughter. In one of the dumbest moments in Chris Cruz history, I came home from Ireland with nothing but a stinking airshow t-shirt for Carol. Deservedly so, I'll never live that one down. No Waterford crystal, Celtic jewelry or Irish hand-knitted sweater. Nope. And I'm usually pretty good about that stuff. Guess I just lost my mind or something. Must've been the cider.
Anyway, I better close this out before I get myself into more trouble. It's never good to remind your better half of the really dumb things you do. A t-shirt? Sheesh Chris. Happy St. Paddy's Day.
Here's a good read written by a a former Secretary of the Navy. A history lesson too - from the pivotal Battle of Midway to Korea and Vietnam, followed by a hyper-jump to Tailhook '91 and joint duty in the Pentagon. Times have definitely changed. For the better? We'll see...
A Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat from Fighter Squadron 5 awaits clearance to launch from the aircraft carrier Yorktown on November 20, 1943. Squadron 5 had been assigned to hit targets in the Marshall Islands.
Is Naval Aviation Culture Dead?
By John Lehman
Created 2011-10-02 10:28
The swaggering-flyer mystique forged over the past century has been stymied in recent years by political correctness.
We celebrate the 100th anniversary of U.S. naval aviation this year, but the culture that has become legend was born in controversy, with battleship admirals and Marine generals seeing little use for airplanes. Even after naval aviators proved their worth in World War I, naval aviation faced constant conflict within the Navy and Marine Corps, from the War Department, and from skeptics in Congress. Throughout the interwar period, its culture was forged largely unnoted by the public.
It first burst into the American consciousness 69 years ago when a few carrier aviators changed the course of history at the World War II Battle of Midway. For the next three years the world was fascinated by these glamorous young men who, along with the Leathernecks, dominated the newsreels of the war in the Pacific. Most were sophisticated and articulate graduates of the Naval Academy and the Ivy League, and as such they were much favored for Pathé News interviews and War Bond tours. Their casualty rates from accidents and combat were far higher than other branches of the naval service, and aviators were paid nearly a third more than non-flying shipmates. In typical humor, a pilot told one reporter: “We don’t make more money, we just make it faster.”
Landing a touchy World War II fighter on terra firma was difficult enough, but to land one on a pitching greasy deck required quite a different level of skill and sangfroid. It took a rare combination of hand-eye coordination, innate mechanical sense, instinctive judgment, accurate risk assessment, and most of all, calmness under extreme pressure. People with such a rare combination of talents will always be few in number. The current generation of 9-G jets landing at over 120 knots hasn’t made it any easier.
Little wonder that poker was a favorite recreation and gallows humor the norm. In his book Crossing the Line, Professor Alvin Kernan recounts when his TBF had a bad launch off the USS Suwanee (CVE-27) in 1945. He was trying desperately to get out of the sinking plane as the escort carrier sped by a few feet away. Looking up, he saw the face of his shipmate, Cletus Powell (who had just won money from him playing blackjack), leaning out of a porthole shouting “Kernan, you don’t have to pay. Get out, get out for God’s sake.” No wonder such men had a certain swagger that often irritated their non-flying brothers in arms.
Louis Johnson’s Folly
By war’s end more than 100 carriers were in commission. But when Louis Johnson replaced the first Secretary of Defense, Jim Forrestal—himself one of the original naval aviators in World War I—he tried to eliminate both the Marine Corps and naval aviation. By 1950 Johnson had ordered the decommissioning of all but six aircraft carriers. Most historians count this as one of the important factors in bringing about the invasion of South Korea, supported by both China and the Soviet Union. After that initial onslaught, no land airbases were available for the Air Force to fight back, and all air support during those disastrous months came from the USS Valley Forge (CV-45), the only carrier left in the western Pacific. She was soon joined by the other two carriers remaining in the Pacific.
Eventually enough land bases were recovered to allow the Air Force to engage in force, and more carriers were recommissioned, manned by World War II vets hastily recalled to active duty. James Michener’sThe Bridges at Toko-Ri and Admiral James Holloway’s Aircraft Carriers at War together capture that moment perfectly. Only later was it learned that many of the enemy pilots were battle-hardened Russian veterans of World War II.
By the time of the armistice, the Cold War was well under way, and for the next 43 years, naval aviation was at the leading edge of the conflict around the globe. As before, aviators suffered very high casualties throughout. Training and operational accidents took a terrible toll. Jet fighters on straight decks operating without the sophisticated electronics or reliable ejection seats that evolved in later decades had to operate come hell or high water as one crisis followed another in the Taiwan Strait, Cuba, and many lesser-known fronts.
Between 1953 and 1957, hundreds of naval aviators were killed in an average of 1,500 crashes per year, while others died when naval intelligence gatherers like the EC-121 were shot down by North Koreans, Soviets, and Chinese. In those years carrier aviators had only a one-in-four chance of surviving 20 years of service.
Vietnam and the Cold War
The Vietnam War was an unprecedented feat of endurance, courage, and frustration in ten years of constant combat. Naval aviators flew against the most sophisticated Soviet defensive systems and highly trained and effective Vietnamese pilots. But unlike any previous conflict, they had to operate under crippling political restrictions, well known to the enemy. Antiaircraft missiles and guns were placed in villages and other locations known to be immune from attack. The kinds of targets that had real strategic value were protected while hundreds of aviators’ lives and thousands of aircraft were lost attacking easily rebuilt bridges and “suspected truck parks,” as the U.S. government indulged its academic game theories.
Stephen Coonts’ Flight of the Intruder brilliantly expressed the excruciating frustration from this kind of combat. During that period, scores of naval aviators were killed or taken prisoner. More than 100 squadron commanders and executive officers were lost. The heroism and horror of the POW experience for men such as John McCain and Jim Stockdale were beyond anything experienced since the war with Japan.
Naturally, when these men hit liberty ports, and when they returned to their bases between deployments, their partying was as intense as their combat. The legendary stories of Cubi Point, Olongapo City, and the wartime Tailhook conventions in Las Vegas grew with each passing year.
Perhaps the greatest and least known contribution of naval aviation was its role in bringing the Cold War to a close. President Ronald Reagan believed that the United States could win the Cold War without combat. Along with building the B-1 and B-2 bombers and the Peacekeeper missile, and expanding the Army to 18 divisions, President Reagan built the 600-ship Navy and, more important, approved the Navy recommendation to begin at once pursuing a forward strategy of aggressive exercising around the vulnerable coasts of Russia. This demonstrated to the Soviets that we could defeat the combined Warsaw Pact navies and use the seas to strike and destroy their vital strategic assets with carrier-based air power.
Nine months after the President’s inauguration, three U.S. and two Royal Navy carriers executed offensive exercises in the Norwegian Sea and Baltic. In this and subsequent massive exercises there and in the northwest Pacific carried out every year, carrier aircraft proved that they could operate effectively in ice and fog, penetrate the best defenses, and strike all of the bases and nodes of the Soviet strategic nuclear fleet. Subsequent testimony from members of the Soviet General Staff attested that this was a major factor in the deliberations and the loss of confidence in the Soviet government that led to its collapse.
During those years naval aviation adapted to many new policies, the removal of the last vestiges of institutional racial discrimination, and the first winging of women as naval aviators and their integration into ships and squadrons.
‘Break the Culture’
1991 marked the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the end of the Cold War. But as naval aviation shared in this triumph, the year also marked the start of tragedy. The Tailhook Convention that took place in September that year began a scandal with a negative impact on naval aviation that continues to this day. The over-the-top parties of combat aviators were overlooked during the Vietnam War but had become accidents waiting to happen in the postwar era.
Whatever the facts of what took place there, it set off investigations within the Navy, the Department of Defense, the Senate, and the House that were beyond anything since the investigations and hearings regarding the Pearl Harbor attack. Part of what motivated this grotesquely disproportionate witch hunt was pure partisan politics and the deep frustration of Navy critics (and some envious begrudgers within the Navy) of the glamorous treatment accorded to the Navy and its aviators in Hollywood and the media, epitomized by the movie Top Gun. Patricia Schroeder (D-CO), chair of the House Armed Services Committee investigation, declared that her mission was to “break the culture,” of naval aviation. One can make the case that she succeeded.
What has changed in naval aviation since Tailhook? First, we should review the social/cultural, and then professional changes. Many but not all were direct results of Tailhook.
‘De-Glamorization’ of Alcohol
Perhaps in desperation, the first reaction of Pentagon leadership to the congressional witch hunt was to launch a massive global jihad against alcohol, tellingly described as “de-glamorization.” While alcohol was certainly a factor in the Tailhook scandal, it was absolutely not a problem for naval aviation as a whole. There was no evidence that there were any more aviators with an alcohol problem than there were in the civilian population, and probably a good deal fewer.
As a group, naval aviators have always been fastidious about not mixing alcohol and flying. But social drinking was always a part of off-duty traditional activities like hail-and-farewell parties and especially the traditional Friday happy hour. Each Friday on every Navy and Marine air station, most aviators not on duty turned up at the officers’ club at 1700 to relax and socialize, tell bad jokes, and play silly games like “dead bug.” But there was also an invaluable professional function, because happy hours provided a kind of sanctuary where junior officers could roll the dice with commanders, captains, and admirals, ask questions that could never be asked while on duty, listen avidly to the war stories of those more senior, and absorb the lore and mores of the warrior tribe.
When bounds of decorum were breached, or someone became over-refreshed, as occasionally happened, they were usually taken care of by their peers. Only in the worst cases would a young junior officer find himself in front of the skipper on Monday morning. Names like Mustin Beach, Trader Jon’s, Miramar, and Oceana were a fixed part of the culture for anyone commissioned before 1991. A similar camaraderie took place in the chiefs’ clubs, the acey-deucy clubs, and the sailors’ clubs.
Now all that is gone. Most officers’ and non-commissioned officers’ clubs were closed and happy hours banned. A few clubs remain, but most have been turned into family centers for all ranks and are, of course, empty. No officers dare to be seen with a drink in their hand. The JOs do their socializing as far away from the base as possible, and all because the inquisitors blamed the abuses of Tailhook ’91 on alcohol abuse. It is fair to say that naval aviation was slow to adapt to the changes in society against alcohol abuse and that corrections were overdue, especially against tolerance of driving while under the influence.
But once standards of common sense were ignored in favor of political correctness, there were no limits to the spread of its domination. Not only have alcohol infractions anonymously reported on the hot-line become career-enders, but suspicions of sexual harassment, homophobia, telling of risqué jokes, and speech likely to offend favored groups all find their way into fitness reports. And if actual hot-line investigations are then launched, that is usually the end of a career, regardless of the outcome. There is now zero-tolerance for any missteps in these areas.
Turning Warriors into Bureaucrats
On the professional side, it is not only the zero-tolerance of infractions of political correctness but the smothering effects of the explosive growth of bureaucracy in the Pentagon. When the Department of Defense was created in 1947, the headquarters staff was limited to 50 billets. Today, 750,000 full time equivalents are on the headquarters staff. This has gradually expanded the time and cost of producing weapon systems, from the 4 years from concept to deployment of Polaris, to the projected 24 years of the F-35.
But even more damaging, these congressionally created new bureaucracies are demanding more and more meaningless paperwork from the operating forces. According to the most recent rigorous survey, each Navy squadron must prepare and submit some 780 different written reports annually, most of which are never read by anyone but still require tedious gathering of every kind of statistic for every aspect of squadron operations. As a result, the average aviator spends a very small fraction of his or her time on duty actually flying.
Job satisfaction has steadily declined. In addition to paperwork, the bureaucracy now requires officers to attend mandatory courses in sensitivity to women’s issues, sensitivity and integration of openly homosexual personnel, and how to reintegrate into civilian society when leaving active duty. This of course is perceived as a massive waste of time by aviators, and is offensive to them in the inherent assumption that they are no longer officers and gentlemen but coarse brutes who will abuse women and gays, and not know how to dress or hold a fork in civilian society unless taught by GS-12s.
One of the greatest career burdens added to naval aviators since the Cold War has been the Goldwater-Nichols requirement to have served at least four years of duty on a joint staff to be considered for flag, and for junior officers to have at least two years of such joint duty even to screen for command. As a result, the joint staffs in Washington and in all the combatant commands have had to be vastly increased to make room. In addition, nearly 250 new Joint Task Force staffs have been created to accommodate these requirements. Thus, when thinking about staying in or getting out, young Navy and Marine aviators look forward to far less flight time when not deployed, far more paperwork, and many years of boring staff duty.
Zero-Tolerance Is Intolerable
Far more damaging than bureaucratic bloat is the intolerable policy of “zero-tolerance” applied by the Navy and the Marine Corps. One strike, one mistake, one DUI, and you are out. The Navy has produced great leaders throughout its history. In every era the majority of naval officers are competent but not outstanding. But there has always been a critical mass of fine leaders. They tended to search for and recognize the qualities making up the right stuff, as young JOs looked up the chain and emulated the top leaders, while the seniors in turn looked down and identified and mentored youngsters with promise.
By nature, these kinds of war-winning leaders make mistakes when they are young and need guidance—and often protection from the system. Today, alas, there is much evidence that this critical mass of such leaders is being lost. Chester Nimitz put his whole squadron of destroyers on the rocks by making mistakes. But while being put in purgatory for a while, he was protected by those seniors who recognized a potential great leader. In today’s Navy, Nimitz would be gone. Any seniors trying to protect him would themselves be accused of a career-ending cover-up.
Because the best aviators are calculated risk-takers, they have always been particularly vulnerable to the system. But now in the age of political correctness and zero-tolerance, they are becoming an endangered species.
Today, a young officer with the right stuff is faced on commissioning with making a ten-year commitment if he or she wants to fly, which weeds out some with the best potential. Then after winging and an operational squadron tour, they know well the frustrations outlined here. They have seen many of their role models bounced out of the Navy for the bad luck of being breathalyzed after two beers, or allowing risqué forecastle follies.
‘Dancing on the Edge of a Cliff’
They have not seen senior officers put their own careers on the line to prevent injustice. They see before them at least 14 years of sea duty, interspersed with six years of bureaucratic staff duty in order to be considered for flag rank. And now they see all that family separation and sacrifice as equal to dancing on the edge of a cliff. One mistake or unjust accusation, and they are over. They can no longer count on a sea-daddy coming to their defense.
Today, the right kind of officers with the right stuff still decide to stay for a career, but many more are putting in their letters in numbers that make a critical mass of future stellar leaders impossible. In today’s economic environment, retention numbers look okay, but those statistics are misleading.
Much hand-wringing is being done among naval aviators (active-duty, reserve, and retired) about the remarkable fact that there has only been one aviator chosen as Chief of Naval Operations during the past 30 years. For most of the last century there were always enough outstanding leaders among aviators, submariners, and surface warriors to ensure a rough rotation among the communities when choosing a CNO. The causes of this sudden change are not hard to see. Vietnam aviator losses severely thinned the ranks of leaders and mentors; Tailhook led to the forced or voluntary retirement of more than 300 carrier aviators, including many of the finest, like Bob Stumpf, former skipper of the Blue Angels.
There are, of course, the armchair strategists and think-tankers who herald the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles as eliminating the need for naval aviators and their culture, since future naval flying will be done from unified bases in Nevada, with operators requiring a culture rather closer computer geeks. This is unlikely.
As the aviator culture fades from the Navy, what is being lost? Great naval leaders have and will come from each of the communities, and have absorbed virtues from all of them. But each of the three communities has its unique cultural attributes. Submariners are imbued with the precision of engineering mastery and the chess players’ adherence to the disciplines of the long game; surface sailors retain the legacy of John Paul Jones, David G. Farragut and Arleigh “31 Knot” Burke, and have been the principal repository of strategic thinking and planning. Aviators have been the principal source of offensive thinking, best described by Napoleon as “L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace!” (Audacity, audacity, always audacity!)
Those attributes of naval aviators—willingness to take intelligent calculated risk, self-confidence, even a certain swagger—that are invaluable in wartime are the very ones that make them particularly vulnerable in today’s zero-tolerance Navy. The political correctness thought police, like Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, are out to get them and are relentless.
The history of naval aviation is one of constant change and challenge. While the current era of bureaucracy and political correctness, with its new requirements of integrating women and openly gay individuals, is indeed challenging, it can be dealt with without compromising naval excellence. But what does truly challenge the future of the naval services is the mindless pursuit of zero-tolerance. A Navy led by men and women who have never made a serious mistake will be a Navy that will fail.
Dr. Lehman was the 65th Secretary of the Navy and a member of the 9/11 Commission.
Whoops. Forgot to post this one before I went on travel. So here's the other half of 2011:
Jena got to hang out with the Honky Tonk Cruzers in Tennessee after a fun vacation week in Miami. Of course we got our fishing on at nearby Garner Lake. She crushed me. She was catching bass, catfish, crappie, and blue gill. I was catching a cold. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Seeing her so giddy over her fishing bounty made it a highly successful day on the lake for the both of us.
In July, I took a work trip along with some of the other detailers and placement officers from Navy Personnel Command to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You might have heard about JSOC in the news after the OBL mission went down. They are one of the commands that I place for. My brother Lee is stationed at Fort Bragg so we got to catch up a bit. The bonus was doing some indoor skydiving with the JSOC folks. Very cool.
For CJ's 13th birthday, he jokingly asked for a 5 pound gummy bear, a kazoo, and a shark with a laser attached to his head. So what did we get him? A 5 pound gummy bear, a kazoo, and a shark with a laser attached to his head. Mission accomplished. Due to the summer heat, the gummy bear arrived in the mail as a large gelatinous mass. Not good. The kazoo was a big hit. He's belting out "Rolling in the Deep" and "Edge of Glory" like there's no tomorrow. And here he is with the shark. I made the laser myself.
So glad the family got to attend my good friend Hoss' retirement ceremony in Meridian, Mississippi. Hoss and I were roommates during our Department Head tour with the VS-30 Diamondcutters. The second set of wings under Hoss' ribbons are from his time in England flying Harriers.
More travel in July. This is the US Northern Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs. They are one of 10 Combatant Commands (COCOMs) that I place for. I'm the Placement Officer for all of the COCOMs, which means I provide them with their Navy officers. There is one less COCOM now that Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has disestablished. Now I know why everyone wants orders to NORTHCOM. It's gorgeous up there. NORTHCOM was established after the 9/11 attacks.
Speaking of JFCOM, I had another trip to Norfolk, Virginia to work the many disestablishment details. The disestablishment kept me busy for several months. Nice to have that behind me. Got to see some good friends in my old stomping grounds in Virginia. This is me, Lani, and Ruben at the Goo Goo Dolls Concert in Portsmouth. A good friend of mine was nice enough to get us tickets. Always nice catching up with friends.
Speaking of catching up, Jake and Hannah had a ball spending time together during the Allen's trip to Memphis. These two were besties from their Korea days. The thoughts of being close to the Allens for our next tour is pretty exciting.
More travel. This time to Stuttgart, Germany for some business with European Command and Africa Command. Awesome place. I really enjoyed running through their nature trails. They've got them all over the place. I got to take in a nice wine festival during my trip. Every time I push someone's orders to Stuttgart, I know that I'm making dreams come true.
Things are bigger in Texas, except for the Alamo. It was much smaller than I thought. The trip to San Antonio was to visit the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base. The JIOWC is a part of Strategic Command.
In September, I was part of the Seaman to Admiral 21 Selection Board held in Pensacola, Florida. This board picks the best and brightest enlisted sailors to go through this special program to eventually get commissioned as Navy officers. I got to catch up with Katrina and her boyfriend Tom. I will be eternally grateful to Katrina for introducing me to Carol.
October was a big month for the Cruz household. CJ got baptized! Love this picture.
San Diego for Fall Break! This is one of many pictures of the Pose from 2011.
An Alabama Thanksgiving. The girls decided against doing the Pose.
In December, we did a quick weekend trip to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. Gotta do it if you get the opportunity. They do military specials every now and then so check those out. Although we didn't see the Rockettes, we did get to catch a live show with Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, and the Madagascar Penguins.
And to round out the year, we had the Cruz Christmas Palooza in Memphis. Lots of laughs, food, and toilet paper. Here we are hovering over the newest Cruz - Sammy!
Chilling with their newest cousin.
It was great having Mom visit all the way from the Philippines. Too bad Dad couldn't make it.
Graceland!
New Year's Eve 70's Party to roll in 2012!
And there we go. So like a good Navy family, we're prepping for the next set of orders and the new duty station. More on that later. Hope you all have a great 2012!
Ringing in 2011 with our awesome Coltwood neighbors. That's Amy, Lori, Carol and Stephanie. I felt like I was back in Korea when they broke out the karaoke machine.
My brother Lee's graduation and commissioning ceremony in January at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, North Carolina. There was enough flair up in that piece for a dozen Bennigan's restaurants. Lee is now with the 82nd Airborne.
Unfortunately, it was time to put the old Acura out to pasture. Carol finally got a new ride in Feb. This is Big Blue. If the big smile in the front seat is any indication, Jake approves of the new purchase. We are officially a Mazda family. If you're shopping for a new car, USAA buying services is a great source to save some bucks. At a minimum, it gives you some serious leverage.
In February, Carol's brother James hosted his annual bonfire at his place in Alabama. Bonfire, fish fry and smores makes for a nice weekend. The white pieces of paper are pictures of Justin Bieber drawn by CJ and his cousins. They are not fans of the Bieb.
For Spring Break in March, we drove to Virginia to visit Alan, Danita, Joel and Jena. Who doesn't like Krispy Kreme donuts?
In April, we were back in Alabama for the Burgers and Bluegrass fundraiser at the Spirit of Hope Youth Ranch. Carol's cousin Leenie runs Spirit of Hope. Check out this link to learn more about this awesome organization: http://www.sohyr.org/
The family got to spend our first Easter in Alabama. The boys got to participate in one of the biggest family events of the year in Alabama - the Easter Egg Hunt. Big and little kids are tumbling over themselves at the start line to get to the prized money eggs.
One of our favorite things about Memphis is our church - Bellevue Baptist. CJ and Jake both enjoy the Sunday School and youth programs. Pastor Steve Gaines is amazing and tells it like it is. Here's one of the murals near Jake's Sunday School class.
Spring means it's baseball season. Play ball! I got to coach Jake and the rest of the Reds.
A couple of us in Millington flew down to Pensacola in a T-39 to conduct some detailing business and attend the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) events. Many thanks to Q and VT-10!
Carol and I were living on a prayer while rocking out at the Bon Jovi concert at the FEDEX Forum in May. I gotta say, it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Made for some interesting people watching too. We saw an older lady that didn't notice the expiration date on her tube top. There were young ladies with their 80's hair so big they needed turn signals. Of course the mullet was out in full force. I still cranked out my physical fitness test the next morning.
Saying farewell to Team Walker. That's Lynn, Ann, Carol, Amy and Michele.
CJ put on a heck of a campaign and was elected Vice President of the Student Council at Arlington Middle School. Here's the poster that was banned by the school administration. Always the rebel.
Block party in our neighborhood.
Supporting the local AAA baseball team, the Memphis Redbirds. Try the BBQ nachos.
Here's our crew at work. That's Megan on the left, the best lawyer in the US Navy, Shrek who drives submarines and Pam, a helicopter pilot. Our job - making dreams come true.
My good friend Deke came down for a weekend in Memphis. Got some business done and snuck in the Gibson Guitar 5K run downtown. The weather didn't cooperate very well though. The rain started pouring at the start of the run and didn't let up for quite a while. It turned into one of the biggest wet t-shirt contests I've ever been to.
Tubing and having a blast on the waverunners at Leenie's lakehouse at Lake Martin in Alabama.
In June, we got to visit Jason, Kristi, Aidan and Olivia in Ormond Beach, Florida. As you can see, CJ enjoys being the center of attention.
We headed south to Miami for the Cruz family summer vacation. Lots of eating, laughing, beaching, fishing, shopping and zaboomafoo-ing.
Angela and Carol soaking up the sun at the lake for Cousin's Day.
One of the challenging things about being a beach bum living in Tennessee is... wait for it... no beaches. So for Fall Break, we cashed in some frequent flier miles and headed to sunny San Diego.
San Diego has been one of our favorite duty stations. Coronado is so nice that the President and his family (the Clintons at the time) vacationed there when I was a flight student. There's incredible Mexican food, awesome weather, beaches, Coronado, the Gaslamp District, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Sea World, and a ton of stuff to do. Yup, it costs an arm and a leg to live there but man is it nice.
Doing the pose on Coronado Beach. As you can tell, Jake got a little chilly. This was on the Navy base. They're building a new Navy Lodge which I'm sure will get a lot of business. We stayed in their new cottages on the beach. Highly recommend them. Gotta book it early though.
It was great to be able to attend Lex Walker's change of command ceremony where he took over the reins of the USS STOCKDALE. The Walkers lived across the street from us here in Tennessee. Here is Ryan pinning on her dad's command pin. Very nice moment and a really special day.
In the STOCKDALE wardroom with its newest Commanding Officer.
Balboa Park. CJ remembered one of his favorite things about the park - the big rice crispy treats we'd get after visiting the model rail museum. Because he was such a big fan of trains, that was a regular outing for us.
CJ doing his best Beretta impersonation. I'm probably dating myself with that reference. Robert Blake anyone?
Spreckels Park in Coronado. CJ played in this park as a little two year old. Every Sunday during the summers, Coronado would have their concerts in the park. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.
We got to visit with the Maves! It was good catching up. Doc was the Flight Surgeon for the Airwing back in the day when we were still allowed to roll videos at Foc'sle Follies. We served together aboard the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Legoland with the Walkers!
Bunch of daredevils!
Sea World! No trainers were eaten that day.
La Jolla Cove. The sea lions in the background remind me of what I want to do when I retire.
Jake thought it smelled funny near the sea lions. He was right.
At the Coronado Ferry Landing with downtown San Diego in the background.
Amy and Carol right before Lex's ship sailed by. It was great spending some time with Team Walker. We miss our neighbors.
So it was really good escaping the arduous 60 degree weather in Tennessee for the perfect 63 degree weather in San Diego. I have a feeling this wasn't our last trip to San Dog.
