Is Naval Aviation Culture Dead?

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.

Article Information

Magazine Volume: 

Proceedings Magazine - September 2011 Vol. 137/9/1,303 [1]

Author: 

By John Lehman

JT!

So here's a Tennessee connection for you.  Justin Timberlake is from little old Millington, TN.  I was never a big fan of his until he started doing Saturday Night Live.  I dare you not to laugh at "D in a box."  His opening monologue on his most recent hosting gig was hilarious.  Lady Gaga was pretty dang funny too.

Anyway, JT got extra bonus points for this:

http://www.justintimberlake.com/news/my_night_at_the_marine_corps_ball

Happy Birthday US Navy!

Happy Birthday to the US Navy!  236 years young and going strong!

Manning the rails under the Golden Gate Bridge aboard the USS CARL VINSON.

Blue Angel doing its thing during Fleet Week in San Francisco.

 21 gun salute during a burial at sea.

 Flight operations while underway.

My oldest brother Alan enjoying a sunset at sea.

You can tell this one is old because there are Vikings and Tomcats in the picture.

In San Francisco, it's a romantic fog.  In San Diego, it's the May gray.

United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

VS-30 Diamondcutters doing our thing in Fallon, Nevada.  The troops are what it's all about.

A stacked flight deck.

SCOUTS RULE!

Change of command ceremony onboard the USNS WATSON at Pier 8 in Busan, Korea.

I used to hunt these things for a living.

The USS SUMTER, LST 1181.  I did my midshipman cruise aboard this beast.  We were off the coast of Liberia for what seemed like an eternity in case American citizens needed to be evacuated.

They have no fly days on these things.  Mind boggling.

Dad as a young seaman.  Odds are I wouldn't be in the Navy if Dad didn't join the Navy.  Heck, I may not have ever stepped foot in the United States if Dad didn't do what he did.  Many thanks Dad!

Thanks for following along with me on this birthday card to the best Navy in the world.  Happy Birthday!

C'mon Man...

After Demise of 'Don't Ask,' Activists Call for End to Military Ban on Transgenders By Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/28/after-demise-of-dont-ask-activists-call-for-end-to/


With homosexuals now able to serve openly in the military, the gay rights movement's next battleground is to persuade the Obama administration to end the armed forces' ban on "transgenders," a group that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

"Our position is that the military should re-examine the policy, the medical regulations, so as to allow open service for transgender people," said Vincent Paolo Villano, spokesman for the 6,000-member Center for Transgender Equality.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which pushed to end the military's gay ban, is urging President Obama to sign an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on "gender identity."

Flashback Friday - Are You Ready For Some Football?!

I'm going with this post even though the Miami Dolphins are winless this year.  It's gonna be a long season.  I hope head coach Tony Sparano survives.

So here is this week's Friday Flashback.  It's actually Saturday, but who's counting?

In the fall of 1997 after returning from a six month deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F KENNEDY while attached to the VS-24 Scouts, a couple of friends from the squadron hopped in a car (minivan actually) and headed south from Jacksonville to Miami.  It was a fun football weekend to hang out with good friends and watch my beloved Dolphins play at Joe Robbie Stadium.  Or was it called Pro Player Park or Sunlife Stadium at the time?  I don't know.  Whatever company was paying the big bucks for naming rights at the time.

Anything we did with our squadron-mates was always fun - hanging out on the water, parties, going to see movies, road trips, working out or grabbing beers.  It really didn't matter what we did.  There's nothing like being around a great group of guys to make a long deployment out at sea that much more palatable.

There was something off about this particular football weekend though.  Carol was always able to hang with the boys well - actually out-hang a lot of them.  But this weekend, she seemed...tired.  Very unlike her usual energetic self.  It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that we unraveled the mystery of her massive wide-mouthed yawns - she was pregnant!  We were absolutely shocked.  Nope, we weren't trying to have a baby at the time.  I should've known that the odds of slipping one past the goalie were greatly enhanced after being deployed for six months.  And so this is one of the first pictures of Carol with the little "Pinto Bean" inside her.  We nicknamed the baby Pinto Bean because when we found out Carol was pregnant with CJ, the doctor informed us that the baby was currently the size of a pinto bean.

BTW, that's our good friend Speedy on the right.  He spent most of the game looking at the red-headed cheerleader on the sideline through some binoculars.

Here is Knobby, Fran and Whip.  Fran was kind enough to let us load up in her minivan for the trip.  I gotta say, those things aren't sexy but man are they convenient.  Fran was always a ball to be around.  Our seats at Fruit of the Loom Stadium weren't great.  Matter of fact, our seats were almost the furthest away from the field that you could possibly be.  I say almost because that specific honor belonged to the people just two rows behind us.  Of course we had to turn around and tell those people that their seats really sucked.  That made us feel a little bit better.

Anyway, even though my team is struggling - and has struggled for the last decade or so - I am absolutely ready for some football.  Go Dolphins!

Flashback Friday - Boo to Boot Camp

As I'm writing today's flashback, Flannigan is nuzzling his wet nose under my elbow.  Even after a year of being with Flannigan, I still call him Fred by mistake.  I have to stop doing that.  

And then there's Boo.  Or Kookookashmoo.  But I should stop using those names too.  After all, the cute little boy in this picture isn't a little boy anymore.  Brandon is a grown man now and only a couple of days away from shipping off to Army boot camp.  We're all so proud that he's chosen to serve his country like his uncles and grandfather.

And Brandon, we all know you'll serve well.  You might have other things on your mind right now.  Who wouldn't?  But I know that you'll be focused, determined and strong at boot camp.  In other words, it's your turn to show that TCD - Total Cruz Domination.  Go get em Boo!  I mean, Brandon!

US Navy - #9 Most Blissful Place to Work

With zero sarcasm in my typing, I'm pretty blissful.  Check out the article:


CSmonitor article link


Military Outranks Disney, Microsoft As Happy Place To Work 
(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 25 OCT 10) ... Brian Anthony Hernandez

Disney owns the "Happiest Place on Earth," but it doesn't employ the happiest workers in the U.S., according to a new survey that identified the most "blissful places to work." The list reveals all four major branches of the military and the National Guard rank higher than Disney and other well-known companies such as Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson.
Despite lengthy deployments and lower salaries, for example, the Army and National Guard ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the career advancement category, beating out Google for the top spots. The military also ranked high in growth opportunity, benefits and job security. 
"Corporate America could learn from our military's unique programs. The bottom line is that when a company provides opportunities to grow and tools to improve skills, it creates a happier work environment," said Rick Wainschel, vice president of online career-guidance tool CareerBliss.
CareerBliss used independent reviews to evaluate companies based on opportunities for growth, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career advancement, senior management, job security and whether the employee would recommend the company to others.
In a review from the more than one thousand appraisals written by military members in 2010, an Army administrator in Georgia wrote, "Serving in the Army offered the ultimate job security, not to mention an unmatched benefits package. It was also a good source of gaining valuable technical and real-life experience."
Bradley Brummel, a psychology professor at University of Tulsa in Oklahoma weighed in why the military has happy workers.
"Despite challenges that may occur when serving our country, including the possibility of going to war, the military provides many of the essential elements to finding happiness at work, including having a meaningful impact on the world, having true camaraderie with your co-workers and having the opportunities to develop skills," Brummel said.
Top 10 blissful places to work, according to CareerBliss:
1. Google 
2. 3M 
3. ABN AMRO 
4. DTE Energy 
5. Air Force 
6. Qualcomm 
7. Army National Guard 
8. Marines 
9. Navy 
10. LSI Logic 
The Army ranked No. 11, ahead of Johnson & Johnson (16), Cisco Systems (21), General Electric (30), Microsoft (39) and Disney (41).
"It was interesting to see how well the military ranked relative to many top-tier corporations. After reviewing the comments from hundreds of reviews, it was clear our military service members not only take pride in serving and protecting our country but find a deep sense of personal accomplishment in the important work that they do," wrote Wainschel in a statement.

Flashback Friday - Ike!

My best guess is 1977 or 1978 for this picture.  From left to right is Lee, Darby Alan, me in the blue and red shirt, Beanie and of course Mom sitting in the Monte Carlo.  Here we are at the Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia in front of Dad's ship, the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69), affectionately known as Ike.  I know the picture isn't from 1976 because the ship was commissioned in 1977.  

Beanie is rocking his Happy Days "Fonzie" t-shirt, complete with the word "Aaayyy!" emblazoned across his chest and Henry Winkler with his signature leather jacket, white t-shirt and two big thumbs up.  I'm pretty sure Mom made at least one or two pieces of clothing that you see in this picture.  She's always been quite the seamstress.

Our dark blue Monte Carlo is almost brand new in this picture.  A young enlisted sailor with five kids buying a brand new car?  Well, I probably would've advised against that as a Division Officer but it worked out okay for Petty Officer Alfredo Cruz.  Lots of memories in this car to include several bouts of carsickness; my brother taking the car for a non-approved joy ride with no driver's license and getting into an accident with a pregnant lady; and a trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia that resulted in the fire department busting the car window to put out a fire inside the car.  The last thing you expect to hear after riding the Loch Ness Monster roller coaster is your name being paged over a loudspeaker.

The A-7 Corsair on the left has long since been decommissioned, just like the attack jet that replaced it, the venerable A-6 Intruder.  On the top right is the E-2 Hawkeye and it's huge round radar, or as I used to tell the kiddies while giving tours on the flight deck, the in-flight helicopter landing pad.  The Hawkeyes are still going strong unlike my beloved S-3B Viking.  Hey, times change.  And that's a good thing.

Dad served as an MS, or Mess Specialist aboard the Ike.  They've since changed the name to CS for Culinary Specialist.  Basically, he was a cook for the Navy.  Very tough work feeding 5,000 people three hots a day.  When my dad joined the Navy, the reality back then was that if you were black or filipino, you were going to be a cook.  That's just the way things were.  There certainly weren't any black or filipino commanding officers during the early part of my dad's career.  He served 23 years as an MS.  It wasn't an easy career but he did what he had to do not only to feed the 5,000 aboard the carrier, but also the five kids at home.

Today, sailors have the opportunity to do whatever they want if they work hard enough.  They can be jet engine mechanics, musicians, intelligence specialists, logisticians, special forces, search and rescue aircrew - almost anything you can think of.  I'm extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to fly jets, lead some great sailors, be the commanding officer of MSCO Korea and most importantly, serve my country.  Carol and I are planning a trip to San Diego so we can see our good friend take over as commanding officer of a US Navy warship.  BTW, he's African American.  Hey, times change.  And that's a good thing.

Happy Friday!

F-111 Belly Landing

The dreaded barber pole.  In my airplane, during the landing checklist that you perform every time the landing gear go to the down position, you visually check the three landing gear indicators on the instrument panel.  If you're looking at a couple of tilted stripes (like what you see on a barber pole), then your wheels aren't 100% down and locked.  This means that your landing gear could be only partially down, not down at all or a number of other problems.  Trouble.  

That's when you break out your handy dandy pocket checklist (PCL) and thumb to the proper emergency procedure.  Once you get to the correct section in the PCL, you start executing the steps in order like it's a recipe in a Betty Crocker cookbook.  Easy, peezy, Japaneezy.  Well, not quite.  Especially when you've gotta get back aboard the aircraft carrier that's getting tossed around the ocean like it's a little rubber ducky in a bathtub full of rowdy kids.  Did I mention you gotta do this at night?  Speaking of recipes, here's one for you.  What do you get when you take a complicated emergency at night, sprinkle in a rookie pilot, sauté it with a jet that's running on fumes and add a dash of pitching deck?  You get a highly puckered sphincter capable of  crocheting some nice doilies into your ejection seat.  That's what.

This was an outstanding job dealing with this emergency by this F-111 crew.  But I am reminded of the main differences between carrier aviation and those landlubbers that have the good fortune of landing on a nice long runway.  Us tailhookers drop our hooks every time and perform a controlled crash aboard that postage stamp of a landing strip - while it's moving.  And you know what?  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Go Navy!

Top Gun - How It Should Have Ended

Here's a follow up to my recent Top Gun post:

Chinese Top Gun?

Family, military, humor, Korea and Tennessee - those are the main focus areas of this blog.  At least until we move again.  With that in mind, you'll see me posting more stuff on these five areas.

So here's one that hits on two of those areas - military and humor.  At least I thought it was funny.

Article on Chinese Air Force Drills





BTW, the rumors are true.  There will be a Top Gun 2.  If TV Guide said it, then it's happening:

Top Gun 2 article in TV Guide

Random Thoughts #4

Random Football Thought:  Here's my first bold football prediction of the year --- Marc Bulger will lead the Miami Dolphins to a great season in 2011-2012.  I should point out that this prediction is extremely bold because 1) Will there even be an NFL season or will football players loot the streets and wreak social havoc if there's no NFL season as Ray Lewis predicts? 2) Marc Bulger is not even on the Miami Dolphins roster and isn't even a starting quarterback.  And 3)  He doesn't even use a "k" in his first name like normal people.

Just blaze on by this part for you non-football heads.  Yes, he hasn't had a good season in a couple of years.  I think a shoddy offensive line is the reason for that.  With a good line - like the Dolphins should have this year - he should be solid and gunning the ball all over the field like he did in St. Louis.  The Ravens would love to keep him but probably won't be able to due to starting opportunities elsewhere.  I'm thinking he could do what Chad Pennington did in his first year with Miami.  

I don't think good quarterbacks wake up one morning and realize they suck.  Like Kurt Warner, when his line wasn't strong with New York, he had mediocre seasons.  And then he lit it up again with Arizona.  Let's see what happens...

Random Food Thought (s): 

What kind of cuckoo leaves a plate of collard greens next to a gas pump at a BP station in Bessemer, Alabama?

This one gives new meaning to loving potato chips.  BTW, it's hard to lose weight when you scarf an entire bag of Ruffles potato chips in a single sitting - even if they're low fat chips.

One of my all time favorites - softshell crab.  It's awesome in sushi or just by itself.  Fat-free too.  Or not.  Side note:  Alan - I found a place here in TN that's got em.  Oh yes.

Random Jake Quotes:


"The Bible says we shouldn't call people fat lards."

"CJ, go stand in the corner and think about your life."

Pet Thought:

Doesn't Flannigan realize I'm Filipino?  He's tearing up his pillows without a care in the world. He's lucky we adore him.

Navy Thought:   Moving is hard.  Duh.  I just hit 20 years in the Navy and in those 20 years, we've done 9 moves.  And we're not finished yet.

I was reminded the other night of how tough the good-byes can be.  We said farewell to the Walker family last week.  That's Amy with the rabbit ears.  It was a fun night.  Got a bounce house for the kids and "juice boxes" for the grown ups.  Only a couple of bounce house injuries.  Nothing permanent.  Yes, like the picture suggests, military folks are used to seeing the backsides of people with all of the constant good-byes we endure.  It's a challenging thing to ask of any family.  But hey, at least we get that cool commissary privilege.

Seriously, with Memorial Day weekend upon us, I'm grateful for those brave souls that answered the call to serve - and their incredible families as well.  As evidenced by the many tears the other night at the neighborhood farewell, military families sacrifice a tremendous amount.  And I'm talking blood, sweat and tears - blood in loved ones lost, sweat from days spent in the 120 degree heat of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and tears over the long days, weeks and months of separation.  Please remember these things as you enjoy this special weekend.  Now go stand in the corner and think about your life... 

Bird Strike!

Bird strikes are bad news in the aviation business.  I've had one crack a windscreen while doing a low level flight over Italy and also had squadronmates ingest birds in the engines.  Not fun.  Certainly no day in the park for the birds either.

These pictures give a whole new meaning to the term bird strike though:

 

A little revenge for our feathered friends.  Tough day for this unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV.  Reminds me of one time when I was fishing.  I was working the "walk the dog" technique with a Zara Spook lure and a hawk comes swooping down and scoops up my lure off the top of the water.  He flies about 30 feet in the air before he realizes what he has in his talons is not edible.  He releases the lure.  Glad he didn't get caught by the treble hooks.  

Hope you're enjoying this awesome spring weather.  Great for flying and fishing.  Until next time...

Perspective

So I get up this morning, bang out a workout, shower up and get ready to head out the door for work.  Got the lunch that Carol packed for me, my khaki cover and my keys.  I'm all set for the trek down 385.  Just one thing missing - my wallet.

Where the heck is that thing?  I scour its usual resting place in my closet.  Nope.  Check the car.  Nope.  Kitchen counter, desk in the den, jacket pockets.  Nope, nope, nope.  I check the pants that I wore yesterday when I took CJ to see the movie, "I Am Number Four."  Still a big fat nope.  I'm feeling like Number Zero.

Taking stock of the sucky situation, I know that no wallet means no military ID card which means no getting on base.  Even if I could get on base, I can't do any work on my computer because it requires my ID card.  Ugh.  Not that I'm in a huge rush to hit those 400+ emails.  There's also my driver's license, credit card, cash, etc.  This Monday is not starting out well.

Maybe it wiggled out of my back pocket while watching the movie at the Malco Theater yesterday.  That's the last place I remember having it for sure.  I check online to see if there are any crazy credit card transactions.  Nope.  Just the movie tickets I purchased yesterday.  So now the plan is to wait until the movie theater opens and see if it's still there.  I call the theater just in case folks are there early.  No luck.

I picture Fred G. Sanford yelling at me with his patented, "You Big Dummy!"  My mind is already thinking about having to get a new military ID card, canceling the credit card, getting a new driver's license, etc.  Heavy sigh.  And of course, the Boss is out of the office today and so is the Deputy.  I'm in charge today and I've got a meeting with the Admiral.  And I can't even get on base.  Believe it or not, I was pretty calm about the whole thing.  No need to make things worse by throwing a fit.

And then with the help of Carol, it dawns on me.  When CJ and I came home from the theater yesterday, Jake immediately wanted to wrestle.  That boy always wants to wrestle now, especially after seeing Hulk Hogan deck Ryan Seacrest on American Idol the other night.  So I don't accidentally bonk Jake on on the head with my mongo ring while delivering a deadly clothesline across his neck, I take my ring off.  For you non-wrestling fans, the clothesline is a classic wrestling move, right up there with the figure 4.  I make a little pile on Jake's rug with my shoes, VMI class ring and wallet.  And there that pile remained until the next morning.

As soon as the light bulb came on in my head, I rushed to Jake's room to find my lost wallet and ring sitting inside my Doc Martens.

And then the rest of the day was really awesome.

Wooh! First Day of Spring!

Some pretty depressing stuff out there right now.  Japan gets the triple-tap with the earthquake, tsunami and now the nuclear issue.  More global unrest with Libya as missiles fly and anti-aircraft fire fills the sky.  Gas and food prices taking serious hikes.  Thousands of miles away, military families are preparing for evacuations.  If you think about it, there's not a whole lot to smile about.

And yet, the snow and freezing weather is behind us here in Memphis.  Or at least I think it is.  The sun was beaming, the sky was clear and blue and regardless of what's happening around us, the first day of Spring arrived with the sound of trumpets.  Today was a glorious day.  And this is the only picture that could do today justice:

For the one or two of you out there in internet land that don't recognize this megastar, that's Ric Flair, the Nature Boy of professional wrestling fame.  In short, he is the man.  His shoes cost more than your house.  He is so awesome, he doesn't even need a "k" at the end of his name.  Whenever the Cruz family celebrates special occasions, the jubilation is not complete until a Ric Flair-esque, "Wooooh!" is bellowed from the mouth of one of my siblings.  This beautiful first day of Spring was Wooooh-worthy.

I took this picture yesterday during our return trip from Virginia.  I have no doubt the North Carolina education system will benefit greatly from Mr. Flair's support of their endeavors.  Here's a city employee doing his part to support the local community.  Notice the sink right next to the lottery ticket station.  That's so you can wash your hands after handling all the filthy cash you're gonna win.

It really was a great day.  We started the day with church.  Pastor Gaines at Bellevue Baptist is simply amazing.  This is by far the biggest church we've attended.  We have friends that refer to it as "Six Flags over Jesus."  The message was phenomenal.  If you're local and haven't found a church home yet, you won't be disappointed with Bellevue.  

After church, we hit Panera for a leisurely lunch.  It was a little too leisurely for my taste because they ran out of bagels.  Hello?  How do you run out of bagels at a bagel place?  I didn't let that get my BVDs in a bunch though.  The day was too amazing to let small details get in the way.  It had been a while since we ate outside so we took advantage of the opportunity.  I made sure to wipe the bird poop off my chair first.

A couple of errands, testing out the new Bose Sounddock 10, a bowling birthday party for the boys, some fresh fruit from Costco, a nice sweaty run, an even nicer walk with Flannigan...yeah, that's how I roll.  So there's my standard Sunday - during the football offseason anyway.

And now, it's Miller time.  It just seems like the right thing to do now is crack open a cold one.  Hope you had some Woooh in your first day of Spring too.

South Korean SEALs

You go South Korea!  Republic of Korea (ROK) SEALs/Commandos kicked butt against Somali pirates during a recent rescue operation.

Here's a link to the story:  South Korean Raid Frees Hostage Crew From Pirates

Lee's Commissioning Ceremony

On 7 Jan 2011, my brother Lee graduated from the Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP).  He received his Master's degree and was also commissioned as a First Lieutenant.  I had the great honor of swearing him in as a new officer in the US Army.

As previously mentioned on Facebook, this is Lee and I about to smack each other in the face with the awesomeness of the occasion.  Darn, I meant to wear my large ring that day.

Here's a 7 minute video from the ceremony:

Link to the video:  Lee's Commissioning Video

After the ceremony, I had a couple of folks tell me how much they appreciated my remarks and how they had relatives and friends that served in the military in the 60s and 70s that experienced the lack of diverse career opportunities.  A Command Sergeant Major (CSM) even gave me his command coin to present to my father the next time I see him.  I was very touched and I know Dad will appreciate the gesture.

BTW, a CSM is the senior enlisted soldier in a command.  CSMs work hand in hand with the Commanding Officer of the unit to get things done.  Lee was a senior NCO, or non-commissioned officer before being commissioned on this day.  Rising to the rank of Master Sergeant, there's no doubt that Lee would've been a Command Sergeant Major himself had he stayed in the enlisted ranks.  Heck, if Lee was an employee in a toothpick factory, it would only be a matter of time before he'd be running the place.

Alan, Danita, Joel and Jena were able to make the ceremony as well as some of Cathy's friends and family.  Because Joel is contemplating joining the military after college, I think attending the ceremony was a good experience for him.  Little does he know, there is a lot of pressure on him to continue the tradition of TCD - Total Cruz Domination.

Cathy and the other spouses of the graduates received a bouquet of roses.  Nice touch.  You don't have success in challenging programs like these without great support.  Way to go Cathy!

What a great location for this event.  It was held at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayette-Nam, I mean Fayetteville, North Carolina outside of Fort Bragg.  Since Lee was a Green Beret (Special Forces) before becoming a Physician's Assistant, the location was very appropriate.  Guests were able to tour the museum after the ceremony.  There were airplanes, helicopters and many awesome displays and videos in the museum.  BTW, the four guys on the left are contemplating how they will mount a huge cheesehead on top of the big statue's helmet on Superbowl Sunday.

As an aviation guy, I find it just a bit unnerving to see dudes jumping out of airplanes.  For me, seeing a parachute means something has gone horribly wrong.  For Lee, it's a periodic qualification he has to maintain.

The museum is outstanding and it's free.  I highly recommend it.  After my time in Korea, I especially liked this display.  BTW, did you hear about the South Korean SEALs that recently kicked some Somali pirates' butts?  Very cool.  Google it.

I really liked this Afghanistan display.  Might have something to do with the guy in the middle who looks remarkably like my nephew Joel.  Uncanny resemblance.

Congratulations to the Army's newest PAs.  Well done boys.  These are the guys that will take care of America's soldiers for the next couple of years.  Off to the 82nd Airborne for Lee. By the way Doc, my elbow hurts when I do this...

After meeting some of his Special Forces buddies, I know Lee will miss life as a Green Beret.  You could just sense the great camaraderie they share.  Those bonds are hard to come by and unfortunately, are sometimes paved by the fact that not everyone gets to come home.  Here's Lee with his team in Afghanistan.  Not surprisingly, the Cruz is the one that's challenged to grow facial hair.

Lee was the medic on his team.  Here he is with a long line of Afghan locals waiting to be treated for various ailments.  By the way Doc, my elbow hurts when I do this... 

Needless to say, the Cruz family is incredibly proud of Lee's accomplishments.  Not everyone could make it in person but we were all there in spirit.  We all know it's been a tough road to plow.  The deployments, personal hardships, rigorous studies and long nights at the hospital.  The attrition rate for this challenging program was extremely high.  We know it's been a grind but you did it bro.  Congratulations.  You're gonna be a great officer and a great PA.

Now that you're an O, you just need to make sure you stick your pinky out when you drink...