Kids in the Yard

Here's a quick video of CJ and Jake with their cousins Jena and Ariel hanging out in the backyard during the Christmas break.  Flannigan is with them too.  No kids or animals were harmed in the making of this film.

Thanksgiving Weekend

It was unseasonably warm in Alabama this past Thanksgiving day.  The sun was shining bright on these lovely ladies.  Behind them is the field goal post that Uncle Don put up so the twins, Trent and Austin could get some practice in before auditioning for Nick Saban.  After the overtime loss to LSU a few weeks ago, we heard the University of Alabama was in need of a kicker.

The young cousins having fun in the back of Clyde's new truck.  

Zack, Jake, Lori and Cooper.  Can you guess which one loves lemons?

Remembering Grandmother and Grandfather on Thanksgiving.

After attempting a few field goals myself, I have a new found respect for kickers.  The next day, the inside of my left leg was wobbly like a newborn giraffe.  Trent and Austin were both booming them with accuracy.

Prepping for the Black Friday sales.  We forgot our pepper spray.

So here's Carol putting the kibosh on Jake riding in the back of the tractor, at least while another six year old was driving.  On cue just a few minutes later, CJ comes toppling out of the back of that thing as it took off for its next fun ride.  Carol's spider sense is still working.

One difference between the Thanksgiving gatherings I experienced growing up and the gatherings here in Alabama is the turkey.  When you have big gatherings like here in Alabama, it's much easier to have the turkey already carved up and ready to eat so there's not a huge wait when it's time to grub down.  The bird is already sliced up and on a platter.  There's only one catch with that though.  There's no magnificent golden brown bird to gawk at on the dinner table.  You know us filipinos.  Taking pictures of food is in our DNA:

See what I mean?  This is from a couple of years ago at our house in Miami.

No matter how the bird is prepped, we're really gonna miss these Alabama Thanksgivings since we're probably moving next spring.  Such is the life of a Navy family.  Wherever we celebrate Thanksgiving next year, I'll make sure to take some pictures of the food.

Here's a short Thanksgiving video that Leenie put together.  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too.

Tom's Bar-B-Q!

A little something to wet the appetite of our upcoming visitors this holiday season.  We're expecting my Mom and my siblings to visit us here in Memphis over Christmas break.  Mom is coming all the way from the Philippines.  Dad couldn't make it because he has that thing at that thing.

One thing you can be sure of when the Cruz family gets together - we always get our pork on.  So when Tom's Bar-B-Q was featured on one of my favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Carol and I just had to go.  Check out the video:

It's a very unassuming place.

I'm guessing Guy Fieri had something to do with the recent addition to the place.

Brisket and rib tips make for a heck of a lunch. 

The sweet tea was SWEET.  Even going half and half with the sweetened and unsweetened tea was a little too much for me.  I was reminded that "you in the south now, boy!"

Beware of any BBQ joint that doesn't have a chimney stack. 

Sasified!

That meal hit the spot for me.  I'm much more of a carnivore than Carol.  She gets easily skeeved out by jiggly pieces of fat.  Me, I'm not afraid of taking a bite and having a vein or chunky piece of cartilage biting back at me.  

Okay.  So this was not my best moment but I think it's a good indication of how much I enjoyed the meal.  Carol tried a piece of my brisket.  She liked it but she trimmed part of the fat off and laid it to the side to throw away.  When she wasn't looking, I grabbed that piece of heavenly goodness and stuffed it down my pie-hole.  I just couldn't let it go to waste.  Needless to say, Tom gets two two thumbs up.

CONA

2011 is a huge year for Naval Aviation.  Check out the video:

Loud Cruzers

Having a little fun with the noise meter outside of our apartment in Busan, Korea:

The New Breakdancing Capital of the World is...

...Seoul, Korea of course.  Check out the article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/1011/US-cedes-status-as-breakdancing-capital-to-South-Korea

We got to see some serious breakdancing during our time in Korea.  Here's a quick video of a group performing by our apartment during the big Global Gathering event in Busan, Korea:



They're probably a little bit better than the Fil-Am Rockers of Virginia Beach, circa 1984.

The Delta Fair!

Funnel cakes, ferris wheels, demolition derby, deep fried Snickers bars, tube tops and air brushed t-shirts - it's gotta be the Delta Fair in Memphis, Tennessee.  I don't care what anyone says, the fair is fun!

Here's a short video of our day at the fair with the Forsyth family:

Delta Fair Video

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

4th of July

I was amazed the first time I experienced the 4th of July with Carol's family in Alabama.  Many years later, I'm still amazed.  Check out this video made by Carol's cousin, Leenie.  It'll give you a good peek into how Independence Day should be celebrated.  Thanks Leenie for the video!

Jake had a little attitude problem before the festivities began so he needed a little alone time in the corner.  I'm glad I didn't need to break out the fireworks for Jake to turn things around.

 That's Carol's mom on the left.

Nothing like dipping in the pool on a warm day.

The cousins finally meet.  CJ, Jena and Andrea got to hang out at the lake prior to the big 4th of July celebration.  They got along great.

More cousins - Angela and Carol.  They get along okay too.

 Aunt Annie and some of her grandkids.

The veterans get called up to the front by Uncle David (on the right).  The flag belongs to Carol's dad who served in the Army in the Korean War.  He passed away when Carol was 18. 

The O'Neals

 Passing out the balloons.

Getting ready to release the balloons in honor of Grandmother and Grandfather.  The 4th of July was their favorite holiday.

And away they go!  Quite the sight.

Time for the parade around the pool.

Aunt Charlie and Aunt Joy jumping in after the parade.

You know it's a hot day when they jump into the pool.

And that's how you do the 4th of July in Alabama.  God bless America!

Father's Day

With Father's Day upon his, here's a look back to last June in Busan.  Last year in Korea, I was invited to be part of a panel interview to help commemorate Father's Day on the English radio channel in Busan, eFM 90.5.  It was fun talking about the boys, parenthood and being a military dad.  The radio show is called "Let's Talk Busan" and is hosted by Jeff Lebow.  Jeff, who had read my blog of the family's exploits in Korea, caught me off guard and asked me about "the pose" and about "Thong Man."  You can read more about Thong Man by clicking on this link:

Thong Man

As far as "the pose", it's simply a fun thing the boys and I do to capture good memories.  We have pictures of us doing the pose in Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand, Seoul and many other places.  And so Jeff suggested that we all do the pose to remember our Father's Day radio interview:

The pose in St. Louis

The first documented account of the pose.  Here are the Cruz boys with my Dad in Norfolk, Virginia.  I'm maybe 6 years old.

This is the most recent pose picture, taken immediately after I introduced Ceej to the manly art of grass cutting.  Although there was a lot of sweating and I chopped the heck out of a PVC cap in the front yard, we didn't  lose a single toe.

And so Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there - in Korea, in Tennessee, or wherever the heck you might be.  Hug on them kids and enjoy this classic gem of a video.  This is definitely how I roll...

Dad Life Video

Mustachio's First Video

Peek into the life of Mustachio...if you dare.

Different Type of Old Navy Commercial

Just got back from the Naval Symposium in Pensacola.  Great stuff.  2011 marks 100 years of Naval Aviation.  Here's a humorous look back at the days of leather helmets...  

Get Lucky - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Fire on Aircraft Carrier

Awesome job by the crew of the USS CARL VINSON recently.  Check out how they handled a recent fire on their flight deck:



The F/A-18C Hornet is from the VFA-113 Stingers based out of NAS Lemoore in California and currently on deployment in the Arabian Sea.  Everyone that deploys on an aircraft carrier goes to firefighting school.  This incident shows why.

One engine catches fire then the other one lights off too.  In a span of a couple of seconds, so much is happening.  The pilot is going through his emergency procedures.  I'm not a Hornet guy but I'm guessing the throttles are coming off, fuel and hydraulics are getting cut off to the engine, ignition switches are getting cut off and he's looking to egress out of that jet.  The Air Boss in the tower is probably on the radio with a few calculated words.  The CO of the ship and Navigator are thinking about the best course of action for the ship.  The search and rescue helo is snuggling up closer to the ship just in case.  The rest of the airwing that's still airborne are re-calculating their fuel ladders and conserving gas because they're not sure how long until the flight deck will be cleared to take them.  It's never a dull day on the carrier.  Well, maybe on a no-fly day.  Man, I miss it.

Playoffs!?!

Those were the days.  Dan Marino, back in the pocket gunslinging the Miami Dolphins into the playoffs year after year.  Brings a tear to my eye.

So the Dolphins missed the Superbowl again.  Heck, they didn't even make the playoffs.  This 30 second video is in honor of all those football fans out there whose team didn't do so hot this year. CJ and Jake added some of their own commentary to this classic Jim Mora rant.

Let's all enjoy a great Superbowl Sunday while quietly commiserating the fact that our teams are not present.  There's always next year!

Youtube link:  Playoffs!?!

S-3B Viking Video

Most of this video is from my time with the VS-30 Diamondcutters.  Got some old VS-24 video out there that I'll dig out one day.  Without further ado, here's the mighty War Hoover:

Here's the Youtube link to the video:  S-3B Viking Video

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...