Proportionality

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When I saw this article, over at Zendo Deb's place, it got me to thinking.

Proportionality, to me at any rate, is a lawyer's exercise in determining what is "fair."

I don't know about you, but if someone comes at me, with the intent to do me bodily harm, I sure hope that I have an effective weapon at hand. Fair has nothing to do with it.

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Which pretty much summarizes my outlook on this sort of thing.

Don't want none, don't start none.

And of course, the ever popular FAFO¹.

Fair is for sporting events, not life and death situations.

'Nuff said.

¹ F**k Around and Find Out.

Deep in Contemplation ...

OAFS Photo

So what am I contemplating? Well, the beauty of nature, the pleasure of being with family, the warm sun on my face as I sit in the yard like an old cat, and sometimes I give a thought to what's going on in the world.

Though I don't look at current events here at The Chant, I do think about them. I don't write about them as far too often I get angry over the state of things. So it's a subject I avoid, like the plague.

Suffice to say, there are three groups of people in the United States, among the citizenry and a pox on the invaders: those who wish everyone would sit down, shut up, and take a deep breath, those who want their vision of this country (no matter how insane and unworkable that vision is), and those who try to make things work but are hampered at every turn.

And that's all I have to say about that.

For the most part, I am enjoying my time in Maryland, it's a pretty state even though it seems to have more than its fair share of idiots. Both politically and behind the wheel of an automobile. Then again, now that I think about it, the "Sarge Rule" of 75% of the world's population are incapable of independent, rational thought applies not just here, but everywhere.

As I once told someone, "Sure, most of the people on this planet aren't that bright, doesn't mean that they're not good people, just dumber than a box of rocks." Sometimes I fall into that 75% when I find myself pontificating on something I have no expertise in.

Hey, it happens.

Anyhoo, enjoy your day, methinks I will sit outside and enjoy Nature for a while. I mean, I've got the time now, don't I?

Where Is Sarge?

OAFS Photo

Well, right here, that's where I am.

Right here being Annapolis, in Maryland, visiting The Nuke and her tribe. In her new job she travels, a lot at times. The completion of the mulching and the cleaning of the pond at Chez Sarge coincided with her having to travel for most of two weeks. Tuesday through Thursday, then a second trip Monday through Friday. As Tuttle is also gainfully employed, it was thought that a visit from us would help with the grandkids.

As my birthday fell into that two week period as well, we headed south. The weather has been grand, a little rain here and there, but mostly sunny and not abysmally hot and humid as it can get around the Chesapeake Bay area. So we've got that going for us.

I'd mentioned before my departure that I didn't plan on blogging much, if at all. Juvat, being his usual useful self, stepped up and entertained y'all. That seems to have gone well, but as he's about to undergo a slew of medical stuff, I need to step back up.

So here we are.

Have I missed blogging? A little, but the extra free time has been appreciated. Am I going to continue my Franco-Prussian War tale? Yes, indeed I am. To that end I bought two books on the war and the one I've started reading has already given me some ideas of which directions that tale might take.

The two books are:

The Franco-Prussian War                                                                                        Bismarck's War

I've started with the book on the right as the author looks at the social backgrounds and culture of the participants, a different take on some histories of the war which has, so far, proven rather refreshing. The book by Michael Howard (a favorite historian of mine) I bought because I've read Mr. Howard's work before, he's a superb historian.

Anyhoo, in addition to reading I've been running errands with my daughter as her car is in the shop. While she's in town she's got things that need doing and I enjoy her company, so we use my vehicle.

I was in DC on Friday (my birthday) and it was a very lovely day. We went down the Potomac, across the river from the Jefferson Memorial, and it was grand. I'd never seen the Jefferson Memorial from that angle.

Drove by juvat's "favorite" place, the Pentagon and saw the Air Force Memorial up the hill from there. As much as many of you don't like DC, I do, so hold your water. Lots of history in the place, some good, some bad, but hey, that's what history is.

I'm enjoying the down time and will continue to do so for a while.

Y'all stay frosty now, ya hear?

Beautiful Bora Bora, anything but boring.

 

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Spent 5 days in Bora Bora French Polynesia with my bride last month.  Trip of a lifetime for sure.  Landed at that runway in the foreground of the photo below, built by the Seabees at the outset of our involvement in WWII.  My Grandfather rejoined the Navy immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  This was the day after his eldest son (14yo) was unsuccessfully strafed on Lanikai Beach near Kaneohe Bay where my mother's family lived.  She was born in Honolulu in Oct of that year.  I don't know for sure that my grandfather was part of that effort on BB, but it's quite likely as he was part of the Seabees and did help build runways across the Pacific.  This wasn't an attack base, but a logistics hub.  You can read more about its history here but here's the executive summary:

On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the United States entered the Second World War. The US Navy needed a refueling depot between Australia (the last bastion of resistance to the Japanese offensive), and the Panama canal. The strategic position of Bora Bora, the deep water bay at Faanui and the fact that it had only one easy to control pass, made it the ideal candidate. So in 1942, the Americans launched Operation Bobcat, and 3,500 US military personnel arrived in Bora Bora.   Source

Frederick Millett Photo Source

My grandfather's Seabee battalion.  He's in front of the door with the garrison cap.

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This photograph shows four Vought OS-2 Kingfishers of Scouting Squadron 2 (VS-2) on Bora Bora. A Quonset hut is visible behind the line of trees and camouflage netting. Bora Bora, whose conditions were primitive in the extreme, was one of the Navy’s first logistical lessons in early 1942. It would not be its last (NHHC, UA 460.08)

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Apparently these* are all over the island, but they require a rugged hike and my wife was wearing sandals on our one trip to that side.  

Stayed at the St. Regis resort.  The finest hotel in the finest location we've ever visited.  

Even the butter was high end.

The resort is as high end, shi-shi, and as gloriously pretentious as one could imagine- butler service, huge overwater bungalow, complimentary champagne, a concierge that will go to the ends of the earth for you, gourmet meals, golf-cart rides to dinner if desired, or just ride the bikes that each room has.  However, that all comes with a price.  Fortunately, past spending covered it with credit card points...lots and lots of credit card points.  If you want to see the resort, check out "Couples Retreat" which was a 2009 comedy filmed there.  It's on 24/7 at the resort.  Good cast full of funny people.  

I'm worried I've helped her grow accustomed to some indulgences that are not always reachable on my salary!  Just kidding, she's a grateful trooper.

Just after Sunset at the Bora Bora Yacht Club

                        Sunrise that day.  Had to get up early, but I was still on west coast time.

The pearl my wife dove for.

The pearl dive was fun, but a bit contrived.  The oysters are farmed elsewhere and put on the boat.  After the class about pearl farming, we all got on the boat to head out to the dive spot.  The tour guide then dives in, ties the strand of oysters to a line underwater.  Then each tourist dives in to bring up a strand.  Then each picks one oyster and hopes for the best**.  We head back to the beach for the big reveal.  My wife's pearl was the best of the day and is apparently worth far more than the price of admission..  We'll probably put it on a pendant.

Overwater Bungalows

Mt. Otemanu.  Ireland had every shade of green.  BB has every shade of blue.

Some delicious rum concoction. 

Some have dubbed it Bora Boring, but not for us. It really was the best week EVER! Snorkeled, jet skied, dove for pearls and oysters, rented a scooter and rode around the island, finished that day off with a happy hour sunset and dinner at the Bora Bora yacht Club. Swam with and pet both sharks & sting rays, saw a very friendly Napoleon fish in the "lagoonarium" at the resort and a turtle and sting ray from our dock. We paddle-boarded, relaxed at the pool, ate some delicious food, mainly seafood! Had some awesome and expensive cocktails, and had the trip of a lifetime.

It's beautiful and we'd love to go back, but the earth is very big and the locations to visit are probably too plentiful. If you can swing it (Costco has deals), I highly recommend it.

Now to start planning whatever comes next!

*Apparently not a single gun was fired in anger.

**If no pearl was found, they get to pick another oyster off the strand until one is found.

Double A's

 I'll be going into surgery a couple of days after this gets posted.  Doing some research now to better understand why I need the operation (Atrial Fib/Fluctuation this time, my wife says it Fib I think it’s Flux but what do I know? I was unconscious when they did the first one.) Anyhow, I have no idea what's going to happen or how long it'll take to recover.  Thought some of the readers might know more than I or be in a similar situation.

After my blackout accident,* I had an irregular heart beat in my heart's two atria (the upper chambers of the heart). According to the doctor, one was worse than the other (I think) as he's going to have to use two operations to treat them.  I went through the first operation right after I blacked out, ran off the road @75MPH and hit a rock.  Wife was OK, not great, just bruises.  I was in the hospital for a week or so.  I wasn't very coherent at the time.  

I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heart beat.  That operation required immediate surgery, so I'm betting that was the more serious one.  

 

 Other possible symptoms of AFib include congestive heart failure symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, or swelling. Loss of consciousness can also occur due to a lack of oxygen, and insufficient blood to the brain being pumped to the brain by the heart. (Which I'm pretty positive was the cause of me blacking out and the cause of the accident.). The abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) is sometimes only identified with the onset of a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). It is not uncommon for a person to first become aware of AFib from a routine physical examination or electrocardiogram, as it often does not cause symptoms. Source 

That was not the circumstances in my case. Just thought I'd mention that it can sneak up on you quite fast.  I doubt is was more than 5 minutes from when I first felt bad and when I blacked out. 

How is it treated?  Well, glad you asked. I'm going to be going through a process called Cardiac Ablation.

This is what the Mayo Clinic advises and my Doctor performed.  I'm not sure what the doctor did when he treated the upper left chamber, I was pretty much out of it when he explained it to me.  So, but found this description in the following paragraph on their website

Cardiac ablation often uses heat or cold energy to create tiny scars in the heart. Heart signals can't pass through the scars. So the treatment can block faulty heart signals that cause AFib. During cardiac ablation, a doctor places a flexible tube called a catheter through a blood vessel, usually in the groin. The doctor guides the tube to the heart. More than one catheter may be used. Sensors on the tip of the catheter apply the cold or heat energy. 

 

I talked about AFIB which if you look at the chart below, that  comparison, in bold type, tells what is the more dangerous of the two. I've been through that one. (Yes, unconcious) and am feeling better.  This next one is to treat Atrial Flutter or AFlu to the cognoscenti.  

AFIB VS AFLU

Symptom Atrial fibrillation Atrial flutter rapid pulse rate usually rapid usually rapid irregular pulse always irregular can be regular or irregular dizziness or fainting yes yes palpitations or feeling like the heart is racing or pounding yes yes shortness of breath yes yes weakness or fatigue yes yes chest pain or tightness yes yes increased chance of blood clots and stroke yes yes
This one, the Atrial Fluctuation (I think) surgery, as seen in the chart above,  involves sticking a catheter in my thigh and snaking it into my other atrium.  I guess that one was less damaged.  I'm not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV, but I've been told they'll zap that bad boy and that should take care of the problem. Please, Lord, guide their hands and let it be so.  In any case, peace out, y'all!  *For those of you that haven't read details of the accident that almost killed Mrs J and I, they can be found at that link.

 Source

 

 

Updated from 2015: “Lifeblood of the Navy”

 Ok, I tried to get back to an original  posting, unfortunately, I got nothin'. Drained me dry, Sarge did.  So...Another Repost. Hope he gets back soon.  His tales of daring do are highly entertaining.

About 11 years ago,  Old NFO had a tale of woe about the trials and tribulations involved in his move from the (ptui!) DC area to some as yet undisclosed location in God’s Country. (Those of you unlucky enough to not live here might refer to it as Texas.)  In that tale of woe, he mentioned that he had somehow misplaced his coffee pot.  

That harmless statement, as it always seems to, set off a flood of commentary.  One commenter went so far as to describe coffee as the “Lifeblood of the Navy”.  Included in the comments were the Top Secret procedures for making that Lifeblood.  (That should be good for an extra hit or two from the NSA.)

While most readers know that “back in the day”, I was in the Air Force as a Fighter Pilot, some may not have read these riveting posts on my first tour as a Joint Staff Officer.

One of the benefits of that job, other than, you know, being based at Camp Smith Hawaii, was spending time aboard the flagships of the USN’s 3^rd Fleet and 7^th Fleet, USS Coronado and USS Blue Ridge respectively. 

 

USS Coronado AGF-11 (decommissioned in 2006 and sunk in the Marianas during an exercise in 2012)
Public Domain

USS Blue Ridge LCC-19
Public Domain

 A small result of that time was getting to sample some of that “Lifeblood of the Navy”.

I also got to spend a good bit of time with 3 MEF on Okinawa. (I also spent time with I Corps at Ft Lewis WA, but that’s a different story).  All these deployments involved exercises in which contingency planning was the objective.  Coming up with an operations plan on short notice with a tight deadline necessitated some very long days.  Long days meant Coffee. 

I think I started drinking coffee in pilot training, but I was never more than a cup or two at a time person at that point.  Strapped in to an ejection seat and pulling G’s is not a fun thing with a full bladder, and the restroom facilities are sadly lacking in fighters.  (Never used a piddle pack! Not even on the Trans-Pacific drags.)

So….Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Coffee and “Lifeblood of the Navy”.

So…There I was*

Camp Smedley Butler, Okinawa Japan.  Deployed to 3 MEF for a Joint Task Force training exercise.  The Joint Staff (in the Pentagon, believe me nothing good comes out of that building) has decided to test USCINCPAC’s ability to stand up a Joint Task Force, develop an Operations Plan and have forces ready to deploy on very short notice.  We get the Warning Order and, within 3 hours, my team is airborne on a C-141 bound for Okinawa. That's at least a 10 hour flight (more if it’s winter) and we couldn't afford to waste 10 hours of planning time.  This was back in the early 90s before airborne WiFi was commonplace.  We had a specially modified hatch panel that had a satellite antenna on it and so used that time to begin building the Plan, coordinating both with Camp Smith and Camp Butler.  Very exciting stuff at the time.  (Yeah, I know, it takes very little to get me excited nowadays.)

In any case (which, again, is Texan for “Anyhoo”), we arrive on Okinawa and continue to build the Operations Plan, sending drafts back through Camp Smith to the Pentagon.  We’ve been at it for about 36 hours and it’s me, another Lt Col (USMC) and a USMC Warrant Officer.  

My counterpart Lt Col referred to the Warrant Officer as “Gunner” with a high measure of respect in the tone of his voice.  I elected to follow his lead.  

We’re putting out the latest version of the Plan and it’s oh-dark-thirty.  The Gunner comes in and says he’s going to turn in and asks if we need anything before he does.  I ask him for a cup of coffee figuring he’d tell somebody to make a pot.  He walks off and shortly thereafter brings back a couple of cups. 

He’d made them himself. 

I didn’t sleep for at least 12 more hours. (At which point, the Joint Staff called EndEx as they couldn’t keep up with us.)

Navy Coffee was good, but I thought it was kinda weak thereafter.

We’ve had a Keurig in the house for a while, and my brew of choice was always Jet Fuel  for a couple of reasons, but the primary reason was it is as close to the Gunner’s coffee as packaged coffee could get.  Lately however, even that seemed to be getting weak and disappointing.

On our recent vacation, in the B & B we rented in Sydney, the kitchen came with a DeLonghi Espresso machine.  Now, I like Espresso, but I want my coffee in something other than shot glasses.  This machine had a setting that allowed you to make the Espresso as large as you wanted.  Suffice it to say, I was adequately caffeinated while in Sydney.

Coming back to the real world was tough, and the Keurig didn’t help.  However there was a posting on Instapundit about DeLonghi Machines being offered on Amazon at a special price.

 

Santa brought me one for Christmas!  Put whole coffee beans and water in the machine, push one button and Espresso comes out.  Life is good!

Unfortunately, the DeLongi met its maker at some point between then and now, which is a good thing. My Cardiologist has given me a strict order. One cup of caffeinated coffee per day, the decaf afterwards.  Took me a while to get over the shakes. Anyhow…some caffeine is better than none at all! ;-)

*SJC

Updated from 2014: Guns, Eagle Style

 

A while back (Ok, quite a while back, like 12 years or so), Murphy’s Law was pining away about how he was going to spend his lottery winnings and buy an F-86.  A worthwhile expenditure to be sure, but MSgt B joined the discussion with a comment about knowing a guy on Okinawa that had one that he used to tow targets for the F-15s. 

 

This would be that Tow Plane
Photo copied from Here

 

And that comment fired the synapses that bring forth this story.

So, There I was……*  I’m at Kadena having been checked out in an F-15 in the short course  at Luke AFB, 3 months and probably about 50 hours. Soloing in a jet on your first ride is thought provoking that’s for sure.  At least they save the AB takeoff until a little bit later.  Release brakes and punch it is eye opening.  Even on a hot Arizona afternoon, by the  time you’ve checked the engines, (Why?  I’m mean really, it’s quite obvious to the most casual observer they are functioning beautifully), anyhow, by the time you check the engines, you’re at rotate speed.  A small touch of the stick and you’re airborne, you keep pulling on the stick to keep the airspeed under control (yeah right) and avoid over speeding the gear.  Slap them up, and you’re still pulling back on the pole waiting for the gear light to go out.  You’re now about 45 degrees nose high and tower tells you to contact departure.  (Phoenix is a busy place airspace wise).  You’re still pulling as you contact departure and they tell you to level at 18000’.  You think, piece of cake, until you look at the altimeter.  A quick increase of the g, and your vertical climb turns into an immelman and you’re level, inverted but level, at 18000’.  You’re first cognitive thought is “Gawd, what an airplane!”

 

 

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It's somewhat like this!

So, anyhow, I’m now at Kadena, been there a couple of months, deployed to Kwanju for Team Spirit, so kind of settling in.  My flight commander, in a rare turn of events, happened to be one of my students at Holloman.  He’d been an F-4 WSO and been selected for Pilot Training.  Got an F-15 as his assignment, gone through Holloman and had been at Kadena for about 2 and a half years. Pretty good guy and a decent stick. Let’s call him Jeff.  The schedule has been posted and I’ve got the first go flying on Jeff’s wing for a Dart ride.

Juvat, what is a Dart ride?  Words do not convey what a Dart Ride is.  Take all the awesomeness of flying the F-15, break out your awesomizer ray gun (you have one of those don’t you?) and run it completely out of awesomizer stuff, and you might have a description of a Dart Ride.  Ok, I might have gotten a little carried away on that.

A Dart Ride is an opportunity to take a pair of F-15 Eagles and shoot the  M-61 Vulcan 20mm 6 barrel cannon at an airborne target!  6000 rounds a minute.  A 100 rounds a second. 954 rounds on board, well, fully loaded. We get 200.

I’ve fired on the Dart before and frankly had a problem.  Coming from an Air to Ground background, I’d learned to strafe and shooting the gun in a strafe mission is different than shooting the gun on an Air to Air mission.  In a strafe mission, killing the bad guy is a good thing, but there are usually a lot of them, so keeping their heads down and disrupting their plan is also important.  So, in a strafing pass, you usually try to fire as few rounds as possible.  20 rounds or so is desirable, all on target of course.  Not so in air to air.

In Dan Hampton’s book “Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16” (Available on Amazon, a great book, you should read it)  his description of the various aircraft includes a description of the firing rate, number of guns and weight of the round and adds a number that tells you the total amount of metal the aircraft throws at the opponent. That took me a while to learn.  Strafe, you squeezed the trigger and released, then the gun fired.  Here, you needed to squeeze until you heard the gun and then release.  You really wanted about a hundred rounds each time.  Bullet density is going to kill the target.

Jeff and I have the first flight of the day, we’ll actually take off before sunrise, so our brief starts about 0400.  We’re about ready to step to the jets, and I copy down our tail numbers.  I notice that the tail number assigned to me is the jet with my name painted on the side.  (“My jet” is not acceptable vernacular around here and calling it "The Crew Chief’s Jet" while technically true does not convey the meaning I desire.)  It is a great jet, Radar works well, it flies well, straight and true which is not always the case.  The crew chief and assistant crew chief are good at what they do and I have a good relationship with them.  Things are just falling into place.

 

This one had my name on the canopy rail and ZZ on the tail at one time! AKA "My Jet!"

 

It’s starting to get light as we start the jets and it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, light winds, and good visibility.  We’re in the arming area, with the gun safety pin and warning  flag showing, telling the arming crew that we’re going shooting. On more normal missions, the safety pin is inserted inside the gun door, so doesn't interfere with flight.  Guns hot, master arm switch triple checked off,  we take the runway.
 

Departure from Kadena was easy.  Take off, put the gear up, turn toward your assigned airspace and once over water, cleared all altitudes.  We’re taking off about 10 minutes ahead of our target as we have to perform the safety check and make sure there are no surface vessels in the area.  Typically, we would climb to a medium high altitude ~25000’ or so, but not today. 

Today, as soon as we get feet wet, Jeff sends me out to tactical spread formation, about 9000’ line abreast and with an altitude split of a couple thousand feet.  I move out and start to climb a bit, but he’s pushing over and levels off at about 500’.  In a low level situation, the wingman does not take an altitude separation so as to not highlight the formation, so I level off with Jeff on the Horizon.  I notice that Jeff has not pulled the power back either, we’re still in military power, so the ocean is passing by at a great rate.

We’re approaching the eastern edge of the operating area, the sun is beginning its climb and we hear the target check in on the frequency.  Today, we’re not using any GCI, to help us with the intercept, we’ll be relying on our own  radar to handle that.  Jeff has briefed that first radar contact will run the intercept and first visual gets first shot.  Not all flight leads are that lenient. 

The target calls that he’s in the area and we are cleared to turn hot.  Still headed east, I notice Jeff’s burner’s light.  This is not hard, as it is still dark enough to see the bright white streak coming out of the back of his jet.  I light mine and am instantly through the Mach.  I watch Jeff begin to pull and I match him in a gigantic accelerating immelman, rolling out headed west at 38000’.  I glance at the radar and have a contact about 70 miles on the nose, check the squawk and it’s our target.  I get to run the intercept.

He’s at 20k and as we get to about 40 mile range, I get the "Reno" (I've got a target formation breakout on my radar) on the actual thing we’re going to shoot, the dart about 1500’ in trail of the F-86.  That’s a great advantage, since when we get to lockon range, I can lockon to the actual target and the target box on my Heads Up Display will appear over it instead of the F-86.

Source

 

 

We’re still in the high 30’s when we get to lockon range.  I lock and my jet’s systems are spot on.  I catch a flash of sunlight off the dart and can make out the F-86 also.  I call visual, Jeff and the target call No Joy.  I talk Jeff’s eyes on the target and am starting my vertical conversion and tell the target to start the turn and look up.  I pop a flare.  (We can’t shoot unless he sees us)  All have a tally and we’re cleared hot.  

 
Master arm hot.  Finger off the trigger (Rule 3 applies).  I’m now almost vertical in my dive and he’s slightly off the right side of my nose.  He’s got two choices, turn into me, which would put him on Jeff’s nose or turn away from me, putting him on my nose.  At this point it really doesn’t matter, I am pulling lead by rolling the jet and he can’t deny me turning room as I’m well above him.  He turns away from me, I make a small roll to establish lead and begin the pull out of the dive as I close the range.

The pipper is settling down and the range is closing rapidly, I’m in gun range ~2500’, but pause.  I’d been making that mistake before, and didn't intend to make it again.  1500’, one last check of master arm.  It’s hot, finger on the trigger. 1200’ Squeeze and hold.  The pipper is dead steady as I hear the Gun fire.  Release the trigger and pull on the stick, still have a lot of overtake, so immediately roll to keep the target it sight.  Look back high to find Jeff and prepare to reattack when out of the corner of my eye, I see an amazing array of flashes.  The target had disintegrated and all the tinfoil parts were fluttering in the sunlight like little mirrors as they made their way to the ocean. 

Tow pilot calls “knock it off”, and we clear out of the way.  Without the aerodynamics of the dart to stabilize the cable, he needs to jettison it quickly before it has a chance to do anything bad.  He lets it go, and we head home.  Jeff does a quick battle damage check of me,  nothing, and because it’s required, I do one on him.  Not surprisingly, he’s fine. 

I, however, am higher than a kite.  I’m ready to take on anybody and everybody.  We pitch out, land, dearm and debrief the jets with maintenance.  Pull the VCR Tape and invite the crew chief and assistant to the flight debrief to watch some “really cool S**t!”.  Walking back to the Squadron, Jeff tells me I owe him a beer since he didn't get to shoot, but , he says, “I just wanted to do that once with someone who didn't start in an Eagle, someone who might recognize just how much better this jet is than anything flying.  Guess I did!”

*What's the difference between a fairy tale and a war story, a fairy tale begins "once upon a time.  A war story begins "so, there I was".