Oh! Canada...

Shania Twain
(What were you expecting, Tyler Seguin?)

Had a call from the WSO, she heard this on the radio. Reminded her of the time we went down to Norfolk to collect the Nuke's car. One of the Nuke's CDs was by this lovely and talented Canadian lady. We had fun on the drive back to Rhody.

Good times...

When In the Course of Human Events...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.  

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.  

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: 

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: 

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:  

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences 

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: 

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.  

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.  

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
   John Hancock
   Maryland:
   Samuel Chase
   William Paca
   Thomas Stone
   Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
   George Wythe
   Richard Henry Lee
   Thomas Jefferson
   Benjamin Harrison
   Thomas Nelson, Jr.
   Francis Lightfoot Lee
   Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

Copied from here.

The Charge

General George G. Meade and General Robert E. Lee
Opponents at Gettysburg

Some have called it the "High Tide of the Confederacy", most just call it "Pickett's Charge".

To me one small phrase describes that climactic event at the Battle of Gettysburg:
unbelievable bravery.

To the men who fought there, to the men who died there.

On both sides.

General Pickett

50 Years After the Battle, On the Same Field

Remember them, honor them.

I'd Rather Be Doing This...

It's what I call a "missile fest". I'm sure the Navy has a different name for it. And so Skip doesn't get too worked up about me posting ship photos...

As a certain Marine might say, "Time for a C-Gar!"

Mission Statement

When I started blogging back in March of '12, I wasn't really sure what direction I was going to take. Would I be serious? Would I be humorous? Would I be cutting edge? Would I provide deep and insightful commentary on the global situation? Would I talk a lot about history? Would I talk a lot about jets? Would I ramble on endlessly, asking pointless rhetorial questions?

Yes.

Seriously, I am really playing it by ear. I blog about what I want to blog about. If you all wish to read my ramblings and comment on it, cool. In fact, that's awesome.

I get a fair amount of traffic here everyday. I remember the days when 50 page views seemed like a lot. Now I get depressed when the count dips below 250. Which it doesn't do very often.

OMG. Did that last sentence even make sense? I'm sure every English teacher I've ever had is now feeling faint (if still alive) or are spinning in their graves (if no longer with us). To be honest, English was never my strong suit. (Hhhmm, I'm sensing a digression here. But then again, this post hasn't really established a firm track just yet. I've got a bearing I think but no known course or speed.)

I'm thinking about putting all of my digressions/asides in italics from now on. But that would be establishing a certain standard, which I would then feel duty-bound to follow. And really I only do that at my paying job. In fact, most (if not all) of this paragraph should have been in italics. Or maybe not...

Yes, I am almost just typing in words at random at this point. My blog-slog earlier today left me somewhat depressed and enraged. We are being led to disaster by the worst pResident in history, the fool has no more business leading the United States than I would have in leading a synchronized swimming team at the Olympics. And I can't tell you what an unmitigated disaster that would be!

And with that mental image planted in your heads...

...I'm out.

Ma Vie Militaire - Okinawa (Part One)

In February of 1976 I landed in Japan. At Haneda International in Tokyo to be precise. That was just one more waypoint among many on my trip from New England to the Far East. My final destination was Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa. What was originally an 18 month tour became a 2 and a half year odyssey. In a manner of speaking.

But when I arrived in Tokyo, the sun was just setting, the angle I saw it from the aircraft was slightly to the left of what (I assumed) was the main terminal building. Upon that building was a large sign which said "Welcome to Tokyo". Pretty spectacular, one of the times in my life I wish I had had a camera on me. But after about 20 hours in the air, I noted it and said "cool". It must have been, that scene is still fresh in my mind.

Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns was popular at the time (album had been released in November of '75). This song is still a favorite - 

(Yes, that was an almost totally random musical interlude, but the song was current at the time. And it kinda fits.)
But there I was, sunset in Japan. But it was going to be a little longer before I reached Okinawa. Five or six hours longer as I recall. Finally we arrived, at Naha airport, which is a bit south of the base (IIRC). So after the usual immigration/arrival run-arounds, which always seem to involve at least one asshole, I was on an Air Force Blue Goose to the MAC Terminal at Kadena. (MAC = Military Airlift Command, they don't call it that anymore. I'm sure I knew the new name at some point. But I thought it sucked so I promptly forgot it. Hell, I'm still pissed at SAC being dismantled, reorganized and renamed! TAC was a "don't care", never belonged to that outfit. My major commands were PACAF, SAC and NATO. PACAF being, of course, Pacific Air Forces, my home of nearly 8 years.)

The Blue Goose
Mine Was Similar to This, But a Lot Cleaner
(Picture is from Danang)

I guess it made sense for the Blue Goose to drop me at the MAC terminal, for my squadron to collect me therefrom I suppose. As it turned out, my shop was "too busy" to come get me. So I cooled my heels from the late hours of the night to the wee hours of the morning. Until the Air Force Security Policeman (SP) on duty at the terminal took pity on me. I'm thinking he realized I was a newbie on his first assignment and had probably suffered similar treatment upon his arrival. Since that day I've always had a soft spot for the SPs.

MAC Terminal Kadena AB, Okinawa

He asked me which unit I was going to, "18th Avionics Maintenance Squadron". And which shop? "Weapons Control Systems." So the young buck sergeant (three stripes back then, we don't have those anymore) made a phone call, announcing the presence of myself , a brand new Airman, one each. "And would you please come collect this individual?"

An hour passes, no joy. The sergeant makes another call, this time he is not that polite. Tells the chap on the other end that he has two choices, "Come collect your airman or I will have my guys come collect you. If your airman has to spend the night in the terminal, you can spend the night in jail!"

Literally less than 15 minutes later enters Technical Sergeant (TSgt) Draper. The night-shift supervisor and the WCS Shop's general all-around asshole. It's been 37 years but I still remember that SOB. No "Welcome to the 18th, Airman Newbie", no sir, it's sit on my ass in the MAC terminal for four hours after Lord knows how many hours of traveling and then a trip in a Step Van to the barracks.

Along the way TSgt Asshole Draper pointed out the 70-plus F-4 Phantoms that we maintained and joyfully pointed out that we worked 12-hour shifts because "that's the way we did it in Thailand, during the war".

Just a few of those 70-plus F-4s
(This photo was taken at Kadena during the time frame I was there. I "borrowed" it.)

Though this is Holloman in New Mexico,
the row of Phantoms brings back memories!

"Anybody point out to you that the war is over, dip-wad?" I grumbled.

"Excuse me Airman?" inquired His Lordship.

"Nothing, I was just musing as to how many aircraft you have here," I responded.

So we arrived at the barracks. Everybody had their own room. Mine was probably the worst room in the barracks. Paint was peeling from the freaking ceiling and was kind of everywhere. The good TSgt got me a key, some linen, showed me to my room and announced, "You need to clean that refrigerator every week, Airman!" And then he stormed off. Probably had to get back to the shop and be a prick. He was good at that.

The Barracks Behind Mine
(It rained like this a lot at Kadena!)

What my ceiling looked like.
Really.

I just looked at him and after he left mumbled "Welcome to Okinawa" as I stood there, bed fixin's in hand, paint dropping around me, wondering what the Hell I had gotten myself into.

Things did get better. But that's a tale for another time.

Sesquicentennial

One hundred and fifty years ago, in those pleasant fields depicted above, Americans spent three days slaughtering each other. 7,863 men died and 27,224 men were wounded. The causes of the war are still debated, the need for the war are still questioned. What cannot be questioned is the bravery displayed by both sides on those three momentous days in July of 1863.

The guns on the blood-soaked fields surrounding the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania fell silent towards evening on the 3rd of July. But in many ways, they still echo down through the years even to this day. I'm not here to discuss that. As a Northerner I was taught one thing, as an adult I have learned more. Not everything is as one would have been led to believe as a youngster.

As a military man, my sole goal for this post is to salute those brave men. Whether they wore butternut or gray, or if their uniforms were blue, one thing cannot be questioned, they were all Americans. I salute them and I salute their bravery.

The Vermont Memorial at Gettysburg

 

The Virginia Memorial at Gettysburg