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The player with the most correct picks at the end of the regular season wins a Hitachi 50″ Plasma HDTV. Every week you pick all the games correctly, you’re entered into the Perfect Pick Raffle at the end of the season for a $500 Best Buy gift card. The five players with the most correct picks for each week win a VAJoe J-shirt. Check your standings. Live game updates. Compete against your buddies in private groups.

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They’re part of the Solifugae family of arachnids. Their name means “those that flee from the sun”. Technically, they’re not true spiders, but instead descend from the arachnid family order along the likes of scorpions.

Solifugae. Arachnids. We call them CAMEL SPIDERS!

These nocturnal creatures love to live in dry, hot, sandy, desolate, humid, unpopulated areas in the middle of nowhere…..just like the U.S. military! Perfect. When soldiers set up tents in the desert these Camel Spiders immediately come around trying to take in some of the much needed shade.

There has been some video of these living, breathing, killers. Click “here“. I’ve had the pleasure of only seeing these guys in containers. They’re not as big (up to 6″) as folklore likes to believe (12-18″), nor as deadly (they don’t carry any venom). However, they do have very strong jaws, and a powerful bite, although not deadly. They’re pretty fast too, able to do 10 mph.

My impressions of them are I hate spiders. Period. These guys are easily on the size order of tarantulas, although their legs aren’t as thick or hairy. Either way I check my boots every morning and keep the hooch cleaned up.

Patrick

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:  When Chuck Norris goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.

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Here’s a look at General David Petraeus’ upcoming September remarks on Iraq in Washington D.C., if he uses the “media techniques” adopted by Lieutenant General Russel ‘The Ragin Cajun’ Honore after Hurricane Katrina:

Gen Petraeus: Let me go back, because I can see right now, we’re setting this up as ‘he said, he said, we said’. Alright? We are not going to leave, by order of the President and Secretary of Defense, the Iraqi people unable to protect themselves and provide terrorists the opportunity to come in and take over Iraq and dishonor the sacrifices our servicemen and women have made. There is progress going on there. Is that clear to you? Progress. Positive signs. There are terrorists there also. There are cells of special terrorist groups network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training. Is that clear? Terrorists. Is that clear to the public?

Female reporter: When do you plan to withdraw…?

 

 Gen Petraeus: That’s not your business.

Male reporter: But General, more troops didn’t work the first time?

Gen Petraeus: Wait a minute. It didn’t work the first time. This ain’t the first time. Okay? If…we don’t control Baghdad and its surrounding neighborhoods than security can’t take place, you understand? So there are a lot of pieces of it that’s going to be worked out. You got good hardworking troops working through it. All of America appreciates enormously what they’re doing and that they really should be very, very proud of what they’re part of. Tom Brokaw, who, as you know, wrote the book, “The Greatest Generation” about the World War II generation, was with us one day and after he saw all that our troopers were engaged in, he turned to me before leaving and said to me, surely, this is the new greatest generation. I really agreed with that then and I still do very much. They’re great Americans, special in so many ways and we’re very fortunate to have them serving in uniform serving our country.

Male reporter: General, have we lost this war?

Gen Petraeus: Let’s get a little trust here, because you’re starting to act like this is your problem. You are carrying the message, okay? What we’re doing is winning the Iraqi hearts and minds. When troops went on cordon-and-search operations, they took care to tell each homeowner, “Thank you for allowing us to search your home.” Civil-military-affairs teams returned to the neighborhood afterward to explain why they had been there. We’re also heartened by the number of Iraqi tribes and local citizens who have rejected al Qaeda. We cannot attribute that to the surge but the surge certainly enabled that to move much more rapidly, we believe, than it otherwise would have.

Female reporter: When will the surge end and troops begin to go home?

Gen Petraeus: We’re not going to announce that at this time, until we get a plan set, and we’ll let people know when that time comes, through the government, and through public announcements. Right now, it’s very well known and the Secretary of Defense and others have all been very clear that the surge has always been viewed as something that is temporary and the Army, the Marine Corps cannot maintain the surge levels of forces. I expect we need a bit more time, certainly, to have a sense of where we’ll be in a few months. We’ll do this in a way that does not surrender gains that our soldiers have fought very hard to achieve as you would imagine.

Male reporter: General Petraeus, we were told that our troops would be coming home by the end of 2007. That the surge would be over by the time of this report…

Gen Petraeus: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current plan, I just told you one time, is to continue the surge for a bit more time. Once we complete the surge, with the Secretary of Defense and approval of the President, then we’ll start to look at the surge level of forces.

And we understand that there’s a problem in getting communications out. That’s where we need your help. But let’s not confuse the questions with the answers. The surge is working and progress is being made throughout Iraq, for whom we have sworn that we will support and defend…and we’ll move them on. Let’s not get stuck on withdrawal. You’re asking withdrawal and defeat questions for people who are concerned about the continuing progress and victory on the battlefield.

Don’t get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don’t confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don’t understand, maybe you’ll confuse it to the people. That’s why we like follow-up questions. But right now, the surge is working and progress is being made…move on.

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about when our troops will withdraw and finally come home?

Gen Petraeus: You are stuck on stupid. I’m not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with this surge and terrorists. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we’ve got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let’s talk about the future. Progress is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about downsizing the surge forces, in a couple of months.

Sometimes the war defines the General. At other times, the General defines the war.

Patrick

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:  Chuck Norris sheds his skin twice a year.

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The middle of the night phone calls are always about bad news. The timing, usually occurring between 1 a.m. - 3 a.m., is impeccable and would make Academy Awards’ producers envious. At first during my deployment over here I was getting routine business calls from Air Force units back in the United States. We had a communication problem. They thought I was working in a 24/7 cell–which I do. But they also thought I was only one of several people in the cell–which I am not. It’s just me working these aircraft “issues”. I needed to let all the agencies know that these calls were for emergencies only. So after I spread this fact faster than a photo of Brittany Spears exiting a vehicle, I began to get fewer non-emergency phone calls in the middle of the night.

The real emergencies I get calls about involve aircraft with malfunctions (engine failure or tailhook inop), medical evacuations (MEDIVACS), or poor weather that causes these aircraft to divert to/from other locations in the Middle East. Aside from just waking up and being happy to have found the phone in my dark room, I then deal with people on the other end of the call who are often very anxious. I remember speaking with a very young, excitedly nervous, sailor who had a stroke victim on one of our USN ships that needed immediate MEDIVAC. Best thing I can do is stay calm and hope it rubs off on to them. Sometimes it works and I can hear the relief in their voice when I tell them that I’ll take over the coordination for them. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Regardless of what the circumstance is that causes a middle of the night call, it’s always time critical. During my younger days prior to pilot training, I worked in a Command Post and had to wake up senior leadership with bad news. Now it’s my turn to be on the receiving end. I used to wonder how people could be woken up in the middle of the night with bad news and have to make decisions on the spot. Now I know.

After I get the bad news it’s my job to coordinate with the host nation and get them to make things happen RIGHT NOW. There’s no time for me to contact my translator, “David”, at his house. Most of the host nation folks that I deal with have some sort of aviation background and that helps. I try to keep everything in simple aviation terms and stress the urgency. Not once during my 3 and 1/2 months have I received any problems from our host nation on these immediate requests. They’ve come through for us every time and I know that has saved lives.

So, although these middle of the night phone calls will not be missed when I journey back home I do know that they’ve been some of the most rewarding and important part of my duties in the desert.

Patrick

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:  Chuck Norris can blow bubbles with beef jerky.

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FBL talks about her milblog Fuzzilicious Thinking.

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. I never attended Kindergarten (started my education in a one-room school)

2. I’m a vegetarian

3. I like to do embroidery

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I’ve been blogging for about two years.

I got started because I had a lot of friends who were milbloggers, and it looked like fun.  Still, the idea of me blogging seemed rather self-absorbed because I didn’t think I had anything unique to offer, so they had to talk me into it.  Literally days after I started blogging, I began working on the development of the Valour-IT (Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops) charity project, and the blog soon became about giving Valour-IT a regular presence beyond its official websites.  I felt I had to keep going because of that, and now I’m hooked.  

Question: What is your military experience?

I’m a civilian. My father served a tour in Vietnam, but left the Army soon after I was born and died when I was 11-years-old. Basically, I was introduced to the military by the milblogs and and have since been “adopted.”

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

My two most favorite are Argghhh! and Neptunus Lex, which were instrumental in getting me blogging.  I particularly appreciate the deployed milbloggers, and my recent favorites in that category are and Acute Politics and Badger 6.  If I started mentioning the others I enjoy, I’d have a never-ending list. 

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

I’m at what seems to be the tail-end of a months-long writer’s block and my readership has been declining lately, so I’m not sure “successful” would be a correct descriptor. But… to the extent I’ve had any success or acclaim, it’s been a result of the support and mentoring of other bloggers.

The biggest factor was my pre-blogging connections.   I’d been reading milblogs for about a year and was a well-established commenter (”Denizenne”) at Argghhh! before I started blogging, so John Donovan was kind enough to link my new blog and continue regularly spotlighting me.  His also put my Valour-IT posts in front of other big milbloggers and top-tier blogs like Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, NRO Corner, etc.  Neptunus Lex did similar things for me.  Villainous Company (fellow Denizenne of Argghhh!) also helped by asking me to guest blog.  I owe all three of them so much, both personally and as a blogger.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

I’m looking for a job in military non-profits or Veterans Support Organizations. Anybody know of any openings out there?

Most importantly, I think my readers and fellow bloggers are amazing. Blogging is a great leveler–I’m often taken aback when I think of the things I’ve participated in and the extraordinary people I have gotten to know I never would’ve encountered otherwise. They have literally changed my life, and with their support and leadership I’ve done things I never would’ve imagined two years ago. I feel extremely proud and lucky to be a part of the milblog community.

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When the phone rang I knew who was going to be on the other end. A full-bird Colonel. The same Colonel, whom I hadn’t met yet, that called me 7 times the previous day–often with follow-up calls within 20 minutes of each other.

My job was to get the host nation to allow the United States to proceed with a project our government deemed “urgent” and “mission essential”. This Colonel was in-charge of this project but, up until the past couple of days, I had been working with his staff. The pressure to get this going had been building for the past 4 days and the host nation was not responding quickly enough for neither me, the Colonel, nor the United States. Time wasn’t on our side. When things get extremely urgent on a particular issue and begins to take on a very high level of interest, there’s only one course of action when dealing with our host nation; one-on-one discussions. Emails, FAX, voice mails, text messages (the local favorite here), and phone calls just don’t get the ball rolling as fast as direct negotiations do.

It was only 8 a.m. but after the Colonel’s call I knew that this issue had to be put to rest ASAP or life was going to get very ugly for me and my Boss (another O-6 Colonel). I immediately called my interpreter, “David”, at his home and told him to meet me at the location in town. As always, “David” was very excited to meet with our host nation friends. I joked with “David” to bring his “game face” and he laughed and reminded me to “bring your moustache!”–our inside joke about how every time we have a successful negotiation, we chalk up the victory to our ’staches! Facial hair on males is very important in this culture and we always try to use everything to our advantage.

As I was discussing our meeting location with “David”, the Colonel called me back and someone in my office told him that I was about to go meet with the host nation. He instantly said he was going too. Great, I thought. This Colonel was very passionate and excited for this project and I was nervous that he was “too involved” and close to the situation to be an asset on this trip. But the decision wasn’t mine and he was going with me.

I picked up the Colonel and we went “outside the wire”. Normally, when we leave the base we try to dress in civilian attire and blend in with the local population for force protection. In this case, due to time constraints and the short-notice decision I made to have this meeting, there was no time to go change out of our uniforms.

On the drive the Colonel asks “Are we going to have to drink tea with them?” Yes, sir. I started to have more concerns about how this meeting would go with the Colonel in attendance. It was obvious that he was under a lot of stress himself from his chain of command to get immediate positive results from the host nation. We needed to show the host government that we were serious and the issue was urgent, but without placing the stress we were under squarely on them. If we backed them into a corner they would feel uncomfortable and probably just go into delay mode. We didn’t need any of that. We didn’t have time for that.

I thought with the Colonel’s anxiety and stress he was under that it would be best if I did the talking since I’ve known the gentlemen we were about to negotiate with for the past few months and they didn’t know the Colonel. I also thought it might be wise during our drive to give the Colonel a quick refresher course on Middle East Customs 101. Yes, we would have tea with them if they offered. They often offer us “coffee” also during our meetings, and that is a good route to take for Americans who don’t particularly enjoy the unique taste of tea. Always ask how they’re doing and let them bring up the appropriate time to discuss the “business” at hand. Start the meeting off by apologizing for bothering them and taking them away from other work in their busy day. Never show anger or frustration. This is where “David”, my interpreter, earns his money.

If we get the point in discussions where we feel upset or frustrated, I told the Colonel to whisper to me and I would let “David” know quietly. It would then be up to “David” to play the bad cop. He’s Kurdish, Iraqi, with his mother from Turkey and his Iraqi father a former General in the Iraq Army during the pre-Saddam Era. It’s always better to let “David” do the yelling, gesturing, and show our frustration while speaking Arabic to the host nation. “David” and I have done this “routine” enough to know how it works and what the other person is thinking without words needing to be said between us.

Our meeting started off with coffee and tea. Since I’ve gotten to know the gentlemen we were meeting with over the past 3 months, we have what I’d call a “very good” relationship. The Colonel told me prior to this meeting that these people were the “log jam” holding things up, but I told him that wasn’t the case. Things in this culture just take longer to do. They are not a society as rushed as our own and take things more slowly.

This meeting went very smoothly. I was glad in the end that the Colonel came to the meeting because we had to negotiate a few small changes in our request and his expertise was quite helpful on the subject matter. Our hosts were quite positive and receptive to our needs as I thought they would be. When we left the meeting we were told by the host nation to expect an answer by afternoon. The Colonel, who every minute that went by became more pained, just smiled and thanked them for their time. I told him outside the building that we had got all that we wanted and to go ahead and pass along the good news to higher headquarters. He asked me if I was sure because they said we would hear back from them “this afternoon”. I told him that from their language we got everything we requested and “David” agreed. It is rare for them to make a decision on the spot; they like to take some time and not appear to be rushed.

The Colonel took “David” aside in the parking lot and personally thanked him for doing a tremendous job. “David” really liked the fact the Colonel did that and I kidded him later on the power of his ’stache! On our drive back to base we received a phone call from the gentlemen in charge of the host nation representation at the meeting and said we had their full approval. Our meeting had lead to another successful negotiation. I refer to “David” as “The Closer” because every time I have him with me in a meeting everything turns out favorable for us and the U.S.

Today I found out that “David” has accepted a job in Baghdad’s Green Zone to work with our U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Interior. He had a similar job between 2003-05, before coming to my unit. The job he’s going to will double his pay and provide a better life for his wife and kids staying behind. He has two siblings living in Baghdad in a safe neighborhood. He’ll more than likely live inside the Green Zone and not be able to see his relatives because he expects to get followed by bad guys if he leaves the Green Zone–and that would not be good for his family members.

But I get to work with “David” for another few weeks and I’m looking forward to that and all our talks. So the Two ‘Staches are still a team for now. However, I will miss “The Closer”.

Patrick

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:  Chuck Norris once participated in the running of the bulls. He walked. 

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Perhaps no other endeavor or job requires an individual to track such oddities.

Not only do pilots have to log every flight from departure location to destination, but also account for the time it took us to get there…right down to the navigator’s “hack” for accuracy–or .1 hours (six minutes for you non-math types).

We must also explain in our log books what exactly we were doing to contribute to that Orville and Wilbur Wright moment. Were we acting, and I do use that word loosely, as First Pilot–actively controlling the aircraft (to include auto pilot operation)–or really acting, as the Copilot who just occupies a front row seat with a set of controls, but isn’t controlling the aircraft (usually the non-flying pilot works the radios/checklists and handles communication to Air Traffic Controllers). With multiple destinations the pilots will normally swap duties after each leg of the trip to allow the other pilot the chance to miss radio calls or blame mysterious crosswinds for bumpy landings.

Instructor pilots must log the time they provide instruction to a student pilot. Evaluator pilots who give pilots their annual check rides must also log that evaluator time in their log book. Both of these qualifications provide pilots with valuable log entries that represent their expertise and experience in flying.

Our log books entries must also reflect the conditions experienced during every flight. Any part of the flight that took place during night conditions is recorded. Ever wonder why newspapers and newscasts show the official sunset and sunrise times? For us pilots. The same occurs for flying in clouds or other external conditions requiring pilots to primarily reference flight instruments in order to maintain aircraft attitude.  Gotta log that time too.

I always fill out my log book immediately after engine shutdown. Since I have to fill out a similar form in the aircraft maintenance log, I use this time to make sure my log book reflects the same information.

My first entry in my log book describes my maiden voyage as “pre-flight, taxi, run-up, 4-basics, shutdown”. The date is July 6, 1984 and I was in high school at the time. This introductory flight in Eugene, Oregon, lasted a whole .9 hours (54 minutes) and I’m sure my flight instructor moved the stick (or “yoke” as we call it) the entire time as I just hung on for dear life.

Most of the time I put the name of the other pilot I flew with in the “remarks” section of my log book. This gives me the opportunity to go back and double-check the fight records that the Air Force keeps on all its pilots. It’s also good to look back and remember all the guys and gals I’ve flown with over the years. The only time I didn’t list the other pilots in my log book was when I was an instructor pilot at the C-130 schoolhouse. During those sorties, I could have 3 student pilots flying with me on one flight, all rotating into the other seat between takeoffs and landings. Without their grade books in my hand, they were called “hey, you’re next in the seat. Get ready.”

May 2, 1998. A flight from Aviano Air Base in Italy to Lajes Field, in the Azores, a small island in the middle of the Atlantic. Remarks say “tail swap”, indicating we were swapping this Hercules with another C-130. The flight lasted 7.1 hours and additional remarks describe that night’s dinner; “swordfish at the Pescador Restaurant”. That was great swordfish. Highly recommend it.

The “Remarks” section also provides a glimpse into my flights that didn’t go quite as planned and were cut short due to emergencies. A C-130 flight in 1996 that lasted only 18 minutes because of a “prop over speed on take-off”. Just long enough to fly a radar approach and run the After Take-off, Prop Malfunction, Engine Shutdown Procedure (ESP), Descent, and Before Landing checklists. Other short flights that were the result of in-flight problems include “ESP #4 for RPM” (translation: Engine Shutdown Procedure for #4 propeller outside of allowable RPM limits), “fuel leak”, “wheel well overheat”, “ESP #2 for high oil temp”, “decoupled prop”, along with a dozen other aircraft problems.

A March 29, 1998 log entry only says “NASTY WX!” in the Remarks section. This C-130 flight originated at Minneapolis-St Paul Int’l Airport (MSP) and we were doing a local test flight in the northern section of Minnesota. I decided to cut the mission short and return early to MSP due to approaching thunderstorms. However, the thunderstorms were building up in several directions and air traffic controllers were stacking aircraft into holding patterns. I had a great navigator on-board and with his eyes on the radar scope we were able to skirt around these storms with his vectors. We were the first aircraft to get by the storms and actually land at MSP that afternoon.

There’s my July 23, 1999 flight to the Cold Lake Airshow.  Great trip!

Then there’s good ol’ Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 23, 2001. I’m instructing a brand new student copilot who’s flying the C-130 on his 3rd flight ever. #1 prop decides to hang-up during our touch-n-go landing just as we’re about to get back into the air and slip the surly bonds of Earth. Ugh.

I’m riding the controls with the student pilot like every instructor pilot should, but this aircraft immediately wants to kick my ass when 3 engines spooled up correctly towards full-power while the lone bad apple (#1 engine) doesn’t want to play anymore. Perfect. Had a great instructor flight engineer who quickly spotted the offending engine and helped confirm and shut it down with the copilot while I did everything in my power to keep the C-130 on the runway using the rudder pedals, ailerons, brakes, and the power of cursing. There was a moment there when I thought for sure we’d be departing the runway. However, everyone performed exactly as our training had taught us, including the brand new copilot. Our number of takeoffs equaled our number of landings.

Log entries that are bare on specifics and listed as “local” flights to keep the real destinations unknown are either Special Forces missions or rapid-response flights for higher headquarters. Both of which don’t need reminders written about in my log book in order for this pilot to remember them and where we were operating at.

Most pilots look to their log books for only the total hours they’ve accumulated over the years. When I approached 3,000 hours I thought that was a good milestone. However, as the flying hours have continued since then, I now look at my log book as a source of many great stories with many great people. We’ve travelled all over the world and seen great places, mostly on Uncle Sam’s dime. Yes, there have been some interesting and perhaps stressful moments along the way, but the success of the missions and being able to take part in so many operations makes up for all the days sweat flowed from my David Clark-covered head.

Take a look at your log book and see where life’s journey has taken you. It may be a photo or scrap book, archives from a blog, or even letters from long ago…but all a memory book to you, logging your journey through life.

Patrick 

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:  Chuck Norris can dribble a football.

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The two best things you can hear while deployed are “You’ve got mail” and “Your replacement has been identified”.  Normally, the policy is that you can’t depart until your replacement arrives. Therefore, nobody cares about the replacement’s health more than his Mom and you. And you’re a close second.In most places a few people stay behind because their rotations overlap. These people staying behind have the “corporate knowledge” to pass along to the new people.

And this is where things get interesting.

The people remaining behind often do “The Switch” just prior to the new people arriving. They will switch desks, equipment, rooms, roommates, and other things with the people about to depart and leave the less desirable items for the newbies. Arriving soon in-theater? Expect to get the TV with cable that goes out when the wind blows greater than 10 knots? Roommates with nicknames of “Chimney”, “Francis”, and “The Jackel”. Yours. A main door nearby that shuts with the force of a Bill Parcells’ waistband? Also, yours. A room on the end by the stairwell? Yep, all yours. AC that only works when nobody is in the room? Bring a fan. How about the room with the microwave that would take MacGyver three episodes to fix? Yours too.

I’m hoping to have about 4 days of overlap with my replacement before departing. But if circumstances prevent that, in the words of Motel 6, “We’ll leave the light on for you”. And a continuity book.

Patrick

Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”:
Chuck Norris’ IQ can be expressed simply as a sideways eight.

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We recently interviewed the mind behind Charming, Just Charming to find out more about him and his blog.

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

I doubt that there is little that my readers don’t know about me. I have been to several blog meets and met numerous other bloggers and if you have ever been to one of those things you know they are all about expose..HAHA. I have made no secret that I am a successfully recovered alcoholic..15 years dry and I fiughre 14 of them sober. I do dip snuff and I usually have some fingernails chewed off. By the way, my wife just started a blog and if I had anything my readers didn’t know she would damn shore tell them. I used to have a hot temper..now it is just luke warm. Oh, and I can’t spell for shit and also do a poor job of editing what I write..I make no claims to being an accomplished writer ..hell man. I have to translate my redneck think into some sort of English write just so most of my readers can understand what I am trying to put down. So if you use this be sure and edit and maybe correct some spelling, huh? I had a secretary that did this when I was in the Air Force and later in business.

 (Ed. Note: I went ahead and left the spelling as is and hopefully he doesn’t hate me for this. I think his way of writing is what attracts many to his blog and would hate if his true personality didn’t show through. Plus, it sounds like I’m really sitting there talkin’ to him in person, another aspect that attracts you to his blog.)

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

With the help of my bat shit crazy blog momma, I started my piece of shit and wit on the 23rd of July 2005. Why? Well, Northwoods woman kept chewing my butt for using her comment section as a chat room with some other chatters. She as well as a couple of others on her blog and the late and great blogger Acidman who wrote  encouraged me to start my own. I knew absoultely nothing about setting up a blog but they helped me via e-mail and telecon. Acidman gave me a few links the first three or four months and it just kinda took off from there. I met acidman at a blogmeet a few months before he died. Great guy. But the whys that I blog? Several reasons and maybe the main one is to just let off steam..I do some rants occasionally..my wife claims it keeps me from having a stroke when I have a place to vent and by venting on the blog it keeps her from having a stroke just listening to me. Another good reason is the people that I have met via bloggin’. I was kinda sorta surprised to learn that there are millions of people out there that have a lot of the same ideas about life and life in this country that I do. But mostly I reckon that I just like to laugh and have people laugh with me or even at me. I was raised in the oil fields and among he ranchers and farmers of south central Oklahoma..a tough bunch of people during some tough times. But we laughed instead of crying and it always made it just a bit easier to take. I used that philosophy during my USAF career..it worked for me and maybe kept me out of the slammer…

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“Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem”. - President Ronald Reagan

I remember the first time I felt I had made a difference in other people’s lives wearing the uniform…

It was July 24th. My EC-130 aircrew and I flew tail number 62-1836 to Cold Lake (Alberta) Canada, for an airshow the previous day. These airshows are always a blast to do. You get to meet the public, explain to them about how you’ve got one of the greatest jobs in the world, take pictures with kids, sign autographs, and drink some beer with fellow aviators from all over the world.

On this day our EC-130 was a “static display”, meaning we would not actually be flying, but instead welcoming and giving tours of our aircraft to the airshow participants. We opened the left, rear paratroop door and soon a very large line people had formed, all anxious to visit our Four Fans of Freedom aircraft. It was your standard populous of airshow fans, from young to old.

Our scanner and navigator were stationed outside the back of the aircraft and just inside the paratroop door, assisting people into the aircraft. Our flight engineer was near the crew entrance door helping people depart the aircraft safely and answering questions people had before moving on to the other aircraft on static display. My copilot (then-Captain Steve) and I were in the cockpit telling the people about the aircraft and answering the many questions they had for us. We had our procedures down perfectly–one would do the talking with a group of 5 people and the other pilot would do the talking for the next group of 5.

After about 4 hours of Q & A with the airshow public we thought that we’d heard every possible question, discussed every system on the aircraft, and autographed every piece of airshow literature and clothing. But as my copilot, Captain Steve, was answering an 8-year old boy’s question about the EC-130 Hercules, this young man’s father piped up “Were you guys over in the war?” Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, we both returned last month. He asked us about our mission over there. And we told him. We told him it felt good to stop a war criminal from ethnic cleansing. To end the executions and mass graves. To allow the people to go back home and live safely. The young 8-year old boy then says “Daddy, why are you crying?” Everyone immediately shot a glance at the man. The boy’s father then puts his hand on my copilot’s shoulder and says “Son, these boys helped save Grandma”.

The year was 1999 and the grandma lived in Kosovo and survived the war. Since then I’ve been fortunate to have played a small role in humanitarian relief operations (earthquakes, mudslides, and tsunami), airdrops, flight tests, and Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, witnessing our sailors, soldiers, airmen, and Marines make a difference in people’s lives.

Patrick

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