F-BOMB ALERT

Have you read the hatchet job on Gen. Stanley McChrystal done in Rolling Stone? He would have been well advised to have a handler who could have stepped in and said, “What the General meant to say was the War in Afghanistan is being prosecuted as planned and going very smoothly.”  This audio from Cam Rhan Bay in 1966,  What the Captain means to say, is timeless.  Why in the world would a smart and disciplined Army General allow himself to get backed into such a freak show?  

I’m sure we can all relate to what he had to say in the interview, and I doubt most of us disagree with how he expressed his frustration toward our "political management" in Washington.  We need more senior military leaders like McChrystal, Fogleman, and Macarthur who are willing to fall on their sword and call our clueless politicians out when necessary.  Enjoy your retirement General, and thanks for your service.  Thanks especially for not sugar coating the facts. 

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Some of us are old enough to remember when Cope Thunder in the Philippines was the greatest exercise on the planet for conducting large force employment in a virtually unrestricted environment.  The only thing we couldn’t do was buzz Clark or Subic on RTB---Strike That--we had a dedicated airfield attack day where we did just that.  OK, the only thing you couldn’t do was buzz the USS Midway at 250 feet while they were recovering aircraft--Strike That--we did that too.  OK, it was pretty much an unrestricted flying environment.

The new toys we have may be really cool and all, but there was something about launching as a 16 ship, walling up at 40,000 feet in the cons, pushing south from the tooth towards crow valley, and then sending Cock 4 over to guard for our adversaries to hear “Gentlemen, The Claw.”  Call me strange, but it made us all feel like fighter pilots and sport about 40% wood in the cockpit (that was a safety call, anymore would interfere with operating the jet).

I’m talking about fur balls with 16-20 airplanes in them that you could see for 20 miles (OK---it was officially only 8, anymore would be illegal).  Didn’t matter if it was OCA week or DCA week, it was all good.  On DCA week, we’d be the clowns protecting crow valley with a bunch of bent up, beat up F-5s to help us---maybe even a few A-4Ms from VC-5 to give us a red force of about 24-30 aircraft.  The fighting was beyond great, and there was lots of it.  There was much rejoicing when it was announced, “Tally-Ho Viper Train bulls eye 360 for 60.”  We made an exception and went to 50% wood on that call even though safety may be compromised.

Then there was the RTB.  Bubba would always make a point get our 16 ship rejoined for the pass in review over Clark.  Imagine trying to orchestrate that with 40 other jets trying to vie for the same piece of concrete over about a 10 minute window.  Clark would land a jet about every 10-15 seconds during that massive RTB.  No RAPCON, No Whining, No Unable that, No Standby, No Bullshit.  All you ever heard was “cleared and report base.”  It was a thing of beauty. 

I remember seeing about 12 airplanes on inside downwind with us over the numbers and another flight of Vipers right behind us.  Landing on opposite sides was kind of a big deal on a day like that; in fact a Viper passed me on rollout about midfield.  Nothing to get your panties in a wad about, just the kind of shit to expect at Clark during Cope Thunder.  I found this video of a CT back in 1985 for your viewing pleasure.  And yes, I know I’m just an irrelevant fossil stuck in the fighter pilot dreamland of the 80s.  I kind of like it that way.

I was stationed in Arizona twice in my Air Force career and My wife and I plan on having a place there for winters in the next few years. We just recently got back from there looking at property even though we won’t be able to use it for 6-7 years. Why, you might ask, do I want to buy now?!! 

Well, I’m about to tell you. I have started my own anti-boycott of Arizona. I plan on buying everything I can from a state that actually has the balls to force our feds to do their job and in the absence of that will do it themselves. I don’t know what part of illegal in “illegal alien” that the bleeding hearts of this country don’t get but the folks in Arizona are tired of the doubletalk and politics so they’ve decided to take action as a state and demand results on their own.