Blasting, billowing, bursting forth With the power of ten    billion butterfly sneezes Man with his flaming pyre Has conquered the wayward breezes Climbing to tranquility Far above the cloud Conceiving the heavens Clear of misty shroud… – Moody Blues, Higher and Higher Growing up we were insatiable in our appetite for anything related to…
Red Flag has always been a varsity exercise and in recent years, it has seen increased participation from allies and friends. This year has been no exception with Brazil (F-5s), Sweden (JAS-39 Grippens), France (Rafales) and Turkey F-16s) among the many participants. This was in addition to the usual USAF, USN and USMC participants. Notable…
First, the official press release: Missing WWII Pilot Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is 2nd Lt. Howard C. Enoch…
Taking a break from VTC h*ll (ed: 8+ hours yesterday alone, how the h*ll did Nimitz & Ike win a war without it? – don’t answer, that was a rhetorical question… – SJS) & following up on the comments to a previous Flightdeck Friday (Phlightdeck Phriday: Phabulous Phantom Edition). Some have offered their guess at…
The term tipping point describes a point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace. It is derived from the metaphor of a rigid solid object being tilted to a point where it begins to topple. Couple of observations from the region… Iran to launch 1st domestic satellite soon…
Been a rough few for our AF comrades in arms and while we well remember all the grief we received when the tables were turned back in ’92-93 we note with interest the items below passed our way earlier today. Couple of bullets caught our eye – things like: “…build a balanced force for the…
Not quite a shutdown, but definitely light posting for a few. Why? Just check the most recent headlines (and a few still to be written). Will endeavor to get Flightdeck Fridays up and catch up on the weekend – if not otherwise occupited… – SJS
(ed. OK, so it’s not Friday – we were otherwise engaged this weekend and the coming week looks like it is going to be fairly busy – so consider this either a delayed post from Friday past or a downpaymet on the coming Friday… – SJS) “Vergeltungswaffe” – literally translated it means “compensation weapon”…
It began with a letter, you know – the old fashioned kind, paper and pen, that opened with “You don’t know me but we have a mutual friend…” From there it grew – a whirlwind relationship with precious moments snatched between squadron dets, workups and deployments. We found the end of one path and the…
Just a few noteworthy quote: – I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. – It is…
