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Reflections: Smuggler’s Blues (VII) – The Squadron CO
(Part V here) Steeljaw 602 – airborne 270 nm East of Curacao “Still tracking XO†The report came from the RO (Radar Operator) who sat to the XO’s right in the back of the E-2C. Normally there would be a full complement of three NFO’s in the CIC compartment and all three would be busily engaged…
Badgers, Buccaneers and Bears…(Pt 4)
(Note: I am in the process of moving the postings off the old site to this one, beginning with this series) “Alpha Whiskey, Alpha Romeo, Tango One. Tango One recommends launching all available alert. Multiple bogeys inbound. Break, track 1231 now non-squawker, negative Mode 4, investigating with 9B. Setting station 9B with 11B” “Alpha Whiskey,…
Reflections: Smuggler’s Blues (I)
It began with a phone call – “It always begins with a damn phone call…†the young LT thought morosely to himself. Any other time he would be drinking in the warmth of the Florida sun, enjoying the beach, such as it was, across the highway from Patrick AFB, but not this time.
Pearl Harbor – 70 Years Later
“AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT A DRILL” Seventy years ago those words ushered in a period of unbelievable agony, trial, effort and sacrifice. What was once before was forever changed afterward. Jack-booted thugs bent on their “Final Solution” strode cobblestone streets of the land distantly remembered as the forebear of a new nation,…
Reflections: Smuggle’s Blues (VIII)-Convergence
Part 6 and Part 7 YV-411, airborne SE of Martinique. There is a saying in aviation that if everything seems to be going perfectly, then look out, for something really bad is about happen. These were the thoughts of the Beechcraft’s pilot as the plane was inbound to its illicit rendezvous. Cockpit lights turned so low…
Twenty-five Years and Counting…
It started with a letter (the old fashioned kind — pen and paper) that began "You don’t know me but we have a mutual friend…" It grew into a whirlwind relationship with precious time grabbed between squadron dets, workups and deployments and culminated on a humid Virginia Beach evening in August, twenty-five years ago by…