Supreme Court Commies?

Okay, help me here… The US Supreme Court just ruled that foreign nationals being held in GITMO have constitutional rights!  Oh my God!  Are they US citizens?  Since when does the US Constitution guarantee rights to anyone other than US citizens?

Is the US Supreme Court reflecting an American public desire to rule the world by extending the US Constitution to cover all people, everywhere?  Is that what Americans want?

If you can help me understand the logic behind this ruling, please enlighten me.  (But please keep your comments clean and civil.)

Many thanks!

Sweet Memories of Memorials…

This was another year that I didn’t go to a graveyard, or other service to pay public tribute to those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life. And I regret that.  Consequently…

I’m embedding a video from YouTube, since I believe that it is one of the finest musical tributes to those that sacrificed their lives for the rest of us. I hope this will make you consider that sometimes the sacrifices of the survivors may be the greatest sacrifices of all. It’s a sacrifice that lasts a lifetime.

Enjoy. And give thanks to those that are serving the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of a loved one.

The song is called: “Silver Medals and Sweet Memories”, and is performed by The Statler Brothers.

Memorial Day – Take a moment to remember

The Memorial Day holiday is tomorrow, May 26, 2008. As most of our thoughts are concentrated on the coming election, the economy in general, and the price of gasoline (touching $4/gal in Florida), and how it affected our holiday plans, let us not forget the fine men and women that have served the rest of us…

I’ve had the privilege to meet many extraordinary men and women serving as airmen, sailors, and soldiers. Some serve because it’s the best job they can get, some serve because family members served, some serve because they love our country and what it represents, some serve simply because they feel it’s the right thing to do. But whatever the reason they serve… they serve so that we can go about our daily lives, praising the good things that happen to us, and complaining about the bad things that happen to us.

Take a moment to remember those men and women that are serving, or have served for all the rest of us.

I’d like to finish with a quote from the Commander, Pacific Air Forces, General Chandler, as posted on the Air Force News website (http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123099997).

Memorial Day: Remembering our heroes

Commentary by Gen. Howie Chandler
Commander, Pacific Air Forces

5/24/2008 - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) – On this Memorial Day, we take time to remember the men and women who have selflessly given their lives – some more than 200 years ago, some just last week in the Middle East  – defending freedom.

When called upon to defend the rights and liberties of this nation, American Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines have responded courageously. For more than 233 years our military has protected our nation. Our world and our armed forces have changed over time, but certain elements of our armed forces remain constant; the selflessness, sacrifice and dedication to duty displayed by men and women in a United States military uniform.

From Bunker Hill to the Solomon Islands Campaign and Linebacker II to Iraqi Freedom, the can-do spirit of American servicemembers has been a part of our nation’s history. That spirit is alive today as Airmen defend our nation with courage, honor and dignity around the world.

In the past year, more than 1,200 brave Americans and hundreds of coalition military members have given their lives to foster freedom. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten and their achievements will forever be woven into the history of the United States.

Daniel Webster said, “Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, their remembrance will be as lasting as the land they honored.”

Our thoughts go out to all our great Americans standing freedom’s watch, as well as their families.

Heroic Veterans (#2)

The 2nd hero that came to mind was a fellow NCO that was my roommate at the NCO Academy in 1977. His name was Marty.

Mary was the most unpretentious person that I’ve ever met, most of the time you wouldn’t even know he was there, but you always felt that he opened his heart to everyone and anyone. He was an incredible athlete, setting academy records for running the most miles. He ran every day – I wish I could remember the actual number of miles, however, it seems that his goal was 20 miles per day. The only thing that seemed to exceed his total quantity of running miles was the total number of ribbons on his chest. I’d swear that there were rows of ribbons from his chin to his waist. Marty never talked about his awards, and when asked, he’d usually respond with: “Ah, it’s nothing.”

One evening at the Branding Iron (the academy awarded me the Commandant’s Award and nicknamed me the Branding Iron Kid), Marty finally had enough “loose-juice” to answer some questions regarding his awards.

Turns out that Marty was a flight mechanic on a Jolly Green helo in Vietnam. He kept the bolts tight, oil and fuel topped off, and acted as a load master, ensuring that the loads on the helo were within the CG balance limits. His particular helo was used extensively as a search and rescue tool in Vietnam (as I’m sure, many others were too).

Once a pilot was downed, the FACs (forward air controllers) would try to locate him, the A-1Es would suppress enemy activity around the downed pilot, and Marty’s helo would go in and pluck out the pilot. I remember (vaguely) two stories that Marty revealed to me.

One was the time that his helo was part of a two-ship looking for downed aircrew in North Vietnam (not a nice place to fly). The other helo had landed to extract a crew member and became disabled (how, I don’t remember if parts broke, or it was weapons damage). In any event, Marty’s helo landed near the disabled helo as it was getting dark and fuel reserves were low. Both helo’s spent the night in North Vietnam, on the ground, protecting each other and the aircrew that they were rescuing. I don’t remember the specifics of how repairs were made, but I do remember that Marty played a significant role in successfully getting both aircraft off the ground and back to their home base.

The second story that I remember was the time that Marty’s helo attempted to rescue a downed pilot in hostile territory. The helo crew couldn’t get the pilot to use the sling, as he was hunkered under a bush and drawing a lot of enemy small arms fire. He’d have been a sitting duck target, hanging onto that sling. So the helo pilot decided to land in a clearing, on the edge of which the downed pilot was hiding. It was expected that the downed pilot would run up the ramp on the back of the helo, while the helo crew suppressed local small arms fire. However, the pilot was so frightened, he froze in place and wouldn’t move. After a bit, Marty jumped off the ramp, ran over to the downed pilot, threw him over his shoulder, and carried him back to the ramp of the helo – all the while the enemy was peppering the area with small arms fire. Now, that action alone is heroism in my book. Yet Marty was not proud of his actions, nor of his awards and medals he earned while saving that pilot’s life. When I asked him why he felt that way, it was because Marty was scared out of his wits, too. He figured that the only way his pilot was going to get Marty out of that clearing was to get the downed pilot on board! So, he did. They managed to lift out of the clearing and returned to their home base with the rescued crew member

Marty is another vet that did incredibly heroic things at great risk to his own life, yet did it for reasons other than being a hero and earning awards, medals or any other kind of recognition. A true HERO in my book.

Heroic Veterans (#1)

Yesterday, I was thinking about some of the veterans that I’ve known throughout my life, 2 of them popped into my head as remarkable heroes.

One of the first positions I had in the AF was as a Link Instructor in AF Primary Flight Training, at Williams AFB, AZ.  I had the privilege of giving instruction to some of our very earliest astronauts, and many other young men earning their flight wings.  I would often give up a Saturday morning to come in and give some additional help to a young student-pilot struggling with flying the Link on a single engine.  Not that single engine flying was so difficult, but rather doing it in the Link was a little tricky.  Williams AFB was host to many students that were either famous, or related to famous people, Saudi Princes, sons of politicians, and of course, some of the early astronauts.

I received the greatest reward of all, from the son of then Governor Love of Colorado.  One afternoon, during a regular teaching schedule, the Governor’s son stopped by my Link to personally thank me for the Saturday single engine training I had given him a year and half earlier.  Turns out that he had been assigned to fly A-1Es in Vietnam, following all of his training.  The A-1E (you can google it) is a formidable reciprocating prop airplane from WWII, and was used extensively for close ground support of the troops in Vietnam.  AF student pilots were no longer being trained in how to handle the “P-factor”, which in simple terms, causes an airplane to turn when adding power.  However, this gentleman came back to tell me that the instruction that I gave him, allowed him to adapt the single-engine rudder techniques to handle the “P-factor” in the A-1E and that probably saved his life many times.  I thought it was an extraordinary effort on his part to come and single me out.  I certainly appreciated his thanks, particularly because he had been in Vietnam, risking his life on a daily basis in support of the ground troops.  When someone can do the incredibly heroic things that this gentleman did, and then minimize his efforts by seeking out a Link Instructor that helped with an extra hour or two of training on a Saturday morning… that person is a true HERO.  His heroic deeds were not done for fame, or recognition, but rather because it was his job.

Hero #2 in the next post…

Veteran’s Day!

Celebrate today by saying thank you, to a veteran you know. It may be your neighbor, uncle, cousin, friend, or even someone you’ve never met, but know that they served.

All you need to do is say,

“Thank you, my family appreciates your service.”

Welcome to Musings of a Musist!

This is a blog of the cerebral ruminations of a retired AF NCO. Jaded, opinionated, cynical, sometimes humorous, and most importantly (I hope), it will contain statements that will make you think about your life and what you can do differently, to bring about change for the better in your life.

Comments are encouraged, but will be moderated for content appropriate for family readers. (In other words, please… no foul language or racist comments.) Your opinion is important, and I look forward to reading your comments.