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The nice man from Britain asked me what the logos
were on the title bar - they reflect a portion of my navy and aviation history,
I have left the training squadrons
out:
From the left you have the crest
of the US Naval Academy, in Annapolis, MD - my alma mater. To this day, I cannot
see the academy's chapel dome in the distance without checking my watch to see
if I am late, and wondering whether I am going to be in trouble. Call it the
echoes of my guilty conscience - As a midshipman, I was very far from
perfect.
First squadron logo on the
right hand side, reading from the left is from VFA-25, "the Fist of the Fleet,"
my first fleet fighter squadron. Here is where I discovered that despite being
the only male child in my family, I had twelve brothers. I was young
there...
Next is the patch of VF-45,
the Atlantic Fleet adversary squadron. We modeled Soviet style tactics in
dissimilar aircraft: F-16N, F-5E, and A-4E. The red star on the patch
represented that part of our function, and was the logo on our aircraft tails as
well. We were called "the Blackbirds," since in ancient times (1975) the
squadron was manned by 4 active duty officers and 20 reservists. Four and
twenty, get it? Blackbirds? Sigh... It was The Best Job Ever. I also experienced
my worst day ever in that squadron. That was the last place I ever really felt
young. Growing older will do that to
you.
Next is VFA-192, the "Super Sh!t
Hot, World Famous Golden Dragons," home ported in Atsugi, Japan. We were world
famous because the film studio that shot "the Bridges of Toko Ri" used our
squadron's aircraft to film the aerial scenes. The actual squadron that
destroyed the bridges (in North Korea) was our sister-squadron in Japan, the
"Dam Busters" of VFA-195. We were happy to take credit for it apparently. I'm
not quite sure how we came to be "super sh!t hot," by our own admission I guess.
This is where I did my department head
tour.
Next up is the patch of the Navy
Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. Two years here after my department head tour
taught me that all shore duty is not created equal. Hard work, long hours, great
personal rewards. I worked with the top 20 fighter pilots in the US Navy. Put
those 20 young men in any business in the world, and I am firmly convinced they
would own the market they served in five years or less. I taught some, learned a
great deal, left to go to sea
again.
Finally there is the logo of
"the Mighty Shrikes" of VFA-94, home based in Lemoore, California. I was the
executive officer, and ultimately the commanding officer of this squadron. While
I was commanding officer, we won the wing-wide strike fighter derby - I was
immensely proud of my boys, and would have matched them against any squadron in
the fleet, man to man. A blue collar bunch of get-it-done pilots that partied
like rock stars in foreign ports. I had always considered myself no slouch in
that category. Here I realized that not only was I no longer young, I was
starting to get actually old. In an admin (where the 18 or so pilots share a
hotel suite in foreign ports, sleeping where they can after the night's
amusements) in Hobart, Australia, I returned from a night of liberty in all the
usually suspect places at 0400, thoroughly exhausted. over-served and jaded to
discover I was the first one home. At 4 AM. What a non-hack.
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